Friday, March 29, 2019
Armenian, Azeri Leaders Meet In Vienna (UPDATED)
March 29, 2019
• Karlen Aslanian
Austria -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijan's President
Ilham Aliyev meet in Vienna, 29Mar2019.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev
met in Vienna on Friday for fresh talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Neither leader made public statements immediately after the talks which lasted
for more than three hours.According to the TASS news agency, Pashinian said
only that the meeting was “normal.”
The meeting held in a hotel in the Austrian capital began in the presence of
the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers as well as the U.S., Russian and
French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. Aliyev and Pashinian then spoke one
on one for roughly two hours before being again joined by the ministers and the
mediators.
Stephane Visconti, the Minsk Group’s French co-chair, described the summit as
“positive,” saying that the two sides got a better idea of each other’s
position. “We hope that a new meeting will be held soon,” Visconti told
reporters.
Pashinian was expected to comment on the summit later in the day at a meeting
with members of the Armenian community of Austria.
Aliyev and Pashinian previously met on January 22 on the sidelines of the World
Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. They also talked during the summits of
former Soviet republics held in September and December.
Their foreign ministers similarly held a series of lengthy negotiations,
fuelling more speculation about major progress towards a resolution of the
Karabakh conflict. They also met in Vienna late on Thursday.
Pashinian sought to lower expectations from the Vienna talks when he spoke in
the Armenian parliament earlier this week. He also made clear that he will
continue to insist on Karabakh’s direct involvement in Armenian-Azerbaijani
peace talks.
Aliyev and other Azerbaijani leaders have repeatedly rejected the Armenian
leader’s calls for the Karabakh Armenians to become a third negotiating party.
World Bank Approves More Funding For Armenia
March 29, 2019
U.S. -- The World Bank building in Washington, April 9, 2008
The World Bank Group has pledged to provide Armenia with around $500 million in
fresh loans and other funding over the next five years in support of its new
government’s reform agenda.
The group’s executive board approved the 2019-2023 Country Partnership
Framework (CPF) for Armenia at a meeting held in Washington late on Thursday.
In a statement, it said the CPF is “fully aligned” with the Armenian
government’s five-year policy program adopted earlier this year.
“The proposed World Bank Group strategy will capitalize on the momentum and
political will for deeper reforms and renewed commitment to good governance
sparked by recent changes in Armenia to support a rebalancing of the economy
toward a new growth model,” said Sylvie Bossoutrot, the head of the World Bank
office in Yerevan.
The bank’s previous, four-year assistance strategy for Armenia was approved in
2013. It called for $873 million in total funding.
The latest CPF calls for more low-interest loans to Yerevan as well as
investments by the World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance
Corporation (IFC), and risk insurance division, the Multilateral Investment
Guarantee Agency (MIGA).
The Armenian energy sector is understood to be a major beneficiary of the
planned aid package. The bank said IFC, which specializes in equity purchases,
will help to modernize the sector in order to reduce its reliance on imported
fuel.
“IFC will also support the government’s efforts to increase competition and
open the economy to foreign investment by providing direct financing to
companies and supporting the development of export-oriented industries,” added
its statement.
“IFC welcomes the opening of Armenia’s economy and the creation of new
opportunities for investment,” said Jan van Bilsen, the IFC regional manager
for the South Caucasus.
The World Bank has already been Armenia’s leading foreign creditor and donor,
having provided it with over $2 billion in loans and grants since 1992.
The government program cited by the bank envisages that the Armenian economy
will grow by at least 5 percent annually for the next five years. In its latest
Global Economic Prospects report released in January, the World Bank forecast
slightly lower growth rates for this year and 2020.
Armenia To Send Rescue Teams To Flood-Hit Iran
March 29, 2019
IRAN -- A general view of flooding in Golestan province, Iran, March 22, 2019
Armenia’s government said on Friday that it will send rescue teams and
equipment to neighboring Iran to help authorities there deal with the
consequences of deadly flash floods which hit the country last week.
