Author: Kajoyan Gevork

                                        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
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