Armen Kazaryan and Siranish Vardanyan, a married couple who moved from the Russian city of Sochi to Armenia, founded an eco-camp in Kapan, Syunik province in 2015. The venue is pretty popular among ecotourism aficionados, including cyclists, climbers and hikers from around the world. The couple have resolved to turn the initiative into a social entrepreneurship and develop Armenia’s southern.
YEREVAN. – At the International Organisation of La Francophonie Summit which is to take place in Armenia in October, the country will propose the participants to sign the Living Together treaty.
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian on Monday stated the aforesaid, as he summed the 2017 activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to the minister, the holding of this summit and the OIF chairmanship are a unique opportunity for Armenia.
Hundreds of delegates will arrive in the country to attend this event.
The Yerevan Declaration and more than ten resolutions also will be adopted at the summit.
In addition, a business forum is also planned to be held within the framework of this high-level meeting.
Some 20 years ago, it was perhaps possible to raise the question whether the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict would be settled by the stepwise or package variants, however the step-by-step settlement approach cannot exist today, Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian told a news conference on Monday.
“Today the [OSCE Minsk Group] Co-Chairs have announced on numerous occasions that the conflict needs to be resolved on the basis of the elements presented to the parties as a whole, i.e. as a package. Setting aside one provision will make the conflict settlement impossible,” he stressed.
According to the top Armenian official the package solution has been offered by the Co-Chairs, and it has repeatedly been announced also at the presidential level.
Edward Nalbandian highlighted Azerbaijan’s approach towards the Artsakh conflict settlement process not only contradicts to the position of the Armenian side, but also that of the international structures.
Reflecting on the famous ‘black list’ of Azerbaijan, the Armenian foreign minister reminded he has repeatedly stated the visit flows to Artsakh will grow following blogger Alexander Lapshin’s case, which came true. Citing Lapshin’s several disclosing statements over his stay in Baku, Nalbandian highlighted the times to forcibly restrict people’s rights to free movement are long gone.
“If we believe Baku’s claims that those who visit Nagorno-Karabakh are victims of the so called Armenian propaganda and they regret after returning their countries, that list would not increase to include 600 people. Azerbaijan’s claims have nothing to do with the reality, especially when those included in that list have felt honoured to visit Artsakh,” he added.
“The teams presented prototypes of the games in the end of hackathon. We hope some of them will continue working on their ideas and finish the games. This year’s hackathon stood out by the number of mentors who worked with the teams – 15. They advised the participants about understanding the audience of their games, creating attractive elements, and many other topics. The mentors helped them to use the 48 hours they had efficiently and they will support the games with big potential in entering the market,” said Narek Aghekyan.
Narek Aghekyan Global Game Jam Armenia
The center was created by joint efforts of Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU) and Ministry of Defense of Armenia.
President Sargsyan got acquainted with the ongoing operation and future development projects, as well as talked to the patients.
According to Rector of YSMU Armen Muradyan, the establishment will function as a complex rehabilitation center, where servicemen with military disability will be able to receive medical care and solve issues of social integration, education and work. With its capabilities, this is a leading center in the region, which is provided with ultramodern rehabilitation equipment.
President of Armenia encouraged disabled servicemen to be persistent and cooperate with the center’s professional team to be able to recover as soon as possible.
YEREVAN. – In terms of the Armenian-Russian relations, the year 2017 was marked by an active dialogue, and effective coordination of steps at international venues, the report of the Armenian Foreign Ministry reads.
According to the report summing up 2017, the joint work to ensure peace and security in the region, cooperation in the field of economy, energy, including nuclear, transport, emergency situations, decentralized cooperation, agriculture, and humanitarian sphere continued. Inter-parliamentary, interdepartmental and interregional relations intensified. In 2017, the presidents of the two countries met more than ten times in bilateral and multilateral formats.
In March, August and November, President SerzhSargsyan had official and working visits to the Russian Federation. During the visits, agreements were reached in the political, military-technical, trade-economic, energy and other spheres.
Relations between the governments of the two countries were active, the heads of government exchanged visits, and Karen Karapetyan and Dmitry Medvedev met in Bishkek, Astana and Kazan.
The foreign ministers of the two countries have repeatedly met in bilateral and multilateral formats. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov paid a visit to Armenia. Special exhibitions dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations were opened on February 21 in Moscow, and on November 25, In Yerevan. Ten consultations were held between the two countries’ foreign ministries.
