Thursday,
Armenian, Azeri FMs To Meet Again
• Astghik Bedevian
U.S. -- Foreign Ministers Zohrab Mnatsakanian of Armenia and Elmar Mammadyarov
of Azerbaijan and international mediators meet in Washington, June 20, 2019.
Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian said on Thursday he will meet with his
Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov again soon for fresh talks on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“Our objective is to continue the dialogue at the level of the foreign
ministers,” he told reporters.
Mnatsakanian did not specify the date or venue of the talks. But other sources
told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that they are likely to be held in New York in
September.
The two ministers most recently met in Washington on June 20 in the presence of
the U.S., Russian and French mediators co-heading the OSCE Minsk Group. The
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry described that meeting as “positive.”
The mediators said it focused on recent armed incidents around Karabakh and
“core issues of the settlement process.” In a joint statement, they said they
urged the conflicting parties to “restore an atmosphere conducive to peace and
favorable to substantive talks.”
Mnatsakanian and Mammadyarov have met on a regular basis over the past year.
There have also been a series of face-to-face negotiations between Armenian
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Deadly
truce violations along “the line of contact” around Karabakh and the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border decreased significantly following the first
Aliyev-Pashinian talks held in September 2018.
According to Mnatsakanian, another Armenian-Azerbaijani summit is not being
“planned” yet.
In a speech delivered before senior Armenian diplomats on Tuesday, Mnatsakanian
charged that “Azerbaijan’s unchanged policy of Armenophobia continues to
threaten the existence of the Karabakh people.” He also said that Yerevan will
never accept a peaceful settlement limiting the Karabakh Armenians’ right to
self-determination.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry condemned these remarks on Wednesday, saying
that they could reignite tensions in the Karabakh conflict zone. “The Armenian
authorities must finally decide whether they want peace or an escalation of the
situation,” it warned in a statement.
Mnatsakanian shrugged off Baku’s reaction. “I don’t want to pay much attention
to that because it would mean entering a field which is not interesting for
me,” he said.
Former Tax Chief Faces More Corruption Charges
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia -- Finance Minister Gagik Khachatrian speaks in the parliament in
Yerevan, March 16, 2016.
Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) formally charged former Finance
Minister Gagik Khachatrian with abuse of power and misuse of public funds on
Thursday two days after arresting him.
He was already indicted shortly before his arrest as part of a separate
corruption investigation conducted by another law-enforcement body, the Special
Investigative Service (SIS).
The SIS revealed the indictment on Tuesday as NSS officers searched
Khachatrian’s and his relatives’ homes and offices. The once influential
ex-minister and his nephew Karen were taken into custody a few hours later.
Karen Khachatrian used to run an internal security division of the State
Revenue Committee (SRC). The government agency comprising Armenia’s tax and
customs services was headed by Gagik Khachatrian from 2008-2014, during former
President Serzh Sarkisian’s rule.
According to one of Khachatrian’s lawyers, Yerem Sargsian, the NSS has asked a
court in Yerevan to remand both men in custody pending investigation.
It was not yet clear whether they will plead guilty to the charges brought by
the NSS. The lawyer on Wednesday appealed against his client’s detention.
The NSS has so far released very few details of the high-profile criminal case.
The head of the powerful security service, Artur Vanetsian, said on Tuesday
that the former tax chief is suspected of misusing “millions of dollars” worth
of taxpayers’ money while in office. He did not elaborate.
The current SRC chief, Davit Ananian, told reporters on Thursday that his
agency has provided “some documents” to NSS investigators. But he refused to
shed light on them.
Khachatrian, 53, had held various positions in the Armenian tax and customs
services before being appointed as SRC chief in 2008. He served as finance
minister from 2014-2016.
Armenian media outlets have long regarded Khachatrian as one of the country’s
richest men. He has always denied illegally enriching himself and his family.
Pashinian Aims For Faster Economic Growth
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian visits a newly refurbished textile
factory in Maralik, August 10, 2019.
Economic growth in Armenia could reach double-digit rates in the coming years,
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian claimed on Thursday.
The Pashinian government’s comprehensive policy program adopted by the
parliament early this year envisages that the Armenian economy will grow by at
least 5 percent annually for the next five years. The World Bank forecast in
January slightly lower growth rates for 2019 and 2020.
The government recorded a growth rate of 5.2 percent last year. Official
statistics shows growth accelerating to over 6.5 percent in the first half of
this year.
Speaking at a weekly cabinet meeting, Pashinian cited “good” macroeconomic
indicators registered in July. Those include a 16 percent year-on-year surge in
industrial output.
“What does analysis of this year tell us?” he told government ministers. “My
personal conclusion is that recording double-digit economic growth is not a
science fiction thing.”
Pashinian said that GDP would have increased more rapidly this year had the
government’s major capital spending projects not fallen behind schedule because
of delays in the selection of contractors and signing of contracts with them.
He said government agencies should therefore do a better job of organizing this
infrastructure spending next year.
The Armenian economy grew at double-digit rates for seven consecutive years in
the 2000s. That growth came to an end with the onset of a global financial
crisis in 2008. It averaged 2.7 percent per annum from 2008-2018.
Economy Minister Tigran Khachatrian sounded cautious about chances of renewed
double-digit growth in the country. “Bear in mind that everything will depend
on the introduction of new technologies and the volume of investments in
various sectors of the economy,” he told reporters after the cabinet meeting.
Press Review
“Haykakan Zhamanak” is disappointed with opposition and media reactions to the
arrest of Gagik Khachatrian, a former finance minister accused of corruption.
In particular, the pro-government paper laughs off claims that Khachatrian’s
arrest is a ploy designed to distract the public from government plans to allow
mining operations at the Amulsar gold deposit and that more such “scandalous”
arrests will be made if the situation becomes more tense. “The most pathetic
thing is that the authorities are faulted for taking positive steps,” it says.
“Exposing abuses committed in the past and recovering damages caused to the
state are definitely positive steps from the standpoint of both state and
public interests.”
“Zhoghovurd” reports on Wednesday’s meeting of the parliamentary group of Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step alliance. The paper says that My Step
lawmakers disagreeing with some government policies were warned that they have
to be “guided by the majority’s views.” “In other words, if the majority
decides something the few dissenting parliament deputies [from My Step] must
vote for it,” it says. “In other words, they are attempting to pressure
dissenters within the parliament faction.”
“Past” says that Pashinian has turned down an invitation to participate in an
upcoming international economic forum in Poland. “The aim of the forum is to
create a favorable environment for developing political and economic
cooperation between the European Union’s member and partner states,” writes the
paper. “It is not clear why the invitation was declined.” It notes in this
regard that the Russian government will host a similar gathering at around the
same time.
“Zhamanak” reports that it is still not clear whether Iranian President Hassan
Rouhani will accept Pashinian’s invitation to attend a summit of the Eurasian
Economic Union (EEU) member states that will be held in Yerevan in October. The
paper says that Rouhani’s presence would give the summit an “unprecedented
significance.” It speculates Rouhani will travel to Yerevan only if “very
concrete economic” issues are on the summit agenda. “Will Yerevan manage to set
it?” it asks.
(Anush Mkrtchian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2019 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org