The next discussion of the “Pressing” club is dedicated to the same issue as the previous one, i.e. PR. This time the discussion was held with businessmen, businessmen deputies and journalists. Head of the union for information technologies enterprises, Karen Vardanyan was heading the discussion. Even though the topic of the two discussions was the same, they were quite different in content. In contrast to politicians, the businessmen did not discuss issues such as the Genocide, conflict of civilizations, etc. However, they made very interesting proposals on how to develop PR for our country and who should do that. As for the importance of PR for Armenia, all the participants of the discussions said that it is essential. The participants had different viewpoints mainly concerning the new possible image for Armenia. K. Vardanyan said that the previous discussion was like a puzzle, i.e. everyone informed about separate parts of the issue and came up with good recommendations, however the most important thing is to unite them.
The head of “SIL” concern, Khachatur Sukiasyan brought a good example of state PR. He said that pizza is not that delicious; however it is very famous and known across the globe thanks to Italian PR. Sukiasyan thinks that there are many ways that Armenia can represent itself in the world; for instance it can be done with the help of a talented child or athletes. Mr. Sukiasyan noted that for instance in France, people recognizeArmenia solely thanks to Charles Aznavour. Usually Armenians like saying that their people are clever. The deputy thinks that this idea is not accepted by the other nations the way it is said. “In the Arabic world people will be afraid, in more civilized countries they can think that we are alike” said Mr. Sukiasyan and added that the only place this attribute could work is IT production.
Mr. Sukiasyan thinks that when doing something, first of all people should think whether it is good for the country or not. In order to be attractive for foreign investors Armenia should create adequate conditions for investments and make it attractable for investors to come here and invest money. The businessman thinks that the existing environment and the rumors about businessmen are creating a negative image of business in Armenia, thus foreigners don’t take the risk to invest money here. “First of all we should work on those things, we should clarify those issues so that while being abroad Armenians tell foreigners that our country is good for investments and business” said Khachatur Sukiasyan. The latter thinks that Armenia has a very special, large resource, i.e. it has a big Diaspora. “Why do you think that a country that has such a large Diaspora cannot represent its country abroad as a very good state?” said the deputy.
K. Vardanyan wondered what kind of problems the Armenian businessmen had seen concerning the image of their country when collaborating with their foreign partners. Mr. Sukiasyan assured that when people have direct interest in the given case, they don’t pay attention to such problems; nevertheless, there are problems and difficulties when you ask them to invest 2% of their capital in Armenia. “If there are contracts with foreign businesses, it doesn’t mean yet that the contract was made due to the positive image of the country” said the deputy. He brought an example and said that when you buy bottles from those businesses, they speak about it a lot and say that you are their client, but it doesn’t mean that they will found a factory or business in Armenia during the next two years. “When entering other markets the image of your own market is very important and decisive. Best quality product is the best PR, however, we would be able to sell our products much easier if we, for instance, were working like people in Switzerland” assured Kh. Sukiasyan.
In response to the question of “P-Art” company, Karen Kocharyan’s question as to whether the Diaspora is able to lobby for that purpose, Sukiasyan said that the deeds of the Diaspora cannot be ignored even in the aspect of business PR. “And what does the Diaspora do to ensure the sale of the Armenian goods abroad?” asked Kocharyan. Sukiasyan answered that the situation in the sector is quite unfavorable because the Diaspora Armenians don’t trust the quality of Armenian goods. Speaking of the high role of the Diaspora the deputy also mentioned that we should change our requirements for the Diaspora. He thinks that instead of material support the Diaspora must also advocate Armenia.
In the opinion of journalist Artur Sahakyan the state must create and found a circle, which would elaborate programs to present each sector of our country to the rest of the world. “In order to ensure that the goods produced by such Armenian businessmen as Sukiasyan and others we must first of all inform others about Armenia. No matter how good your product is you won’t have success without the image of the country,” said Sahakyan. He even thinks that there must be a special PR Ministry. He also mentioned that the Armenian public “H1” TV does the right thing by not showing how the Armenian MPs swear on TV to avoid negative image about Armenia. This opinion was opposed by the counter opinions of others. Sukiasyan didn’t agree with the journalist saying that in Western countries, for example in England, there is no such thing.
Editor-in-Chief of 168-Zham newspaper, Satik Seyranyan thinks that instead of showing low-quality soap operas “H1” TV must show what’s going on in the country, just like what Azerbaijan does. “Let’s not forget that the “H1” is financed by the state budget by taxpayers.
Moreover it gets more financing than Matenadaran. Maybe the government must present state order to the “H1” so that it prepares a special program and shows the Armenian producers even on paid basis,” offered Sayranyan. This suggestion was quite approved by Sukiasyan.
