Category: 2019

Armenian foreign ministry actively works in launching visa liberalization dialogue with EU

Emil Lazarian

Armenian foreign ministry actively works in launching visa liberalization dialogue with EU

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 17:04, 1 November, 2019

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The Foreign Ministry of Armenia is actively working towards the launch of a visa liberalization dialogue with the European Union, Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said in the Parliament on November 1.

“The visa liberalization process is a very important and vital issue for us. We are working both with the Commission and the member states. We are also working very actively at the bilateral level in order to be able to make closer that moment and have the launch of the dialogue process for the liberalization of visas. The dialogue process is not the liberalization yet, but is a very vital stage for moving forward that process”, the FM said.

The minister added that for Armenia it’s a priority issue to reach to the point when it will be able to announce the launch of that dialogue.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan




Speaker Mirzoyan, Ambassador Wiktorin discuss Armenia-EU agenda

Emil Lazarian

Speaker Mirzoyan, Ambassador Wiktorin discuss Armenia-EU agenda

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 17:08, 1 November, 2019

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament Ararat Mirzoyan on November 1 received Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin, the Parliament told Armenpress.

During the meeting the Speaker expressed the firm commitment of Armenia and the Parliament to develop the relations with the EU and strengthen the partnership based on democratic values. The Speaker thanked the EU Ambassador for the support provided to the ongoing projects and democratic reforms in Armenia and introduced the directions and programs Armenia is going to implement.

Andrea Wiktorin said she is very happy to see this progress registered by Armenia, stating that the EU is ready and wants to support the ongoing reforms in Armenia. The sides discussed wide range of issues relating to the Armenia-EU agenda.

At the meeting a number of already existing and new possible programs with the Parliament’s partnership with the EU were discussed.

Andrea Wiktorin assured that the EU will continue to support Armenia in strengthening the democracy.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan




Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 01-11-19

Vardan Badalian

Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 01-11-19

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 17:44, 1 November, 2019

YEREVAN, 1 NOVEMBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 1 November, USD exchange rate up by 0.36 drams to 476.46 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 0.55 drams to 531.16 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.01 drams to 7.45 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 0.75 drams to 616.92 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price up by 387.91 drams to 23145.55 drams. Silver price up by 6.26 drams to 276.58 drams. Platinum price up by 286.36 drams to 14338.16 drams.

International brands with Made In Armenia label: 4 major garment factories opened in Armenia

Hovik Karapetian

International brands with Made In Armenia label: 4 major garment factories opened in Armenia

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 17:59, 1 November, 2019

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. From now on the clothes of several international brands will be produced in Armenia and will be exported to the European and Russian markets with “Made in Armenia” label.

The opening ceremony of 4 garment factories of Sartex, Asa Garment, Alex Textile and Texas Production was held on November 1 in Yerevan. The ceremony was attended by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pahsinyan who toured the factories, got acquainted with the production process and the products.

“More than 3000 people will work here in the future. The production will be exported mainly to the European, also Russian markets. All products are with Made in Armenia label”, director of the Asa Garment, Alex Textile and Texas Production companies Marat Movsisyan said.

Sartex has been founded by the Italian Sartis and Armenian Alex Textile companies. Sartex represents Sartis Italian company in Armenia. The company is engaged in production of clothes of MaxMara, Moncler, Peuterey, Dolce&Gabana, Dainese and other famous brands. Director of the company Mkhitar Aghabekyan said they want the Made in Armenia label become a quality guarantor.

Asa Garment is an Armenian-Chinese company engaged in production of the French Jennifer brand’s clothes. The company also holds talks for producing ZARA brand clothes. At the moment the company has 300 employees, but soon this number will reach 1000.

Alex Textile produces clothes for the Russian companies.

Junior Eurovision: Armenia: Karina Ignatyan releases video for “Colours Of Your Dream”

Babken Chilingarian
ESCXTRA
Nov 2 2019
Armenia: Karina Ignatyan releases video for “Colours Of Your Dream”

Costa Christou


Back in June, ARMTV – the Armenian national broadcaster – launched a call for song for their national final. Depi Mankakan Evratesil was used to select their entrant for Junior Eurovision. Having won the selection with “Colours Of Your Dream”, we now have an official music video for the song.

Having emerged triumphant from the 10-song selection back in September, we now have the official video for Karina’s Junior Eurovision entry. The styling and ethereal colour scheme is very much in tune with her staging from Depi Mankakan Evratesil.

