Pashinyan’s government is once again revealing its true face and priorities. at a time when the country is burdened with agricultural problems, the government takes the funds intended for “supporting the investment projects implemented in the livestock sector” and directs them to another PR event of the government.

At the May 7 session of the government, it was decided to allocate 684 million drams for holding the “Concours Mondial de Brussels 2026” international wine tasting-competition in Armenia.as we have already mentioned, reducing the support of livestock investment programs to the same extent. Moreover, the initiative to redistribute funds from this program belongs to the RA Ministry of Economy.

According to the data presented to the government session, the event will be held in Armenia in 2026. May 19-23 K. in the sports concert complex named after Demirchyan. About 400 guests from 65 countries are expected, including journalists, bloggers, sommeliers and experts. More than 8,000 wines from more than 60 countries will be presented at the tasting competition. A B2B (business to business) meeting will be organized for 120 wholesale buyers and 50 local producers.

The Concours Mondial de Brussels 2026 is undoubtedly one of the most prestigious international wine competitions, which has been held over the years in countries from Belgium to Croatia, Mexico and China. The problem is not the rating of the event, but the incomprehensible and questionable waste of state funds in its name.

The most important question here is: why will the same event cost more than 1.5 million euros (684 million drams) for taxpayers in Armenia, when in other countries its main state organizational costs usually amounted to three times less approximately 400-500 thousand euros, and never exceeded 600 thousand euros։

Moreover, if in other countries these costs were planned for a jury of about 300 people (for transportation, hotel, food and recreation costs, which make up a significant part of the total costs), then in the case of Armenia, according to Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan, the number of the jury and main participants is around 200.

In other words, the participants are fewer, but the amount is several times larger. The question arises, where will that difference go?

There is no detailed explanation in the decision as to what exactly the hundreds of millions will be spent on. How much will be the fee for conducting the competition? What are the costs of hotel, transportation, PR, advertising or information campaigns? The public is once again faced with the “trust us” principle, which has already become commonplace for the government, when it comes to huge state funds.

In other words, during the reign of Nikol Pashinyan, we are once again dealing with a situation when the state is ready to pay three times more to organize an international show, without presenting the clear structure of the costs to the public.

The choice of venue is also a separate issue. In international practice, halls with natural lighting are chosen for such tasting-competitions, because the evaluation of wine color and shades is an important component of the professional process. However, K. was elected in Armenia. Sports concert complex named after Demirchyan, an expensive, demonstrative, but obviously inconvenient area from a professional point of view. This once again shows that the priority for the government is not the quality organization of the event, but showing “scales”. It is not excluded that under the name of similar international events, a part of state funds is simply “written off” to be used for pre-election purposes. There is no doubt that, even if the current government does not take advantage of this “opportunity”, there is a clear pre-election calculation in this story. international guests, high-level events, media noise, selfies with beautiful views… All of these will naturally be used as pre-election propaganda, especially considering the dates of the event.

The government will undoubtedly try to convince the public that it is about raising Armenia’s international reputation. However, the reputation of the state is not built by expensive shows and demonstration events. It is built with transparent management, accountable and responsible government and justified spending of state funds. When money is cut from agricultural programs in order for the government to implement an international PR event, the public has the right not only to ask questions, but also to suspect that the real goal is not the benefit of Armenia, but the political reproduction of the government.

Until the government presents a clear and detailed report on the expenditure of every dram, until it explains how it turned out that in the case of Armenia, the organization of the event is three times more expensive than usual, this story will continue to be perceived not as a national success project and an opportunity for Armenian winemakers to enter the international market, but as another expensive government propaganda campaign paid for by taxpayers.

—