Republican Party of Armenia

 Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan: Armenia has gone up 3 points in the Global Competitiveness Report: what we need to realize is where we have improved our competitiveness and where are our weaknesses. To this end, we need to understand what are the criteria used in the national competitiveness report since there are many areas where we obviously have much to do yet.

Now I want to give the floor to Mr. Shaboyan who will tell us which reforms have resulted in higher competitiveness and Armenia’s improved position.

President of the State Commission for Protection of Economic Competition Artak Shaboyan: - Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. The World Competitiveness Report was published yesterday ranking Armenia 79 against last year’s 82, which means a 3-point promotion for our country. But it should be noted that competitiveness represents an aggregate index characterizing the situation in different areas. Three of them pertain to the sphere of competition.

The first index points to the intensity of local competition, where we have 28-point advancement. Last year as well we boasted a big step forward, but some of our opponents kept criticizing us for a relatively lower standing. Note that we are now the leader among the CIS countries in this activity.

The next figure indicates the effectiveness of the anti-monopoly policy and the progress is 19 points. Here as well, we enjoy a leading position among the CIS countries. For instance, we have a 41-point lead over Georgia, 30 points - over Azerbaijan, 40 points - Ukraine and so on.
And the third indicator describing the competitive environment is the influence exercised by market-dominant businesses on the competitive environment. Here, too, we have improved our standing by 15 points ranking 75, while Ukraine ranks 132, Moldova - 133, Georgia - 119, and so on. Please note that this year we have an advance over a number of Eastern European countries, including Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, etc.

I wish to say a few words about the methodology. To draft a report, the international organization conducts a secret poll among economic operators. To the best of my knowledge, over 200 businesses representing various sectors are picked out to assess the overall situation.

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan - Dear colleagues, I would like to enumerate Armenia’s five most important strengths and five weaknesses. Consistent with our high ranking in the Doing Business, the first advantage is the number of processes required for launching a new business. We are the 10th country under this indicator, the 12th for employment-related procedures, the 24th for transparency in the policy-making process, the 25th for investment protection facilities and the 34th for the burden of public governance. These are our comparative advantages.

Noteworthy shortcomings are as follows: quality of management schools - 120, brain-keeping ability – 121, customs burden – 123, foreign market consolidated index – 127, GDP-export ratio – 139. This suggests us what to do ahead.

The report also dwells on the issues faced by other government departments - educational, healthcare - where our position has deteriorated. We must carefully consider the steps to take in order to restore our positions. I am now instructing all the ministries to study the report and submit proposals on remedy actions within a week’s time.