It is necessary to constantly invest money in the image of the country, not after certain blows on it. Second President Robert Kocharyan, who heads the “Armenia” bloc ahead of the snap parliamentary elections on June 20, said this during a meeting Tuesday with representatives of business and construction.

"It hurts me that I turn on CNN, there is an advertisement of Azerbaijan day and night, and it is quite high quality, well-prepared. It hurts me, but I do not see anything about Armenia anywhere. There were a few small things, then I found out that something was made with [Argentine Armenian businessman Eduardo] Eurnekian's mediation, and the [Armenian] state had nothing to do with all of it; this is the sacred duty of the state. From the point of view of image, our diplomatic services must also do their job. We can put the potential of the [Armenian] diaspora to a more active message. Today, the gap that was formed between the diaspora and Armenia must be overcome," he said.

Kocharyan recalled that they had 37-38 thousand tourists in the first year of his premiership in 1997. "At that time, they were saying, 'We need a road, we need an airport, [airline] companies need to fly, which leave no doubt in terms of security.’ Enormous work had to be done for tourism; there was not a single hotel. In 1998/99, we were doing 'welcome here' for someone to come, build a hotel; the movement started in connection with the 1700th anniversary [in 2001, in terms of Armenia’s adoption of Christianity as state religion], at that time," Kocharyan added.