Tuesday, January 9, 2024
Armenian Government Reports Strong Growth In 2023
Armenia - Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian speaks with journalists during a
Russian-Armenian business forum in Yerevan, September 20, 2021.
Armenia’s economy grew by more than 8 percent in 2023, according to preliminary
government estimates cited by Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian.
“We assume that economic growth in 2023 was in the 8.3-8.5 percent range,”
Kerobian told a news conference on Monday.
The government recorded even faster growth in 2022: 12 percent. It was driven,
in large measure, by re-exports of various goods to Russia sanctioned by Western
nations for its invasion of Ukraine. The same factor appears to have been the
main driving force behind the Armenian economy’s continued rapid expansion last
year.
Data from the Armenian government’s Statistical Committee shows that the
country’s industrial output rose by only 2.1 percent in January-November 2023,
compared with more than 41 percent surges in its exports and imports.
Second-hand cars, consumer electronics and other goods manufactured in Western
countries and their allies and re-exported from Armenia to Russia accounted for
most of this sharp gain. Armenian exports to Russia rose by 63 percent, to $2.9
billion, in January-October 2023, generating half of the South Caucasus nation’s
overall export revenue.
The re-exports prompted concern from European Union and especially U.S.
officials in early 2023. They pressed the Armenian authorities to comply with
the Western sanctions. The authorities introduced in May mandatory government
licenses for shipments of microchips, transformers, video cameras, antennas and
other electronic equipment to Russia.
Kerobian said that his government is trying to “diversify” the exports. “We are
working on India, China, Japan and many other directions,” the minister said
without elaborating.
Although China remained Armenia’s second most important trading partner after
Russia last year, Armenian firms exported less than $350 million worth of goods
to the country in January-October.
Armenian Opposition Leader’s Arrest Extended
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia - Armen Ashotian, deputy chairman of the opposition Republican Party of
Armenia.
A court in Yerevan has extended by three more months the arrest of Armen
Ashotian, a prominent opposition politician facing what he calls politically
motivated charges, ignoring an appeal for his release signed by other
oppositionists.
Ashotian, 48, was an influential figure during former President Serzh
Sarkisian’s rule, serving as education minister from 2012-2016 and subsequently
heading the Armenian parliament’s foreign relations committee. He has been a
vocal critic of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian ever since the 2018 “velvet
revolution” that toppled Sarkisian.
Ashotian was charged in November 2022 with abuse of power and money laundering
in connection with his past chairmanship of the Board of Trustees of Yerevan’s
Mkhitar Heratsi Medical University. The accusations, strongly denied by him,
stem from a number of property acquisitions carried out by the university
administration on his alleged orders. Armenia’s Investigative Committee claims
that those deals caused the state-run university substantial financial damage.
The law-enforcement agency also charged Ashotian with “waste” of public funds
following his arrest in June 2023 which it attributed to his alleged attempts to
obstruct its investigation. The oppositionist, who is a deputy chairman of
Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK), denies this accusation as well.
Vahe Dolmazian, the judge presiding over Ashotian’s ongoing trial, on Monday
allowed the investigators to continue holding him in detention until April 15.
Accordingly, the former police officer and prosecutor, who took the bench only
17 months ago, rejected the defense lawyers’ petition to free Ashotian on bail
or move him to house arrest.
The petition was backed up by a “guarantee” signed by about a dozen
parliamentarians and other opposition figures. They pledged in writing that
Ashotian will demonstrate “proper behavior” and not go into hiding or obstruct
justice if set free.
Armenia -- Levon Zurabian.
Surprisingly, the signatories included Levon Zurabian, the deputy chairman of
the Armenian National Congress (HAK) party led by another ex-president, Levon
Ter-Petrosian. The HAK was in opposition to Sarkisian during his 2008-2018 rule.
Speaking during Monday’s court hearing in Yerevan, Zurabian described Ashotian
as a political prisoner who is prosecuted for denouncing Pashinian’s policies on
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and other issues.
