World Index Shows Azerbaijan Behind Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - "It must be exactly because of their huge military budget that they have been working overtime at the border and repeatedly violating the ceasefire. They must have extra bullets to spare," Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said when asked by H2, the Second Armenian TV Channel, to comment on Aliyev's statements extolling Azerbaijan's increasing military capability. "But let's look at this from a global context. Today, in the civilized world, peoples and states don't compete over the size of their military budget. That's not what they take pride in when they compare themselves with their neighbors. Today, the spheres of competition are elsewhere. And in all those spheres, Armenia is ahead of Azerbaijan. So far ahead that there is really no room to compare. Beginning with the UN's human development index, Armenia is ahead of Azerbaijan. The international index that gauges Armenia's investment climate puts Armenia way ahead of Azerbaijan. They're not even a member of the WTO. There is no comparison in level of democratic development, human rights protections or press freedoms. In indexes that measure economic freedoms and development, and transparency and gains in the battle against corruption, Armenia is disproportionately better than Azerbaijan. Despite the fact that it's how many years now that Azerbaijan produces 400,000 barrels of oil, the per capita income in Azerbaijan still hasn't reached Armenia's. It is better that Azerbaijan tries to reach

Armenia's levels in these fields, than try to compete and take pride in being ahead with its military capacity," the Armenian FM said.