Օn 9 March , the presentation of “Armenia Economic Report 2016” (AER 2016) with the annual topic Economic Integration of Syrian Refugees in Armenia was held in Yerevan.

The “Armenia Economic Report” (AER) is an annual periodical developed and published by the Economic Development and Research Center (EDRC) with the support of the “Private Sector Development South Caucasus” (PSD SC) programme implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The report was elaborated in cooperation with the RA Ministry of Economic Development and Investments.

Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Investments of Republic of Armenia Tigran Khachatryan attended the event and delivered a speech.

“Private sector has seen challenging times over the past years. Overall, 2016 was marked with global economic slowdown, which naturally affected economic developments in Armenia as well. The society is expecting more tangible achievements and higher economic indicators than we currently register. On the other hand, tough periods are beneficial for us: they reveal the weak links, and make us more competitive and resilient”, said Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Investments of Republic of Armenia Tigran Khachatryan, welcoming the participants of the event.

In his opening remarks, EDRC Chairman Mushegh Tumasyan underlined that the main goal of the report is to analyse economic policies and developments in Armenia, raise awareness about urgent economic issues and design relevant policies to address them. “Each edition sums up the previous year’s economic trends and sparks debates around specific economic topics. The AER 2016 particularly focuses on economic integration of Syrian refugees in Armenia”, he added.

In his turn, Wilhelm Hugo, team leader of the GIZ PSD SC project component in Armenia, talked about the programme activities aimed at inclusive and sustainable growth in the country, pointing out that” the programme will enter a new three-year phase from April 2017 to support sustainable economic development for a green and inclusive economy in Armenia. We think that therefore vocational training will be the basis – the so-called “Skills for Business and Business for Skills’’.

In his opening remarks, team leader of the GIZ PSD SC project component “Economic Integration of Syrian Refugees in Armenia” (EISRA) Hans Joachim Zinnkann noted: “We believe that the socio-economic research of section 2 of the report with a focus on economic, but also other dimensions of integration of Syrian Armenians in Armenia will help shed more light on facts, needs, challenges and opportunities, what has been done so far, and what still could be done at various levels by various stakeholders for the benefit of the target group and for Armenia as a whole”. He also added that the GIZ PSD SC EISRA project (www.syrarbi.am) will continue supporting this in the area of economic integration of the target group together with its partners.

After the official opening of the event, the EDRC experts presented the latest tendencies of the country’s economic development and mid-term economic forecasts. The second part of the report hinged upon statistical analysis of Syrian Armenians’ socio-demographic peculiarities, the current state of economic integration of the target group in Armenia and debates around existing problems.

Additional information

About EDRC: The Economic Development and Research Center (EDRC) is a Yerevan-based non partisan think-tank with a mission to conduct high-quality, independent research and to provide innovative, practical policy recommendations for advancing Armenia’s development agenda, conduct research, monitor and evaluate public policy programs and services based on findings.

About GIZ PSD SC Programme: The Private Sector Development South Caucasus Programme (PSD SC 11/2013 – 03/2020) is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The main goals of the programme are improvement of conditions for green and inclusive growth as well as promotion of the private sector in selected value chains and advancement of technical vocational education and training (TVET). Attached to the PSD SC two further projects are being implemented in Armenia: Economic Integration of Syrian Refugees in Armenia (EISRA) and Support to SME Development in Armenia (SMEDA, co-funded by the EU).