Opinion
What can the Diaspora do to improve the economy of Armenia?
The question posed in the title of this article is important because the wealth created from a strong economy is vital for the well-being and prosperity for any nation, particularly for its defense and security. Security is the paramount concern for Armenia, and wealth is a necessary but not sufficient condition for assuring it. The issue of security and defense is complex and separate from this discussion.
By “economy,” I mean the word in its simplest sense, which is the creation of we
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I disagree with the general thrust of this article.
The Diaspora has been consistently supportive of, and generous to, Armenia and Artsakh at the expense of the Diaspora’s own needs.
Armenia itself has been less than transparent and has wasted untold billions if not trillions in corruption and aid.
IMPORTANT ARTICLE ADDRESSING THE STAGNATION OF ARMENIA AND ITS ECONOMY.
I STOPPED DONATING TO ARMENIA (I.E. ARMENIA FUND) AND ITS TELETHON ALMOST 20 YEARS AGO. REASON? CORRUPTION. I REFUSE TO GIVE A SINGLE PENNY TO ARMENIA UNLESS I PERSONALLY KNOW THE PEOPLE THERE. FOR EXAMPLE, DURING THE ARTSAKH WAR, OUR FRIENDS WERE THERE PROVIDING SUPPORT TO MOTHERS AND THEIR CHILDREN WHILE ARMENIA’S MEN WERE AT WAR. WE SPECIFICALLY SENT MONEY TO THEM TO HELP PURCHASE DIAPERS, MILK, ETC., INSTEAD OF THE CORRUPT MONEY PITS ALSO TRYING TO RAISE MONEY.
I 100% DISAGREE WITH THE AUTHOR WHO SAYS THE DIASPORA GIVES MONEY TO ARMENIA EXPECTING GRATITUDE AND NO PUSH BACK. NO! THE DIASPORA GIVES MONEY EXPECTING FOR THEIR MONEY TO ACTUALLY MAKE IT TO WHERE ITS NEEDED AND NOT SOME CROOK IN PARLIAMENT WHO’S STEALING ALL THE MONEY TO SET UP OFF SHORE ACCOUNTS, AND PURCHASE HOMES, CARES, AND JEWELRY.
I ALSO BELIEVE THE ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT MUST BE COMPRISED OF DIASPORANS. 50% HOMELAND AND 50% DIASPORANS. HOMELAND ARMENIANS HAVE BEEN STEWING IN COMMUNISM FOR SEVENTY YEARS. WHILE I DON’T BELIEVE THE KEYS TO ARMENIA MUST BE FULLY HANDED OVER TO DIASPORANS, YOU NEED OUTSIDE-THE-VODKA-BOX GOVERNING.
SHOW ME AN ARMENIA I CAN TRUST, AND I’LL SHOW YOU DONATIONS TO ARMENIA.
Honestly its better for repatriate armenians lives in islamic countries to Armenia cuz as armenian from CA l dont want live near by turks azeris persians and russians but our armenians in middle east used to this situtation they can handle but l cant.
For the past 30-plus years the diaspora acted as a pack animal for various Western AND Turkish agendas in Armenia. The diaspora has done enough damage…
What kind of thing to say! I think that Armenians like all other former Communist countries, have a long way to go before they would advance a western ethical standard. Civil rights, Private Property rights, A legal system that is responsive to the needs of the people and the business class. Free and unobstructed rights to buy, sell and keep weapons. Freedom from corruption, to mention just a few. We have all those things here in the US diaspora, and more. As to al those schemes where we are induced to invest money into funds and pools, etc. Business men are like squirrels. They gather their nuts and hide them even from their own children. My nuts, my money, so I’ll invest them as I want as I keep an eye on them. Only a Communist Gafa would suggest such schemes. Why? Easy to dip into those funds. The generation that lived under Communism, had to steal in order to survive. They won’t change. Only a new generation raised on Christian values will succeed.
Edward, when you wake up from your “American dream” you will see that those rights, rights that essentially took centuries to evolve, are slowly and gradually disappearing. Besides, none of what you said has anything to do with what Concerned Armenian addressed. I agree with Concerned 100%. Naive diasporans who have no real understand of history and geopolitics need to remain in their home countries and stop misleading and confusing Armenia’s citizenry. Enough damage has been done.
This article and the comments above so far make good points. There are many examples we could emulate that have strong or upcoming economies with classical liberal values of human rights and freedoms. The author would probably agree that “rule of law” would be a critical factor of promoting both economic growth and human flourishing.
I find it very encouraging that the occasional yet expected Marxist/Socialist drivel has so far not yet entered into this conversation.
Perahps when *actual* factors of prosperity are seriously considered and debated, they chase away the Marxist miasmatic pipe dream clouding the senses of idealistic youth.
