16:25,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. As a result of the package of draft laws, it will become possible to solve the issues of the privileges established for the Free Economic Zones (FEZ) operators working in the Republic of Armenia within the framework of the localization works of the 5th measure Harmful Tax Practices of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Program connected with the ‘harmful’ tax regimes, the Acting Deputy Minister of Economy Narek Teryan said.

At February 27 Armenian National Assembly sitting , the package of draft laws on Amending the RA Tax Code and on Amending the Law on Free Economic Zones authored by the Government, was debated in the first reading, he press service of the Armenian National Assembly said.

According to the key rapporteur Narek Teryan, it is designed to set the kinds of permissible activity on the FEZ territory, which were chosen, taking as a basis the priorities of the Armenian Government economic policy, promoting the development of a number of spheres: processing industry, agriculture, sector of information technologies, tourism.

It is proposed by the draft that besides the kinds of the activity of processing industry and software elaboration activity, the spheres as the priorities of the economic policy of the Government will be included. In particular, from the service sphere the kinds of the activity aimed at the development of tourism were included, for example, the organization of hotel services, accommodation and catering. A guidebook will be established for the assessment of the FEZ operators’ business programs.

 16:42,

 16:52,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. The addenda and amendments being proposed to the law ''On Medicine'' and the enclosed laws will promote the processes of medicine registration, the regulation of the clinic experiment sphere, and the medicine import will be harmonized, the press service of the Armenian National Assembly said.

At the National Assembly sitting the Armenian Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan informed and added that during the implementation of the implementation of the law on Medicine adopted in 2016 a number of shortcomings were revealed, which impede the full regulation of the sphere.

Certain problems were also recorded in the legal practice of the Armenian Health and Labor Inspection Body, including the implementation of the examinations. By the minister’s observation, the law does not envisage definition of the organization implementing examinations and professional observations in the state regulation of circulation of medicine. Authorizing norms are necessary for changing the decisions of the Government.

According to Anahit Avanesyan, one of the shortcomings is that refusal system of permission of parallel import and its providing is designed, without specifying the connection with the import certification processes and the refusal bases.

It was noted that while making up the package the proposals of the importing companies was taken into consideration.

 17:15,

YEREVAN, 27 FEBUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 27 February, USD exchange rate down by 0.01 drams to 404.41 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 0.24 drams to 438.87 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.01 drams to 4.39 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 0.23 drams to 512.83 drams.

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

Gold price down by 3.90 drams to 26357.82 drams. Silver price down by 2.67 drams to 292.68 drams.

 17:47,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, ARMENPRESS.  As part of Ucom's fixed network expansion strategy, the company has made its fixed communication services available in the city of Ashtarak.

Now, residents of Ashtarak have access not only to mobile communication services but also to fixed line internet, television, and telephone connections. They can benefit from all regional offers of Ucom, including Unity packages, which encompass mobile, fixed internet, and fixed telephone services.

 Furthermore, residents of Ashtarak who subscribe to Unity 7000 and 9000 packages for a 12-month period until April 30 will enjoy three months of free Ucom services. Additionally, subscribers of the Unity 9000 package will receive a discounted rate of only 8,000 drams per month.

Connection for subscribers in Ashtarak will be completed within three days after submitting the application.

"Providing high-quality internet communications in the regions is a crucial strategic direction for Ucom, and we spare no effort in achieving these goals. Ashtarak is one of the key directions in this regard, and we take pride in launching our network in this city. I'm confident that the residents of Ashtarak will appreciate the speed of our connection and the balance of price and quality of our services," said Ralph Yirikian, Director General of Ucom.

 Ralph Yirikian visited Ashtarak on February 27 to mark the network's launch, meeting with the first fixed-line subscriber and presenting them with a certificate for free use of the Unity Super 20000 package for six months.

“We appreciate Mr. Yirikian’s efforts very much and we follow his work, especially his regional visits. We connected to Ucom’s fixed network once it became available and we are very happy with the connection quality. I think it has the best speed in Ashtarak”, said Sargis Sargsyan. 

It's worth noting that as part of the expansion of Ucom's fixed network, the company has installed networks in four new cities over the past year: Ijevan, Goris, Gavar, and Sevan.

 18:26,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, ARMENPRESS. According to the Azerbaijani media, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov has left for a working visit to the Federal Republic of Germany.

Earlier, Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan announced that the delegations of the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet on February 28-29 in Berlin, in accordance with the agreement reached during the tripartite meeting held in Munich.

 19:13,

YEREVAN, 27 FEBUARY, ARMENPRESS. There is continuous bellicose rhetoric and military escalation provoked by Azerbaijan following earlier incursions into the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia. The impunity of the illegal use of force resulted in new territorial claims against Armenia. Nowadays, the whole territory of the Republic of Armenia is presented as so-called “Western Azerbaijan”, which was invented with a pure intention to keep tension in the region. 

Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan said in his address at the High-Level Segment of the 55th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council, the foreign ministry said.

The address reads as follows:

"Armenia congratulates the newly elected Bureau of the Human Rights Council under the Presidency of H.E. Ambassador Omar Zniber of Morocco and wishes all the best at the helm of this august body.

