Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences Abel Aganbegyan believes that the energy field is a priority direction of Armenia’s economy development.
According to him, countries around Armenia need energy, thus all possible directions for its production should be developed to export energy to neighboring countries.
Aganbekyan pointed to the field of information technologies as a second priority direction of development. “In this field Armenia has great opportunities, which are not used. There is not even an agency in the country to deal with this matter,” he said in Yerevan on December 6.
Aganbekyan believes that there are huge opportunities also in the mining and metallurgical field and residential buildings construction. “Prices for dwellings should be lowered, as 90% of dwellings are constructed in Yerevan, while construction works are almost absent in the country’s regions,” he said.
According to the expert, Armenia’s small and medium business is “stymied.” “Although people are entrepreneurial here, they have to develop their business in other countries.”
Besides, development of tourism and agricultural sector is of keen importance for the country.
“Infrastructures should be developed for tourism development – more affordable hotels should be constructed instead of five-star ones. The country’s population should also be involved in construction of small hotels. Roads should be constructed and a range of other matters should be solved,” he said.
Aganbegyan added that each of the aforementioned fields may bring annual revenues at the amount of $1bln, while Armenia’s GDP was below $9bln in 2009.
