Monday, Armenian FM Visits Embattled Qatar . Emil Danielyan Qatar - Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani meets with his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian in Doha, 18Jun2017. One month after President Serzh Sarkisian's official visit to Qatar, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian has travelled to Doha and discussed with his Qatari counterpart the Gulf state's bitter dispute with other Arab nations led by Saudi Arabia. Official statements on Nalbandian's weekend talks with Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani suggested that he reaffirmed Armenia's intention to continue deepening ties with Qatar. According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Nalbandian handed to Al-Thani a message from Sarkisian to Qatar's ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. A ministry statement said the two ministers discussed "the course of the implementation of agreements" that were reached by their leaders last month. Sarkisian and Emir Tamim reportedly agreed to give "new impetus" to bilateral cooperation when they met during the Armenian president's May 15 visit to Doha. Sarkisian used the trip to call for Qatari investments in the Armenian economy. Qatar - The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, and Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian inspect a Qatari honor guard at a welcoming ceremony in Doha, 15May2017. The Armenian government lifted visa requirements for Qatari nationals on June 1, four days before Saudi Arabia and its allies cut diplomatic and other ties with the hydrocarbon-rich emirate, accusing it of sponsoring extremist militant groups active in the region. Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharian indicated on June 8 that Yerevan will continue to seek closer links with Qatar despite the sanctions. In a short statement, the Qatari Foreign Ministry said Foreign Minister Al-Thani and Nalbandian discussed "ways of enhancing" bilateral ties as well as "the latest developments of the Gulf crisis." It said Nalbandian was briefed on "the siege imposed on the State of Qatar" by Saudi Arabia and its allies. Nalbandian was quoted by his ministry's press office as saying in that context that "all issues should be solved through dialogue." He also said that Armenia closely monitors "events in the Arab world" because of its "traditionally warm relations with Arab countries." No other details were reported. Armenia has maintained cordial relationships with some of the other Gulf monarchies, notably the United Arab Emirates, which has an embassy in Yerevan. Saudi Arabia, by contrast, has refused to not only establish diplomatic relations with Armenia but also formally recognize its independence due to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Armenia also has a friendly rapport with neighboring Iran, Saudi's Arabia's arch-foe that has denounced the sanctions against Qatar. Kocharian, Nalbandian's deputy, suggested that the sanctions primarily result from Qatar's continuing relationship with Iran, rather than its alleged support for Islamist terrorism. 4 Ethnic Armenians Elected To French Parliament France -- French President Emmanuel Macron casts his ballot as he votes at a polling station in Le Touquet, June 18, 2017 Four ethnic Armenians, all of them representing French President Emmanuel Macron's political party, won seats in France's new parliament elected on Sunday. According to preliminary results of the two-round elections, Macron's Republic on the Move (LREM) and its Modem allies will control at least 355 of the 577 seats in the French lower house of parliament. The recently elected centrist president will thus enjoy a commanding majority in the National Assembly. Four of the LREM deputies -- Daniele Cazarian, Nadia Essayan, Guillaume Kasbarian and Jacques Marilossian -- are French people of Armenian descent elected from constituencies in various parts of the country. A fifth French-Armenian candidate fielded by the LREM, Pascal Chamassian, was narrowly defeated by Valerie Boyer, a pro-Armenian member of the outgoing French parliament. Boyer is affiliated with the Republicans, France's leading conservative party that came in a distant second in the polls. A senior member of the Republicans, Patrick Devedjian, was the sole ethnic Armenian deputy in the outgoing National Assembly.The 72-year-old former government minister did not run for reelection this time around. France is home to an estimated 500,000 ethnic Armenians, most of them descendants of survivors of the 1915 Armenian genocide. Macron and other major candidates courted the influential community during presidential elections held in April. Macron described French-Armenian ties as "privileged" ahead of the April 23 first round of voting in the French presidential race. He made a point of visiting an Armenian genocide memorial in Paris on April 24 to mark the 102nd anniversary of the start of the mass killings and deportations. He was endorsed by leading French-Armenian organizations three days later. Macron's main challenger, far-right leader Marine Le Pen, also made pro-Armenian statements during the presidential election campaign. Le Pen paid tribute to the French Armenians and said that Nagorno-Karabakh should be "reunified with Armenia." France has long maintained a warm rapport with Armenia. Macron's three predecessors -- Francois Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac -- paid high-profile official visits to Yerevan while in office. The Armenian government will underline these close ties when it hosts next year a summit of La Francophonie, a grouping of over 70 mainly French-speaking nations. New Armenian Government Program Pledges Major Reforms . Artak Hambardzumian Armenia - Prime Minister Karen Karapetian (L) and Deputy Prime Minister Vache Gabrielan (R) at a cabinet meeting in Yerevan, 19Jun2017. Prime Minister Karen Karapetian's cabinet committed itself to implementing "large-scale reforms" in Armenia in a new policy program formally approved by it on Monday. The Armenian parliament will debate the five-year plan of actions at a special session on Wednesday. The program's almost certain approval by lawmakers would amount to a vote of confidence in the government that was slightly reshuffled as a result of the April 2 parliamentary elections won by the ruling Republican Party of Armenia. Presenting the more than 100-page document to fellow cabinet members, Deputy Prime Minister Vache Gabrielian said "large-scale reforms" are at the heart of its key aim: to ensure Armenia's "sustainable development" from 2017-2022. He said it lists concrete actions that the government plans to take in the socioeconomic, security and foreign policy areas. "I think the government program is setting quite ambitious targets," Karapetian said for his part. "We have made clear which goals we want to achieve in terms of economic growth, unemployment, the