In a televised news conference in Yerevan, President Robert Kocharian boldly projected an optimistic outlook for Armenia at the turn of the 21st century.

While Kocharian's confidence was based on reported investment programs with the World Bank and Lincy Foundation, he stressed that strengthening the tenets of political stability in Armenia would be the anchor to his projected outlook for the year 2001 and beyond.

While Kocharian's critics continue to feed on the country's internal problems, the authoritative "2001 Index of Economic Freedom," released Nov. 1 by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal, awarded Armenia a fair to good economic rating of 68 out of 155 surveyed nations -- a ranking it shares with Botswana, Colombia, Mali, Mauritius, Mexico and Namibia.

But in weighing Armenia's economic management, when compared with two of its adversary neighbors, the government in Yerevan warrants a "well done" for steering the nation on an economic index of upward success. Equally impressive for Armenia is that Turkey barely finished a notch ahead with a 63rd ranking, though politically and economically supported by the Clinton-Gore White House Administration for the last eight years.

Turkey was tied with Benin, Jordan, Slovenia, and Tunisia in its grouping.

Another bright point for landlocked Armenia, in the Economic Freedom Index report, comes when observers look at Georgia's 114th ranking, and Azerbaijan's dismal 139th rating -- also, like Armenia, former Soviet-controlled states.

As for the critical economic freedom rating chart, Armenia was given a "mostly free" rating, while Georgia and aggressor Azerbaijan were rated as being "mostly unfree."

The economic freedom survey points out that 70 of the 155 countries that were rated granted their citizens more economic freedom, while 53 imposed new restrictions.

What's the Index report mean to Armenia?

For starters, it shows that Armenia, even though landlocked and gripped with a continuing blockade of its borders by the human-rights violating states of Turkey and Azerbaijan, is still a good place for business investing.

Ratings for the "Index of Economic Freedom" are based on an analysis of 50 different variables, grouped into categories that include banking and finance, capital flows and foreign investment, monetary policy, fiscal burden of government, trade policy, wages and prices, regulations, and property rights.

Even oil-rich Saudi Arabia trailed Armenia with an overall 75th ranking.

At the same time, Russia was slapped with a 127th ranking, while tagged with a "mostly unfree" economic category; and the Ukraine, also a former Soviet republic, was graded with a poor 133rd ranking.

Armenia and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were given the best economic ratings of the former 15 Soviet republics.

While the Index report takes note of Armenia's "domestic political instability and insufficient progress in the rule of law," it focuses on the country as having "developed a rapidly growing trade with Iran and Georgia, particularly important for the transit of energy supplies, which has eased Armenia's isolation significantly."

Additionally, it addresses the need for Armenia to "encourage foreign investments, and attract Armenians who have emigrated back to the country," while it reminds us of the 1999 assassination of Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian and Parliament Speaker Garen Demirchian -- and the political turmoil that swept through the nation, which nevertheless was able to overcome the crisis that threatened to topple the government.

On its monetary policy, the Index report said, "Armenia has made significant progress in bringing down its inflation rate, and if Armenia proves able to maintain low inflation rates, its monetary policy score could improve in future editions of the Index."

The credible Index also gives credit to Armenia for offering "equal official treatment to foreign investors, and, as a result, Armenia's capital flows and foreign investment score is 1 point better this year." In the equally critical area of banking and finance, the Index said, "Armenia's banking system is becoming more efficient," yet reminds us that "Armenia has inherited the corrupt practices that had been common throughout the USSR state-controlled economy," and that these "practices continue in the new Republic since the country became independent in 1991." Yet when rating Armenia on its regulatory, property rights, and economic direction -- and in its continuing crackdown on black market activity -- the Index scored the country with a "stable" rating. Index co-editors William W. Beach, of The Heritage Foundation, and Mary Anastasia O'Grady, an editor with The Wall Street Journal, said this year's edition of the annual Index of Economic Freedom was focused on a set of factors that jointly determine the openness of an economy and its importance for economic freedom. The Index report, including charts and graphs, will be available on the Internet at www.index.heritage.org. For Armenians who take a special interest in the economic fate of Armenia, the Index report gives hope for the burdened country as it edges into the 21st century.

While all parties agree there's a need for political stability, and the practicing of democratic principles in Armenia, the Index of Economic Freedom sends out an encouraging message. In his Nov. 2 address in Yerevan, Kocharian focused on the start of the 21st century as a potential, positive economic turning point for Armenia.

The 2001 Index of Economic Freedom supports Kocharian's optimistic vision with an encouraging report and in its ranking of Armenia as a "mostly free" economic state.

(Editor's Note: Mitch Kehetian is the editorial page editor of The Macomb Daily, a suburban Detroit daily newspaper)