Author: Lilit Nahapetian

 12:23,

YEREVAN, MARCH 22, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan received today Ambassador of China to Armenia Fan Yong, the Presidential Office said.

The Chinese Ambassador congratulated Vahagn Khachaturyan on assuming office and wished a joint productive work for the benefit of the strengthening and deepening of the Armenian-Chinese relations.

The agenda of the bilateral relations, the prospective cooperation directions and the opportunities of expanding the mutual partnership in different areas were touched upon during the meeting.

 13:18,

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. More than 3000 Iranian tourists are expected to arrive in Armenia by air to celebrate their New Year – Nowruz, President of the Armenian Tourism Federation Mekhak Apresyan said at a press conference in ARMENPRESS, adding that several flights have already been carried out.

30 flights are planned to the direction of Iran before the early April, he said.

“Of course, these days we are expecting more visits also by land, and these are hotel reservations, there is an activeness in travel agencies. Therefore, we must do everything to uninterruptedly ensure the land communication”, Mekhak Apresyan said.

As for the statistical data about the tourism flows from Iran to Armenia, Mr. Apresyan said the visits in 2021 have been a lot. Iran’s share in Armenia’s tourism visits comprised nearly 11%. The annual figure has been nearly 95,000, of which more than 9000 visited during Nowruz.

Mekhak Apresyan said the activities in the direction of Iran must be active, contributing to the increase of tourism flows from that country.

 13:06, 17 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 17, ARMENPRESS. FLYONE Armenia airline will start flying from Yerevan to Moscow every day starting March 17, the airline announced.

The Yerevan-Moscow-Yerevan flights will be operated from Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport to Moscow’s Vnukovo airport.

FLYONE Armenia also offers flights from Yerevan to Istanbul and Lyon.

 17:17,

YEREVAN, MARCH 17, ARMENPRESS. Nearly 4000 citizens of Ukraine arrived to Armenia in the last three weeks, according to the Ukrainian Chargé d'affaires in Armenia Denis Avtonomov.

Avtonomov said at a news conference that most of these 4000 Ukrainian citizens are ethnic Armenians. Avtonomov said those who arrived are either refugees, immigrants or tourists. “The peculiarity is that almost all of them are ethnic Armenians, and they have friends, families, homes here, that’s why they aren’t asking for help,” Avtonomov said.

He added that the Ukrainian Embassy in Yerevan has some possibilities to solve the accommodation issues for the arriving nationals, however the employment issue is far more difficult to solve.

According to Avtonomov, many citizens of Armenia – be it in Yerevan or in other cities – are applying to the Ukrainian embassy and expressing willingness to help the Ukrainian refugees in finding homes.

Overall, according to Avtonomov, “tens of thousands” of people from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus have come to Armenia since February 24 as refugees, immigrants or tourists.

 19:13,

YEREVAN, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS. Tonight, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an Omnibus Appropriations Bill wrapping up Fiscal Year 2022 spending that calls for "not less than" $45 million for Armenia and $2 million for humanitarian demining in Artsakh, ARMENPRESS reports the Armenian Assembly of America informs.

The measure also requires "that prior to any initial obligation of funds appropriated under title IV of the Act for assistance for Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Secretary of State shall consult with the Committees on Appropriations on the proposed uses of such funds."

The inclusion of aid comes on the heels of a letter spearheaded by Congressional Armenian Caucus Vice-Chair Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) along with Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), and Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA), as well as another letter by Caucus Members Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Jim Costa (D-CA), who urged the leadership of the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs to include an additional $50 million in humanitarian aid to Artsakh.

The bill itself includes language on Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act, and also requires a report on the likelihood of military action against Artsakh "not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act."

There has been widespread reporting of the Aliyev regime's continued violations of the November 2020 ceasefire terms, including the killing of Armenians in cross-border shootings. This week alone, Azeri forces blocked repair of damaged main gas supply to Nagorno Karabakh amid reports that they cut the pipeline themselves, under cover of war in Ukraine. Just yesterday, an Armenian soldier was killed, and another wounded, in a ceasefire violation on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan's Nakhichevan exclave. In addition, Artsakh officials have reported today that Azerbaijan's army is "actively" using high-caliber mortars and automatic weapons to target Artsakh's rural communities forcing farmers to suspend "all types of agricultural work." Moreover, for the last two days and counting, the people of Artsakh have been deprived of a vital gas supply pipeline while the Azeri military refuses access to determine the cause or fix the damage. Meanwhile, Artsakh recently sent over 14 tons of humanitarian aid to help aid the Ukrainian people.

