ArmInfo. To all appearances, Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan has managed to enlist in Moscow preliminary promises about investments in Armenian economy, Caucasus Institute Director Alexander Iskandaryan has told ArmInfo.
To note, Karapetyan paid an official visit to Moscow on Jan 24.
"In general, the Moscow trip of Karapetyan had two major components - political and investment ones, which will play a crucial role in the further cooperation of Armenia and Russia. I suppose Prime Minister Karapetyan - if he retains this post after the elections in April - will have quite different powers under the Constitution. He has much wider views on those powers than his predecessor did. It is very important," he says.
The expert notes that Karapetyan perfectly realizes the shortage of money and investments as the key problem of Armenian economy and that he will be trying to increase the inflow of investments from Russia. At the same time, Iskandaryan is skeptical about the prospects of attracting tangible investments from Russia to Armenia before April 2017, i.e. before the parliamentary elections in Armenia. On 2 Feb 2017, Armenian Minister of Economic Development and Investments Suren Karayan said that during his visit to Moscow Karen Karapetyan reached an agreement on attracting 300 mln USD investments from Russia to Armenia. He noted that Russian investors in Armenia are interested in agricultural products, processing, mining and renewable energy.