19:52,
YEREVAN, JUNE 24, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China Fan Yong paid an official visit to the Shirak Province on June 24 and met with Governor Nazeli Baghdasaryan.
The Ambassador shared his first impressions of the Shirak Province with journalists, noting that he liked Gyumri very much, the local climate is cooler than in Yerevan.
"I think that when Chinese tourists come to the Shirak Province, they will have the same impressions as I do," said Fan Yong.
In a conversation with ARMENPRESS, the Ambassador attached importance to the cooperation between the two countries in various spheres, particularly in the spheres of education, trade, tourism, agriculture.
"The most important thing is to be able to export the products of the Shirak Province to China, so that the Chinese people can better recognize the Armenian products and Armenia," said the Ambassador, attaching importance to the cooperation between Gyumri and Chinese cities.
During the meeting with the Governor of Shirak Nazeli Baghdasaryan, the prospects of future cooperation were touched upon.
"The delegation of Shirak Province signed a memorandum of cooperation and mutual understanding in China's Hainan province in 2019, which is already a practical step in terms of establishing close relations between the two regions. Today we have the opportunity to further develop those relations," said the Governor.
During the meeting, reference was made to the opening of the Chinese Confucius classroom in the Shirak Province, issues related to the teaching of the Chinese language. The Governor assured that she will be one of the first in terms of learning Chinese.
Ambassador Fan Yong thanked Nazeli Baghdasaryan for the warm reception, noting that the past 30 years of Armenian-Chinese diplomatic relations have been quite productive.
Within the framework of his first official visit to Shirak Province, Fan Yong also visited Gyumri Municipality, where he was received by Deputy Mayor David Arushanyan. The Ambassador then visited the Gyumri regional library, where in 2018, thanks to the efforts of the Ministry of Culture, the Chinese Embassy in Armenia, a mobile library was launched and "Smile" preschool, the building of which was renovated in 2019 with the help of the Chinese Embassy.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has confirmed Moscow's readiness to provide advisory services to Baku and Yerevan on the delimitation of the Azerbaijani-Armenian border.
"The Russian side is ready to provide advisory services on the issue of border delimitation," Lavrov said Friday in Baku at a briefing following talks with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov.
He positively assessed the work of the trilateral working group on the level of the deputy prime ministers of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia to unblock communications in the South Caucasus, Interfax-Azerbaijan reported.
The minister noted that the Armenian side reiterated its commitment within the framework of border delimitation. "We are now discussing the issue of the date of the meetings. I have received confirmation from the Armenian side that the border delimitation process is very important," the Foreign Minister said.
Lavrov noted that the OSCE Minsk Group ceased its activities at the initiative of the U.S. and French sides.
In his turn, Bayramov said that the normalization process between Azerbaijan and Armenia cannot be held hostage to the format.
"Since February 2022, the format of interaction between the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group has been completely paralyzed for well-known reasons. And we received this information from different sources, including our Russian partners, but not only. In this situation, Azerbaijan's position is that our priority is to achieve a long-term, durable and sustainable peace in the region. And from that prism, the process cannot be held hostage to the format. Naturally, we cannot be guided by a non-existent format," he said.
Lawyer Aram Vardevanyan, an MP from the opposition Hayastan bloc, on Tuesday reiterated his call to prosecute the acting head of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) overseeing Armenian courts, Gagik Jhangiryan.
His comments came after suspended SJC head Ruben Vardazaryan on Monday released a secretly recorded audio of his conversation with Jhangiryan, who can be heard warning the official to resign or face criminal charges.
“Criminal proceedings should be launched against Gagik Jhangiryan,” Vardevanyan wrote on Facebook, citing the domestic law.
“Gagik Jhangiryan cannot participate in the hearings on disciplinary action against Ruben Vardazaryan, including in decision making. Given the first circumstance, Jhangiryan must inevitably be suspended, which will apply to all proceedings.
“The reputation of the judiciary, especially the SCJ, and the legitimacy of the 2021 elections have been irreparably damaged,” Vardevanyan said.
ArmInfo. The European Union (EU) is seeking independent activities in the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict Sergey Markedonov, Leading Researcher at Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), said in an interview with ArmInfo.
