Thursday,
Francophonie Summit Starts In Armenia
Armenia - French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at a summit of the
Francophonie organization in Yerevan, .
Armenia hosted on Thursday a summit of the Paris-based Francophonie
organization attended by French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau and the leaders of three dozen other French-speaking
nations.
The two-day summit, also attended by government delegations from over 40 other
states, is the largest international forum ever held in Yerevan. It highlights
what the current and former Armenian governments have described as Armenia’s
“privileged relationship” with France.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian opened the gathering with a speech delivered in
French.
“I and all Armenian people are happy to host in Yerevan the 17th summit of the
heads of Francophone states and governments,” he said. “Welcome to Armenia!”
“Armenia is a young member of the Francophonie … and yet there is no need to
prove its commitment to promoting cultural and linguistic diversity and
fundamental values of the French language and the Francophonie,” he said. Those
values include respect for democracy and human rights, added the Armenian
leader.
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and French President Emmanuel Macron
greet each other at a Francophonie summit in Yerevan, .
Armenia and Moldova are the only former Soviet republics among the
Francophonie’s 54 full members. The three Baltic states, Georgia and Ukraine
have an observer status in the organization
Macron also addressed the summit, describing the Francophonie nations as a
global and diverse “family” that can contribute to international peace which he
said is under growing threat.
“We do not have the same skin color, our gods do not bear the same names and
some of us do not believe in God,” he said. “We also live in very different
climate zones and our songs are not similar. Our histories do not originate
from the same sources and there have been many wounds between us which are only
now starting to heal.”
“Yet strangely enough, this diverse family is united around a single language …
That language does not belong to anyone, it belongs to all of us,” declared
Macron.
Armenia - Leaders of French-speaking nations pose for a photograph at a
Francophonie summit in Yerevan, .
While in Yerevan, the French president is expected to hold talks with
Pashinian. The two men most recently met in Paris on October 5 when the French
government organized a national homage to Charles Aznavour, the legendary
French singer of Armenian descent who died earlier this month.
Pashinian paid tribute to Aznavour in his speech. At his request, the summit
participants remembered the late crooner with rapturous applause.
One of the highlights of the summit will be the election of the new head of the
Francophonie. Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo is widely expected
to replace Canadian Michaelle Jean as the organization’s secretary general.
France and the African Union publicly backed Mushikiwabo earlier this year.
Canada’s government withdrew its support for Jean ahead of the Yerevan summit.
Former Armenian Customs Chief Under Investigation
• Tatev Danielian
Armenia - Armen Avetisian, head of the national customs service, at a news
conference in Yerevan, 20 April 2004.
The National Security Service (NSS) has launched a corruption investigation
into a man who ran Armenia’s national customs service during former President
Robert Kocharian’s rule.
The NSS said on Thursday that it suspects the controversial former official,
Armen Avetisian, of illegal involvement in entrepreneurial activity and money
laundering. But it did not clarify whether he or anyone else has already been
formally charged.
The NSS claimed that Avetisian financed the construction of a luxury hotel in
Yerevan when he headed the State Customs Committee (SCC) from 2001-2008. The
financing was carried out through an obscure company registered in Cyprus and
falsely presented as foreign investment, it said.
A video report released by the NSS also featured footage of Kocharian praising
the expensive hotel project during his presidency.
The development might be related to NSS Director Artur Vanetsian’s recent
allegations that Kocharian and his family accumulated hundreds of millions of
dollars worth of assets when he governed Armenia from 1998-2008. Vanetsian
promised last month to publicize “soon” evidence of the alleged enrichment.
Kocharian has dismissed the corruption allegations, challenging law-enforcement
authorities to prove them.
In an August interview with the Yerkir-Media TV channel, he denied that
corruption was widespread during his presidency. In particular, the embattled
ex-president insisted that Armen Avetisian did not make a huge personal fortune
while in office.
“I’m not saying that people were saints,” he told Yerkir-Media. “But all this
talk is very, very far from reality.”
The Armenian customs service solidified its reputation as one of the country’s
most corrupt government agencies during Avetisian’s tenure. The latter
developed extensive business interests, according to media reports.
Serzh Sarkisian sacked Avetisian shortly after he succeeded Kocharian as
president of the republic in April 2008. Just one week after taking office,
Sarkisian accused customs officials of abetting smuggling to illegally enrich
themselves and penalizing importers refusing to pay kickbacks.
