ARMENIA’S IT-SECTOR NOT INFLUENTIAL IN INTERNATIONAL ARENA
ARKA
Jul 13 2007
YEREVAN, July 13. /ARKA/. Armenia’s IT-sector is not influential in
the international arena, Director of the Armenian-European Policy
and Legal Advice Center (AEPLAC) Tigran Jrbashyan told reporters.
"The hi-tech sphere plays a rather serious role in the country’s
economic development, but it is not influential in the international
arena," he said.
Jrbashyan believes that Armenia is seriously erroneous to think high
of its IT-sector.
"We are deceiving ourselves, thinking that our hi-tech sphere is
attractive to foreign players. This does not correspond to the facts,"
he said.
In this context, he explained that more serious presence of US
investors on Armenia’s IT-market than that of European ones is
accounted for by the USA-based Armenian community being more actively
involved in the sphere.
"The reason for the investment attractiveness of Armenia’s IT-market
is not actual interest, but a great role of the Armenian community
in this sector the US economy," he said.
Jrbashyan added that further development of the IT-sector in Armenia
is not quite advisable against serious problems in the country’s
educational and scientific spheres.
"We must not seek great achievements in high technologies without
having professionals," he said.
The RA Ministry of Trade and Economic Development reports that 15-20
per cent annual growth was recorded in Armenia’s IT-sector in 2006,
with the total output estimated at $100mln.
A total of 200 IT-companies were operating in Armenia in 2006, over
30% of them being shared in by foreign capital. Over 5,000 people
are employed in Armenia’s IT-sector.
Armenia’s IT-sector exports about 85% of its products, its share in
the country’s GDP being about 2%. Foreign investments in the sphere
are estimated at $10-$15mln. In 2007, investments in the IT-sector
are expected to total dozens of millions of dollars.