A few years ago I was talking to one of my friends in Yerevan and we started discussing the socio-economic situation in the regions. Anyone who has been in Armenia will have noticed the wealth concentrated in Yerevan, and the miserable situation in the rest of the country. His suggestion was to distribute the different ministries around the towns in the country. His logic was that the biggest driver of wealth in Armenia was the corruption in these administrative offices, so if you want to funnel money into the regions, the best way is to relocate these offices in the regions.
Such a solution seemed bizarre at the time because my thought was that the government should be trimmed down and the rules and regulations relaxed in order to eradicate corruption. But he knows the system and knew that fixing the Kafkaesque bureaucracy in Armenia is not going to happen. You solve problems with what you have and not what you wish you had (to quote Donald Rumsfeld).
Long story short, looks like the government has come to implement a program that's a mirror image of my friend's recommendation. They plan to move certain administrative functions to the regions - bank headquarters to Dilijan, some of the government agencies to Gyumri, etc.
Here is the RFERL coverage.
Խոսելով տարածքների համաչափ զարգացման մասին, վարչապետն առաջարկեց սկսել հենց Շիրակի մարզից, Գյումրիից` այնտեղ տեղափոխելով ենթակառուցվածքների մի մասը: Երեկ Սերժ Սարգսյանը առաջարկել էր բանկերի հիմնական գրասենյակները տեղափոխել Դիլիջան` Երեւանում թողնելով մասնաճյուղերը:
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