Tuesday, 

Armenian Mining Giant May Rehire Laid-Off Workers


Armenia - Open-pit mining at Teghut copper deposit, 20Dec2014.

A leading Armenian mining company said on Tuesday that it hopes to
resume soon production operations at a large copper mine in northern
Armenia and rehire hundreds of people that worked there until this
month.

The company, Vallex Group, sent the vast majority of its 1,200
employees working at the Teghut deposit on indefinite leave on January
12, citing the need for "planned prophylactic repairs" of the mine's
waste disposal facilities. It announced on February 2 that it will lay
them off due to what it expects to be a "prolonged stoppage" of mining
and ore processing at Teghut.

In its latest statement, Vallex specified that the layoffs cover over
85 percent of its Teghut workforce. But it said it will keep a
skeleton staff of around 300 employees tasked with maintaining
sophisticated equipment and guarding the vast mining site.

The company also said 200 other laid-off workers will be transferred
to other mining enterprises belonging to it. Those include a copper
smelter in the nearby town of Alaverdi and metal mines in
Nagorno-Karabakh.

"The company is hopeful that in case of a favorable course of events
it will manage to restore, within a short period of time, the [Teghut]
staff formed over the years," added the statement. It cited no
possible time frames, saying only that Vallex will be able to "quickly
relaunch production after solving problems facing the company."

The Liechtenstein-registered company announced the layoffs several
months after expressing its intention to significantly increase copper
ore extraction at Teghut. It said on February 2 that it needs to hire
Armenian and foreign consultants for conducting "scientific research"
for that purpose. It did not elaborate.

In recent months, environment protection groups have repeatedly
reported toxic leaks from Teghut's waste disposal dump contaminating a
nearby river. Vallex has denied those reports.

The environmentalists opposed open-pit mining at Teghut even before it
was launched in 2014. They argued, among other things, that the
multimillion-dollar project will lead to the destruction of hundreds
of hectares of rich forest.

Vallex pledged to plant a new and bigger forest in adjacent areas. It
also promised to create 1,300 jobs, build new schools and upgrade
other infrastructure in nearby villages.

The Teghut mine generated over 42 percent of Vallex's total operating
revenue which soared by about 32 percent to $358 million last
year. The mining group benefited from rising international prices of
copper and other non-ferrous metals.

A loan extended by the Russian commercial bank VTB has covered most of
$380 million in capital investments which Vallex claims to have made
in Teghut. The company also tried to secure through VTB a $62 million
credit from a Danish pension fund for buying Danish mining equipment.

Denmark's Export Credit Agency (EKF) initially agreed to guarantee the
export credit. However, EKF withdrew the guarantee in October,
accusing the Teghut operator of failing to comply with environmental
standards.



Armenian Government Plans More Borrowing In 2018


 . Sargis Harutyunyan


Armenia - Finance Minister Vartan Aramian attends a parliamentary
hearing in Yerevan on the Armenian state budget for 2017, 31Oct2016.

Armenia's public debt is continuing to rise in absolute terms despite
its government's plans to sharply cut back on borrowing this year.

The total amount of the government's and the Central Bank's
outstanding debts rose by $123.5 million to almost $6.9 billion last
month. Low-interest loans extended by the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund and other multilateral institutions
account for most of this figure.

According to official estimates, the government's debt was equivalent
to 55.4 percent of Armenia's Gross Domestic Product at the end of last
year. Finance Minister Vartan Aramian said in December that the
government will cut this ratio to 54.4 percent by the end of 2018.

Aramian told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) late last week
that the government is planning to obtain around $360 million in fresh
loans this year to finance the state budget deficit. "This is a
substantial decrease from last year," he stressed.

The Armenian public debt rose by $863.5 million in 2016 and 832.5
million in 2017. It stood at $1.9 billion before the 2008-2009 global
financial crisis that plunged the county into a severe recession.

Artak Manukian, an independent economist, noted that the debt grew
faster than the Armenian economy last year. He said this fact is
raising questions about "the qualitative aspect" of economic growth
which accelerated to 6.7 percent in 2017, according to official
statistics.

Annual government spending on debt servicing is expected to peak at
$736 million in 2020. A senior Finance Ministry official said in late
December that $307 million is due to be spent on debt repayments this
year. The sum is equivalent to roughly 10 percent of overall public
spending envisaged by the 2018 budget.



Yerevan Council Session Marred By Violence


 . Anush Muradian


Armenia - Marina Khachatrian of the opposition Yerkir Tsirani party is
confronted by pro-government members of Yerevan's municipal assembly,
.

