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    Categories: 2017

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 08/01/2017

                                        Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Sarkisian Touts Armenia's `Special' Ties With Iran


 . Emil Danielyan


Iran - The front page of the reformist "Shargh" daily carrying an
interview with Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian, 31Jul2017.

President Serzh Sarkisian has reaffirmed his desire to deepen
Armenia's relations with neighboring Iran "in all areas" of mutual
interest.

"Many prerequisites are in place for further development of the
special relationship between our countries and peoples," Sarkisian
told the Iranian daily "Shargh" in an interview published on Monday.

"Our countries are the inheritors of ancient and rich civilizations of
the region firmly linked to each other by millennia-old neighborhood,"
he said, according to the Armenpress news agency.

Armenian-Iranian relations, Sarkisian went on, are also based on a
"dialogue between Christianity and Islam," "cultural similarities" as
well as common geopolitical interests.Both nations are "builders" of
regional security, he declared.

Sarkisian will underline those relations when he flies to Tehran later
this week to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iran's recently
reelected President Hassan Rouhani. The Armenian leader was also
present at Rouhani's first inauguration in August 2013.

"Our countries belong to the same culture and civilization," Rouhani
said during an official visit to Yerevan in December. He also said
that Iran will increase exports of natural gas to Armenia and deepen
broader economic ties with its Christian neighbor.


Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian (R) greets his Iranian counterpart
Hassan Rouhani at Yerevan airport, 21Dec2016.

Speaking to "Shargh," Sarkisian stressed the importance of boosting
bilateral commerce. He pointed to the ongoing construction of a new
power transmission line, which should significantly increase Armenian
electricity exports to the Islamic Republic, and the upcoming launch
of a "free economic zone" on the Armenian-Iranian border.

Sarkisian further noted that ongoing negotiations on a free trade deal
between Iran and the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) were
initiated by his administration. Iranian investors could also take
advantage of Armenia's preferential trade regime with the European
Union, he said.

Earlier this year, officials from Armenia's Transport Ministry and
national rail network encouraged Iranian businesspeople to use
Armenian territory for shipping commercial freight to and from
Europe. At a meeting in Yerevan, they presented financial and
logistical details of the proposed transport corridor that would also
pass through Georgia and the Black Sea.

In June 2016, Rouhani attended the signing in Tehran of an
Armenian-Iranian agreement on visa-free travel between citizens of the
two states. In Sarkisian's words, the number of Iranian tourists
visiting Armenia has significantly risen since then.

There have also been signs of growing military cooperation between
Yerevan and Tehran. Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian held
talks with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Dehqan during an official
visit to Iran in January. Sargsian referred to defense industry as a
potential area of bilateral cooperation.



Four Killed In Shooting Spree In Armenia


 . Anush Muradian


Armenia - A building in the village of Shamiram where four men were
shot dead and seven others wounded on 1Aug2017.

Armenian law-enforcement authorities were hunting on Tuesday for a man
who killed four people and wounded seven others in a village about 50
kilometers west of Yerevan.

The gunman went on a shooting spree after bursting into a building in
the Yazidi-populated village of Shamiram where hundreds of men
gathered in the morning for a Yazidi religious feast. He fled the
scene but left his empty car on the village outskirts.

"A guy approached one of our men and fired the first gunshots," an
eyewitness told reporters. "The moment we heard the gunfire we all
ducked under the tables."

Police officers and forensic experts cordoned off the crime scene in
the following hours. In a statement, the Armenian police said the
gunman opened fire with a hunting rifle. "Measures are being taken to
track down the suspect," said the statement.

Another police statement released later in the day, identified the
suspect as Telman Kalashian, a 50-year-old resident of another
village. The man's photograph was attached to the statement.

Another law-enforcement body, the Investigative Committee, said that
"large-scale investigative and search operations" are underway. It
said the mass shooting resulted from the gunman's "unfriendly personal
relations" with the victims but did not elaborate.

