RIA Novosti EDB reports: Armenians prefer investment from Russia and the U.S.

The report was distributed by Eurasian Development Bank's (EDB) Centre for Integration Studies. This year, over 11,000 people from nine CIS countries - Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, and Ukraine - took part in the poll. To determine the preferred sources of investment and business activity, respondents from the CIS countries were asked, "From what countries would it be desirable for our country to have an inflow of capital and investment, or of companies, entrepreneurs and businesspeople to set up their businesses?"

According to the poll, 46% of Armenian respondents would prefer investment from Russia and 45% from the U.S.

The survey has shown that Armenia is more orientated towards investment from "other" countries. A total of 54% of respondents said they would prefer investment from other countries (vs. 37% in the previous poll). "This distribution suggests the countries' high openness to foreign investment, however their rather high "autonomy" does not let us draw an unequivocal conclusion," the EDB researchers note.

At the same time, 47% of respondents in Armenia would prefer investment from the CIS and EU countries (37% in the previous poll).

EDB is an international financial institution founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 with the mission to facilitate the development of market economies, sustainable economic growth and the expansion of mutual trade and other economic ties in its member states. The member states of EDB are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Russia, and Tajikistan.