Author: Arsine Chaltikian

Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
September 2, 2017 Saturday


Ashotyan highlights participation in all European conferences, even in Baku



YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. The security guarantees given by the
Azerbaijani Parliament to the Euronest PA Co-Chairs give grounds to
continue the preparations for participating in the upcoming assembly
in Baku, chairman of the foreign relations committee of the Armenian
Parliament Armen Ashotyan told reporters September 2.

“We don’t have complexes to limit ourselves, if the event was decided
to be organized in Baku, then we want and can go there. Recently the
Azerbaijani Parliament addressed a letter to the co-chairs giving all
participants security guarantees”, Ashotyan said.

According to him, Armenia has presented a bid on holding the sessions
of Euronest’s four committees in Armenia next year.

The Armenian delegation will participate in the Euronest PA session on
September 22 in Baku.

ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia
 Saturday


In the first half of 2017, Armenia increased the volume of polished
exports by 92.5% per annum, with imports growing by 52.4%

Yerevan August 26

Alina Hovhannisyan. In the first half of 2017, Armenia sharply
increased polished exports - by 92.5% per annum, against growth of 2.3
times for the same period in 2016, and by 70% in the same period in
2015. A positive trend was also registered for the import of products
of the lapidary industry, where in quantitative terms the volumes of
supplies increased by 52.4% in the first half of 2017 (against the
growth of 2 times in the same period in 2016, and a decrease of 57% in
the same period of 2015).

According to the data of the RA Customs Service, in the first half of
the year 2017, Armenia exported 133.8 thousand carats of diamonds, the
customs value of which increased by 17.9% per annum to $ 53.1 million.
From Armenia, raw materials are exported mainly to the United Arab
Emirates (38.4%), Russia (24.3%), Belgium (19.5% %), Switzerland
(7.4%), and the rest is in the USA, Canada, and Germany.

Meanwhile, during the reporting period, 244.2 thousand carats of rough
diamonds worth $ 75.3 million (with an annual growth of 28.2%) were
imported to the republic. Primarily, rough diamonds are imported to
Armenia from the United Arab Emirates (53%), Belgium (11.1%), Russia
(8%), Switzerland (7.9%), Canada (6.8%), India (6.7%) and the rest
from Thailand, South Africa, and Hong Kong. By way of comparison, we
note that for the first half of the year in 2016 Armenia exported 69.5
thousand carats of diamonds worth $ 45 million, and imported 160.2
thousand tons of diamonds carat with a total value of $ 59 million.
Armenia does not have its own diamond deposits and imports rough
diamonds for further processing and export of diamonds mainly to the
same countries from which raw materials are imported. Traditionally,
the import of diamonds exceeds exports, which is explained in the
Ministry of Economy by their re-export to third countries. Armenia's
accession to the Eurasian Economic Union has banned the re-export of
rough diamonds.

Many international experts are inclined to believe that for almost the
whole year the precious stones market will be stable. But by the end
of the year the situation can change significantly. This is due to the
fact that recently there is a strong shortage of stones. To this state
of affairs has led to the fact that the existing resources are quite
exhausted. In other words, the resources of mines where stones are
mined are very much depleted. Worldwide, very few diamonds are
currently mined. It is this state of affairs that will lead to the
fact that the demand for these stones will increase significantly. But
the very diamond will be very small in order to fill the market.
According to some experts in the diamond market, the demand for
diamonds will be observed for a long time. Therefore, there is a great
opportunity to invest in diamonds. International experts believe that
the polished market will be quite stable until 2020. The growth in the
value of polished diamonds may be further influenced only by
macroeconomic uncertainty, which will inevitably be combined with
access to financing. But, despite this the minimum cost of precious
stones is not expected.

Plus Company Updates(PCU)
 Thursday


Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Karen Karapetyan holds a
meeting with the Chairman of Eurasian development bank Dmitry Pankin




Yerevan: Karen Karapetyan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia,
met yesterday with Dmitry Pankin, Chairman of the Management Board of
Eurasian Development Bank (EDB). The meeting was held on 7 July 2017,
in Yerevan.


During the meeting, the parties shared their high appreciation of
bilateral cooperation in the framework of implementing several
investment projects. Karen Karapetyan and Dmitry Pankin also discussed
further prospects of developing partner relationships. The parties
specifically agreed to cooperate in the domain of agriculture,
transport, and infrastructure.
Additional Information:

By 7 July 2017, EDB, in its capacity of the EFSD Resources Manager,
had provided to Armenia US $490 million. The following agreements are
signed and effective:
- on providing a financial credit of US $300 million to Armenia for
the purposes of budget support;

- on financing the construction of the North-South Road Corridor
(Phase IV) amounting to US $150 million;

- on financing the “Irrigation System Modernization Project” in
Armenia amounting to US $40 million.


The EFSD Council has approved its support to the project “Construction
of Mastara Reservoir”, which involves investments amounting to US $40
million.
In July 2017, EDB also provided a US $20 million credit line to
Ardshinbank for trade finance.

Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) is an international financial
institution founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 with the
mission to facilitate the development of market economies, sustainable
economic growth, and the expansion of mutual trade and other economic
ties in its member states. EDB's charter capital totals US $7 billion.
The member states of the Bank are the Republic of Armenia, the
Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic,
the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Tajikistan.

The Eurasian Fund for Stabilisation and Development (EFSD) amounting
to US $8.513 billion was formed on 9 June 2009 by the governments of
the same six countries. The objectives of the EFSD are to assist its
member countries in overcoming the consequences of the global
financial crisis, ensure their economic and financial stability, and
foster integration in the region. The EFSD member countries signed the
Fund Management Agreement with Eurasian Development Bank giving it the
role of the EFSD Resources Manager.