“I have no doubts that the purpose of this criminal case is to silence a critic,
rather than expose and punish corruption,” Zurabian told the court.
Sarkisian’s HHK has likewise condemned Ashotian’s arrest as government
retribution for his harsh criticism of Pashinian’s Karabakh policy. Pashinian’s
government and political allies say that he did not order the investigators and
courts to prosecute his outspoken critic.
U.S. Keeps Pushing For Armenian-Azeri Talks In Washington
• Astghik Bedevian
Armenia - Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan (right) meets U.S. envoy
Louis Bono, Yerevan, January 8, 2023.
The United States keeps trying to host fresh talks between the Armenian and
Azerbaijani foreign ministers that had originally been scheduled for November, a
senior Armenian official said late on Monday.
Armen Grigorian, the secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, told Armenian
Public Television that this was the main focus of U.S. special envoy Louis
Bono’s meetings with him and Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan held earlier in
the day. He did not say whether Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has
agreed to meet with Mirzoyan in Washington anytime soon.
Baku cancelled Bayramov’s November 20 trilateral meeting with Mirzoyan and U.S.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken in protest against what it called pro-Armenian
statements made by James O’Brien, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for
Europe and Eurasia. O’Brien visited Baku in early December in a bid to convince
the Azerbaijani leadership to reschedule it.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s top foreign policy aide, Hikmet Hajiyev,
said afterwards that Washington must reconsider its “one-sided approach” to the
conflict before it can mediate more peace talks. Later in December, Bayramov
said he has offered to meet with Mirzoyan on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border
without third-party mediation.
Despite holding no face-to-face negotiations in recent months, Baku and Yerevan
have exchanged more written proposals on an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty
discussed by them. According to Grigorian, the Armenian side responded to the
most recent Azerbaijani proposals on January 4.
The official did not disclose that reply. He indicated only that Baku has
toughened its position on some key points of the peace accord.
“There are issues that were agreed upon during verbal negotiations, but we have
seen some steps backwards in the [Azerbaijani] text of the peace treaty,”
Grigorian said without elaborating. “But there are also points on which we made
progress.”
Azerbaijani officials said last month that the two sides should sign the treaty
before delimiting the long Armenian-Azerbaijani border, raising more fears in
Yerevan that Baku remains reluctant to formally recognize Armenia’s territorial
integrity. Mirzoyan insisted that the treaty should contain a concrete mechanism
for the border delimitation.
In recent weeks, Baku has also renewed its demands for the opening of an
extraterritorial corridor that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan
exclave via Armenia. Yerevan has repeatedly rejected such demands before.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2024 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
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Category: 2024
Armenpress: Changes in ANIF
13:40, 7 January 2024
YEREVAN, 7 JANUARY, ARMENPRESS. ANIF would like to inform that, at the initiative of the Ministry of Economy, changes were made to the management staff, including the board of directors of ANIF. Previously the Board of ANIF was chaired by Dominique de Villepin, former PM of and Minister of the Interior of France. By the decision of the Minister of Economy, he was replaced in this position by the Deputy Minister of Economy of RA Ani Ispiryan. Ani Ispiryan holds the post of Deputy Minister of Economy since September 2021. Before that, in 2020-2021 she worked as an expert at the RA Ministry of Economy within the framework of the "iGorts" program.
New members of the Board of Directors were appointed: Edgar Mkrtchyan, the Chief of Staff of RA Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan, and Arman Adilkhanyan, the Chief of Staff of RA Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan.
The contract of ANIF Director David Papazian was prematurely terminated by the vote of three new members of the Council. After this decision of the Ministry of Economy, the former Chairman of the BOD, Dominque De Villepin, also submitted his resignation from the position of a member of the BOD. Another long-time member of the Board of Directors of ANIF, Isidoro Lucciola also left the Board. Mr Lucciola is the founder and chairman of an investment banking and corporate finance independent boutique (Appeal Strategy & Finance), of a systemic provider of advisory and agency services to banks active in Italy (loan agency services) as well as of the Italian market leader in invoice trading fintech solutions for corporations (TSFVC). Mr. Lucciola has also been a member of ANIF's Board of Directors since its inception, and has supported the implementation of a number of investment projects in Armenia.