Armenian Copper Plant Warns Of Shutdown
• Karine Simonian
Armenia - Toxic smoke billows from a copper smelter in Alaverdi, 6Sep2018
Top executives of a copper smelter in northern Armenia warned on Thursday that
it will be shut down if the government starts enforcing strict environmental
regulations there.
The Soviet-built plant located in the town of Alaverdi was recently fined
$800,000 for exceeding air pollution quotas set by the government in 2005. The
former Armenian authorities avoided punishing the plant for that.
Visiting Alaverdi on October 1, the recently appointed head of the state
Environmental Inspectorate, Artur Grigorian, accused the plant’s management of
failing to implement its five-year plan to reduce toxic emissions that have
long contaminated air in and around the industrial town. “The emissions have
not decreased,” Grigorian said at a public discussion.
Citing financial problems, the smelter management said that it is unable to pay
the fine and comply with the pollution caps. It warned that it will have to
halt production operations and lay off the plant’s 500 or workers.
Hundreds of those workers led by the plant’s chief executive, Lusine Mejlumian,
blocked on Wednesday a highway and a railway passing through Alaverdi to demand
that the government refrain from taking the punitive measures.
Mejlumian, other senior executives of the company and some of the workers met
with the deputy governor of the Lori province, Aram Khachatrian, on Thursday.
They told him that the plant will stop producing copper if the government does
not meet their demands within the next few days.
Khachatrian promised that senior government officials in Yerevan will discuss
the matter on Tuesday.
“Dear workers, let’s wait and see what kind of an answer we get,” said
Mejlumian. “You will then gather and decide your further actions.”
“If the government decides that the plant must work it will work,” said another
senior executive, Nikolay Feofanov. “If not, it will not work.”
The Alaverdi plant’s parent company, the Vallex Group, is currently in serious
financial trouble, having lost control over Armenia’s second largest copper and
molybdenum mine after failing repay its massive debts to a Russian commercial
bank.
The bank, VTB, had lent Vallex the bulk of $380 million which was invested in
mining and ore-processing facilities at the Teghut deposit also located in
Lori. Open-pit mining operations there began in 2014.
Vallex shut down the mine in January this year because of being unable to
refurbish its waste disposal facility. Most of the 1,200 or so people working
at Teghut lost their jobs as a result. VTB took over the mine in payment for
the debt.
Vallex used the Alaverdi plant as collateral when it secured the loan from VTB.
It could therefore lose control of the smelter as well.
Press Review
“Aravot” has no doubts that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s political team
will have a comfortable majority in Armenia’s next parliament which is expected
to be elected in December. The paper predicts that Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous
Armenia Party (BHK) will finish third, not second, in the snap elections after
making “pledges of allegiance” to Pashinian. It says the likely election
runner-up is the Luys alliance made up of two parties that have until now been
allied to Pashinian. It suggests that no other political group will be
represented in the National Assembly.
This reality, according to “Aravot,” makes the question of who will hold
Pashinian’s government in check even more pressing. “True, the prime minister
and his ministers will not be taking bribes, getting involved in corruption
schemes or proving ‘tutelage’ to businesses. That will mark huge progress in
the development of our country, a prerequisite for positive public sentiment.
But this does not mean that there will be no reason to criticize the
government.”
“Haykakan Zhamanak” also expects Pashinian to enjoy an “absolute majority” in
the new parliament. “At this point, it is simply impossible to prevent the
government from being monopolar,” writes the paper edited by Pashinian’s wife.
“That can be prevented only if there emerges another force that will seem more
credible to the public … and be even more honest and transparent. But, let’s
face it, there is no such influential force at the moment.”
“Zhoghovurd” reports that President Armen Sarkissian on Wednesday met with
parliamentary representatives of the Republican Party (HHK), Tsarukian’s BHK
and Dashnaktsutyun following his consultations with Pashinian and parliament
speaker Ara Babloyan. The paper says the meeting came after it became clear
that most members of the current parliament are not opposed to its dissolution
and the holding of fresh elections in December. “In this situation, Armen
Sarkissian’s moves were unexpected, to say the least,” it says. The paper
speculates that the president may not be sure that the three parliamentary
forces will honor their pledges not to thwart the polls.
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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