President Vahagn Khachaturyan was present at the international conference organized at ASUE

Today, the President of the Republic of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan was present at the Impact of the Current Geopolitical Situation on the Economy of Armenia round table discussion within the framework of the international conference entitled “Priorities and Challenges of Economic Development” organized by the Armenian State University of Economics (ASEU) and the Association of Economic Universities of South and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea Region (ASECU). The discussion was also attended by the Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan, Governor of the Central Bank Martin Galstyan and other members of the Government.

The conference held at the Armenian State University of Economics discussed the impact of global and regional challenges on the development priorities and strategies of different countries, how all this affects new economic policy instruments, the application of new methods and new approaches to the organization of the economy, and what effective solutions may be found.

President Vahagn Khachaturyan, welcoming the attendees, specifically noted: "The topic under discussion is of paramount importance and I am delighted that it will be continuous. The topic concerns not only the Republic of Armenia, but all the countries across the world since the existing situation is completely new, especially for us, economists, and people who are responsible for the economic policy and development of their countries.

The world is undergoing changes, approaches are undergoing changes, and we cannot fall behind these processes. The approaches that existed years ago are no longer relevant. In fact, COVID-19 has radically changed our ideas about economic development in the country. Due to all this, a new policy was adopted based on completely new principles.

In our country, the 44-day war of 2020 also took place. All of this has altered our reality and we cannot ignore and avoid adapting to it.

I firmly believe that such discussions help us find answers to the questions that interest us all, and especially to the key question of what awaits Armenia in the near future, what kind of strategic issues we have that need to be addressed.

Often, focusing on the present-day issues alone poses the question whether by addressing these issues today we will not create new issues in the future.

Presently, the processes taking place in the economic life of the Republic of Armenia are controllable, and the achieved results which we talk about publicly and voice, are not only meant to inspire us, but also to concern us and serve as food for thought. Considering this situation, we should contemplate on how to ensure solutions to the issues that are set forth in the Government program 2021-2026.

What I wish to say is that the numbers are numbers which are certainly good, and we can extensively talk about them, but one has to delve deeper into these numbers to recognize the trends and try to understand whether the logic behind these trends will continue or not. There is another important circumstance too. As a matter of fact, it is no secret that our country's participation in the development of the rules of the global game is very little or markedly small. However, among these trends, it is noted that countries are striving to become more independent. A qualification should be given to all this as well.

Perhaps, this is due to the fact that during COVID-19 we virtually isolated ourselves and started to solve our own problems. Of course, in terms of health, globalization was helpful, and eventually the population of the earth joined efforts to solve the problems posed by COVID-19, but the way forward to overcome the difficult economic situation was chosen by each country individually. We should be ready for this as well. I wish all of us a productive discussion and success."