Last week, Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released a report regarding Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act by the Government Accounting Office (GAO) which found that, according to Chairman Menendez, "the State Department failed to comply with reporting requirements for reviewing U.S. assistance to the Government of Azerbaijan."

Further, according to Chairman Menendez, the GAO report "found that over several years, the Department of State and Department of Defense failed to meet statutory reporting requirements to Congress on the impact of U.S. assistance on the military balance between Armenia and Azerbaijan."

Other key findings from the report included that the State's reporting to Congress from FY2014-FY2021 did not address required elements, including the impact on proposed assistance on the military balance between Armenia and Azerbaijan; State’s Memorandums of Justification contained limited or no details regarding quantity of assistance, status of the military balance between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the impact of U.S. assistance on the military balance, or the impact of the assistance on peace negotiations; State’s 2021 guidance did not provide detailed instructions to agencies about reporting requirements to Congress; and that State and DoD did not document their consideration of waiver requirements from FY2014-FY2020, including how they determined assistance would not be used for offensive purposes against Armenia.

"As the world bears witness to the ongoing devastation in Ukraine, we urge continued vigilance to hold Azerbaijan accountable for its ongoing attacks against the Armenian people," said Assembly Congressional Relations Director Mariam Khaloyan.

Armenian American Museum being built in Glendale starts process of acquiring exhibits

 09:36, 2 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 2, ARMENPRESS. The construction works of the Armenian American Museum in the US city of Glendale, California, are at active stage. Currently, the construction of parking is underway and will be followed by the construction of the two-storey building, Armenian American Museum Executive Chairman Berdj Karapetian said in an interview to ARMENPRESS. He informed that in line with the construction works, they have also started the process of acquiring exhibits as a lot of works are envisaged on this direction.

“Currently we deal with the issue of exhibits. We will soon get in touch with the museums, persons, all those people in Armenia who have collections, exhibits and can assist. I would like to note that there is a great interest. There are a lot of people who have exhibits and want to transfer them to us”, he said.

In general, it’s clear what sections and directions the Museum is going to have. Berdj Karapetian said it will be quite comprehensive, presenting Armenians’ history, culture and achievements in different areas, including also the Diaspora.

“The Museum must have a permanent exhibition dedicated to the history, culture of the Armenian people and the Armenian Diaspora. We will present what had happened before and after the Armenian Genocide. Diaspora-Armenians will be a separate component. There will also be a section relating to American-Armenians. We will tell about what achievements and investments Armenians have had in different spheres of the United States”, Berdj Karapetian said.

In the first floor it is planned to hold dance events, theatrical performances, book presentations and Armenian language courses. Young people and children will have an opportunity to participate in different courses in the Museum, including studying the Armenian language.

The Armenian cuisine will be a separate component in the Museum. He said the rich Armenian cuisine will be presented during various events.

“The Armenian culture and history will be the main focus, but we are also planning to present other nations living in California. The Armenian American Museum is going to be a center presenting the Armenian identity and an important circle of cultural cooperation”, the Executive Chairman said, adding that the Museum will become a place where foreigners can make their imaginations about Armenia more complete, and the local Armenians, especially the youth, can be close to the history, culture of their homeland and not to forget it. “We are a nation who builds, who is rich in a developed culture and still has something to say”, he added.

The complete program of the sections of the Museum will be ready by yearend.

The Museum will open its doors in summer 2024.

 

Interview by Anna Gziryan

 12:31, 2 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 2, ARMENPRESS. There will be economic successes, achievements in social life in Armenia only when the security systems work and when the public feels that the borders are protected, Candidate for President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan said in the Parliament.

Serving as the Minister of High Technological Industry, Mr. Khachaturyan said the security issue, raising the defense capabilities are priorities for Armenia, and those are issues that must be solved as soon as possible, he added.

“When we fell that we have stability, that there is an environment in the region that there will be no threat of war, the borders will be open. In other words, our aspiration must be to achieve stability in the region, and the best guarantee for that is to have security systems”, he said.

 11:56, 1 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, ARMENPRESS. Acting President of Armenia Alen Simonyan received today Special Envoy of Canada to the European Union and Europe, Stéphane Dion and his delegation, who arrived in Armenia to outline the ways of assisting the country’s democratic development, the Presidential Office said.

The Special Envoy of Canada presented to Alen Simonyan some details from the meetings held at different state structures of Armenia in the past two days.

As for the purpose of the visit to Armenia, Stéphane Dion said he will examine the opportunities of assisting Armenia’s democracy by Canada, including by providing segmentation support to the civil society, democratic institutions and economic partnership.

The meeting also touched upon the Canadian-Armenian community. The guest said that nearly 66,000 Armenians in Canada play a great role and participate in the country’s foreign policy, socio-economic matters.