You can watch the clip below: [please fo to the link below]

Junior Eurovision 2019

This year’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be held in the Gliwice Arena, Poland, on the 24th November 2019. Excitingly, it marks the first time Poland will host a music-based Eurovision event! Last year, Roksana Węgiel brought Poland its first Eurovision-adjacent win with “Anyone I Want To Be”. Roksana has since been announced to be hosting the contest, along with Ida Nowakowska and Aleksander Sikora.

The following nineteen countries have confirmed their participation, and all have now revealed their entries! However, Ireland is yet to reveal the revamp of its entry. 

  • Albania
  • Armenia
  • Australia
  • Belarus
  • France
  • Georgia
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Kazakhstan
  • Malta
  • Netherlands
  • North Macedonia
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Russia
  • Serbia
  • Spain
  • Ukraine
  • Wales

Armenia debuted at the Junior Eurovision in 2007, when the contest was hosted in Amsterdam. That year, they came second with Arevik’s “Erazanq”, scoring 136 points. Since then, Armenia have participated in every edition of the contest since and are one of the most successful countries in the contest.. 

In 12 participations, Armenia have yet to miss the top 10. To date, the country has two third-place finishes (2012 and 2014) and four second-place finishes (2007, 2009, 2015 and 2016). They also won the contest in 2010 with Vladimir Arzumanyan’s “Mama”, achieving 120 points.

Last year, Armenia were represented with Levon Galstyan, who won Depi Mankakan Evratesil with “L.E.V.O.N”. In Minsk, he finished ninth out of 20 participants, with 125 points. Although this was still a top 10 finish, this was the country’s lowest placing to date.


NYT: The Spirit That Brought Down the Berlin Wall Lives On

Emma Nadirian
New York Times
Nov 1 2019
 
Opinion
 
The Spirit That Brought Down the Berlin Wall Lives On
 
Bloodless revolutions from Armenia to Lebanon are about ending the fatalism corrupt rule engenders.
 
By Roger Cohen 
Opinion Columnist
Nov. 1, 2019

YEREVAN, Armenia — It has been 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. A guard threw open a gate, the Soviet imperium folded, more than 100 million people in Central and Eastern Europe were freed, a divided continent was made whole, and the end of history was announced.

What to make of the three decades after Nov. 9, 1989? Poverty receded. Lives got longer. Human exchange became borderless. Artificial intelligence started making things smart. China rose, as did sea levels. The United States, attacked and wounded, tried managed decline, and at last, in wild frustration, elected a loudmouthed con man to its highest office. History, not terminated after all, ushered in a new wave of nationalism, nativism and xenophobia.

Water is the new oil. Data is the new plutonium. Climate is the new Armageddon. The talk in 1990 of the inevitability of a world of liberal democracy turned to predictions of a world of autocrats buttressed by the surveillance states that technology has enabled. It has proved impossible for technology companies to do no evil.

The best of all possible worlds was deferred yet again. Joachim Gauck, the Lutheran pastor and anti-Communist East German activist who later became president of a united Germany, captured the illusions and shattered hopes of 1989 best: “We dreamed of paradise and woke up in North Rhine-Westphalia.”

Of course, North Rhine-Westphalia is not bad, but in our polarized all-or-nothing political age not bad is generally not good enough. In the forgotten-words stakes, compromise rivals statesmanship.

Big things changed, and small. My lackluster soccer club, Chelsea, got a Russian oligarch as owner and, with his billions, started winning trophies. I’d never thought the fall of Communism could so directly affect my mood. The Russians arrived — on the Côte d’Azur, on the beaches of Vietnam and, of course, in Syria. And here in Armenia, the great Armenian saga of tragedy, migration, reinvention and survival took another twist.

The Soviet Union fell apart. The Republic of Armenia became an independent state in 1991. It got a tiny piece of the worst possible real estate Armenia had occupied over the millenniums of its history, but still it was something.

In every office there are images of Mount Ararat, which rises in Turkey, a symbol for Armenians of longing, pride, the hope of return and the suffering of the Armenian genocide that began in 1915 and involved the Ottoman Empire’s killing of more than one million Armenians.

The House of Representatives, defying familiar Turkish warnings, this week passed a resolution recognizing that genocide. President Barack Obama never recognized it publicly, despite a promise to do so as a presidential candidate in 2008. Realpolitik won out over his principles.

