Author: Zhanna Nahapetian

State Revenue Committee Chairman holds meeting with Russian Ambassador

Zhanna Nahapetian

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 13:24, 3 November, 2021

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS. Chairman of the State Revenue Committee Rustam Badasyan received Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergei Kopyrkin, the SRC said in a statement.

Mr Badasyan and Mr Kopyrkin attached importance to the regular meetings between the heads of the Armenian State Revenue Committee and the Russian Federal Customs and Tax services. They emphasized the importance of joint programs on installing electronic systems.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Armenpress: Russia supports the idea of establishing a 3 + 3 consultation mechanism in the region – Russian MFA

Zhanna Nahapetian

Russia supports the idea of establishing a 3 + 3 consultation mechanism in the region – Russian MFA

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 21:37, 3 November, 2021

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS. The Russian Federation will make an extended comment over the anniversary of the agreement signed on November 9, 2020 between the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, ARMENPRESS reports representative of the MFA Russia Maria Zakharova said in a briefing.

“Now I can say that works are underway in all directions”, Zakharova said.

She reminded that recently the Russian Foreign Minister had telephone conversations with his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts. “The ministers agreed that the situation in the region has stabilized over the past year, and the ceasefire regime is generally maintained. Baku and Yerevan highly appreciate the role of Russian peacekeepers. Individual incidents are handled through partnership-based contacts. Efforts are being made to unblock transport links”, Zakharova said, reminding of the meeting of the Deputy PMs of the three countries in Moscow in October. "We see a comprehensive solution to the problem with the delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the beginning of the demarcation process. Of course, active works are done by the OCE Minsk Group”, Zakharova said.

Answering the question about the possible signing of new documents in the near future, as well as a possible meeting of the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said. "I do not have such information yet. Let's let the question be answered by the leaders and their press services. If they have such information, they will share it with us”.

Referring to the announcements on the putting into operation the 3 + 3 platform in the region and the issue related to the position of the Russian Foreign Ministry on it, Zakharova said. "We support the idea put forward by the presidents of Turkey and Azerbaijan to establish such a regional consultation mechanism. It is called 3 + 3, we are talking about the countries of the South Caucasus and their neighbors: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Turkey and Iran. Of course, we think it is time to put these plans into practice. Multilateral regional cooperation is in the interests of all participants of this platform. In our opinion, its implementation will increase confidence in interstate relations, in the settlement of conflicts, will open the economic and transport potential of the region. The platform can and must offer solutions to both old problems and new challenges”.



Sports: Armenia’s Arman Darchinyan wins first bout at World Boxing Championships

Zhanna Nahapetian
Panorama, Armenia
Oct 30 2021

SPORT 12:52 30/10/2021 ARMENIA

Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist boxer Arman Darchinyan (71 kg) has won his opening bout at the 2021 AIBA World Boxing Championships being held in Belgrade, Serbia from October 24 to November 6.

The Armenian boxer defeated Kyrgyzstan's Nuradin Rustambek in the 1/16 final late on Friday, the Boxing Federation of Armenia reported.

After landing a second low blow during the second round, the referee stepped in and disqualified Rustambek, granting the victory to Darchinyan.

Pashinyan administration to continuously reduce state debt

Zhanna Nahapetian

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 12:12,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 25, ARMENPRESS. The government plans to consistently and continuously reduce the state debt and bring it to the circle defined by law, finance minister Tigran Khachatryan said during joint parliamentary committee debates on the 2022 state budget.

“2020, depending on both the pandemic and the war, led to a 63,5% state debt against the GDP. Pursuant to rules defined by law, this fact requires the government to present to parliament in the next five years the kind of a budgetary circle which would guarantee debt return in the limits not exceeding 60%,” he said.

Khachatryan said that their actions must lead to the 2022’s summarized indicator to be 60,2% of the GDP.

“Implementing reasonable capital or development programs through funding the deficit are the important preconditions which should secure the ensuring of economic potential and high economic growth. From this perspective we will head for a consistent and continuous reduction of the debt,” he said.

The deficit is projected 3,1%, a figure Khachatryan described as the “reasonable safe size” with which the government will be able to implement sectoral development programs by involving debt.

The finance minister also pointed out increasing tax revenues. The Pashinyan administration’s government action plan defines that by 2026 tax revenues must reach 25% of the GDP. This means that tax revenues must increase at least 0,5% every year.

“We will have significant increase of capital spending, both economic and social infrastructures. We see all this together as a precondition in terms of creating a sustainable environment for economic growth, because both 2022 and next years are the period of time in the government’s action plan where the targeted 7% economic growth is the minimum indicator,” he said.

 

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Armenia reports 2603 daily coronavirus cases

Zhanna Nahapetian

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 11:10,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 21, ARMENPRESS. 2603 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Armenia in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 288,906, the ministry of healthcare reports.

14,928 COVID-19 tests were conducted on October 20.