minimum wage, export volumes as well as the tax-GDP ratio." In Gabrielian's words, the program is based in large measure on economic priorities which President Serzh Sarkisian laid out in his May 18 address to the newly elected National Assembly. "In the course of 2016-2040 we must ensure an average annual GDP growth of around 5 percent," Sarkisian declared in an extensive speech. The government's previous, six-month program approved by the parliament in October promised a tougher fight against corruption, better tax administration and "equal conditions" for all businesses. It described corruption as "the biggest obstacle to the development of the state" and said "conventional approaches" can longer address Armenia's socioeconomic problems. Opposition politicians dismissed that reform agenda as a publicity stunt. Despite mapping out its wide-ranging policies for the next five years, Karapetian's cabinet will have to resign when Sarkisian completes his final presidential term and Armenia becomes a parliamentary republic in April next year. The president has yet to clarify whether he plans to become prime minister, replace Karapetian by someone else or keep the current premier in office. Mediators Warn Against `Further Escalation' In Karabakh Azerbaijan -- President Ilham Aliyev meets with OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in Baku, 19Jun2017. International mediators on Monday called on Azerbaijan to avoid a "further escalation" of the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh following fresh deadly fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces. The U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group also announced that the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents are ready to "resume political dialogue" as they completed their latest round of regional shuttle diplomacy aimed at kick-starting the Karabakh peace process. In a joint statement issued after meeting Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku, they said they expressed "deep concern" over deadly truce violations along the Karabakh "line of contact" reported late last week. They said they "appealed to the leadership of Azerbaijan to avoid further escalation." "The Co-Chairs are sending the same message to the leadership of Armenia and de facto authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh," added the statement. "They encouraged the Sides to consider measures that would reduce tensions on the Line of Contact and the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan." The mediating troika met with President Serzh Sarkisian in Yerevan on June 10 before proceeding to Karabakh for similar talks with the Armenian-populated territory's leadership. On Friday evening, three Armenian soldiers died when Azerbaijani forces reportedly fired anti-tank grenades at their frontline position in eastern Karabakh. Another Armenian soldier was killed at a different frontline section on Saturday morning. Earlier on Friday, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported that one of its soldiers was shot dead by the Armenian side. It did not specify where the incident happened. Reacting to the Armenian combat deaths, the Karabakh Armenian military promised "targeted and disproportionate" retaliatory measures against the Azerbaijani side. For its part, Armenia's Foreign Ministry accused Baku of deliberately heightening tensions during the mediator's latest tour of the conflict zone. The ministry also protested against large-scale exercises which the Azerbaijani army began on Monday. The five-day drills will involve 23,000 troops and more than 100 tanks, according to the military authorities in Baku. Meeting with the mediators, Aliyev blamed the Armenians for the latest escalation. He claimed that his troops gave an "adequate response" to Friday's shooting of the Azerbaijani soldier. In their statement, the envoys -- Richard Hoagland of the United States, Russia's Igor Popov and France's Stephane Visconti -- also urged both warring sides to "re-engage in negotiations on substance, in good faith and with political will." "The Presidents expressed their intention to resume political dialogue in an attempt to find a compromise solution for the most controversial issues of the settlement," they said, adding that they will meet with the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers soon to discuss "modalities of the forthcoming work." The statement did not specify whether Aliyev and Sarkisian are prepared to hold a face-to-face meeting in the coming weeks. The mediators have been pressing for such a meeting for the last several months. The two presidents most recently met in Saint Petersburg, Russia in June last year. Press Review Armenia -- Newspapers for press review illustration, Yerevan, 12Jul2016 (Saturday, June 17) "Haykakan Zhamanak" says that the annual economic growth target of 5 percent set by the Armenian government is not ambitious enough and will not lead to tangible betterment if the Armenian economy expands at such rates in the years ahead. "For developing economies a 5 percent growth rate is much more attainable than for developed economics," writes the paper.It claims that the government is not really committed to ensuring Armenia's rapid development. "Hraparak" says that unlimited loyalty to the Ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) and readiness to commit vote falsifications for the HHK are much more important criteria than competence in the choice of senior officials in the country. "But there is a line which must not be crossed even in a country like ours," writes the paper. "When a state official obviously does not correspond to their position, when there is long-running discontent with them, when they illegally get rich and become impudent in front of our eyes and neglect Armenia's citizens and their interests, they must go." "Aravot" believe that Armenian officials were wrong to react angrily to European Union Ambassador Piotr Switalski's thinly veiled criticism of Armenia's Central Election Commission (CEC). The paper argues that Switalski not only criticized but also praised the conduct of the recent elections held in the country. "Both Switalski and other Western diplomats have made similar statements in the past," it says, adding that the Armenian Foreign Ministry did not protest against Switalski's remarks. "Politicians and government officials should on the contrary continue working with the European Union," continues "Aravot." "That can give us nothing but benefits. One of the benefits is a substantial decrease in electoral violations committed inside polling stations. What should be done to reduce administrative pressure and vote buying? That is a purely political problem. Switalski was right to point to that problem." (Naira Bulghadarian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2017 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org