Why Is US-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Important at This Stage?

• 03.14.2018, 19:52
• Liana Hovhannisyan
•  America,  "Insight" Analytical Center ,  World,  Armenia

Last week the visit of the RA (Republic of Armenia) parliamentary delegation to the USA took place, which was unprecedented being comprised of the representatives of all the political forces of the Armenia’s parliament. In essence this visit was a logical continuation of the US congressional delegation visit that took place in 2017. It was the biggest delegation visit since the independence of Armenia and included members both for the US Democratic and Republican parties.

Below let’s refer to the main theses voiced and emphases made during the RA delegations visit to the USA.  

One of the main topics discussed was the RA-US cooperation in the tax sphere, particularly, the necessity to abolish double taxation. It will allow the investors from both sides to feel freer to invest in such mutually beneficial spheres as IT, agriculture, renewable energy and other types of trade. In this context the emphasis on passing from assistance to the cooperation based on trade was important.

Another important topic discussed was the possibility to re-include Armenia in “The Millennium Project” beneficiary countries’ list, in the direction of which a number of the US congressmen currently actively work. Despite exiting pessimism on the issue, on the current stage of developments, when Armenia and the US put emphasis on mutually beneficial cooperation, the re-start of the project can become important impetus for further deepening of the US-Armenia relations ensuring cooperation in such mutually beneficial spheres as science, technology, engineering etc.  

In the framework of the visit, the meeting of the Armenian delegation with Helsinki Foundation experts in the US congress was important. The topics discussed were the internal reforms aimed at Armenia’s passing to the parliamentary form of governance and possible ways of cooperation in this context.

Based on the format, timing as well as the topics discussed during the visit, we can draw the following conclusions:

• Such a format of cooperation is itself important as long as it is not limited to only ruling parties, but also creates new opportunities for cooperation among the US main two political parties and the RA parliamentary parties.

• At the current stage of developments, when Armenia is passing to the parliamentary form of governance, the cooperation with the US at the parliamentary level is especially prioritized taking into consideration the increased role of the Armenia’s parliament and parliamentary diplomacy as a result of the constitutional changes.

• At this transition stage the active cooperation with the US will allow to further boost the democratic development in Armenia which will form a strong basis for the productive operation of the parliamentary system in Armenia.

• The emphasis on the change of the logic of bilateral cooperation was also important, where the change from assistance based cooperation to trade relations was underlined, which is more than in accordance with the foreign policy of the current administration.