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How To Build Relations With The Diaspora?

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  • How To Build Relations With The Diaspora?

    HOW TO BUILD RELATIONS WITH THE DIASPORA?

    Armen Tsatouryan

    Hayots Ashkhar Daily
    Published on July 31, 2008
    Armenia

    At the very first stage of the relationship with the Diaspora, the
    Armenian authorities adopted not only new approaches corresponding
    to the challenges of the 21st century but also started the process
    of establishing relevant institutions for putting their plans into
    practice.

    Let's recall the main stages of the activities carried out in the
    sphere during the past years.

    It is well-known that since Armenia's gaining independence, the
    relationship with the Armenian colonies of the Diaspora has passed
    two principal stages of development, the first stage being the period
    preceding the 1998 shift of power and the second stage being the period
    between 1998 and 2008. And although these two stages drastically
    differed from each other in terms of the policy trend towards the
    Diaspora, such differences were of political-ideological rather than
    practical-organizational nature.

    During the tenure of L. Ter-Petrosyan, the Armenia-Diaspora relations
    acquired an extremely ideologized character, becoming one of the
    "spheres" of the political struggle inside the country. The Diaspora
    was artificially divided into two camps, and this created a serious
    threat in terms of restoring the realities of the Soviet-time Armenia.

    After the 1998 shift of power, it became possible to overcome
    this harmful20phenomenon as a result of advancing the formula of
    cooperation among Armenia Artsakh and the Diaspora. However, the
    right political-ideological starting point in the relationship with
    the Diaspora was not yet enough for adopting and applying concrete
    and clear-cut procedures of implementation.

    Following the 1998 shift of power, the political component increasingly
    developed in the Armenia-Diaspora relations, the common strategic
    objective of achieving the international recognition of the Armenian
    Genocide being the underlying thesis of such policy. As regards
    the clear-cut procedures of cooperation, they continued to remain
    on the level of the economic assistance and the involvement of the
    medium-scale investments of the Diaspora.

    The fact that the Armenian authorities are seriously inclined to
    establish a new level cooperation with the Diaspora became obvious due
    to the initiative of setting up a separate structure dealing with the
    issues of the Diaspora and granting it the status of a ministry. This
    kind of ministries exist in many countries, so having a Diaspora
    community twice exceeding its population, our country could no longer
    fall behind other states.

    This means that the Armenian authorities are no longer satisfied
    with organizing pan-Armenian conferences or conducting fundraising
    marathons, and they view the relationship with the Diaspora as a
    day-to-day painstaking activity.

    >From now on, any educational, cultural and other probl em of any colony
    of the Diaspora will become a matter of concern for the Republic of
    Armenia as well. And each of our compatriots will feel that he/she
    is not alone in his/her everyday work aimed at the preservation of
    the Armenian nation and enjoys the support of the Armenian statehood.

    The most important component in the process of upgrading the
    relationship with the Diaspora from the political-ideological level
    to the plane of day-to-day practical work is certainly the sphere of
    economic cooperation.

    And as shown by the experience of the past years, there is no progress
    in this sphere. With their huge capital, the representatives of the
    Armenian Diaspora have a strictly cautious attitude towards making
    serious investments in our country. They prefer to satisfy themselves
    with medium-scale programs which cannot produce a serious negative
    impact even if they suffer a failure.

    Such phenomenon results from psychological complexes which developed in
    the course of several years. In order to overcome them it is necessary
    not only to introduce serious changes in the tax and customs policy
    implemented in the country but also form an absolutely new atmosphere
    of mutual trust. In this respect, the new authorities managed, in
    the course of their few months' activity, to do more than did their
    predecessors in the whole period after Armenia's gaining independence.

    As a result of President Serge Sargsyan's meeting wi th the prominent
    Armenian businessmen during his visit to Moscow and after their visit
    to Armenia, a radical turning point was observed in the dispositions of
    the Armenian businessmen residing in Russia. A couple of weeks later,
    the amount of the investments promised by the Armenian businessmen
    reached the borderline of 700 million US Dollars.

    This is an unprecedented phenomenon in the whole history of the
    Armenia-Diaspora relations. The businessmen of the Diaspora have
    started to demonstrate trust in the reforms implemented in our country
    and link their future entrepreneurial activity to their motherland.

    In such circumstances, the interests of foreign countries' non-Armenian
    capital will inevitably increase, since the companies (mainly founded
    by the Armenians residing in Russia) which are going to enter our
    country will bring others after them.

    Thus, all the plans that were discussed during the successive
    conferences devoted to the Armenia-Diaspora relations for around 1.5
    decade are being put into practice by the Armenian authorities from
    the very first months of their activities.
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