New Year’s address Arsen Ghazaryan, President of the Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen of Armenia

Dear compatriots,
Dear businessmen,

I sincerely congratulate you on the upcoming New Year and Christmas.

The year 2023 was indeed full of controversial experience. On one hand, we had high indicators of economic progress, on the other hand, war and depatriation, global complex geopolitical developments, sanctions, and at the same time, new prospects for development and opportunities for new markets.

From an economic point of view, the past year can be evaluated as successful. The country recorded an increase in basic indicators, a reduction in poverty, tens of thousands of new jobs were created, an improvement in living standards are recorded.

Unfortunately, 2023 was also a year of inhuman blockade, war and loss of historical Armenian territory. We must bitterly record the reality of the forced depatriation of 120,000 of our Artsakh compatriots, which is an unforgiving and open wound with many problematic consequences.

Here, too, it is necessary to pay tribute to the Armenian businessmen, who from the very first day supported solving the social and living issues of the forcibly displaced Artsakh Armenians, many of them were provided with jobs, and the emigrant entrepreneurs were involved in entrepreneurial processes. And all this will be continuous, because the task of all of us is to soothe the pain of loss, to help return to the normal life, to preserve the identity of Artsakh Armenians.

We were helped to withstand the unprecedented blow and the difficulties caused by the migration of tens of thousands of refugees, our united force, the vitality of Artsakh Armenians, and faith in our future.

Congratulating Armenians and entrepreneurship – the driving force of our economy, I wish 2024 to be a year of healed wounds, peace, health, success, progress and fruitful activities.

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas.