Economist from Armenia Karapetyan Karen Vilgelmovich, who headed ArmRosgazprom for almost a decade, has strong ties in Russian business circles, especially Gazprom. He gained fame as a confidant of the former head of Armenia Kocharyan.
From September 13, 2016, he took over as prime minister of this republic. The Armenian people hope that Karapetyan will successfully carry out a number of reforms in the economic sphere and significantly improve the investment climate.
Karen Wilhelmovich Karapetyan, biography, marital status
The birthplace of Karapetyan is the city of Stepanakert of the Azerbaijan SSR, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region. Date of birth - 08/14/1963
In 1980, Karen graduated from high school and entered Yerevan State University, where he studied at the Faculty of Applied Mathematics, which he graduated with excellent grades.
Karen Vilgelmovich Karapetyan, whose family always provided him with full support, managed to make a good scientific career, which helped to occupy high posts in the future.
He and his wife raised three children.
Since 1989, he is a candidate of economic sciences.
In 2010, he received a doctorate. He has 32 scientific papers.
From 1985 to 1996, Karapetyan Karen Wilhelmovich worked in the republican Gosplan and was a member of the association of scientists.
In the same period, he was a teacher at Yerevan State University.
1996 -1998 - work as deputy general director of SE "Armenergo".
From 1998 to 2001 he was the General Director of Armenergo CJSC.
Since 2001, he was entrusted with the position of Deputy Minister of Energy of the Republic.
Some media sources say that Karen Vilphelian Karapetyan is in family relations with the former President of Armenia Robert Kocharian, who recommended him to the post of general director of ArmRosgazprom. This joint Armenian-Russian enterprise was established in 1997.
He held this position from 2001 to 2010, until his election as mayor of Yerevan.
Work in high posts
Since 2008, Karapetyan Karen Wilhelmovich took the post of chairman of the board of "Areximbank".
Since 2009, the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) nominated him a member of the Yerevan Council of Elders.
In the mayoral election of December 17, 2010, 51 of the available 65 were cast for Karapetyan at the Council of Elders.
On January 2, 2011, Karapetyan put forward a requirement that the city hall employees need to learn English.
January 20, 2011, he demanded an increase in the level of communication in Russian. Such innovations have caused mixed reactions.
Many young employees liked the prospect of learning English for free during working hours. Senior employees took these measures as an attempt to get rid of age-specific personnel who find it difficult to learn a foreign language.
01/20/2011 the new mayor of the Council of Elders for approval was presented a program of structural changes to the city hall. A key point in the new structure was the possibility of a redistribution of powers and the introduction of a new position of vice mayor of finance.
Statements and activities as mayor
Karapetyan constantly talked about the need to introduce a new municipal culture that would satisfy both urban residents and visitors.
As mayor, he was not a supporter of "personnel pogroms and personnel genocide." He did not plan to re-arrange the leaders in the administrative districts of the city, but proposed to play the game according to the new rules, increasing the requirements for managers.
According to the mayor, everyone who did not meet the high requirements should have left their posts.
03/15/2011 Karapetyan and the capital Council of Elders decided that all kindergartens belonging to the mayor's office should be free from April 2011.
The mayor emphasized that he was motivated by this social step by the social significance of this problem and forecasts of an increase in the number of children who need places in kindergartens.
In the summer of 2011, while carrying out a program to improve the city transport system, the Moscow City Hall doubled the cost of tickets for the metro since July.
As explained by Karapetyan, the previous tariff was provided through subsidies from the treasury of the administration, but this possibility ended, since there was not enough financial resources at the mayor's office.
After making this decision, the people went to rallies and protests, where it was stated that the double cost of the metro ride was unacceptable for the social situation prevailing in that period in the republic.
Conflict with street vendors
In early 2011, the mayor banned street trading. Traders had to move to the markets.
This decision was explained by the intention to streamline urban trading activities, but as a result, people who traded on the streets came out for protests.
01/26/11, a crowd of street vendors gathered near the city hall demanding the mayor’s resignation.
03.03.2011, the protesters came to the building of the republican government led by deputies representing the parliamentary faction "Heritage".
The protest led to clashes between protesters and the police. The protest of the protesters was expressed in dissatisfaction with the decision of the city administration related to bans on street trading, which deprived many people of earnings.
The President of the Republic, having received dozens of appeals from street vendors, instructed the city administration to understand the issue of organizing street trading within the city of Yerevan.
By April, the city hall announced that the first three mini-markets were opening in the Armenian capital.
The protest of street vendors, dissatisfied with the decisions of the mayor, lasted several months. By July, protests began to threaten hunger strikes.
Further aggravation of the conflict
On August 9, 2011, at the suggestion of the mayor, the Council of Elders of the City Hall of Yerevan decided to dismantle the stalls and kiosks located on the streets of the capital.
In the process of this dismantling, many clashes arose between the owners of the stalls and representatives of law enforcement agencies. The violent protests of the owners of kiosks and stalls were caused by illegal, in their opinion, actions of the city government.
08/10. near the building of the republican government, entrepreneurs initiated the collection of signatures for a message-complaint about the decisions of the mayor.
The next day, Karapetyan announced that in the near future only unregistered or non-working stalls would be demolished.
The owners of stalls and stalls near the government building again held a protest rally.
November 28, 2011 Karapetyan resigned as mayor, citing personal circumstances.
Karen Vilgelmovich Karapetyan - Prime Minister of Armenia
From December 2011 to September this year, Karapetyan lived in Moscow, where he worked in various positions in the Gazprom system.
In early September 2016, as a result of protests in the capital of Armenia, together with all members of the government, the head of the cabinet of the republic O. Abrahamyan resigned.
The Armenian President S. Sargsyan put forward a proposal to appoint K. V. Karapetyan to the post of Prime Minister of the Republic. This candidacy was approved by the Ruling Republican Party.
Karen Vilgelmovich Karapetyan, whose fortune must have increased during his time at the Russian Gazprom, began work on September 13 as Prime Minister of Armenia.