Fighting corruption and ensuring equal competition depend on systemic changes, Minister of Economy Karen Chshmarityan told reports on sidelines of the first meeting of the U.S.-Armenia Council on Trade and Investment, in Yerevan, on Nov 17, when commenting on U.S. Ambassador Richard Mill's statement in an interview with RFE/RL Armenian Service on overall corruption in Armenia.
The minister said to fight corruption means to eliminate the motivation and the opportunities for corruption. In his words, it is necessary to improve the legislative base. "By eliminating the reasons and conditions that give birth to corruption, we will create relevant conditions for the development of the business environment and minimize the dependence of the private sector on the will of statesmen," Chshmarityan said.
Earlier, in an interview with RLE/RL Amrenian Service, U.S. Ambassador Richard Mills said " I recognize that corruption is still a serious issue in Armenia...I'm really committed to growing the commercial ties, the investment ties between Armenia and the United States. I think now is the time to focus on that. But to attract U.S. investment, investors need to know they're entering a climate where everyone is treated the same, where there's no unfair competition, where government services are equally available to everyone. And so if we don't see the Corruption council address those things I think that will hurt the opportunities for investment here."
According to the ambassador, he is willing to work with any institution of the Armenian government that is committed to fighting corruption. "And so we will work with this Council. But as I've said, we expect to see actions, words aren't enough and we will constantly evaluate our cooperation with the Council and if over time we don't see the kind of commitment, the kind of actions that the Prime Minister and the Council itself says they want to take, then we will reevaluate our relationship with the council," Ricahrd Mills said.