Turkey, which insists there was no organized campaign to slaughter Armenians, is not Armenia’s only problem. Comrade Stalin loved to tinker with nationalities and borders. Decades later, this caused friction between Armenia and Azerbaijan as the Soviet Union collapsed. The disputes culminated in war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region a quarter-century ago. Today, Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan is closed. Its border with Turkey is closed. Only the borders with Georgia and Iran are open.

Yet I found Armenians in upbeat mood! What do physical borders matter these days? The nearly three million citizens of Armenia are in constant touch with the many more millions of Armenians in the diaspora, who are sending money home. With a strong tech sector, Armenia sees itself as a start-up country. It’s looking forward more than back.

The country’s bloodless revolution in 2018 has not delivered paradise, but it has eliminated fatalism. People feel they have the freedom to try what they want.

Weeks of mass protests against corruption and cronyism brought down the old Armenian political class, much as massive demonstrations in Beirut, Baghdad and Santiago in recent weeks have brought down or shaken the governments of Lebanon, Iraq and Chile.

The spirit of 1989 has not been trampled underfoot by Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping, after all. People prefer agency to the dead hand of unaccountable rule. They prefer the rule of law to arbitrary arrest. That’s why they are in the streets of Hong Kong.


Liberal democracy is not, as Putin has insisted, “obsolete.” It just needed a jolt.

Armen Sarkissian, the Armenian president, told me in an interview that old systems would not work. “We are living in a quantum world because more than half of life is virtual,” he said. The notion of democracies functioning through elections every few years is outdated. He called Armenia “one of the first labs” to find new “rules or behavior” for a world where every individual has a voice that “is exercised and expressed daily.”

On the Armenian genocide, and Turkey’s denial, Sarkissian said this: “Recognition of something that you have done wrong in ordinary life, in your family, with your friends, recognition is a strength. It’s not a weakness. If you take Turkey recognizing the Armenian genocide, that will also be recognition of the fact Turkey is on its way to become a tolerant state.”

One enduring lesson of 1989 is that the truth will out. Even the Trump White House will one day discover this.


https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/01/opinion/armenia-genocide-resolution.html
 
 
 

Armenia eyes expansion of electricity co-op with Iran

Emil Lazarian
Tehran Times, Iran
Nov 2 2019
November 2, 2019

TEHRAN – Armenian minister of territorial administration and infrastructure said Iran could act as an electricity hub in the region to connect Armenia to other nations like Iraq, ILNA reported on Saturday.

Suren Papikyan made the remarks during a visit to the 19th Iran International Electricity Exhibition (IEE 2019) in Tehran.

“Just as Armenia is a gateway for Iran's relations with Georgia and the Eurasian Union countries, naturally, Iran could also be a gateway for Armenia's greater connection with Iraq and other countries in the region,” Papiyan said.

Referring to the modern equipment and achievements presented by Iranian companies in the mentioned international event, he said “During the visit to the exhibition, we established very good connections with Iranian companies active in the industry, so after returning to Armenia this communication will continue in practical form.”

Noting that Armenian companies welcome participating in the 20th Iran International Electricity Exhibition, he added, “Armenia as a major importer of energy carriers, is always looking for new ways to increase cooperation with other countries and to find new energy sources. We are looking forward to sharing experiences between the two countries by participating in this international event.” 

Iran and Armenia have been cooperating for years in gas and electricity swap, and two-way economic and political ties have grown in tandem with an increase in trade.

EF/MA

Program helps poor, elderly Armenians heat homes in bitter winter weather

Greg Madatian
CRUX
Nov 2 2019
  • In Catholic News Service, Church in Europe
  • Catholic News Service
    Nov 2, 2019

    CONTRIBUTOR

An elderly woman is seen at her home in Armenia. Catholic Near East Welfare Association has launched a campaign, partnering with Caritas Armenia, to provide heat to more than 700 Armenian households. (Credit: CNS photo/Caritas Armenia, courtesy CNEWA.)

NEW YORK – Poor, elderly Armenians will receive an extra hand in staying warm during the upcoming frigid winter weather under a three-year-old program developed by two Catholic charitable agencies.

Called Warm Winter, the effort of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association and Caritas Armenia will open Dec. 1 and will provide fuel to more than 700 households.

Recipients will receive firewood or gas or electric heat through their local utility company. The fuel will be supplemented by food, hygienic supplies, first aid supplies and medicines.

Gagik Tarasyan, director of Caritas Armenia, said extreme weather conditions and poor housing stock make life difficult for thousands of the country’s elderly citizens.