Some Shamiram residents suggested that a financial dispute was behind
the killings that shocked the country. One man who was present at the
ill-fated dinner said the shooter shouted "give me my money back"
before firing the first gunshots.

Other villagers confirmed that the gunman is not a Shamiram
resident.They said that two of the victims lived in Shamiram while the
two others were visitors from Russia.



Armenian Exports Up In 2017


Armenia - A copper ore-processing plant in Kajaran, 6Feb2016.

Armenia's exports continued to grow rapidly in the first half of this
year, helped by higher international prices of copper.

According to the National Statistical Service (NSS), they were up by
21 percent year on year, at $994 million.

Copper, molybdenum and other base metals and their ore concentrates
remained the country's number one export category with a 43 percent
share in the total. First-half export revenue from them soared by 30
percent on the back of last autumn's sharp rise in the copper prices.

This appears to explain why Armenian exports to the European Union,
the main buyer of Armenian mining output, rose just as rapidly and
totaled almost $302 million in January-June 2017.

By comparison, Armenia exported nearly $220 million worth of goods --
mostly prepared foodstuffs, alcoholic beverages and fresh fruits and
vegetables -- to Russia, the NSS data shows. Those exports were up by
27 percent in the same period.


Armenia - Workers at a commercial greenhouse in Ararat province,
19Apr2017.

The government agency also recorded a nearly 26 percent rise in
Armenia's first-half imports that exceeded $1.8 billion. With domestic
consumer demand remaining sluggish this year, this growth may stem, in
part, from a government crackdown on widespread corruption within the
national customs service.

Earlier this year Prime Minister Karen Karapetian's government
effectively pledged to ensure a steady increase in exports that would
eliminate Armenia's huge trade deficit within the next five
years. Senior officials from the Ministry for Economic Development
forecast that exports will approach the $2 billion mark this year and
rise by another $450 million in 2018.They said Russia and other
members of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) will absorb
most of the extra exports anticipated by them.

In its policy program approved by the Armenian parliament in June, the
government committed itself to achieving an annual economic growth
rate of around 5 percent in 2017-2022. The program describes rising
exports as "the key engine" of that growth, saying that the government
will strive to facilitate Armenian manufacturers' access to Russia,
the EU and other foreign markets.



Press Review



"Aravot" laments a lack of reaction from Armenian parties to possible
negative consequences for Armenia of new U.S. sanctions imposed on
Russia. "The Russians will not leave us alone and that is clear,"
writes the paper. "They will greatly step up pressure within their
country and seek to reinforce what they consider a buffer zone which
they have built around Russia under [President Vladimir] Putin and
which comprises Armenia. One should not exclude that Moscow will
demand that Yerevan rein in the [pro-Western] media and civil society
and escalate the situation long the [Karabakh] line of contact or
activate pseudo-radical groups in Armenia."

"These tensions in U.S.-Russian relations have caused serious concern
in Armenia as well," writes "Zhoghovurd." "It is evident that this
could have a direct negative impact on our country and its economy in
particular. After all, Armenia and Russia are in the same economic
area and the Armenian economy is deeply connected with the Russian
economy." The paper claims that the Armenian government has done
little to ease this economic dependence and diversify Armenia's
commercial partners. "On the contrary, Armenia's economy has grown
more dependent on Russia during Serzh Sarkisian's tenure," it says.

In an interview with "Hayots Ashkhar," Gagik Makarian, the chairman of
an Armenian business association, dismisses some opposition leaders'
calls for Armenia's exit from the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union
(EEU). Makarian says that Armenia has benefited to a certain extent
from its membership in the trade bloc. "There are goods that are now
imported [from Russia] without customs duties and cumbersome
procedures and at low prices," he says. "But we are not quite affected
by EEU regulations and mostly feel the impact of Russian laws. Russia
tells us directly or indirectly that its national laws take precedence
over EEU ones and thus creates artificial obstacles. We don't operate
on an equal footing. We seem to be looked down on."

(Tigran Avetisian)


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
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