827 patients have recovered in one day. The total number of recoveries has reached 257,352.

The death toll has risen to 5902 (32 death cases have been registered in the past one day).

The number of active cases is 24,409.

The number of people who have been infected with COVID-19 but died from other disease has reached 1243 (5 new such cases).

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

Armenia Union of Journalists president on authorities’ bill to make amendments and supplements to mass media law

Zhanna Nahapetian
News.am, Armenia
Oct 21 2021
Armenia Union of Journalists president on authorities' bill to make amendments and supplements to mass media law
23:26, 21.10.2021

The public needs to understand that the aim of the bill on making amendments and supplements to the Law on Mass Media is to not only go against the presses, but also silence the voice of the public. This is what President of the Union of Journalists of Armenia Satik Seyranyan said during a conversation with Armenian News-NEWS.am.

A group of deputies of the ruling party have developed a bill on making legislative amendments that will restrict freedom of speech and will prohibit media outlets from releasing materials with a link to an anonymous source. The government has already put the bill into circulation.

“The Union of Journalists of Armenia considers bills and expresses opinions, and then the MPs present it in a way to show that there have been discussions with the heads of media outlets and media organizations. It’s clear that they sit in their cabinets and think of ways to impose penalties on the media in order for the latter to declare bankruptcy,” she stated, adding that, in her opinion, the authorities never ask the professional community for their opinions on any bill.

“This is what happens when the authorities set the goal to maintain power and restrict free speech. The bill is written illiterately. It even contradicts the Constitution. If the goal is to silence a media outlet, the head of a particular media outlet can create a domain in another country and carry out his or her activities. If the authorities think they can achieve their goal through these punitive measures, they are dead wrong. The public needs to understand that the aim is to not only go against the media, but also silence the voice of the public. The people need to know that journalists represent their interest. The media disturbs the authorities because the media shows that they are lying. The public needs to know that they won’t be able to raise their issues in the future,” she said.

Azerbaijani, Iranian top diplomats try to turn down heat

Zhanna Nahapetian
EurasiaNet.org
Oct 14 2021
Joshua Kucera Oct 14, 2021
Trucks travel along a slice of Azerbaijani territory on the road that connects Iran with Armenia. (photo: Joshua Kucera)

The foreign ministers of Iran and Azerbaijan have spoken in an apparent attempt to decrease the temperature on the tensions that have erupted between the two sides in recent weeks.

Azerbaijan’s Jeyhun Bayramov spoke with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian by phone on October 13. The readouts from both sides referred to the heated mutual accusations that Baku and Tehran have been hurling at the other and expressed a willingness to move beyond them.

“The two countries must prevent misunderstandings in their relations,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in its statement following the call. “Tehran and Baku have enemies and the two sides should not give the enemies the opportunity to disrupt relations between the two countries and concerns should be resolved through dialogue and cooperation.”

The Azerbaijani statement echoed that sentiment (minus the reference to “enemies”): “The sides noted the harmful rhetoric observed recently, which does not correspond to the level of friendly relations between our countries, and the need to resolve all differences through dialogue.”

The diplomatic outreach followed weeks of unprecedentedly hostile rhetoric between the two neighbors, as well as large-scale Iranian military exercises held on Azerbaijan’s border.

While the real cause of the vitriol remains unclear, the spark was the Azerbaijani authorities’ arrest in September of two Iranian truck drivers on a section of the main road through southern Armenia that passes through some slices of Azerbaijani territory.

Following the October 13 conversation, Iran announced that two Iranian prisoners currently held in Azerbaijan would be extradited to their home country, and some media mistakenly reported that the prisoners were the two truck drivers.

Both Bayramov and Amir-Abdollahian did mention the transit issue, though, suggesting the two sides were working on a way to resolve it.

As a result of Azerbaijan’s victory in the war last year over Armenia, it regained control of most of its territory along Armenia’s border that it had lost in the first war between the two sides in the 1990s. That included some slices of land through which the main road through Armenia passes. That road is the main artery between Armenia and Iran, and Iranian trucks use it to supply Armenia as well as – occasionally and controversially – Karabakh.

The two Iranian drivers arrested were reportedly shipping cargo to Karabakh, and while Azerbaijan’s customs service denied that they had been released, as they did so they made public some new information about the drivers, including their names and the crimes they have been charged with.

According to a statement from the customs service, the two drivers, Barzegar Haghi Jafar Ghazanfar and Norouzi Shahroud Heidar, were arrested for “smuggling” goods into Karabakh, crossing Azerbaijan’s border without permission and outside an official border crossing. (Karabakh is internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory, and Baku takes a hard line on entries into the territory via Armenia.)

A criminal case has been launched and an investigation is underway, the customs service said: “Reports that they [Ghazanfar and Heidar] have been returned to their home country do not reflect the truth.”

The conversation between Bayramov and Amir-Abdollahian apparently touched on how to avoid these sorts of incidents in the future.