“(To keep warm), they burn whatever is flammable, pasteboard, cardboard, garbage, paper, plastic, old clothing, shoes and young tree saplings,” Tarasyan said in a statement released by CNEWA.

Some of the materials produce toxic fumes, endangering the health of people – and at times leading to death – while damaging the environment, he said.

Social workers and volunteers have identified people most in need in 125 locations around the country. The most vulnerable people are those living in crumbling temporary housing in rural and urban regions that date to the country’s devastating 1988 earthquake, CNEWA said.

Aid agencies have determined that about 300,000 Armenians 65 years old and older – about one-third of the country’s elderly – live in poverty. CNEWA said most elderly people live alone.

Msgr. John E. Kozar, CNEWA president, said in a statement that the program is part of a broader effort to support the churches in Armenia and Georgia.

“Despite their relative obscurity and poverty,” he said, “these churches witness the Gospel in so many beautiful ways, upholding the dignity of all human life, especially in their commitment to the marginalized among them, the abandoned, the powerless, the impoverished.”


NYT Armenian President interview: Recognition is a strength. It’s not a weakness

Antranik Varosian
News.am, Armenia
Nov 2 2019
NYT Armenian President interview: Recognition is a strength. It’s not a weakness NYT Armenian President interview: Recognition is a strength. It’s not a weakness

20:51, 02.11.2019
                  

If you take Turkey recognizing the Armenian genocide, that will also be recognition of the fact Turkey is on its way to become a tolerant state, Armenian President Armen Sarkissian said during an interview with The New York Times’ Roger Cohen.

“Recognition of something that you have done wrong in ordinary life, in your family, with your friends, recognition is a strength. It’s not a weakness. If you take Turkey recognizing the Armenian genocide, that will also be recognition of the fact Turkey is on its way to become a tolerant state,” he said.

According to Armenpress, journalist Roger Cohen published a detailed article in The New York Times and touched upon the adoption by the US House of Representatives of the Armenian Genocide resolution.

“In every office there are images of Mount Ararat, which rises in Turkey, a symbol for Armenians of longing, pride, the hope of return and the suffering of the Armenian genocide that began in 1915 and involved the Ottoman Empire’s killing of more than one million Armenians,” Kohen wrote.

The author also turned to the history of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, saying that today Armenia has closed borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey, and only borders with Georgia and Iran are open.

“Yet I found Armenians in upbeat mood! What do physical borders matter these days? The nearly three million citizens of Armenia are in constant touch with the many more millions of Armenians in the diaspora, who are sending money home. With a strong tech sector, Armenia sees itself as a start-up country. It’s looking forward more than back,” he noted. “The country’s bloodless revolution in 2018 has not delivered paradise, but it has eliminated fatalism. People feel they have the freedom to try what they want. Weeks of mass protests against corruption and cronyism brought down the old Armenian political class, much as massive demonstrations in Beirut, Baghdad and Santiago in recent weeks have brought down or shaken the governments of Lebanon, Iraq and Chile.

The author of an article entitled “The Spirit That Brought Down the Berlin Wall Lives On” in an interview with the Armenian President touched upon a wave of changes that swept people around the world. Armen Sarkissian noted that the old systems will no longer work today.

“We are living in a quantum world because more than half of life is virtual,” he said. The notion of democracies functioning through elections every few years is outdated. He called Armenia “one of the first labs” to find new “rules or behavior” for a world where every individual has a voice that “is exercised and expressed daily.”

Armenian Defense Minister receives Ramkavar Azatakan party delegation

Nyrie Kalashian
News.am, Armenia
Nov 2 2019
Armenian Defense Minister receives Ramkavar Azatakan party delegation Armenian Defense Minister receives Ramkavar Azatakan party delegation

19:32, 02.11.2019
                  

Armenian Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan received the delegation of the central administration of the Ramkavar Azatakan party led by the head of the central administration of the party Mike Kharapyan.

The minister greeted the guests and highlighted the importance of the active role of the diaspora structures in preserving the Armenian identity and communication with the Motherland.

Davit Tonoyan presented the course of large-scale reforms being implemented in the Armed Forces, priorities and programs of the defense sector.

Mike Kharapyan, in his turn, thanked for the reception and assured that the Ramkavar-Azatakan party still pays attention to strengthening ties between the motherland and the diaspora and is ready to implement public programs in the framework of mutual cooperation between the army and society.