A session of Yerevan's municipal council descended into chaos on
Tuesday as three of its female opposition members scuffled with
pro-government colleagues while trying to stage an unusual protest
against Mayor Taron Markarian.

Zaruhi Postanjian, an outspoken opposition politician, and two other
council members representing her Yerkir Tsirani party brought to the
council auditorium glass containers filled with sewage collected from
a damaged sewer pipe in the city's Nubarashen suburb. A group of angry
local residents blocked a road there on Monday to demand that
municipal authorities quickly fix the problem.

Shortly after the regular session got underway, two Yerkir Tsirani
councilors put on gloves, took up the foul-smelling containers and
walked towards the assembly podium occupied by Markarian to present
him with what they called a "gift from Nubarashen residents." They
were confronted by a group of angry councilors representing the ruling
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK).

The two sides scuffled and shouted insults at each other in ensuing
chaotic scenes. Members of Yelk, a less radical opposition group also
represented in the council, tried in vain to separate them.

One of the Yerkir Tsirani councilors, Marina Khachatrian, slapped a
male colleague from the HHK, Edmond Kirakosian, after being jostled by
him. Kirakosian slapped Khachatrian in the face while another HHK
member pulled her hair in response. Another government loyalist
grabbed her around the waist and forcibly dragged her away moments
later.


Armenia - Zaruhi Postanjian (L) and two other members of her Yekir
Tsirani party stage a protest at a session of Yerevan's municipal
council, .

The two other women were also forced out of the council room before
Markarian interrupted the session. The mayor's allies defended the use
of force against them. One of them, Naira Nahapetian, claimed that the
Yerkir Tsirani action was an "attack on Taron Markarian."

"We too condemn the use of force and nobody can use force here," the
mayor said for his part.

Postanjian and her two associates remained defiant when the session
resumed after the emergency break in the presence of police officers
called in by Markarian. By contrast, journalists were barred from
returning to the chamber without any clear explanation.

"That foul smell will accompany you wherever you go," Postanjian told
the pro-government majority. "Even your expensive perfume and cognac
won't save you. You can't suffocate from foul smell. But you must be
poisoned. We are going to poison your lives."

Yerkir Tsirani won 5 seats in Yerevan's 65-member council in municipal
elections held in May. The party set up a year ago effectively lost
two of those seats as a result of defections. Postanjian and the two
other women have frequently clashed with Markarian and his allies
during council sessions.

They also have uneasy relations with Yelk, which holds 14 council
seats. Postanjian has branded Yelk as President Serzh Sarkisian's
"clients."



Press Review



"Zhamanak" says that the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the
OSCE Minsk Group had Azerbaijan in mind when they called for
additional measures to boost ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict zone after ending a fresh regional tour on Sunday. "It is
evident that [Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev is in a sort of
diplomatic deadlock and his aggressive steps reflect that, rather than
his self-confidence," writes the paper. Even so, it says, Aliyev still
gets away with keeping tensions on the frontlines high and making
anti-Armenian statements. The Armenian diplomacy should have ensured
more explicit international criticism of his actions, it says.

Interviewed by "168 Zham," a German political analyst, Uwe Halbach,
sees "some positive notes" in the co-chairs' latest statement. He
argues that the mediators described the current situation along the
Karabakh "line of contact," deplored inflammatory statements and
mentioned the pre-election periods in Armenia and Azerbaijan. "Of
course the statement wasn't targeted, for which it is criticized by
many people," says Halbach. "But many others see a rational
negotiation process. I personally find this approach positive."

"Zhoghovurd" says there is now little doubt that President Serzh
Sarkisian will become prime minister after the end of his final
presidential term on April 9. Despite this, the paper says,
representatives of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) remain
coy about his political future in their public statements. "The
Republicans' behavior is surprising, to put it mildly," it
says. "After all, there is no point in prolonging the game so much,
especially given that the authorities' intentions were already clear
several years ago."

"Haykakan Zhamanak" says public statements made by the presidential
candidate Armen Sarkissian these days "totally correspond to Serzh
Sarkisian's wishes." "[Sarkissian] has spoken a lot but in essence
said little so far," explains the paper. "More importantly, he is
giving no indications that he is unhappy with that Serzh Sarkisian is
taking away from the future president what little powers they were
supposed to have." It goes on to claim that the post of president of
Armenia will become "the most uninteresting, the most dull and the
most meaningless" in the world.

(Tigran Avetisian)


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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