The floods caused by heavy rain have reportedly left at least 37 people dead
and tens of thousands of others displaced. Thousands of Iranians are being
housed in emergency shelters provided by the government, according to state
media.
The semiofficial Tasnim news agency quoted Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as
saying on Wednesday that the floods affected 25 of Iran's 31 provinces and that
the scale of the disaster overwhelmed emergency services in some areas.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said he is “deeply shocked” by the loss
of life. “At this difficult moment Armenia is ready to support the friendly
people of Iran and provide necessary assistance to overcome the consequences of
the disaster,” Pashinian tweeted in English and Farsi.
Armenia’s Minister for Emergency Situations Felix Tsolakian reaffirmed the
offer on Thursday at a meeting with the Iranian ambassador in Yerevan, Seyyed
Kazem Sajjad.
“We want to send humanitarian assistance to Iran,” Tsolakian told fellow
members of the Armenian government the following day. “That will be organized
through the Russian-Armenian humanitarian center.”
“We will be sending technical equipment, machinery and rescuers,” he said,
according to the Armenpress news agency.
Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian, who chaired the cabinet meeting, welcomed
the initiative, describing Iran as a “friendly country.”
Senior officials at the Armenian Rescue Service, which is part of Tsolakian’s
ministry, discussed details of the relief effort later on Friday.
Armenia has maintained a cordial relationship with Iran ever since its
independence. Pashinian and Rouhani pledged to deepen bilateral ties during the
Armenian leader’s recent official visit to the Islamic Republic.
Armenian-Azeri Summit Described As ‘Positive’
March 29, 2019
Austria -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijan's President
Ilham Aliyev meet in Vienna, 29Mar2019
Armenia and Azerbaijan described the latest meeting of their leaders as
“positive” on Friday, saying that they again agreed to strengthen the ceasefire
regime in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone and continue their dialogue.
“The meeting took place in a positive and constructive atmosphere and provided
an opportunity for the two leaders to clarify their respective positions,” the
foreign ministers of the two warring nations said in a joint statement issued
hours after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian met with Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev in Vienna. “They exchanged views about several key issues of the
settlement process and ideas of substance.”
“The two leaders underlined the importance of building up an environment
conducive to peace and taking further concrete and tangible steps in the
negotiation process to find a peaceful solution to the conflict,” read the
statement which was also signed by the U.S., Russian and French mediators
co-heading the OSCE Minsk Group.
It said Aliyev and Pashinian “recommitted to strengthening the ceasefire.”
“They also agreed to develop a number of measures in the humanitarian field,”
it said, adding that the two leaders will “continue their direct dialogue.”
Pashinian also called the summit “positive.” “I cannot say that there has been
a breakthrough, revolution or landmark event in the negotiating process,” he
told members of the Armenian community of Austria. “But it is very important
that a new process, which allows us to talk about our agendas, ideas and
issues, has begun.”
“Obviously each of us strongly believes in his own position, but can we start
talking not just about our own positions but also the other side’s positions?”
said Pashinian. “What is logical in the opposite side’s position and what is
not? I find the meeting positive in this sense.”
Pashinian did not say whether he and Aliyev narrowed their differences over a
compromise solution to the Karabakh conflict that has long been advanced by the
mediators. He implied that they discussed his repeated calls for Karabakh’s
direct involvement in Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks but did not report any
understandings on this issue.
Aliyev and other Azerbaijani leaders have denounced those calls as an attempt
to obstruct the negotiating process.
The Vienna summit was Pashinian’s and Aliyev’s fourth face-to-face encounter in
six months. The two men spoke for the first time in September on the sidelines
of a summit of ex-Soviet states held in Tajikistan. There has been a
significant decrease in ceasefire violations around Karabakh and along the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border since then.
Pashinian stressed on Friday the importance of maintaining the “stable
situation” on the frontlines and boosting the safety of residents of Armenian
and Azerbaijani border villages.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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