Armenian PM to combat oligarchs? What twaddle!

By AzerNews

The Armenian new government acknowledged that the immigration of the population is a hard problem to solve in a short time.

"We will do everything to combat immigration. It is impossible to solve this problem by one shot or instrument," Prime Minister Ovik Abramyan said while presenting the government's new program to the parliament on May 20.

Abramyan asked the Armenian citizens to build their future in Armenia, where the rate of unemployment is high (16.8 percent) and every third person lives in poverty.

These challenges are valid reasons for the high immigration outflow in the country. Armenia's citizens no longer believe that their children can have a bright future in their homeland.

Armenia is still not able to avoid mass immigration, which 30,000-35,000 people per year from 2008 to 2013.

Abramyan also stated that citizens and their interests will be high on the agenda of the new government.

"People will feel the changes! Even the residents of a remote village will feel the government's work," he promised.

Speaking about the government's intensions to achieve economic development, Abramyan said businessmen will have to leave the cabinet of ministers.

Abramyan said he has no information on entrepreneurs in his government, while the country's big businessmen mainly include government officials and MPs.

"This is prohibited by the Constitution. If there are any, they will leave," he assured.

Abramyan is one of Armenia's big oligarchs. The former Parliamentary Speaker has acquired a gambling business, vineyards, mines, filling stations, knitted goods factory, and a mechanical plant, and also has a vacation house in Crimea, bought for $7 mln in 2007.

The Armenian people have got used to being fed empty promises. Abramyan's threat of dismissing government officials also sounds like twaddle. Oligarch Abramyan will hardly wish to be the first one to desert his post.