10:15,
YEREVAN, MAY 30, ARMENPRESS. Slovenia’s National Assembly President Urška Klakočar Zupančič has arrived in Armenia on an official visit.
The Vice President of the National Assembly of Armenia Hakob Arshakyan welcomed Urška Klakočar Zupančič at the Zvartnots Airport in Yerevan.
The President of the National Assembly of Slovenia will have meetings with President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President of the National Assembly Alen Simonyan.
10:41,
YEREVAN, MAY 30, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sent a congratulatory message to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia, Andrej Plenković, on the occasion of Statehood Day. The message states:
"Your Excellency,
I warmly congratulate you and the Croatian people on the occasion of Statehood Day, wishing stability and new achievements.
The year was marked by high-level Armenian-Croatian contacts and visits. I remember with satisfaction our meeting on February 18 of this year in the framework of the Munich Security Conference.
I am sure that this will be the basis for realizing the significant potential of the development of Armenian-Croatian relations in both bilateral and multilateral formats."
10:50,
YEREVAN, MAY 30, ARMENPRESS. Inter midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan is recovering from his injury and will be ready to play in the UEFA Champions League final against Manchester City on June 10, according to Italian media reports.
The former captain of the Armenian national football team sustained a muscle injury to his left thigh in the second leg semi-final match against AC Milan.
10:47,
YEREVAN, MAY 30, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani authorities have destroyed a World War II memorial in Berdzor, Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan tweeted and posted images.
“I wonder whether there’ll be a reaction to the destruction of the memorial dedicated to the victims of the Great Patriotic War, whether there’ll be coverage or talk shows where patriots will tear up for desecrating our great victory. Or perhaps, as usual, there will simply be a call to maintain restraint? Double standards, stupidity and greed, and then a surprised look on the face asking what and when has gone wrong,” Simonyan tweeted.
11:00,
YEREVAN, MAY 30, ARMENPRESS. The Foreign Ministry of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) has reacted to the threats made by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev during a recent speech.
Below is the full statement released by the Artsakh Foreign Ministry.
On , in flagrant violation of the norms and principles of international law, obligations assumed by the Trilateral Statement of November 2020, and ignoring the presence of the Russian peacekeeping forces, the President of Azerbaijan made a series of belligerent and provocative statements against the Republic of Artsakh and its democratic institutions, as well as the possibility of resumption of hostilities by Azerbaijan against Artsakh. The fact that the Azerbaijani president has once again resorted to open threats and outright blackmail leaves no doubt that Azerbaijan consistently denies the very possibility of resolving the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict through negotiations.
The prolonged blockade, the creation of unbearable living conditions, the denial of the right to life and security, systematic and massive violations of other fundamental rights and freedoms, repression and persecution are the tools, which Azerbaijan intends to use further against the people of Artsakh.
The blockade, which has been going on for more than five months now, the ongoing armed attacks and belligerent statements show that Azerbaijan is not only unwilling to give up its policy of threats and violence, but is increasingly strengthening it against the backdrop of the inaction of the international community, including the international mediators involved in the settlement process.
Statements made by the Azerbaijani authorities on alleged readiness to ensure the rights and security of the Armenians of Artsakh are a false narrative and a smoke screen behind which lies the true intention of Baku to carry out ethnic cleansing in Artsakh. By demanding to recognise Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan, the authorities of this country are in fact trying to get a “license” to carry out their criminal plans with impunity.
International actors must stop turning a blind eye to the real motives and goals of Azerbaijan's agenda in relation to Artsakh, the diplomatic and foreign policy components of which are a continuation of the policy of blackmail, coercion and threat of force in violation of the UN Charter, the founding documents of the OSCE and the Council of Europe. Ignoring the true intentions and violations of the international obligations of Azerbaijan, as well as attempts by international mediators to seek constructiveness in Azerbaijan's openly genocidal agenda are self-deception and are tantamount to approving Baku's criminal actions.
We consider it absolutely unacceptable that the international community, and first of all, the Russian Federation, whose peacekeeping forces are stationed in Artsakh and under whose security guarantees tens of thousands of Artsakh citizens returned to their homes after the 2020 war, leave Azerbaijan's threats to resume military operations against Artsakh without a proper and strong response.
