Author:
Kristina Baghdasaryan
Doctor of Economics
Armenia is a small country with great opportunities for investors. The Government of the Republic of Armenia welcomes foreign investments and constantly implements reforms aimed at improving and developing the business and investment environment.
Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, which enables the country to enter the EAEU single market with a population of around 200 million, free movement of goods, services, capital and labor. Moreover, Armenia is continuously developing its partnership relations with the European Union within the framework of the RA-EU Comprehensive and Extended Partnership Agreement. Considering its strategic position, Armenia can become a unique bridge between the member states of the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union.
Armenia has signed bilateral agreements on mutual promotion and protection of investments with 43 countries, and also has free trade agreements with Georgia and most of the CIS countries. Therefore, many international companies have established branches or subsidiaries in Armenia, taking advantage of the country’s qualified workforce and developed business environment.
The development of high technologies has a decisive role in increasing the competitiveness, security and standard of living of the states. Those states that create and develop high technologies, register changes in the competitive field and occupy leading positions in the international arena.
Innovation and technological progress should become the driving force of the country’s competitiveness and economic development. For qualitative changes, it is necessary to increase the weight of innovative companies from today’s 10% to 30-40%, and the weight of research and development in GDP from today’s 0.25% to 3%, at least one third of which is state stable. with financing. The innovation promotion policy should have three main directions:
- creation of new large-scale technological clusters in the fields where Armenia can form capabilities of global importance, in particular, in the fields of information technology, professional services, military industry;
- technological re-equipment of the economy through special support tools contributing to the assimilation of modern technologies by local companies;
- broad involvement of different layers of society by encouraging innovations aimed at solving public problems. The development of the military industry will be a key stimulus for the spread of innovation, which, apart from its direct operations, will perform the most important operation of transferring and introducing technological innovations in the economy.
So, the Republic of Armenia has all the prerequisites to become a high-tech industrial country, including all links of the value chain, from education to scientific research, from development and production to international sales and application in various spheres of economy and everyday life. Armenia has developed such high-tech fields as information technology, microelectronics, mathematics, physics, material science, etc. Moreover, the implementation of the strategy for the development of the high-tech sector aims to expand the development of high-tech products and services in Armenia, including artificial intelligence, cyber security, blockchain, quantum computer technologies and other leading directions.
Author:
Kristina Baghdasaryan
Doctor of Economics