Armenia must first get its act together and show a willingness to work with various diaspora organizations in a transparent manner. I doubt whether the current Armennian goverbment, like its predecessors, are willing and able to do so. Funny that the author cites the Tufenkian organization as an example of diasporan investment in Armenia. It was the Tufenkian Foundation which promoted the resettlement of impoverished Armenians in the so-called “liberated territories”, without providing them any security guarantees. Tufenkian, who was steered into such nationalist folly by his ARF handlers, let these people to their own fate, with the diastrous consequences that befell them in the 2020 Karabakh war. Rahther than butressing the population of Nagorno Karabakh proper, strengthening settlements along its borders, these diasporan armchair nationalists used these people to achieve their own fantasies of a Greater Armenia. There was no overall strategy or comprehension of how to best maintain and strengthen the 150,000 strong Karabakh that existed and has now lost 1/3 of its territory and thousands of its former population. Such diaspora-hatched schemes have been diastrous.
throughout the world poor areas with limited resources seek two clean “industries”
1)tourism
2)universities to educate students
Look no further than the US. Las Vegas…an area with no resources has a tourism
industry (based on gambling)…Ski resorts are by definition in places hard to
build and parts of the year inhospitable…. both of these examples prosper by tourism
Universities have tuition paying students…and thus faculty and support staff. Money comes from outside the area and is spent locally. Look at State College Pennsylvania or South Bend Indiana. Take out the Universities and the economy collapses.
Build Nursing Schools in Armenia. The world is disparate for Nurses. Certify the Nursing schools to United States Standards and you could graduate literally a few thousand tuition paying nurses each year. Don’t look to educate Armenian Students..look to bring in tuition dollars from around the world (ie South Bend Indiana Notre Dame University isn’t looking to educate students from South Bend Indiana
A couple of points can be made here:
1- Expecting Armenians to give $180 MM in a month because there is a war is not reasonable; where were the Armenian government and the diaspora organizations during the past 30 years to involve the communities? The model of charitable giving simply does not work to support a nation. Armenia and the Diaspora face existential threats(invasion and assimilation, respectively) and there has to be a commensurate policy response to meet the challenge; for example “national tithing “ where every Armenian family in US will give $ 1000 ( or some comparable amount) per year. In return the families expect services ( school, sports , exchange programs with Armenia, competent elected local and national bodies that represent them ). This model requires an “organized “ community in the US which does not exist at the moment.
2- The nominal GDP of Armenia is $20 Bn for 3 million people. One needs to grow that by x 5-10 to make Armenia and diaspora strong. When we look at countries with comparable populations like Finland(5.5 million) and Singapore(5.7 million), their GDP are $ 200 Bn and $ 500 Bn respectively. Those who advocate that Armenia go back to the Russian model i.e join Belarus in union with Russia, are condemning Armenia to perpetual poverty and weakness.
3- A key element of Armenia’s revival is practical STEM education. This is where the Diaspora can help in setting up or improving existing polytechnics. Basically , Armenia needs a clone of MIT, Stanford , Technion(Israel) or Nanyang Technological University(NTU, Singapore) to help drive innovation. While Armenia’s graduates excel in math in physics( Wall St has many Armenians working in algorithmic trading) , it tends to discourage practical innovation and startups.
Pashinyan’s rise to power was a historic victory for all those who proudly supported the velvet revolution in 2018 and all previous revolution attempts. God bless democracy. God bless westernization. The country’s future looks great now that we finally got rid of Moscow’s puppets known as the criminal Karabakh clan. Thank you everybody. Please keep up the good work!
Extremely thoughtful article by someone who has the knowledge and experience to write about this. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the comments are negative. One says that he stopped donating money!! If you really think you can fix the economy of a country by donating 0.1 percent of your income annually then you know very little about economy. Another claims that diaspora has donated billions to Armenia which is a false statement. The total amount of money PLEDGED during those telethons was usually in the range of 10 to 20 million. Normally, the final number donated was less than 10 million dollars which is less than a small city budget in California!
Long story short, the problem is that Armenians both in diaspora and Armenia are very emotional. They think by their emotions and not their logic. This means they are responsive when emotions are involved. If there is a war, they will donate some money. If they see footage of some poor villagers in Armenia, they will donate money. But when it comes to directly engaging with the country, that is when logic kicks in. They see it is hard and that is when the old broken record comes in. Nonstop nagging about corruption in Armenia or the same old political arguments. Oh, because I don’t like Pashinian I won’t move to Armenia! As if he would move if someone else was the PM!
Truth is the Armenian diaspora is one of the least successful diaspora communities in US in terms of trade with ancestral country. Export from Armenia to US is abysmal. There is no direct flights from LA to Yerevan despite the route being the fourth most unserved route globally. Direct investment almost doesn’t exist. Who is responsible for this? We are all responsible for it and it has absolutely nothing to do with Pashinian or Kocharian or anyone else.