"Brussels failed to accomplish the set task by itself either in the Balkans or in Ukraine. The USA's interference was needed in both cases. This is the reason for the EU's desire to show its own ability to settle conflict at least in the South Caucasus. And Brussels obviously has its own motives for and interests in it, which are, no doubt, in conflict with Russia's interests," Mr Markedonov said.
The launch of Russia's special operation in Ukraine triggered activities only on the part of the EU in the South Caucasus. Specifically, Brussels is now actively involved in preparing border delimitation and demarcation and a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Certain processes got underway in Transdniestria, and Tbilisi's refusal to support the anti-Russian sanctions caused problems in the Georgian – Ukrainian relations.
"In other words, the Caucasus agenda is part of the Black Sea geopolitical agenda – and it is extremely important. By and large, the EU not being interested in Russia growing stronger does not give rise to any questions. Rather, what causes questions is the EU's desire to 'skim the cream off' Moscow's previous steps to establish peace in Karabakh. The very same President of the European Council Charles Michel prefers pretending that Russia is not at all involved in Karabakh, whereas it was Russia that ended the war and ensured the trilateral agreements to establish peace in the South Caucasus. Moscow and Brussels are not in outright confrontation with each other over Nagorno-Karabakh in contrast to that over Georgia and Ukraine. They are just trying to ignore Russia," Mr Markedonov said.
A keynote address by the President of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), Ms Claire Bazy-Malaurie, focused on the role of the judiciary in preserving democracy and democratic values in society.
The high-level Conference served as a platform to facilitate dialogue between the Constitutional Court, courts of general jurisdiction and other branches of authority, alongside the international community and civil society concerning ways through which the independence of the judiciary could be strengthened and public trust increased, as well as ongoing reforms in the justice sector of Armenia.
The high-level Conference was organised in the framework of the EU/Council of Europe project “Support to judicial reform-strengthening the independence and professionalism of the judiciary in Armenia”.
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A public discussion on "What kind of Armenia are we fighting for?" is currently taking place at France Square in downtown Yerevan.
Earlier we reported that no opposition rallies or marches are planned today.
Resistance Movement coordinator Ishkhan Saghatelyan—the National Assembly deputy speaker from the opposition "Armenia" Faction and a representative of the Supreme Body of the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Dashnaktsutyun Party of Armenia—had earlier stated that Sunday will be a working day for them, and they will prepare for the acts of civil disobedience planned for next week—and which will be announced in advance.
16:01,
YEREVAN, MAY 31, ARMENPRESS. The Football Federation of Armenia responded to the Football Association of Ireland’s (FAI) security concerns for their team in the upcoming June 4 UEFA Nations League match against Armenia in Yerevan.
The FAI said earlier that it will send a security delegation to Yerevan ahead of the Irish team’s arrival over the ongoing protests.
Ireland manager Stephen Kenny confirmed that head of security Joe McGlue would travel out with a security team ahead of the team’s departure.
"We’ve not been briefed on that at the moment," said Kenny, when asked was there any concern regarding the demonstrations in the city, RTE reports.
"But there is a delegation going over, in the early hours. Going ahead in advance. Three or four going over, headed by Joe McGlue.
"I’m sure they will brief us in due course."
ARMENPRESS reached out to the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA) for comment.
When asked to comment on the FAI concerns, FFA spokesperson Hayk Karapetyan told ARMENPRESS that the Irish team has nothing to worry about. “The security of the football players and staff of Ireland’s team will be ensured, just like it is being ensured in case of all other teams,” Karapetyan said.
PanARMENIAN.Net - Member of the board of the National Democratic Pole Varuzhan Avetisyan has been detained in Armenia, the party said in a statement Saturday, May 28.
“Other prominent members of the Sasna Tsrer rebel group have also been detained, the party said in a small statement.
The group known as Sasna Tsrer (named after the Armenian epic "Daredevils of Sassoun") stormed a police patrol department in summer of 2016 and took everyone inside hostage. In 2021, one of the members of the group, Armen Bilyan, was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years in prison. The court also handed jail terms to the other members of the group.