Press Review of the Caucasus (January 25-31)

One year after the entry of Armenia to the EAEC, a Doctor of Economics, Professor Ashot Tavadyan, spoke about the reasons why the country was granted membership in the pages of the newspaper ‘Voice of Armenia’. According to him, during the last year, although there was a decrease in exports of finished products from Armenia to Russia of about 25%, this decrease would be much bigger if the country were not a member of the EAEC. It would be necessary to pay additional customs duties on imports of products, which would reduce the competitiveness of Armenian goods on the Russian market. Plus, health and safety restrictions would be applied to these, which generally would turn to losses of 100 million dollars. A negative impact on the economy would have happened through private money transfers, 80% of which Armenia traditionally receives from Russia. Of course, now, because of the crisis in the Russian economy, the volume of transfers has decreased from 2.2 billion to 1.5 billion dollars, but if Armenia were not a member of the Union, it would put certain restrictions on the admission of labor to the EAEC. In this scenario, the volume of transfers, according to the calculations of the economist, would have decreased by one third to $1 billion.

Another important factor is the price of gas. The scientist reminded that his country receives Russian gas at the price of 165 dollars per 1000 cubic meters (for comparison,  Russia sells gas to the EU for 200-210 dollars). Even if the price for Armenia remained at the same level in the case of not joining the EAEC, the country would have had to pay 30% of the export duty paid by other countries. In this case, instead of the current $400 million per year it would be required to pay an extra $150 million annually.

In the last year the share of Armenia of the total collection of customs duties within the framework of the EAEC amounted to 1.13%, which in numerical terms amounts to more than $200 million. At the same time, before the entry of Armenia to the EAEC the volume of collection of the customs duties on imported goods from the EAEC ranged from just $150 million.

"Finally, the last point,’’ Tavadyan said, ‘’regards the products for strategic purposes. We are aware of what it is and how important it is for us to receive it at a reduced price," he said, apparently referring to the delivery of Russian arms.  "I will not cite specific figures, but it is clear that, if not for our membership in the EAEC, we would have limits in this direction," Tavadyan said.

Also, as a comparison, the scientist cited the assessment of what would have happened to the economy of Armenia if, instead of joining the Eurasian Union, it had acceded to the Association Agreement with the European Union. "This economic effect was calculated by European experts, it is estimated that Armenia joining the Association Agreement with the EU would increase the country's GDP by only 146 million dollars in the long run, and in the case of opening of transportation through Turkey. It is clear that, if Armenia was given the choice of saving annually $1 billion or about $150 million, the priority would be the vector of development, which shows us the real state of the domestic economy, namely the policy of the EAEC,’’ Tavadyan concluded.

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In the article ‘Analysis of Georgia's ability to integrate into the EU’ on the portal ‘Georgia-Online’ the author, based on criteria developed by European experts in the framework of the project MAXCAP, as well as the Copenhagen criteria in 1993, is trying to assess the country's capacity.

At first glance, all the ‘homework’ has been done. Quantitative indicators such as Polity IV, the Freedom House ratings for democracy, the World Bank's World Governance Indicators, and others, prove the readiness of Georgia to enter the EU. However, almost all experts in Georgia say the country has a weak civic society, democratic reform is not deeply rooted or entrenched in the institutions and society. People do not want and do not know how to defend their rights. Moreover, the protection of their rights in court is still considered to be bad form, and companies, banks, doctors, businessmen and other organizations use the poor legal literacy of citizens to save on services. There are not enough educated and competent people in the police and the non-governmental sector to implement the rule of law, human rights and the right, equitable treatment of people. In Georgian reality, due to a lack of development of the culture and practice of the social relations described above, the citizens cannot fully realize the potential of the high-quality public services. In addition, according to the author, in Georgia there is no democratic practice of the origin and functioning of political parties. In reality, the Georgian parties are funded by external capital, and thus a priori they appear to serve the interests of foreign actors. Another important indicator of Georgia's ability to integrate into the EU is also based on the Copenhagen criteria, which is economic opportunities. The main requirement of the EU is the country's ability to create a functional market economy, and a willingness to engage in the domestic economic environment of the EU on its own. In other words, the Georgian economy should not only be favorable for investment to maintain external assets and absorb imported economic benefits, but also produce them, export and invest in the economy of the EU.

In reality, the economic reforms have led to the fact that most of the economic niches that have already been developed have been given for rent to foreign groups of medium-sized and big business. With their help, employment of the population occurred in Georgia. Due to the economic activity of the foreign entrepreneurs, tax revenues, stability, and economic attractiveness have been provided.

According to the author, Georgia has not taken advantage of its achievements and the prospects that opened up. The favorable external environment has not provided an impetus to the development of the country's means of production; its favorable geopolitical location has not become the locomotive of the creation of a corporation or a state enterprise to provide transit, involving the construction of ships, aircraft and mechanical engineering; free trade with the United States and now with the EU does not stimulate the development of technologies that increase energy production from conventional energy by adding new items and other know-how; and the fertile land, clean water and climate are not encouraging the rehabilitation of the textile, food, agricultural industry and related business sectors; the global crises do not encourage the creation of factories, the power of which will help provide the population with everything necessary.

