Monday,
Armenian Minister Looks Forward To Impact Of Trade Deal With Iran
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia - Economic Development Minister Tigran Khachatrian speaks at a meeting
in Yerevan, March 4, 2019.
Economic Development Minister Tigran Khachatrian touted on Monday a
preferential trade agreement signed by Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union
(EEU) last year, saying that it could greatly benefit Armenian exporters.
The agreement signed in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana will be valid for the next
three years. It will abolish or lower import duties for around 300 types of
products traded between Iran and Russia, Armenia and three other ex-Soviet
states making up the trade bloc. The signatories pledged to work out a
permanent free-trade arrangement during the three-year period.
The deal has since been ratified by the parliaments of Russia, Belarus and
Kyrgyzstan. Armenia’s National Assembly is expected to follow suit soon.
Khachatrian said he is looking forward to the deal’s entry into force. “Iran’s
simplified trade agreement with the EEU will give major opportunities to
companies operating in the EEU -- and Armenia in the first instance -- in terms
of better access to the Iranian market,” he told reporters.
“It will also create opportunities for Iranian manufacturers for whom the
Russian, Armenian, Belarusian and Kazakh markets are not insignificant at all,
especially given the current state of the Iranian economy,” he said.
The minister argued that many of the 300 items covered by the deal are exported
by Armenia to Iran. Armenian manufacturers will also be in a much better
position to sell other products such as beef and mineral water in the vast
Iranian market, he said.
According to official Armenian statistics, Armenia’s trade with Iran soared by
over 40 percent, to almost $364 million, in 2018. However, Armenian exports to
the Islamic Republic accounted for only one-quarter of that turnover. Armenian
companies have long complained that Tehran’s protectionist policies seriously
limit their access to the Iranian market.
Khachatrian admitted that U.S. economic sanctions re-imposed on Tehran last
year could hamper greater trade between Iran and the EEU member states. But he
also said: “The sanctions are temporary, while the agreement is long-term.”
Economic issues were high on the agenda of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s
talks with Iran’s leaders held in Tehran last week. The two sides pledged to
deepen bilateral commercial ties despite the U.S. sanctions.
Attack On Armenian Blogger Investigated
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Office of the Prosecutor-General, Undated
Law-enforcement authorities on Monday pledged to investigate an overnight
attack on a video blogger highly critical of Armenia’s government, which was
reportedly carried out by a youth group at loggerheads with him.
The blogger, Narek Malian, was confronted outside his home in downtown Yerevan
by members of the group called Restart shortly after midnight. A YouTube video
of the incident showed the Restart leader, Davit Petrosian, and several other
men forcibly carrying Malian along an adjacent street before being stopped by
police officers.
Petrosian posted the video on his Facebook page, writing: “There are moments in
life when you can’t choose between the good and the bad and just have to listen
to your conscience.”
In a statement, Restart said it wanted to throw Malian into a trash container.
Petrosian likewise explained that he and his comrades tried “put the garbage in
its place” in response to what he called Malian’s offensive and slanderous
statements about their activities.
Malian, Petrosian, and four other men were detained on the spot but set free a
few hours later. The Armenian police said afterwards that they are “preparing
materials” for an inquiry.
The Office of the Prosecutor-General reported later on Monday that it has
opened a formal criminal case in connection with the incident. It said the
investigation will be conducted under an article of the Criminal Code dealing
with “hooliganism.”
Malian, who worked until last year as an adviser to former police chief
Vladimir Gasparian, described the assault as a “kidnapping attempt” and blamed
the Armenian branch of U.S. philanthropist George Soros’s Open Society
Foundations (OSF) for it. He said that Restart is financed by the OSF. The
latter did not immediately react to the accusation.
Malian linked the incident to his vocal efforts to prevent the sacking of the
long-serving rector of Yerevan State University (YSU), Aram Simonian, which is
sought by the government. The former police official last week staged a lone
protest at a meeting of YSU’s supervisory board that narrowly failed to fire
Simonian.
Restart has on the contrary been campaigning for the controversial rector’s
ouster since last year’s “velvet revolution” in Armenia. The youth group
comprising current and former YSU students actively participated in the
revolution.
By contrast, Malian has been very scathing about the dramatic regime change in
the country. He regularly attacks Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and other
government officials and pours scorn on their supporters on his Facebook page.
Incidentally, Pashinian was quick to condemn the assault. “Any attempt to solve
issues in Armenia through violence must meet with a tough legal reaction,” he
said in a statement. “In the New Armenia all those who follow the logic of
violence, deceit and spread of lies act against Armenia, against democracy and
against the people.”
Funding Secured For New Armenian Power Plant
Armenia - A thermal power plant in Yerevan.
A German-Italian consortium planning to build a new thermal power plant in
Armenia has secured over $200 million in funding from the World Bank Group and
other multilateral lenders.
The ArmPower consortium consists of a subsidiary of Germany’s Siemens group and
two Italian companies. One of them, Renco, will also act as the engineering,
procurement and construction contractor for the new Yerevan-based plant that
will further diversify foreign ownership in the Armenian energy sector.
Renco had supposedly launched the project with a ground-breaking ceremony in
March 2017 attended by then President Serzh Sarkisian. The start of the
construction was delayed, however.
Armenia’s current government froze Renco’s contract with the Sarkisian
administration shortly after taking office in May 2018. It said the deal is not
beneficial for the Armenian side and must be renegotiated.
The two sides signed a revised deal in November. Energy Minister Garegin
Baghramian said concessions made by the Italian firm will allow Armenia to save
$160 million in energy expenses over the next 25 years.
Baghramian also said that electricity to be generated by the new plant will be
cheaper than power supplies coming from two other gas-powered facilities that
currently meet roughly one-third of the country’s energy needs.
Armenia - Armenian Energy Minister Garegin Baghramian (R) and Giovanni Rubini,
chief executive of the Italian company Renco, at a news conference in Yerevan,
13 November 2018.
The Washington-based International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the
World Bank Group, also stressed the project’s economic importance for Armenia
on Monday. “A modern 250-megawatt combined-cycle gas turbine power plant in the
south of Yerevan will help increase efficiency for gas-fired electricity
generation,” it said in a statement.
The statement said the funding for the project includes a “$42 million loan for
IFC’s own account” as well as “$121 million from IFC’s innovative syndications
platform … plus parallel loans from the Asian Development Bank, the OPEC Fund
for International Development, and the German development finance institution
DEG.”
In addition, it said, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA),
which is also part of the World Bank Group, will provide up to $39 million in
loan guarantees to “help Renco manage non-commercial risks.”
“We are committed to starting the work as soon as possible to complete the
commissioning of the plant within schedule,” Renco’s chief executive, Giovanni
Rubini, was quoted as saying.
Rubini said in November that the construction will take just over two years.
Renco has done business in Armenia since the early 2000s. It has not been
involved in the local energy sector until now, investing instead in luxury
housing, hotels and office buildings. But the company has built, installed or
operated power generation and distribution facilities in other parts of the
world.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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