A year ago, from this very stage, the UN Secretary-General warned of rising public disregard and private disdain for human rights. He called to stand on the right side of history, to stand up for the human rights of everyone, everywhere.

Indeed, the world becomes a dangerous place when adherence to human rights declines, when our common principles and norms, particularly international law, international human rights and humanitarian law, are ignored and violated on a massive scale.  

Armenia views this august Council as one of the key pillars of the protection and promotion of human rights worldwide. It is in this vein that at this session, Armenia presents a new iteration of Genocide Prevention resolution. We believe that the HRC should continue its contribution to the international efforts of countering the scourge of genocide, not least through exploring ways of enhancing early warning and early action capacities. And this is the main thrust of the new draft. We count on the wide support to this noble goal.

Mr. President,

Since 2020 the international human rights law and international humanitarian law have been continuously violated in our region. In the course of the last three and half years, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh suffered from war of aggression, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, torture, starvation and other forms of inhumane treatment. It endured a ten-month-long blockade of the Lachin corridor, the only connection to Armenia and the world, and then was subjected to renewed hostilities, which resulted in the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Armenian population of the region.

We have been witnessing such a policy of Azerbaijan since the 80s of last century. In fact, today, we commemorate the victims of Sumgait pogroms. Together with similar acts in Baku, Kirovabad and other Armenian-populated cities of Azerbaijan, around 360 thousand Armenians were forced to flee their homes, deprived of all their rights, including the right to property, and find refuge in Armenia. Earlier, due to the same-style implemented policy, Armenians left their homes in Nakhijevan. 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In the case of Nagorno-Karabakh, there was no shortage of early warning signs of the looming atrocities. The list includes statements from the UN Secretary-General, the High Commissioner for Human Rights and Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, Orders of ICJ, public communications of UN Special Procedure Mandate Holders. 

However, this was not enough for the international community, and I quote the Secretary General again, “to stand on the right side of history, to stand up for human rights”. Approximately 145.000 people were forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh and relocated to Armenia between 2020 and 2023. Here I should state that the Government of Armenia undertakes all necessary actions to address the needs and rights of these people. Together with dealing with the short-term challenges-providing access to education, social protection, healthcare system, supporting their housing difficulties, we are already planning concrete actions to address mid-term and long-term needs aimed at further integration of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

There are more than thousand missing persons and enforced disappearances on the Armenian side from the wars of the 1990s and 2020. We have 23 prisoners of war and other detainees in Azerbaijan. We have an immense risk of destruction of Armenian cultural and religious heritage that the UN Special Rapporteur has recently warned: “may amount to cultural cleansing.”

There is continuous bellicose rhetoric and military escalation provoked by Azerbaijan following earlier incursions into the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia. The impunity of the illegal use of force resulted in new territorial claims against Armenia. Nowadays, the whole territory of the Republic of Armenia is presented as so-called “Western Azerbaijan”, which was invented with a pure intention to keep tension in the region.

Nevertheless, Armenia is committed to the peace agenda and will not deviate from it. We are convinced that mutual recognition of territorial integrity and inviolability of borders based on the 1991 Almaty declaration and delimitation of the interstate border based on the most recent and legitimate maps of the USSR is the only path towards peace and stability in our region. We also do believe that the opening of all regional communications that respect sovereignty and jurisdiction of states and is based on the principles of equality and reciprocity can create additional interdependencies complementing the stability of the South Caucasus and wider region. To that end, the Government of Armenia introduced the “Crossroads of Peace” initiative once again reaffirming our genuine interest and political will to unblock all the transport links. 

Concluding, I would like to underline that against all odds and challenges, we have been facing, Armenia continues its path towards the consolidation of democracy, and we are proud of the remarkable achievements that have been registered. The recent accession to the Rome Statute is only one, albeit a major step in this regard that stands as the token of our unwavering commitment to uphold human rights. Armenia is also taking considerable steps to further strengthen the rights of women, children, and other vulnerable groups, improve labor rights and social protection mechanisms. 

And I thank you."

 19:37,

YEREVAN, 27 FEBUARY, ARMENPRESS.  The security environment in the South Caucasus remains volatile as Azerbaijan hasn’t denounced its aggressive policy against the Republic of Armenia. It continues to present new territorial claims against the Republic of Armenia along with backtracking from previously agreed principles of the establishment of peace and security in our region. Particularly the principle of respecting each other’s territorial integrity based on the Almaty Declaration of 1991 and conduct of the delimitation process aiming to recover the borderline of 1991 have been consistently rejected by Azerbaijan.

According to the readout issued by the foreign ministry, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan made a statement during the high-level segment of the Conference on Disarmament.

The statement reads as follows:

"It is a pleasure to address the Conference on Disarmament in our capacity as an observer state. We believe that the Conference on Disarmament serves as a crucial platform for dialogue and collaboration among nations, aiming to build trust and understanding in pursuit of common goals. Armenia, as an observer state, is eager to actively engage in the deliberations, discussions, and initiatives aimed at advancing disarmament efforts on a global scale.

