Yerevan/Mediamax/. Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan met with students of the American University of Armenia.

At the meeting on January 20 the head of the government answered the students’ questions.

On progress

Karen Karapetyan said that the country will definitely have progress in case “we create equal conditions and guarantee quality education”.

“However, we don’t just aim for progress. We want a progress that all Armenian citizens can notice in improvement of their everyday life,” PM said.

On Armenia of tomorrow

“I was asked once how I imagine the Armenia of tomorrow. I didn’t have a ready-to-go answer and didn’t expect such a question. I answered: independent, safe, just and intellectual Armenia.

This answer actually reflects my worldview and not a desire to be liked by my listeners. I am certain that the intellectual component is necessary for our country. If we fail to have educated and cultured citizens, we won’t have a good country. Can we do that? Yes, we certainly can,” Prime Minister said.

On investments

Touching on creation of more favorable conditions for investment in Armenia, Prime Minister noted that it requires comprehensive, transparent, reliable and predictable conditions in tax, customs, judicial systems.

“Do we have a perfect environment for that now? Of course, not. We have a program for how to achieve that. Moreover, recently we created Center of Strategic Initiatives, where the majority of the Board of Trustees is representatives of the private sector from Russia, USA, Diaspora. In the framework of this center we will form our strategy, vision, reforms, and our way. One of the center’s key directions will be the change of business environment. We don’t need to invent a bysicle here, only to ensure conditions for the business to flourish. The list of the happiest countries contains those states where the working, creative citizens feel happy, not those which have oil, gas or other natural resources,” Prime Minister stressed.

On 2017

“I see 2017 as a stage of diagnosing, determining and stabilizing governance mechanisms, which will allow us to create good business environment so that we have sustainable growth from 2018. As we audit, change certain actions of governance and reduce expenses, it is difficult to expect a sudden growth this year.”

On corruption

“This is the philosophy behind our actions: change the environment maximally to reduce corruption risks. I am sure that we won’t reduce this phenomenon by creating another anti-corruption agency, we need the environment to change,” Prime Minister said.