Tigran Jrbashyan urges Ministry of Economy not to close program for  engaging highly qualified specialists, but to return to its origins  and implement it in conjunction with  overall strategy

ArmInfo.Such an end was predictable, according to Tigran Jrbashyan, the head of America Management  Advisory. He was referring to the Ministry of Economy of Armenia's announcement that the < Highly Qualified Specialists Engagement Program > has been frozen, and the department is currently reviewing  the amounts paid under this program in recent years.

<It is sad to see the "Highly Qualified Specialists Engagement  Program" failing and becoming the subject of criticism, although such  an end was predictable given the distortions it was subjected to over  time. As a result, the program lost its original content, format and  meaning and ceased to meet the goals it was originally intended to  achieve,> Jrbashyan wrote. <What was the original content of the  program, what results was this content supposed to give, and is  everything irretrievably lost? >, he asks.  <In 2019, the Ministry of  Economy of the Republic of Armenia worked on developing the  "Industrial Strategy 2030" project (which ultimately remained a  project and as not implemented). Armenia's manufacturing sector was  (and still is) in desperate need of modernization. Despite  growth in  labor productivity, the sector significantly lagged behind the  standards of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and  Development (OECD) and the Eurasian Economic Union (still relevant  today), which made Armenian businesses vulnerable in global markets.  The main issue was outdated technologies, leading to the adoption of  a strategic direction, where the growth of labor productivity in the  manufacturing industry would be conditioned by an increase in imports  of advanced foreign production technologies and equipment. Merely  stimulating imports was not sufficient. In order to modernize  production it was also necessary to localize and effectively use the  planned imported technologies and equipment. Therefore, within the  framework of the strategy, a < Highly Qualified Specialists   Engagement Program > was proposed.

The goal of the program was to facilitate and encourage the influx of  highly qualified foreign specialists with highly competitive  education and a deep knowledge of specific technologies to Armenia.  These specialists would not only provide an opportunity to  effectively use imported technologies and equipment, but also train  local specialists with their experience, leading to the modernization  of production and an increase in  productivity,>  Jrbashyan notes.

According to him, although the program began to be implemented  (separately from the strategy), during the period of the influx of  relocates from Russia, it was modified and distorted to serve  as a  tool for retaining them in the Republic of Armenia. The qualification  and education criteria required to obtain beneficiary status were  relaxed, and the link between specialists' knowledge and the  technologies of the production sectors that are of primary importance  in the Republic of Armenia was removed. This led to a majority of  beneficiaries coming from the IT sector. Consequently, the program's  resources were focused on attracting specialists who did not meet the  original criteria, as well as mainly in the IT sector instead of the  production sector, as a result of which the development of the latter  was again pushed into the background, and the intended results of the  program were not achieved as a result. Moreover, most of the  specialists involved subsequently left Armenia, so the impact of the  program even on the IT sector was insignificant.  Additionally,  Tigran Jrbashyan asks the question: <But  is terminating the program   the most optimal solution in the current situation? No, because the  production sector of Armenia still lacks sufficient development  potential and is not competitive compared to developed countries.  Therefore, it would be wise to return the program to its origins and  implement it in conjunction with the overall strategy, rather than  suspending it completely,> Tigran Jrbashyan, head of the America  management Advisory, believes.