Businessman-lawyer Sargis Aghabekyan thinks that the number one recipient of RA PR should be the RA citizen, the second one must be the Armenian and the third- the state. That is collective power. “Image is a type of capital, which later brings permanent dividends. It means that the goal of PR should be directed towards state and national interests. And we must undertake certain steps for that. What shall we do to make them productive? Let’s imagine: we don’t know how to fly a plane and we have been trying to hold the rudder of the plane for the past 15 years without knowing where we are going. Now we are at this stage and don’t quite apprehend the issues. I think the first step for us is to estimate and use our potential in the form of human resources, which may produce certain ideas, solve tactic issues and most importantly will be above material interests. There is a lot to do in PR. We should clarify the most developed directions of our country – best products, customs, etc. We claim that we are an intellectual nation. Thus we need to focus on the intellect. We should develop culture because it procures tourism development. Tourism means income and we should use that money to develop our infrastructures. Secondly we should start to think about our physical security. Let the powerful states use our habits and products for awhile but we will become their subjects. By becoming a subject we will be able to make others obey and respect our customs and interests. In the region we are situated in a powerful political and social seismic zone, where the interests of a number of countries collide. We must be ready to use all kinds of processes proceeding in the region on our behalf. We must mobilize our force and not waste our energy on contradictions. We must learn to resolve issues in teams and be more tolerant to each other,” said Aghabekyan. Sukiasyan thinks that if the citizen doesn’t have any material profit then the state can never convince him/her to conduct state PR. “It’s impossible to tell people that this is their sacred work. Go and advocate. They must have certain profit here. We must explain to them that perhaps they might not have any income at the beginning stage, but later there will be profit,” said Sukiasyan and added that the citizens must realize that the further development of their country is on their own behalf.
Director of the board of the Wine Factory of Vedi, Manvel Ghazaryan viewed the issue of Armenia’s PR in the aspect of economy. “There were countries in the world that were not popular in wine production at all. Now they have become very good wine producers. The list of those countries includes Chili, South African Republic, Australia, New Zealand. I have participated in wine exhibitions in different countries of the world. For example, a country like Chili leases an area of few hectares, which is very expensive for us and sends its employees to represent. By representing for so many years the wine producers of this country were able to gain popularity and respect. At present the Russian market is full of Chilean and Argentinean wines. I think we have an issue of development and time. The Ministries, which are supposed to do this, are busy thinking of how to provide fertilizers or water to villagers. For example, last year the Ministry of Agriculture was offering us to go to Thailand and present our products. We went to this country at our own expense but it turned out that the legislation of this country won’t let us pass our production through customs. What did our country do to us? Nothing! We were in a terrible situation. One of the deputy-ministers of agriculture was responsible for this. But he did nothing. Instead he even blamed us by saying what kind of producers we are. Chileans are selling their products to Russia so easily. You can’t,” says Ghazaryan. He thinks that Armenia’s PR is conducted by any Armenian legal or physical entity. “If the products ever have a good grade we advertise our country by that,” ensures the businessman and adds that concerning PR the government, Diaspora and the producers must work together. “Would it be bad if during the Armenia-Diaspora conference they offered a few directions, which could be worked on? We have numerous branches of economy, which can be developed within 5-10 years,” thinks Ghazaryan.
The general director of “Synopsis Armenia” CJSC, Hovik Musaelyan thinks that the state hasn’t ascribed the monopoly of conducting its PR on its own and the society to a certain extent is indifferent towards all this. The society always thought that PR must be conducted only by the country. “This has become more of a monopoly of the business world. I agree with Mr. Sukiasyan that the statesman is the best PR for the country. If he doesn’t behave well inside or outside our country it hurts the image of the state. Besides this the main state PR conductors are the diplomatic corps,” says Movsisyan. He thinks that the Armenians have certain common national features, based on which PR can be built. For example, there is an overall opinion that Armenians are smart in the IT sector and they have been born to be programmers.
“In this regard there is great respect to Armenians. We should increase and make sure others respect us in this sector,” said Sukiasyan. “I think Armenians are remarkable and are different from other nations with their skills of reproduction and development. This is a very important warranty. Only an Armenian feels himself at home when trying a new specialty in a new environment. This factor also depends on genetics. The history of Diaspora proves this,” said Musaelyan. He told us a story, which he personally witnessed.