Khaled Helioui, the head of ANIF's investment committee, and Michael Thompson, a member of the Investment Committee, have also resigned.
Since 2019, ANIF has implemented a number of strategic projects with the now former composition of the board of directors and management structure, including the largest foreign investment project in Armenia at the moment, the "AYG-1" project jointly with the UAE State owned Masdar company, as well as Fly Arna Armenian National Airline jointly with Air Arabia.
A brief description of ANIF's recorded success in numbers:
Attracting foreign direct investments (FDI) in the total volume of 84.6 billion drams (at the exchange rate of 09.11.2023) or 210 million US dollars, of which:
Fly Arna: 10 million USD.
AYG-1: 200 million USD;
Investments in the domestic market through the "Entrepreneur + State anti-crisis investments" in 2021-2023:
7.8 billion drams – money directly invested by ANIF,
900 million drams – money co-invested by private partners, 1.931 billion drams – money drawn from commercial banks.
Paid taxes in 2021-2022: 837 million drams;
Taxes paid in 2023 in 9 months: 3.3 billion drams;
Taxes to be paid in 2023-2024: 8.9 billion drams (including taxes actually paid in 9 months of 2023);
More than 800 jobs created
Average salary in the projects created by ANIF in 2023. as of now: 558 thousand drams, when the average salary in RA is 263 thousand AMD.
Systemic investment attraction solution: creation of ARFI (Armenia Financed), the first online state crowdfunding platform in the world, which systematically solves the problem of ensuring a stable flow of investments from the diaspora to the Homeland.
1.76 billion drams (about 4.5 million dollars) net accounting profit in 2022. as of December 31.
The outgoing ANIF CEO David Papazian said “It has been an honor to lead Armenia’s nascent Sovereign Investment Fund since its inception in 2019. I am thankful to everyone who has believed in our journey, to our local and international partners, to everyone who through interaction has taught me lessons which I now take to my next career chapter. I wish the Ministry of Economy much success in building on top of the heritage we pass on to them today”.
Israel’s army chief says Gaza conflict to continue throughout 2024
10:42, 8 January 2024
YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. Israel's military chief said on Sunday that the conflict in Gaza would likely last throughout 2024 and spill over to other fronts, Xinhua reports.
Herzi Halevi, the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), made the remarks during a visit to the West Bank.
Halevi said 2024 would be "challenging" and that Israel would "certainly be involved in fighting in Gaza throughout the year," implying that the current full-scale conflict with Hamas, the Palestinian faction that rules Gaza, could ease but not end.
He also warned of a possible flare-up in violence "on other fronts, especially the West Bank," where tensions have risen since the start of the ongoing conflict in Gaza, which started on Oct. 7, 2023, following a surprise attack from Hamas.
Halevi also said the IDF would increase "the pressure it exerts" on Israel's northern border with Lebanon, where it has traded fire with Hezbollah in recent months.
"Hezbollah has decided to join this war. We are increasingly exacting a toll on them," he said, adding that the army had "a responsibility, a duty, to securely return northern residents to their homes."
Government works to achieve release of Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan – says justice minister
13:02, 8 January 2024
YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government is carrying out legal procedures and diplomatic work to achieve the release of Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan, Justice Minister Grigor Minasyan has said.
“The Foreign Ministry is carrying out the diplomatic work; our ambassadors have briefed international organizations on what has happened, who the prisoners are, their political past and naturally they contact their families through the ICRC. The Armenian government’s representative on international legal affairs is also carrying out intensive work in numerous international bodies, especially in courts, where it is trying to protect and restore the rights of the representatives of our nation through motions and lawsuits. I am sure that large-scale work is underway. We will soon be able to present our achievements through decisions confirmed by international bodies,” the minister said.
