Monday,
Lavrov Talks To Armenian, Azeri FMs After Brussels Summit
• Heghine Buniatian
Tajikistan - The foreign ministers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan meet in
Dushanbe, May 12, 2022
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke with his Armenian and Azerbaijani
counterparts by phone on Monday one day after the leaders of the two South
Caucasus states met again in Brussels.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry reported that Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov
discussed with Lavrov the results of the latest Armenian-Azerbaijani summit
hosted by the European Union’s top official. It said they also spoke about the
implementation of Russian-brokered agreements to establish transport links
between Armenia and Azerbaijan and to demarcate their border.
The same issues were also on the agenda of Lavrov’s call with Foreign Minister
Ararat Mirzoyan. According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, they discussed, in
particular, the formation of an Armenian-Azerbaijani commission on the border
demarcation.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
set up on Monday two such commissions comprising senior Armenian and Azerbaijani
officials respectively.
Speaking after Pashinian’s and Aliyev’s five-hour talks in Brussels, European
Council President Charles Michel said overnight that the commissions will hold
their first meeting at an unspecified section of the frontier “in the coming
days.” Michel said the two leaders also agreed on the “principles” of
cross-border cargo shipments and other traffic.
Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian make statements to the press after
talks in Sochi, November 26, 2021.
Russia brokered similar understandings between Armenia and Azerbaijan after
helping to stop a six-week war in Nagorno-Karabakh in November 2020. Moscow
accused the EU and the United States of trying to hijack its peace efforts
following the previous Aliyev-Pashinian encounter hosted by Michel on April 6.
According to official Russian readouts of Lavrov’s phone calls, Mirzoyan and
Bayramov reaffirmed their governments’ declared commitments to fully
implementing the Russian-brokered agreements. Lavrov had already received such
assurances from them at a trilateral meeting in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe on
May 12.
The top Russian diplomat was also reported to discuss with them “a number of
further joint steps” on the border demarcation, the opening of
Armenian-Azerbaijani transport links as well as planned negotiations on an
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty.
It remains unclear whether the conflicting sides are planning to restart the
work of a Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani task force dealing with economic and
transport issues. Mirzoyan indicated in Dushanbe that it will meet in Moscow on
May 16 after a nearly five-month hiatus. The meeting did not take place, however.
It also remains to be seen whether Russian officials will be involved in the
demarcation process in an advisory capacity.
Armenian IT Sector Adds Thousands Of New Jobs
Armenia - Armenian and foreign IT firms display their products at Digitec Expo
Armenia 2021, Yerevan, October 29, 2021.
The government reported on Monday a nearly 50 percent surge in the number of
officially registered workers in Armenia’s information technology sector, which
appears to reflect a recent influx of skilled migrants from Russia.
Government data revealed by Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian shows that local
software development firms employed 20,000 people as of the end of April, up
from about 13,500 in the year-earlier period.
In a Facebook post, Kerobian said that the number of tech jobs registered with
tax authorities rose by 2,300 in April alone. He did not comment on the reasons
for the sharp increase.
The IT industry dominated by software developers has long been the most dynamic
sector of the Armenian economy, having grown at double-digit annual rates since
the early 2000s. A list of the country’s 1,000 largest corporate taxpayers
released by the State Revenue Committee in January included 36 tech firms.
Thousands of mostly young Russians relocated to Armenia following Russia’s
February 24 invasion of Ukraine. Many of them are computer programmers and other
IT professionals.
Armenia - Russian nationals are seen in downtown Yerevan, March 7, 2022.
Already on March 1, Kerobian announced that some Russian tech companies are
moving operations to Armenia to evade Western sanctions imposed on Moscow. The
sanctions restricted their access to high technology and complicated their
financial transactions abroad.
The precise number of such firms that have partly or fully relocated their
personnel to the South Caucasus country is not yet known.
According to the Armenian State Registry of Legal Entities, 268 Russian citizens
registered firms while 938 others received the official status of an “individual
entrepreneur” from February 24 through March 22. The vast majority of them are
involved in IT, the head of the agency, Tatev Mkrtchian, told the Armenpress
news agency.
In a related development, about 27,000 Russians and other foreigners opened
Armenian bank accounts during the same period.
EU’s Michel Reports ‘Tangible Progress’ Made At Armenian-Azeri Summit
Belgium - European Council President Charles Michel meets with Armenian Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Brussels, May
22, 2022.
Armenia's and Azerbaijan's leaders made progress towards negotiating a bilateral
peace treaty, demarcating the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and opening transport
links between the two countries, European Council President Charles Michel said
early on Monday after hosting fresh talks between them.
Michel held a trilateral meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Brussels for the second time in less
than two months.
“The leaders agreed to advance discussions on the future peace treaty governing
inter-state relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Michel told reporters.
“Teams led by the [Armenian and Azerbaijani] foreign ministers will take forward
this process in the coming weeks.”
“In addition to this track, I also stressed to both leaders that it was
necessary that the rights and security of the ethnic Armenian population in
Karabakh be addressed,” he said.
Michel did not say whether Aliyev and Pashinian agreed on the agenda of the
planned negotiations on the Armenian-Azerbaijani treaty. Pashinian’s office did
not report any agreements to that effect in a statement on the Brussels summit.
In March, Baku presented Yerevan with five elements which it wants to be at the
heart of the treaty. They include a mutual recognition of each other’s
territorial integrity.
The Armenian government said they should be complemented by other issues
relating to the future of status of Karabakh and the security of its population.
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said last Wednesday that Baku has not yet
agreed to discuss them as well.
The government revealed its counterproposals after Armenia’s leading opposition
groups launched on May 1 daily demonstrations in a bid to force Pashinian to
resign. Opposition leaders claim that he has agreed to restore Azerbaijani
control over Karabakh. They cite the prime minister’s statements made following
his previous meeting with Aliyev held on April 6.
Belgium - European Council President Charles Michel, Armenian Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev meet in Brussels, April
6, 2022
Michel announced following the latest summit that a newly formed
Armenian-Azerbaijani commission on the border demarcation will hold its first
meeting “in the coming days.” Also, he said, Aliyev and Pashinian made
significant progress towards opening the border to commerce and cargo shipments.
“Notably they agreed on principles of border administration, security, land fees
but also customs in the context of international transport,” he said without
elaborating. “The deputy prime ministers [of Armenia and Azerbaijan] will take
this work forward in the coming days.”
Pashinian’s office said in this regard that the two leaders reached
understandings on “the further course of work on the opening of regional
communications.” It too did not give any details.
It was thus not clear whether the two sides ironed out their differences on the
status of an Armenian road and railway that would connect Azerbaijan to its
Nakhichevan exclave. Aliyev has said that people and cargo passing through them
must be exempt from Armenian border controls. Armenian leaders have until now
rejected his demands for an exterritorial land corridor.
Armenian-Azerbaijani transport links are envisaged by a Russian-brokered
ceasefire that stopped the 2020 war in Karabakh. Shortly after the truce,
Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan set up a trilateral commission tasked with
working out their practical modalities.
The commission has not met since December. Moscow moved to revive its activities
last month after accusing the West of trying to hijack its efforts to make peace
between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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