“Amir-Abdollahian … said Tehran expects that the problem of transit traffic of Iranian trucks in the Azerbaijan Republic will be solved,” the Iranian statement read. The Iranian side also said that Bayramov “suggested that the two countries' customs officials hold talks to solve the problem of the transit of Iranian goods” and “stressed the pursuit of the release of two Iranian truck drivers detained in the Azerbaijan Republic,” though the Azerbaijani statement did not go as far on either of those points.

“It was decided to discuss issues related to transit transportation through the Republic of Azerbaijan by the way of direct contacts between relevant government agencies,” the Azerbaijani statement read.

Iran has already expressed its willingness to help Armenia construct a new road through southern Armenia into Iran that would avoid Azerbaijani territory.

In an October 13 interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev also touched on the Iranian transit issue. Aliyev reiterated earlier statements in which he described repeated demands to Tehran to do something about the Iranian trucks going to Karabakh.

“Please, pay attention to this illegal business activity in Karabakh by Iranian businessmen,” Aliyev said Azerbaijan had told Iran. “We were not in a position to accuse [the] Iranian government. We understood that it’s some private companies who do it. But we asked to stop it. What happened in return, everybody sees.”

 

Joshua Kucera is the Turkey/Caucasus editor at Eurasianet, and author of .

https://eurasianet.org/azerbaijani-iranian-top-diplomats-try-to-turn-down-heat

Armenpress: Minister of infrastructures visits Shurnukh to inspect ongoing construction of homes

Zhanna Nahapetian

Minister of infrastructures visits Shurnukh to inspect ongoing construction of homes

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 09:46, 14 October, 2021

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Gnel Sanosyan visited the town of Shurnukh to inspect the ongoing construction of 13 residential homes intended for residents who’ve been deprived of their properties. 

“The first phase construction works are expected to be completed by yearend. The program will be completed entirely in three years,” he said.

Barns are also under construction.

The government allocated 470 million drams for the project.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Cooperation with Sweden important for Armenia also in format of Armenia-EU relations – Parliament Speaker

Zhanna Nahapetian

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 17:16, 14 October, 2021

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan received today Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Sweden to the Republic of Armenia Patrik Svensson, the Parliament’s press service said.

Welcoming the Ambassador, the Speaker has underlined that Sweden is one of the important and trustworthy partners for Armenia.

The Parliament Speaker touched upon the close and effective cooperation existing between the delegations of two countries on the different international parliamentary platforms.

Speaking about Armenia-Sweden cooperation, Alen Simonyan highly assessed the support of the friendly country in the democratic processes going on in Armenia, as well as valued the financial assistance shown by the Government of Sweden in the development of a number of spheres.

In the context of bilateral cooperation, the Speaker has affirmed that the cooperation with Sweden is important also in the format of Armenia-European Union relations.

Patrik Svensson highlighted the development of the bilateral parliamentary ties and the expansion of cooperation in many spheres.

The sides also discussed a number of issues regarding the deepening of Armenia-Sweden cooperation.

Armenia’s Yeraskh Village Under ‘Day and Night Attack’ by Azerbaijani Forces

Zhanna Nahapetian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories

Azerbaijani forces set 8,000 stacks of dried grass on fire in Armenia's Yeraskh region on Oct. 15

The Yeraskh region of Armenia’s Ararat Province has been under “day and night attack” by Azerbaijani forces who are shooting from positions in Nakhichevan, warned Armenia’s Human Rights Defender’s Office.

In a statement, the Human Rights Defender’s Office reported ongoing shelling in Yeraskh on Friday, adding that Azerbaijani forces set ablaze 8,000 stacks of dried grass, stockpiled for use in the winter months to feed livestock. The fire spread to the roof of a nearby residence. Firefighters were able to extinguish the residential fire, preventing further structural damage.

Armenia’s Defense Ministry confirmed the reports, adding active shooting began at around 3 p.m. on Friday.

Armenia’s Human Rights Defender was alerted to the situation by residents who contacted his office, sounding the alarm on the escalating situation.

“Taking into consideration that the Azerbaijani positions are located in the immediate vicinity of the village, it is evident to the Azerbaijani servicemen know that their actions are harming residents, destroying their property and violating their rights to life and property,” the Human Rights Defender’s office said.

“The process of creating a demilitarized security zone around the borders of Armenia with Azerbaijan and the removal of the Azerbaijani armed forces form the vicinity of the villages and from the roads between the communities of Armenia should start immediately,” urged the Human Rights Defender’s office, whose proposal was included in a resolution passed on September 27 by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

“It is evident that the basis of these criminal harassments and the gross violations of human rights is the same: The policy of Armenophobia and enmity, and of ethnic cleansing and genocide by the Azerbaijani authorities,” said the Human Rights Defender’s office. “This policy has institutional roots, and until the perpetrators are punished, the violations will not end, and the security of the people will not be guaranteed.”