“We had two guests from Israel last year. When we went to meet them they didn’t want to leave the airport. They were afraid because they had heard a lot of bad things about Armenia. Three days later they said they couldn’t imagine a safer city than Yerevan. This means we are so incapable that even Israel doesn’t know anything about us. Recently the “Electronica” Russian magazine published the interview of our company president, where he says why he came to Armenia to invest. There are quite positive facts here,” ensured the director of “Synopsis Armenia”. The last fact interested Sukiasyan. He offered to find some new sources of disseminating this interview because the opinion of an independent expert may play a significant role in raising the image of our country. Musaelyan said that they have sent this info to the President’s office, NGOs, etc. “What else can we do?” asked Musaelyan.
Speaking of the role of RA embassies, Kocharyan mentioned, “We cannot speak about diplomacy if half of the Ambassadors leave and go live abroad.” Seyranyan added that the Ambassadors may be mediators for the entrepreneurs. There were suggestions that our embassies need some economic departments.
Journalist of “ITAR-TASS” in Armenia, Tigran Liloyan mentioned that there are stereotypes of speculation and comprehension of PR. “We should accept that the stereotypes about us are quite limited – suffered nation, great culture, history, Genocide, Aznavour, “Sword Dance” composed by Aram Khachatryan and that’s it. I think we should clarify the stereotypes we have in other spheres. The prior role belongs to the state, state support and care. We cannot do anything without the state support. We should pick a brand (lavash, apricot, duduk, and cheese) to develop. Recently I was reading an article, which stated that Armenia has so much more than the other CIS states, but doesn’t know how to represent that.”
The state level PR includes the war on ITr, advocacy, anti-advocacy, means of psychological impact, economic expansion. We must use those technologies, however it’s possible to do it when you have state support. Private individuals cannot go abroad and advocate the country at the political and economic levels. We may do it by talking in private and nothing more. Besides, we don’t ever think of the security of our information technologies. For example, some Azerbaijani low-class news agency might write about something without having any hope that the national TV may advert to it. On that same day the Armenian public television may talk about it.
In Liloyan’s opinion, in order to conduct Armenia’s PR it’s necessary to create a special circle. “But it shouldn’t be some information ministry or an agency. I am not ready to give this prescription to you yet,” said Liloyan.
Political interpreter Gevorg Altunyan adverted the attention of the audience to a private but important example. “At present we want to develop tourism and make RA a center for tourism. In previous years the state was allotting a few dozens of thousand USD for the international PR – for tourism. This year it allotted half million USD. In fact I think it made a mistake. I think it would be so much better if the state used this money to build public bathrooms near historical monuments or sights. When the tourist urinates behind a 14th century Khachkar, that, to me, is an offense He also thinks that he shouldn’t have spent his money on the tour. Every unsatisfied tourist hinders the development of tourism. We have to develop our infrastructures. It means that PR must be substantiated,” thinks Altunyan. He doesn’t agree with the opinion that everything must be connected with the role of the state. “Otherwise, I am sure we wouldn’t have these high-class businessmen here. We don’t have a state PR institute. Even if we had one it wouldn’t be a productive one because it would unite people with X intellect,” said the political interpreter. By bringing the example of information technologies he thinks that if the sectors have a goal to enter the international market they must take he greatest initiative themselves. “If we wait for the formation of a state body nothing will work out. You must gather and jointly invest money, participate in international exhibitions. France doesn’t have to know “Vedi Alco”. France must know that Armenian wine is good wine. Only then will we have a brand. This is the most optimal option,” Altunyan told Ghazaryan. “You are right. We do all that on our own. But we pay taxes to the state. It should play a certain role, shouldn’t it?” answered the businessman.
The President of “Max Group” Concern, NA Deputy, Khachik Manoukyan also agreed with the participants of the discussion regarding the fact that the role of the state is important in PR. “Even inside Armenia the state’s role must be important because it should regulate processes but not interfere. Roughly said, it shouldn’t participate but regulate business. We know that doesn’t happen. The state often forgets that the money of my pocket goes to the budget. The state doesn’t have any program and the people don’t know where we are going to be in 5-10 years. After all this, how can you make people do PR about the country?” said the NA Deputy.
During the most part of the discussion, participants signify the creation of a PR institute in our country. However, it doesn’t mean that only the state must conduct PR. The state must also coordinate and regulate the process. The role of Armenians and the Armenian Diaspora is very essential in improving the state’s image. This discussion showed that the image brand of Armenia can not only be the political factor but also any product or field of economy. The viewpoints and recommendations of the society may have a great impact on the development of PR. The “Pressing” club is giving readers the chance to give feedback regarding the results of the discussions by writing to us at [email protected]. The interesting recommendations will be discussed by the “Pressing” club and the experts of 168-Zham newspaper and will be published in our newspaper.
Photographs by Serj Davidovi