Author: Eduard Nalbandian

Armenpress News Agency, Armenia
 Friday



Armenia ranked 125th in the world in terms of GDP



YEREVAN, JULY 14, ARMENPRESS. Last year Armenia’s GDP amounted to 10.8
billion USD and currently it is ranked 125th in the world, according
to the National Competitiveness Report of Armenia 2017, reports
Armenpress.

According to the report Armenia’s share of economic value in the world
doesn’t increase, however, the quality of increase is being improved.

“In the post-crisis period, Armenia’s GDP entered a recovery phase,
growing by a modest 3.5% per annum on average for the period of
2010-2016. Improved economic diversification and the augmentation of
the size of the tradable and export-oriented sectors were the main
growth engines. The decline of 2015 (in terms of USD) was
significantly conditioned by the devaluation of the Armenian dram
(over 30%) and the economic decline of Russia — Armenia’s largest
trade partner and major source of private monetary transfers. These
factors slowed down the speed of economic recovery”, the report said.

The report says as of 2016, Armenia’s GDP stood at around 10.5 billion
USD, and its rank fell to its 2007 position in the world.

The second half of the 2000s demonstrated the contrasting performance
of Armenia globally in terms of GDP and exports. Armenia experienced
overall GDP growth that was higher on average than in other countries
worldwide. However, a modest increase in exports due to predominantly
non-tradable sector growth in Armenia reduced the country’s
contribution to global exports.

“The aftermath of the global economic crisis demonstrated the Armenian
economy’s vulnerability to external shocks fed by unsustainable growth
drivers of non exportable segments (infrastructure, construction),
narrow and resource-led exports, and overdependence on private
monetary transfers. The sizeable decline of the economy coupled with a
large decline in foreign remittances accentuated the need to seek new
growth drivers and financing channels. The significance of economic
diversification and the dire need for a new economic growth model
influence Armenia’s economic policy”, the report said.

DPA-AFX International ProFeed, Germany
 Friday 11:30 PM GMT


Two Germans women killed in knife attack at Egyptian resort


By Walid Zaki and Ramadan Al-Fatash, dpa

CAIRO (dpa-AFX) - Two German women were killed Friday in a knife
attack on foreign tourists in the Egyptian Red Sea town of Hurghada, a
state agency confirmed. The attack at a resort in Hurghada also
injured four other foreigners, the State Information Service added
without revealing their nationalities. Private newspaper al-Shorouk,
citing a health official, said the four injured were two Armenians, a
Czech and a Ukrainian.

The four were in stable condition, Naglaa Shata, the health
undersecretary in Red Sea province, told the newspaper. A security
source earlier told dpa those killed in the attack were two female
Ukrainians. The German Foreign Ministry said earlier it could not rule
out the possibility that Germans were among the victims. 'We don't
have any certainty about that yet,' the ministry said in a statement.
'We condemn this cowardly and malicious act that seemed to have
targeted specifically tourists, who wanted to spend a recreational
time at the beach.' In an initial report, the Egyptian Interior
Ministry said six tourists of different nationalities were injured in
the attack. The ministry said all the victims were women. The attacker
was immediately arrested and was being questioned about his motive,
the ministry added without details The man, believed to be in his
mid-20s, had sneaked into the hotel by swimming from a nearby beach.
An image posted online purportedly showed the attacker being held by
hotel employees inside an iron cart. Egypt's tourism industry, a main
source of national income, has been in the doldrums since the 2011
uprising against long-time dictator Hosny Mubarak. The industry
suffered a serious blow in 2015 when a Russian passenger jet broke up
in mid-air shortly after taking off from the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh
in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board. Russia
said the crash was caused by a bomb, and banned flights to Russia from
Egyptian airports in response. The Islamic State extremist group,
which operates in Sinai, claimed to have downed the plane. Egypt has
seen a spate of deadly attacks since the army's 2013 overthrow of
Islamist president Mohammed Morsi following massive protests against
his rule. The attacks have mainly targeted security forces and Egypt's
minority Christians. Earlier Friday, five policemen were killed in an
attack near Cairo. Three unknown men on a motorcycle opened fire at a
security patrol vehicle killing the five, the Interior Ministry said.
The attack took place in the area of al-Badrashein, in Giza province,
around 40 kilometres south of Cairo. The assailants escaped. So far,
there has been no claim of responsibility for the attack. Similar
attacks were claimed by the self-styled militant Hasm group that
police say is affiliated with the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood from
which Morsi hails.

Armenpress News Agency , Armenia
 Tuesday


European figures' visit to Artsakh will continue - Gaspar Karapetyan



YEREVAN, JULY 11, ARMENPRESS. The European Armenian Federation for
Justice and Democracy will continue informing the MEPs and lawmakers
of the parliaments of European countries about attacks and ceasefire
violations on the border by Azerbaijan, Gaspar Karapetyan – Chairman
of the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy, told
Armenpress.

According to him, one must not rule out the possibility of new actions
similar to the April 2016 atrocities, however, everything must be done
to prevent them.

-Like last year this year as well the European Armenian Federation for
Justie and Democracy continued organizing the visit of European
lawmakers, public groups to Artsakh. Will such visits continue?

-Yes, these visits continue and must continue since Artsakh is one of
the most important missions of our current activity. Several days
before we have organized the visit of Belgian lawmakers to Armenia and
Artsakh. They had meetings with high-ranking officials. This visit was
the third in 2017. Over the past two years 22 Belgian lawmakers have
visited Armenia and Artsakh.