The author concludes that these features of the political and social environment of Georgia hamper the process of the Europeanization of the country, and the absence of the real economy in itself demonstrates the inability to integrate into the EU in at least the next 10 years, although at the moment the Georgian state and Georgian society have sufficient resources to develop more of the above-mentioned.

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The legislative innovations of 2014-2015 have considerably influenced the migration situation in Karachai-Cherkessia. The number of foreigners arriving in the republic has decreased by 23%, halving the number of migrants who have received work permits and patents, according to the local newspaper ‘Republic Day’ referring to the head of the Russian OFMS in the KCR, Nikolay Skoba.

Now in the country there are about five thousand foreigners, most of whom came there to work. As a rule, foreigners are employed in construction, agriculture and part-time work. Basically, they are citizens of Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan.

Along with the government of the Republic, a lot of work has been done on the reception and settlement of Ukrainian citizens, who arrived in the republic in droves in the emergency. In the temporary accommodation centers in Dombai at the end of 2015 there were 59 Ukrainian citizens, 19 of them minors.

Speaking about innovations in the migration law, the head of the national authority reported that from January 1st all the territorial divisions switched to electronic document management. In order to facilitate the integration into society of migrants and due to the law on mandatory exams on the Russian language, history and legislation of Russia, which came into force from  January 1st 2015, five local centers have been opened for working foreign nationals who wish to obtain Russian citizenship in the Republic, teaching them the Russian language and issuing certificates for the results achieved.

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In addition to the introduction of measures to strengthen responsibility for violations of migration legislation, economic incentives are being developed, opportunities for legal residency and migrant labor are being expanded. Since 2015 labor patents are being issued for the work of natural and legal individuals. In the country there are 92 legal entities and 2627 individuals as employers of foreign nationals. For labor patents registered in 2015, the amount of tax payments received in the budget amounted to over 28 million rubles.

As a result of passport checks and compliance with the rules of registration, 65 foreigners were expelled from the territory of the republic from Russia. During the reporting period, foreigners committed 37 crimes, including 5 serious crimes.

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A feeling of disappointment in Abkhazia was provoked by the refusal of the Armenian football team Ararat to arrive at a friendly match against Nizhny Novgorod's Volga FC.

The representatives of the team explained this was due to a ban received from the Armenian Foreign Ministry, provoked by an unwillingness to spoil relations with Georgia.

"The news of the cancellation of a friendly soccer match between Nizhny Novgorod Volga FC and Yerevan's Ararat FC has caused great regret and disappointment. The Armenian Foreign Ministry once again travels in the wake of Georgia,’’ the chief of the political Department of the Abkhaz Foreign Ministry, Irakli Tuzhba, said in an interview with the online publication ‘Sputnik Abkhazia’. He noted that in Abkhazia the memories are still fresh of the withdrawal from a competition by the Armenian side of Abkhaz athletes who were officially invited to participate in an international freestyle wrestling tournament in Yerevan in October 2015 at the insistence of Georgia.

He characterized the actions of the Armenian leadership as unfriendly steps against his country. He recalled that the two peoples have long historical ties and a large Armenian community lives in Abkhazia, which is an integral part of the multinational people of Abkhazia. He also noted the friendly relations between Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

As reported by the Armenian newspaper ‘New Era’, a group of Abkhaz deputies representing the Armenian community of the republic sent an appeal to the Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia, Galust Sahakyan, which stated that the Armenian Foreign Ministry, ‘’is openly lobbying for the interests of Georgia, has a policy of isolation of Abkhazia.’’ The deputies are counting on the fact that the Speaker of the Armenian parliament ‘’will put an end to this short-sighted policy.’’

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The premiere of the first animated cartoon based on Ingush legends and stories will take place in the middle of this year, the newspaper ‘Ingushetia’ reports.

Last year a team of animators visited the country to study the life and customs of the locals. During the study, the artists lived with families of local residents. This allowed them to understand the culture of the Ingush better in order to create a more soulful piece of art. As the curator of the project, Alexander Ilyin noted, their arrival in Ingushetia was made in order to understand what the Ingush heroes should be like.

The animated film ‘Sacred Fire’ is designed to acquaint Russian audiences with both the oral folklore of the Ingush and their rituals, customs, traditions and the history of Ingushetia, where 89 historic villages and more than 1000 monuments in varying degrees of preservation are concentrated. For this purpose, Ingush ethnographers, historians, writers, artists, filmmakers, writers, museum workers and fashion designers have been involved in the work on the film. The author of the script of the unique work is People's Artist of the Republic Ruslan Zangiev.

‘’During the writing of the script special attention was given to the life of the ancient Ingush, their clothes, toponyms and the names of the cartoon characters, so that the animation film can accurately reflect the spirit of the Ingush people, its culture as a whole," the author of the work said.

Work is currently under way on editing the script, matching the images of the cartoon characters and creating the music. People's Artist of Ingushetia Timur Dzeitov is working on the latter. The film is going to be available for wide distribution and to show on the central TV channels.