Greece

Asian Stocks Fall as Greek Prime Minister Steps Down

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Asian stocks suffered a blow as Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou agreed to leave his post and Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi fought to maintain his advantage in face of the parliamentary vote.

HSBC Hodings, Europe’s primary lender, slipped 1% in Hong Kong, while Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. fell 2.3%. Cnooc Ltd. fell 2.2% after the Chinese oil explorer’s BP Plc purchase in Argentina fell through.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.4% in Tokyo, with approximately three shares falling for every two that rose. The measure fell 3.6% last week, the most since the beginning of the quarter, following Greece’s referendum plan.

“It might get worse before it gets better,” said Binay Chandgothia of Principal Global Investors in Hong Kong. “If you look at the experience in the last 12 to 18 months in Europe, the crisis brings out the right solution. The way they are going to move is one step forward, two steps backward. We have to live with this.”

Armenian Investment is Working

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Increased Investment Opportunities for Armenia

Good news for Armenian investments. According to the country’s parliament chairman, Hovik Abrahamian, attempts are being made to push for investments in the transport and energy sectors throughout the BSEC countries.* As well, the greater cohesion between BSEC member countries, the better for all, especially since this is the current goal of the National Assembly of Armenia. This is bound to lead to an increase in investment opportunities for the country.

Armenia Develops Iranian Energy Cooperation

When Armenia attempts to work with Iran, according to Armen Movisyan (the former country’s Energy Minister), around 80 percent of cooperation between the two countries comes from the energy sector, at an estimated volume of $450 million. If a third transmission is built and a hydroelectric power plant on Araks River, this will further connect the two countries which could also ultimately lead to the goal of establishing a “North – South” transport corridor.

Armenia and Energy Security

According to Sevak Sarukhanyan (Armenia’s Deputy Director of Noravank Foundation), “energy security is the most important issue for Armenia, as the country was probably the first state in CIS and the post-Soviet area to be hit by a severe energy crisis.” The two factors that basically led to this crisis were the closing of the Metasmor nuclear power plant in the late 1980s and the shifting of the country’s energy production to thermal power plants utilizing natural gas and fuel oil.

So it does seem today that there is much work to be done in terms of political and economic cohesion between Armenia and other BSEC countries, as well as Iran. At the end of the day – political affiliations and aspirations aside – most countries want the best for their citizens and that usually means working with neighboring countries to acquiesce the best investments.

*Established in 1992, the BSEC comprises Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine with Austria, Germany, Egypt, Israel, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Tunisia, France, the Confederation of European Energy Charter and the International Black Sea having observer status.