Steps on the development of military-technical cooperation have been undertaken. On January 11, the agreement on the creation of a joint air defense system in the Caucasus region, that was previously signed on December 23, 2015, came into force.
The 6th Armenian-Russian inter-regional forum was held in Yerevan on October 6. During the year, numerous documents were signed between the heads of different departments, including about two dozens of legal intergovernmental, interdepartmental and interregional documents. Since February 23, Russian citizens can enter Armenia using internal passports.
Tour guide Nairuhi Simonyan has died due to a snowstorm at Mount Ara, in Armenia.
Lyusi, a friend of Simonyan, told Armenian News-NEWS.am that her friend had frequently gone on hiking trips in recent times.
An 18-person hiking team, including Nairuhi Simonyan, on Sunday went to Mount Ara; but they were caught in a snowstorm. Sometime thereafter, the members of this team found Simonyan’s dead body.
Capital city Yerevan residents Hrachya Harutyunyan, 22, and Edgar Navasardyan, 38, also were caught in this snowstorm. They sustained injuries and are at the intensive care unit of a hospital in Yerevan.
“We recorded with lament that a girl from the hiking team, Nairuhi Simonyan, according to our opinion, had sustained injuries incompatible with life and had died due to falling,” Suren Danielyan, President of the Armenian Mountaineering and Mountain Tourism Federation, wrote, in particular, on his Facebook page. “Now, all of us are interested in the causes and the matter of ensuring safety.”
PanARMENIAN.Net – After stumbling upon ‘Kitchen of Armenia’ – a book by Richard Zarzavatdjian which he found great – Dr. Frédéric Saldmann became interested in Armenian family recipes and dishes that could be extremely good for your health, the French radio network RTL reports.
Saldmann is a French cardiologist and physician of preventive medicine. Through his consulting firm Sprim, he has advised The Coca-Cola Company, Danone and Nestlé on diet and gluten-free products.
“The big problem we face in food is that we tend to eat the same thing all the time," Saldmann explained.
“In fact, to stay healthy you must start eating vegetables, and the more you diversify, the more you lower the risk of ingesting too much pesticides.
“In this book about the Armenian cuisine which contains simple recipes, we understand that vegetables can turn into real dishes.
"I think we have to rediscover these family recipes because they have the key to a very good health."
YEREVAN. – The development of Armenian-American cooperation took an important place in the foreign policy agenda of Armenia, says the annual report of the Armenian Foreign Ministry for 2017.
A number of events were organize within the framework of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and the United States.
On March 3, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian had a phone conversation with US Secretary of State Rex Thilerson. During the conversation, the sides touched upon numerous issues of the bilateral agenda, expansion of trade and economic cooperation, and exchanged views on a number of key regional and international challenges.
In September 2017, a delegation of the US Congress visited Armenia, including representatives of both the Republican and Democratic parties: the Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone,Jackie Speier, Representatives Anna Eshoo, Tulsi Gabbard, Jim Sensenbrenner, David Valadeo. The delegation held meetings with the President, Prime Minister and other officials of Armenia.
On July 21, Edward Nalbandian received US Deputy Trade Commissioner Daniel Mullaney, and on September 12 – Ed Gresser, Assistant Trade Representative for Trade Policy and Economics.
On September 20, the Armenian Foreign Minister met in New York with Elisabeth Millard, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, Fiona Hill, National Security Council’s Senior Director for European and Russian Affairs, and Bridget Brink, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.
On October 4-9, a delegation of the Senate and Assembly of California visited Armenia to meet with top leadership of the country.
In 2017, the countries were also developing economic ties. In particular, the year was marked by the entry of a new American campaign into the energy sector with a view to participation in the construction of Shnokh HPP.
Efforts of the Armenian Foreign Ministry and the US Embassy in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized
A photo exhibition dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Yerevan and Washington was organized thanks to the efforts of Armenian Foreign Ministry and the U.S. Embassy.
Azerbaijan violated the ceasefire regime nearly 200 times on Artsakh-Azerbaijan contact line during the period of January 21-27, firing over 2000 bullets in the direction of Armenian border guards.
As the press service of the Defense Ministry of Artsakh reported, in addition to the mentioned ceasefire violations, the Azerbaijani side undertook a sabotage attempt in the south eastern section of the contact line on January 25 at about 02:00. As a result of the preventive measures of the Defense Army units, the Azerbaijani special unit was repelled.
Defense Army front line units continue to keep full control of the situation.