We proceed from the premise that international mediators, represented by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries and the European Union, must pay more attention to the warmongering rhetoric and unlawful actions of Azerbaijan, and must move from words to action to prevent the realisation of Azerbaijan's criminal plans and thereby demonstrate in practice their commitment to the fundamental norms and principles of international law, as well as ensuring the human rights and security of the people of Artsakh and establishing a just, dignified and lasting peace in the region.
10:54,
YEREVAN, MAY 30, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense has again falsely accused the Artsakh/Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army of breaching the ceasefire, the Nagorno Karabakh Ministry of Defense warned on Tuesday.
“The statement released by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense accusing the Defense Army units of opening fire overnight May 29-30 at the Azerbaijani positions deployed in the occupied territories of the Askeran, Shushi and Karvajar regions of the Republic of Artsakh is disinformation,” the Nagorno Karabakh Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
11:05,
YEREVAN, MAY 30, ARMENPRESS. Ucom’s mobile voice service subscribers can now enjoy a starting rate of 2.99 AMD per 1 MB when travelling to more than 65 European and popular coastal destinations, including Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Spain, Montenegro, Egypt, and Georgia, when connecting to the respective operators in these countries. To benefit from the offer, one should simply activate the new “Internet in Roaming 8GB” bundle at just 24500 drams by dialing *121*15# and pressing the call button. This new bundle, the largest available, remains valid for 14 days.
“At Ucom, we understand the importance of staying in touch with your close ones and, why not, even colleagues while traveling, particularly during the busy holiday season. The 2.99 AMD/MB roaming rate allows customers to stay connected and share memorable travel experiences, having a large volume of internet at an affordable price”, said Ralph Yirikian, Director General of Ucom.
Moreover, until August 31st, subscribers who do not activate any bundle will automatically benefit from a reduced roaming rate of 9 AMD/MB instead of the previous rate of 15 AMD/MB for internet when traveling to Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Spain, and Montenegro, and connecting to the respective operators. Additionally, the 9 AMD/MB rate remains applicable indefinitely when connecting to operators such as Orange in Egypt, Geocell/Magticom in Georgia, du in the UAE, and T-Mobile in the USA.
It is important to note that the roaming service must be activated before departure from Armenia by dialing *121# or using the Ucom mobile application. One just needs to stay connected and enjoy seamless communication wherever the travels take with Ucom's affordable roaming rates.
11:58,
YEREVAN, MAY 30, ARMENPRESS. 1,660,000 tourists visited Armenia in 2022, Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan said at parliamentary discussions on the budget report.
Kerobyan said the government will continue to improve the tourism infrastructures.
“1 million 660 thousand tourists visited Armenia last year. Significant investments were made into the infrastructures during the year, and we plan to expand the tourism cluster development program. Approximately 20 tourism cluster development programs are under development, which have already been approved under the mid-term spending program for next years,” Kerobyan said.
11:46,
YEREVAN, MAY 30, ARMENPRESS. The volume of foreign direct investments made in Armenia in 2022 stands at nearly one billion dollars, Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan said in parliament during budget discussions on May 30.
“In terms of investments, according to interim data, last year we had 1 trillion 845 billion drams of gross accumulation, while the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to one billion dollars for the first time in the history of Armenia, about 5,13% of our GDP,” Kerobyan said.
The government had envisaged a 6% foreign direct investment-GDP ratio, while the investments-GDP indictor was planned to be 25%. Kerobyan said the latter stands at 21,7% according to interim data. The minister said the final data is expected to be much higher when the complete information is available. Recording a 25% investment-GDP ratio would mean that the government’s goal of transforming the consumer economy to an investments-based economy is being implemented.
12:56,
YEREVAN, MAY 30, ARMENPRESS. The restoration of railway infrastructures in Armenia as part of the unblocking of regional connections could take approximately two or three years according to preliminary calculations, Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan has said.
Grigoryan told reporters that the railway can be a very obvious effective infrastructure solution for the region.
“We want solutions that would strengthen and enhance Armenia’s role in the region as a logistic hub. At this moment the railway option seems to be the most likely one. If we look at the railway infrastructures in the region, it is clear that by restoring individual sections we would get a serious logistic solution on a regional level. By very preliminary calculations the restoration could take approximately two to three years,” Grigoryan said.
Grigoryan added that he plans to participate in the scheduled meeting on unblocking with his Russian and Azerbaijani counterparts this week.