The year 2005 was declared as the year of Russia in Armenia. The visit of the Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov officially closed the year of Russia in Armenia. Why officially? Because the Russian presence has existed in Armenia for years and will continue to exist further.
Some of us qualify our close cooperation with this country as a stimulus to develop economy in Armenia, others think that this close cooperation might become a threat to Armenia’s economic security. At present, in the aspect of commercial and economic cooperation with Armenia, Russia occupies the second place after Belgium, and in terms of the volume of investments Russia occupies the third place and cedes the first and second places to Greece and Lebanon respectively. In this regard, the Armenian-Russian cooperation may be considered as only strategic.
Why not? During his visit to Yerevan, the Chairman of the Russian Government Mikhail Fradkov mentioned that the Russians, on behalf of the “Inter RAO EES” company, will continue their cooperation with the Armenian colleagues. This regards the establishment of the Armenian-Russian joint company in the fifth energetic block of the Hydro Electric Station of Hrazdan. Let’s recall that the other four energetic blocks are the property of the Russian Federation. The “Energetic Company of Hrazdan” OJSC, which is another important energetic company, is looking for some new ways to enrich Russia. Today the main market of energetic power consumption is Georgia, however the issue of providing power to Iran and Turkey is also under speculation. The greatest achievement of the Russian year in Armenia is the operation of the “Armenal” aluminum production company, which belongs to the Russian “Rusal” company. The factory will annually produce up to 25 thousand tons of aluminium, tin, 97% of which will be imported exceptionally to Europe. It is obvious that in the aspect of investments Armenia is a preferable market for Russia. But the question is what our great partner give to our country-gas. But it’s surprising that our close partner Russia ignores our close relationship, while developing its price policies. In fact, the Russian Prime-Minister didn’t say anything about the increase in the price of gas provided to Armenia.
Nevertheless, the Armenian side welcomes the current close economic relationship between the two countries. In the framework of events of the Russian National Exhibition and Year of Russia in Armenia an Economic Forum was organized, during which the deputy-minister of trade and economic development of RA Tigran Davtyan made a speech. It would have been very strange if the latter had not started with glorifying the Armenian economy. The deputy-minister called it “completely market economy” and started to introduce the Russian colleagues to the two-digit figures of “sustainable” growth (instead of the planned 7% percent shifting we have a 12% shift, the inflation of the recent years has not exceeded the limit of 3%, etc). In the words of Mr. Davtyan, Armenia conducts a policy of importing stimulation; all the customs of importing are annulled. After describing the economy in “bright colors”, the deputy-minister thought it would be reasonable to speak about the “open door investment policy” of Armenia. In the result of it, around 3000 enterprises operate in Armenia with foreign capital, 600 of those are Russian. During the recent years, Russia invested over $400 million in our country. During his speech the head of the department of the ministry of trade and economic development of Russia Aleksey Kaulbars mentioned that there are over 160 inter-state agreements signed between the two countries. The volume of the economic turnout of Russia and Armenia amounted to $208 million in 2004. However, in Mr. Kaulbars’s opinion the countries do not fully use their trade potential, the obstacle of which is the issue of transportation. T. Davtyan also specified the significance of that issue. He spoke about the possibility of Russia’s membership into the World Trade Organization, and added that Armenia would also benefit from that membership because the “interests of CIS counties would be more efficiently protected”.
By the way, during the events a very interesting and “subtle” harmony was noticed. The Russian delegation considered the bilateral relationship between Russia and Armenia as a relationship between Russia and a regular CIS country. By doing that they showed that despite certain privileges Armenia still remains one of the former socialistic countries for Russia. But the representatives of the Armenian side kept making the Armenian-Russian relationship a fetish.