In one of my interviews two years ago, I said revolution is the worst brand for business, and the sooner the government renounces that brand for the sake of engagement of investments, the better. This is what second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan told economic reporters today.

According to him, in order for a country to engage investments, it probably needs to ask itself what an investor needs, what the particular country’s competitive advantage is and what kind of an economy the country wants to build.

“If there are no answers to these questions and there is no formulated and proclaimed model for economic development in Armenia, investments will just be a coincidence,” he said and recalled the years of his administration.

“Back then, there were rather major investments. First, the country needs to create a favorable investment climate This means making laws, keeping power structures away from businesses and making major investments in infrastructures. There can’t be normal businesses in a country where infrastructures (roads, communication, electricity) are underdeveloped. There also has to be favorable legislation for investors. After this, the government needs to have a clear-cut economic policy and state the direction in which it is going,” he said and noted that 80-90% of investors aren’t coming to make investments in Armenia and are simply finding partners since they don’t have the time to come and oversee their businesses in Armenia.