09:15,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. The European Parliament will discuss a resolution on visa liberalization with Armenia next week. German member of the European Parliament, Viola von Cramon-Taubadel told Armenpress Brussels correspondent.

“Now we are pushing in a [European Parliament] resolution for next week, to the plenary session, we push for a real visa action plan. We aim to strengthen other institutional ties with Armenia to ensure that the Armenian population feels welcomed.

We really would like to see Armenia at some point being or becoming a part of the European Union. So at least if we come with a visa action plan or liberalization action plan, this is something tangible for the people and also in terms of trade and liberalization of our markets,” she said.

To the question of whether there are any obstacles for the European Union to start talks with Armenia on visa liberalization, the member of the European Parliament  answered that it is not the European Parliament that would probably block or who has blocked so far. She detailed that the problem has always existed in the European Council.

Viola von Cramon-Taubadel noted that the diplomats of Armenia should carry out some work on this issue with some EU member countries, without clarifying which countries in particular. She said that some EU member states have deep-rooted concerns regarding visa liberalization with Armenia.

 09:35,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. The Armenia-UAE economic relations, which experienced a sharp boost of development last year, may evolve in a new way.

The Armenian Ministry of Economy, said in response to Armenpress query, presenting the most promising directions capable of giving a fresh breath to the economic cooperation between the two countries.

The ministry has stated that the expansion and deepening of the cooperation in the fields of tourism, infrastructure, renewable energy, construction, agriculture, food industry, high technologies, digitalization, cybersecurity and innovation are particularly attractive. Cooperation in these areas promises to be mutually beneficial.

 In 2023, the UAE became the second trade partner of Armenia by the volume of goods turnover, at the same time topping the list of countries that made foreign direct investments in Armenia. Last year, exports from Armenia to the UAE amounted to approximately $2.2 billion, indicating a 3.2 times increase compared to 2022. The volume of imports was relatively modest – about 600 million dollars. The indicator of 2022 was exceeded by 36.7 percent. The total trade turnover reached $2.8 billion, marking a 1.9-fold increase in just one year.

According to the Ministry, the export structure has not changed significantly compared to 2022. Last year, 96.3 percent of Armenia's exports to the UAE consisted of four main types of products: unwrought or semi-wrought gold, gold dust, jewelry, diamond stones, cigarettes and cigars. In 2022, they accounted for 98.7 percent of exports. The import structure also remained largely unchanged, with passenger cars, diamond stones, telephone spare parts, modems, and jewelry dominating. Overall, they accounted for 59 percent of goods imported from the UAE to Armenia in 2023 (compared to 60 percent in 2022). In 2023, $1.6 billion worth of goods were re-exported from Armenia to the UAE, mainly unwrought gold ($1.3 billion), diamond stones (300 million) and unwrought, semi-unwrought or in powder form ($32 million).

Last year, the UAE became the country that secured the largest volume of foreign direct investment in Armenia's economy, surpassing Russia for the first time in history. From January to September 2023, the UAE made direct investments totaling 101 billion 814.4 million drams in Armenia. The Ministry emphasizes that this indicator should not be conditioned by a separate factor, but should be considered in the general logic of the dynamics of the development of the Armenian-Emirati trade and economic relations in the recent period.

According to the Economy Ministry, the ongoing environmental improvements, the current increase in bilateral trade relations and the rising influx of tourists to Armenia are considered the main factors contributing to the development of economic cooperation between Armenia and the UAE.

The talks on the signing of an agreement on services, trade, and investment between the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the United Arab Emirates, which has begun the previous year, are currently underway. An agreement to sign such a document was reached during the negotiations on the free trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and its member states and the UAE.

The agreement, in fact, liberalizes the processes of implementation of services, trade and investments between Armenia and the UAE, envisaging the removal of drawbacks, enhancing economic efficiency and creating favorable conditions in these areas. It is aimed at expanding mutually beneficial economic cooperation.

 11:33,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. Intuitive Machines' Odysseus lander touched down on the moon Thursday after a historic, nail-biting descent following a last-minute navigation sensor malfunction, becoming the first U.S.-built spacecraft to stick a moon landing in more than 50 years and the first ever by a private company, CBS News reports.

After delaying the final descent by one orbit to press an experimental NASA navigation sensor into service — and to test hurriedly-written software patches to route its data to the lander's flight computer — Odysseus settled to a touchdown at 6:23 p.m. EST near a crater known as Malapert A some 186 miles from the south pole of the moon.

Engineers at Intuitive Machines' Nova control center in Houston expected it to take up to two minutes or so to re-establish communications after landing, but the expected signal was not immediately found.

Finally, a faint signal was picked up by a communications antenna in the United Kingdom, indicating the spacecraft had, in fact, survived the touchdown.

"What we can confirm, without a doubt, is our equipment is on the surface of the moon, and we are transmitting," Mission Director Tim Crain told the flight control team. "So congratulations, IM team! We'll see how much more we can get from that."

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson was quick to congratulate Intuitive Machines, SpaceX for the Falcon 9 rocket that launched Odysseus last week from the Kennedy Space Center, and the agency's own commercial moon program, saying they "aced the landing of a lifetime."