We reaffirm our strong commitment to the universal implementation of the international obligations in the areas of arms control and non-proliferation and reiterate our steadfast support to the institutions that underpin it.

Armenia reiterates its firm support for the full, complete, and effective implementation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation (NPT). As a strong supporter of the non-proliferation policies, we reiterate our full compliance with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards agreements and additional protocol.

Furthermore, we consider the Comprehensive test-ban treaty (CTBT) to be an indispensable pillar and tool for the global nuclear non-proliferation regime and disarmament.

New international regulatory instruments or mechanisms for addressing 21st-century threats and challenges are crucial for preventing potential conflicts and saving lives in line with the International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law. In this regard, it is our strong conviction that our joint efforts should be directed not just at protecting and advancing what we have already achieved but at matching the rapid technological progress, especially in artificial intelligence, lethal autonomous weapons systems or drone technologies.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Armenia is well familiar with the devastating impact of conflict, having experienced the tragic consequences of wars in our recent history. This painful past motivates us to persistently advocate for peaceful resolution of conflicts, prevention of the use or threat of force, uncontrolled and mass acquisition of weaponry and disarmament.

The erosion of the arms control regimes does not happen in a vacuum. It is usually a consequence of years-long noncompliance to the main treaties and documents, as well as the negligence of such crucial principles of the UN Charter as the non-use of force or threat of use of force and the maintenance of international peace and security and good-neighborly relations. The international failures of identifying early warning signs of such violations usually evolve into bloody conflicts and hostilities.

It is in such an environment that Azerbaijan launched a violent war against Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020, infiltrated into Armenia’s sovereign territory and on 19 September last year conducted an ethnic cleansing of over 108.000 indigenous Armenian population from its ancestral homeland.

Overall, the security environment in the South Caucasus remains volatile as Azerbaijan hasn’t denounced its aggressive policy against the Republic of Armenia. It continues to present new territorial claims against the Republic of Armenia along with backtracking from previously agreed principles of the establishment of peace and security in our region. Particularly the principle of respecting each other’s territorial integrity based on the Almaty Declaration of 1991 and conduct of the delimitation process aiming to recover the borderline of 1991 have been consistently rejected by Azerbaijan.

Nevertheless, the Government of Armenia continues its genuine efforts to build peace and stability in our region as well as confidence and trust between Armenia and Azerbaijan. To that end we have proposed simultaneous withdrawal of troops from the Armenia-Azerbaijan interstate border, with further demilitarization of the bordering areas. Armenia also proposes to sign a bilateral arms control mechanism and non-aggression pact ahead of the peace treaty in case the signing of the latter requires additional time to reach a consensus. Despite the fact that all these proposals have so far been ignored or rejected by Azerbaijan, we are determined to continue our efforts.

Dear Colleagues,

The arms control and non-proliferation architecture were established with the objective of ensuring safer and more secure life for all. It cannot be accomplished without joint efforts, compromise and political will.

We firmly believe that dialogue and cooperation based on mutual respect are the cornerstones of effective disarmament efforts. Armenia stands ready to work collaboratively with member states, sharing experiences, expertise, and resources to address the complex challenges that are ahead of us. Through open communication and a commitment to finding common ground, we can pave a way for a more secure and safe world.

I thank you."

 19:47,

YEREVAN, 27 FEBUARY, ARMENPRESS. On February 27, the members of the delegation of the National Assembly of Armenia to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Sona Ghazaryan, Arusyak Julhakyan and Armen Gevorgyan met with the candidate nominated by Estonia in the elections for the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE) Indrek Saar, the Armenian National Assembly said in a statement.

The guest presented to the Armenian parliamentarians his vision and priorities within the framework of the activities of the CoE Secretary General.

According to the source, at the meeting the member of the Armenian delegation Sona Ghazaryan touched upon the security challenges facing Armenia. The MP spoke about ongoing process on the Peace Treaty with Azerbaijan, expressed concern on the danger of the aggressive rhetoric of Azerbaijan, which does not promote the establishment of peace.

According to Sona Ghazaryan, the circumstance that Azerbaijan has become a record holder of the organization in not executing the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is concerning for the Armenian side. The MP expressed conviction that that circumstance does not promote the normalization of the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations and the institutional establishment of the structure.

'' It is important that the member states respect their assumed obligations,'' she said.

Armen Gevorgyan referred to the Armenian captives and the civilians being held in Baku and highlighted their return to the homeland.

Arusyak Julhakyan spoke about the importance of the negotiations based on the democratic principles between the member states of the structure, underscoring the role of the organization in that issue.

 21:00,

YEREVAN, 27 FEBUARY, ARMENPRESS.  Adrienn Kiraly, Neighbourhood East & Institution Building Director at European Commission presented details of the results of the meeting with the Armenian Deputy Prime Ministers Mher Grigoryan and Tigran Khachatryan. 

“Good discussions with Deputy Prime Ministers Grigoryan and Khachatryan in Yerevan on our joint efforts to strengthen EU-Armenia relations. During the meeting, I handed over the financing agreement allocating €15 million in budget support for refugees”, Kiraly posted on her X account.