Armenia’s top law enforcement official earlier said that 55 Armenians are currently held captive in Azerbaijan but Baku has so far acknowledged only 23 of them.
Armenian national football team to face Czechia in friendly match
13:18, 8 January 2024
YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian national football team will play a friendly match against Czechia, the Football Federation of Armenia said in a press release.
The match will take place on March 26 in Prague.
Details will be reported additionally.
Security Council Secretary, U.S. Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations discuss Armenia- Azerbaijan normalization
13:32, 8 January 2024
YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan on January 8 met with United States Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations, the United States Co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Louis Bono.
Grigoryan and Bono discussed the normalization process of the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations and the latest negotiations, as well as the course of implementation of agreements that were achieved during the talks, Grigoryan’s office said in a readout.
Grigoryan reiterated Armenia’s commitment to establish lasting and comprehensive peace in the region.
Rome Statute to help Armenia involve international prosecutors to probe war crimes
13:23, 8 January 2024
YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. Numerous legal acts must either be adopted or laws must be amended following the ratification of the Rome Statute, Justice Minister Grigor Minasyan has said.
“We’ve studied the experience of various countries, particularly Georgia has a similar legislation, an entirely separate law. But we’ve also studied the experience of four-five leading countries. And the first step is the development of new legislation and work with international experts,” Minasyan said at a press conference.
Asked on the methods of applying the Rome Statute to hold Azerbaijan accountable for war crimes, the minister said: ‘The process is as follows. There are prosecutorial and investigative instruments and our investigators, by studying the crimes, gathering the information, also have the opportunity to involve international prosecutors and law enforcement officials, who, upon arriving in Armenia and studying the paperwork, become part of those proceedings. In this case, Armenia is not alone in the investigative processes of the war crimes and involves international bodies conducting proceedings.”
Developing transit cooperation cannot be basis for violation of territorial integrity of countries – Iran
14:40, 8 January 2024
YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. Iran has clear positions regarding the situation in the South Caucasus region and transit corridors, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani has said in response to a statement from Turkey on the so-called Zangezur Corridor.
“Iran has clear positions regarding the situation in the South Caucasus region and transit corridors, he noted. We are making a lot of efforts to establish peace, stability, and security in the regional countries. We emphasize that developing transit cooperation cannot be a basis for geopolitical changes and violation of the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of countries,” IRNA quoted Kanaani as saying at a press briefing.
The Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructures Abulkadir Uraloglu has said that Ankara expects to complete what he described as the “Zangezur Corridor” project by 2029.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino congratulates Armen Melikbekyan on re-election
15:30, 8 January 2024
YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. FIFA President Gianni Infantino has congratulated Armen Melikbekyan on his re-election as President of the Football Federation of Armenia.
"Dear President, please accept my warmest greetings and sincerest congratulations for your re-election as President of the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA).
I seize also this opportunity to thank you for all your efforts, your work and your important contribution to the development of our sport and the promotion of its values in Armenia. Sending you and your team my best wishes for this new mandate and every success for all the challenges that lie ahead, I look forward, dear President, to continuing to work with you for the growth and prosperity of football in Armenia in the years to come,” Infantino said in the addressed to Melikbekyan.
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Armenia plans to build government district near Yerevan
16:21, 8 January 2024
YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government plans to build a government district near Yerevan, Justice Minister Grigor Minasyan has said.
He said that all government ministries will be housed at that new district which will be located in a nearby province.
Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan is in charge of developing the project.
“Initially there was an idea to house all agencies and buildings under the justice ministry in one place, but then a decision was made to expand the plan and build a government district. All government ministries will be brought out of downtown Yerevan and relocated in a province near Yerevan. As a result, the overloading issue in downtown Yerevan will be resolved and the huge buildings now used by officials will be used for business, rentals and sales, which will generate profit,” the minister said.