YEREVAN. – The French well-known Carrefour hypermarket chain definitely must enter Armenia’s market, and this has two important meanings. Coalition government’s junior partner, Orinats Yerkir (Rule of Law) Party (RLP) Chairman, and National Security Council Secretary Arthur Baghdasaryan noted this during a press conference on Saturday.  

“Our product sellers can sell their goods in one of the largest chains and go out to international markets. In addition, Carrefour’s entry into Armenia means economic liberalization, the weakening of the competitive positions of the [business] subjects that have a monopolistic position, and the free competition in Armenia’s market. A [respective] road map already exists, and I hope Carrefour will enter Armenia’s market this year,” Baghdasaryan said.     

He also noted that he has a negative outlook on the bankruptcy of Armavia Airline Company—which is Armenia’s national carrier—, and believes that, by observing the mistakes of the past, the country will have a developed aviation in the future. According to Baghdasaryan, in the aviation sector Armenia can be ranked among the developed countries.    

“Armenia needs to pass to the ‘open skies’ policy, [but] at the same time, not rule out the circumstance of having a national carrier. We must be able to bring major airline carriers to Armenia, enabling our air space to be liberalized,” he noted.          

To the query as to whether it is already known which positions will be given to RLP in the new Government, the party chairman responded as follows:

“The presidential elections do not envision a redistribution of new positions because the [ruling] political coalition was formed after the parliamentary elections.” 

Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am