The positive results of these delegations can be seen later during
their activity in Europe, be it about the process of protecting the
Artsakh people’s right to self-determination, be it in the form of
participating in various events organized by us, for instance,
“Artsakh-Nagorno Karabakh hidden treasure” exhibition organized by the
European Armenian Federation which was attended by 200 people,
political figures. The exhibition aimed at presenting Artsakh’s
tourism opportunity, as well as the capacity of economic investments
to the European public.

-Mr. Karapetyan, how would you comment on the recent events in the
Artsakh-Azerbaijani border? What steps does the European Armenian
Federation for Justice and Democracy take to inform the international
community about the authenticity of the Azerbaijani provocative
policy?

-It’s not the first time in the history that Azerbaijan uses its own
population as a human shield. Of course, the death of an innocent
child is a tragic phenomenon, however, this child is the victim of
Azerbaijan’s government and Aliyev’s inhumane treatment. We witnessed
Aliyev’s inhumane treatment during the April war when the bodies of
90-year-old Armenian civilians of Talish village were tortured as a
result of crimes committed by the Azerbaijani army and the Armenian
soldiers were beheaded in Islamic State-style. The OSCE Minsk Group
Co-Chairs call on to cease military operations and return to
negotiation table, however, this is not enough. The OSCE Minsk Group
must also mention the side who violates the ceasefire and condemn it.

Following the release of statement by the Artsakh Defense Ministry,
the European Armenian Federation immediately informed the MEPs about
the authenticity of the recent ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan on
the border. And then some members publicly condemned this policy of
Azerbaijan.

Full version of the interview available in Armenian.

Interview by Anna Gziryan

ITAR-TASS, Russia
 Tuesday 11:04 PM GMT


Mediators propose Armenian, Azerbaijani leaders hold meeting on
Nagorno-Karabakh issue until year ends

YEREVAN July 12

International mediators on resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh issue have
proposed that the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan hold a meeting
until the year ends, Armenian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Tigran
Balayan told TASS following talks between the two countries top
diplomats in Brussels.



/updates with additional information/

YEREVAN, July 12. /TASS/. International mediators on resolving the
Nagorno-Karabakh issue have proposed that the presidents of Armenia
and Azerbaijan hold a meeting until the year ends, Armenian Foreign
Ministry Spokesman Tigran Balayan told TASS following talks between
the two countries top diplomats in Brussels.

"The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh have asked
the two countries’ ministers to pass their proposal to the presidents
to hold a summit later in the year," he said. "An agreement was
reached that the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers would meet
once again in September, on the sidelines of the United Nations
General Assembly session in New York," Balayan pointed out.

The meeting between Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan and
Azerbaijani top diplomat Elmar Mammadyarov took place in Brussels on
July 11 upon the initiative of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
Igor Popov (Russia), Stephane Visconti (France) and Richard Hoagland
(the US). The meeting was also attended by Personal Representative of
the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.

"The meeting’s participants discussed ways to create conditions for
advancing the negotiating process concerning the Nagorno-Karabakh
issue," the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

According to the Armenian foreign ministry spokesman, Nalbandyan
"emphasized the need to stabilize the situation along the line of
contact in Nagorno-Karabakh." "In this connection, he pointed to the
need to implement the agreements reached at the Vienna and St.
Petersburg summits," Balayan said. He added that the agreements
concerned the expansion of the OSCE mission’s monitoring capabilities
and the implementation of mechanisms to investigate into incidents
taking place along the line of contact.

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

The highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh (or Mountainous Karabakh) is a
mostly Armenian-populated enclave inside Azerbaijan’s territory. It is
a self-proclaimed independent republic, not recognized by any of the
United Nations member states.

In 1988, hostilities broke out there between the forces reporting to
the Baku government and Armenian residents. In 1994, a ceasefire was
reached but relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia has remained
strained ever since.

Azerbaijan insists that its territorial integrity should be restored,
refugees should return to Nagorno-Karabakh, and after that talks about
its status could begin. Baku is ready to grant autonomy to the region,
but is unwilling to hold direct talks with Nagorno-Karabakh. At the
same time, Armenia strongly opposes the region’s reunification with
Azerbaijan and says that its right to self-determination should be
considered first.

Russia, France and the United States co-chair the Minsk Group of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) which seeks
to broker an end to the conflict.

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ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia
 Monday


Karen Karapetyan and Dimitry Kumsishvili discussed economic
cooperation between Armenia and Georgia

Yerevan June 12

Naira Badalyan. Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan in Dilijan,
within the framework of the annual gathering of a subgroup of IMF/WB
countries headed by Belgium and the Netherlands, held a meeting with
the delegation headed by First Deputy Prime Minister and Finance
Minister Dimitri Kumshishvili.

As the parliamentary press service reports, the Prime Minister of
Armenia and the First Deputy Prime Minister of Georgia discussed
issues concerning the agenda of the Armenian-Georgian relations and,
in particular, economic cooperation. Karen Karapetyan and Dimitry
Kumsishvili touched upon joint programs in various spheres, positively
assessed their progress and discussed further steps. The parties noted
with satisfaction that in recent months the volume of trade turnover
between Armenia and Georgia has been steadily growing and it is
necessary to work consistently in the direction of increasing these
rates.

The interlocutors confirmed mutual readiness to continue active
cooperation in the direction of stimulating the ties between the
business circles of the two countries, attracting investments,
cooperation within the framework of free economic zones and in the
sphere of tourism, deepening intercultural ties.

Exports from Armenia in January December 2016 amounted to 1 billion
782 million 924.7 thousand USD. According to the National Statistical
Service of Armenia, the growth of exports compared to 2015 was 20%. At
the same time, imports to Armenia in 2016 increased by 1.6% and
amounted to 3 billion 292 million 425.3 thousand USD. The volume of
bilateral trade with neighboring Georgia increased by 27.7% and
amounted to 245 million 261.5 thousand USD.