"The goal of the USAID Caucasus Regional Tourism Program is to establish strong regional cooperation between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia based on market drivers and common economic interests in the tourism sector, thereby contributing to cohesion and peace in the South Caucasus," the document emphasizes.
USAID experts note that previously there was no trilateral cooperation in the field of tourism between these countries, although Georgia to some extent has ties with each of the two states. Meanwhile, Armenia and Azerbaijan do not interact in the direction of tourism.
According to the document, efforts to promote cooperation in the field of tourism in the South Caucasus and in the wider region include the "Black Sea Silk Road Corridor" (a project funded by the European Union), the organization of package tours within the region, interaction between organizations involved in the marketing of tourist destinations, and even efforts in the field of territorial branding.
https://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/668131
https://keep.eu/projects/15772/Black-Sea-Silk-Road-Corrido-EN/
Political scientist Ivan Mezyukho, commenting on the project of "support" the tourism industry in a conversation with RT, noted that the American agency does not finance initiatives without a certain benefit for the United States. In his opinion, the new program is "interference in the internal affairs" of the Caucasian countries.
"If USAID interferes in the activities of Armenia, Azerbaijan and other post-Soviet states, this means that a base is being prepared there for influencing the processes in these countries, and clearly under a plausible pretext, another geopolitical reality is being built, in which the interests of our state should be affected," the expert concluded.
Earlier, the Center for European Reforms called for weakening Russia's influence in Georgia and Moldova.