"Today, for the first time in more than a half century, the U..S has returned to the moon," he said. "Today, for the first time in the history of humanity, a commercial company, an American company, launched and led the voyage up there. And today is a day that shows the power and promise of NASA's commercial partnerships."

He concluded with, "What a triumph! … This feat is a giant leap forward for all of humanity."

But a detailed assessment of the health of the spacecraft and its payloads awaited analysis of telemetry. Finally, two hours after touchdown, the company reported that "after troubleshooting communications, flight controllers have confirmed Odysseus is upright and starting to send data. Right now, we are working to downlink the first images from the lunar surface."

The successful lunar landing marked the first touchdown by a U.S.-built spacecraft since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 and the first ever by a privately-built spacecraft.

 10:04,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. An Azerbaijani attack against Armenia is ‘highly likely’, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has warned.

“Upon analyzing the statements coming out of official Baku, we conclude that indeed an attack on Armenia is highly likely,” Pashinyan said in an interview with France 24. “Why? Because, for example, Baku very often makes statements about the so-called Western Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is basically calling the entire Republic of Armenia ‘Western Azerbaijan’, calling the territories of the Republic of Armenia as Azerbaijani ones. On the diplomatic level Azerbaijan is assuring that it doesn’t have intentions to attack, but where do these opinions on the likelihood of an attack come from? First of all, upon expressing the publicly agreed principles in the text of the peace treaty we see some difficulties caused by Azerbaijan. Secondly, it is the public narrative voiced on the highest level, which, in short, is reflected in calling the Republic of Armenia as ‘Western Azerbaijan’. Third, the aggressiveness on the border. For example, the latest incident, when we had four deaths, this incident wasn’t anyhow justified. They stated that one of their soldiers was wounded, and we stated that we would investigate, because there’s an order not to carry out any unjustified actions, and if it turns out that there is a violation of that order there would be consequences envisaged by law. Despite these statements, Azerbaijan took advantage of that occasion in order to display aggression. It is the combination of these facts that leads many Armenian and international experts to conclude that Azerbaijan is planning a new attack on Armenia.”

 10:21,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is practically frozen, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said.

“The CSTO hasn’t fulfilled its security obligations towards Armenia, particularly in 2021, in 2022, and this couldn’t have gone without consequences. And the consequence is that in practice we have basically frozen our participation in the CSTO,” Pashinyan told France24.

Asked on the Russian military base in Armenia, the Prime Minister clarified that the base is located in Armenia not as part of the CSTO. “That’s an entirely different legal-contractual framework, and we haven’t had the occasion to address that framework.”

 10:33,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan has held a meeting with his French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu who has arrived in Armenia on an official visit.

The welcoming ceremony with participation of the guard of honor and the military orchestra was held at the Ministry of Defense headquarters. The anthems of the two nations were played.

Politico earlier reported that French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s delegation during his upcoming Armenia trip will include defense companies MBDA, Nexter, Safran, Thales and Arquus.

 11:18,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. Cooperation in the defense sector plays an important role in the Armenia-France interstate relations, Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan said at a joint press conference with French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu in Yerevan.

“It is a great honor to host the Armed Forces minister of friendly France for the first time in Armenia. The circles of interstate relations based on common values of the Armenian and French peoples are expanding by each day in the primary focus of the leaders of our states, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Emmanuel Macron, and cooperation in the defense sector plays an important role in it,” Papikyan said, adding that defense cooperation between the two countries has systemic and far-reaching nature.

He thanked his French counterpart for his personal contribution and readiness in developing cooperation.

 11:20,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. The agenda of the Armenia-France defense cooperation encompasses nearly all sectors of the military, Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan has said.

He described his discussions with his French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu as substantial.

“The agenda of our cooperation encompasses nearly all sectors of the activities of the armed forces. I must underscore the comprehensive consultative support in the direction of defense reforms, the military education sector, the rapidly developing training direction, and of course the modernization of defense measures and development of military-technical cooperation process. Starting this year, bilateral cooperation has been placed on a clear planning base, and it is developing in more than a dozen directions,” Papikyan said at a joint press conference with Lecornu in Yerevan. 

Papikyan said he presented to the French minister the course of the Armenian military reforms which are aimed at forming a military in line with modern standards capable of withstanding modern challenges.

 11:54,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan and French Minister of Defense Sébastien Lecornu discussed the course of cooperation during their meeting in Yerevan on February 23.

The ministers reviewed the implemented work in the defense cooperation and lauded the course and results of cooperation, the defense ministry said in a readout.

A number of new directions of cooperation were outlined.

Papikyan and Lecornu highlighted the Armenian-French military-technical cooperation as part of the Armenian military reforms, and the efforts to place it on long-term institutional basis.

Issues of military education, combat training, various trainings, consultative and expert support were in the focus of the meeting.

The course of the military-technical cooperation and upcoming actions to ensure its continuity were discussed.

Views were exchanged around regional security issues.

The ministers underscored that the Armenian-French defense cooperation and joint efforts are exclusively aimed at establishing lasting peace and stability in the South Caucasus, as well as the development of the defense capabilities of the Armenian military for strengthening Armenia’s interdependence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.