Acemoglu declines comment on Pashinyan invitation

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian-American economist and Nobel Prize laureate Daron Acemoglu declined to comment on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's invitation, made several years ago, to help support Armenia's economic development.

In 2018, Pashinyan said he had invited Acemoglu to assist with Armenia's economic recovery and development, but the economist did not travel to Armenia.

"Everything is quite complicated, so let's move on to the next question," the economist said while speaking to journalists during the Eurasian Development Bank Business Forum in Kazakhstan, according to Sputnik Armenia.

Commenting on Armenia's economy, Acemoglu said that, unlike several countries in Central Asia, Armenia does not possess abundant natural resources, meaning its comparative advantages must be developed in other areas.

"I believe that digital transformation is creating new opportunities for Armenia. However, the fact that it is a very small country with limited domestic demand and isolated from its natural markets creates certain difficulties," the economist said.

Daron Acemoglu was born in Istanbul. After graduating from the London School of Economics, he joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).