Wolfgang Ion: economy boost will bring peace to Southern Caucasus

Southern Caucasus sees a deficit of economic development. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has learnt about it from Wolfgang Ion, head of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (Germany) for Southern Caucasus, which was one of the organizers of the seminar "New Economic Thinking", held in Armenia.

The seminar took place on January 25-26 in the city of Tsakhkadzor. The Naumann Foundation organized it together with the "New Economic School" (Georgia).

"Poverty and unemployment are a serious problem of South-Caucasian countries. The situation stems from the deficit of economic development," said Mr Ion.

According to his story, market economy is the road to mutual understanding. When countries develop mutual economic cooperation, joint interests appear paving the road to peace.

The Friedrich Naumann Foundation sees its mission in Southern Caucasus in promoting economic cooperation between the region and European countries, as well as with Russia. A number of programmes have been developed to this end, which include topical meetings and seminars, and contributions to development and strengthening of the civil society.