Month: February 2019

RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan arrived on an official visit to the Federal Republic of Germany.

The Prime Minister’s visit started from Cologne, Germany. On the morning of January 31, Nikol Pashinyan met the Eastern Europe Regional Director of the German Development Bank (KfW), Olaf Zimelka.

The RA Prime Minister noted that KfW is an effective partner for the Republic of Armenia, with which a number of projects are implemented in various branches of the RA economy. In this context, Nikol Pashinyan emphasized the importance of 2018. The grant agreement signed with KfW Bank in November on the project “Biodiversity and sustainable local development in Armenia” with a total value of 23,208,483.13 euros, which is one of the most significant projects in this field in our region.

The Prime Minister emphasized that bringing this sector in line with high environmental standards in Armenia is one of the important priorities of the government and it is gratifying to have such a reliable ally in this matter, in the form of the German Development Bank.

The regional director of KfW, in his turn, noted that Armenia is an important partner for the German Development Bank, with which effective projects are being implemented. Expressing satisfaction with the course of cooperation with various departments of our country, O. Zimelka added that the Armenia-KfW partnership contributes to the development of Armenian-German ties, and the bank is interested in discussing and implementing new initiatives.

The RA Prime Minister and the regional director of KfW discussed the progress of current projects in the fields of environmental protection, energy, agriculture, infrastructure, water management and reservoir construction, as well as exchanged ideas on the issues of expanding cooperation in other prospective directions.

At the meeting with the delegation of experts from the Ile de France Regional Council and the Institute of Urbanism and Improvement, the chief architect of Yerevan, Artur Meschyan, presented the perspectives of the capital’s infrastructure development and planned urban planning changes.

Highlighting the program priorities, the chief architect of the city noted that it is planned to build a new metro station and a cable car, for which a French company has also expressed interest in participating in the tender. This was reported by the Information and Public Relations Department of the Yerevan Municipality.

“This is an interesting period for Yerevan. Urban planning regulations should be almost in a blank page approach. In this regard, your visit is extremely important. Of course, there are cultural differences between us, but we all want to apply new approaches in today’s urban development,” noted Artur Meschyan.

Expressing gratitude for the opportunity of the meeting and the information provided, the member of the delegation, responsible for international cooperation of the Institute of Urbanism and Improvement, Eric Huybresht, noted that Yerevan has set a high bar in front of it today.

Speaking about the specific steps of cooperation, the guests noted that the purpose of their visit is to demonstrate the possibilities of applying innovations and provide technical support. In the “Yerevan development investment program implementation office”, the guests were interested in infrastructure improvement investment programs.

The problems of the environmental protection sector and the restoration of the green zones of the city and the upcoming tasks were also discussed with the French colleagues.

VERELQ presents the most notable publications of the Armenian press.

“Right” the newspaper writes. “Former Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Karen Karapetyan was sent to Armenia. According to the information we have, his return is not accidental, the Russian authorities hope that he will resolve the disputes with the Armenian authorities regarding the price of gas. By the way, according to the rumors, besides this, it also has other goals. He does not come to terms with the idea that he is leaving Armenia for the second time leaving his position half-finished, while he announced that it would not be like that. Therefore, he is trying not to be left out of the Armenian political processes, with whom he is in a team, it is not yet known.”

“time” the newspaper writes. “There is serious dissatisfaction among the employees of the tax service of Armenia, head of the SRC From Davit Ananyan: 2018 was the only year when tax service employees were not paid bonuses. We are talking about rank-and-file and mid-level employees of the service. Before the New Year, Ananyan cut about 130 people from the system, thereby creating an atmosphere of fear among employees, and distributed the entire bonus fund between himself and his relatives. It is natural that ordinary employees cannot rebel against their boss, but it is a fact that there is a deep hatred towards him in the institution he leads.”

“time” the newspaper writes. “Guardian of the Ararat cement factory Arrival Sargsyanhas become a real threat and headache for the factory employees and the people of Ararat. Enjoying the factory owner’s Gagik Tsarukyan confidence – he became the “problem solver” at the factory. Anyone who does not obey his whims or whom he “doesn’t like” is dismissed from work, threatened with reprisals if they complain. The cement factory is the only place of work in Ararat, where those who are fired without reason end up unemployed on the street. Galust Sargsyan’s wife recently managed to convince Tsarukyan to close the kindergarten for the children of the factory workers, whose director she was fired from.

“People” the newspaper writes: “Mothers of soldiers who died in peaceful conditions protested again, claiming that the law enforcement system is not doing anything to reveal the crimes. Moreover, they declare that the former Prosecutor General of RA has a major role in covering up these cases Gevorg Kostanyan. In the conversation with “Zhoghovurd” daily, Kostanyan claimed that the cases suspended during his tenure were reopened, and an officer was even convicted in one of them. At the same time, Kostanyan made a remarkable comment about the criticisms directed at him. “You should think about why the arrows are pointing at me, because I don’t understand, I don’t want to go with the assumption that some people want to use this circumstance to discredit me. I haven’t been the Attorney General for three years, so why haven’t the cases been solved? And one more thing: I was appointed a military prosecutor in 2011, and these cases are 1, 5, 10 years before my appointment. I didn’t have an unsolved case, you make the rest of the conclusions.”

“Realist” the newspaper writes. “Along with the structural discussions of the government Nikol Pashinyan The issue of changing the Prosecutor General is also included in the upcoming plans. We were informed about this by a government source. The ground is also being prepared for this, news about the bad work of the prosecutor’s office, bribery from within the government itself is regularly circulated. After the change of power, Nikol Pashinyan could not manage this change immediately, because he did not have the appropriate votes in the parliament. Let’s remind that 3/5 of the votes of the deputies, that is, 79 votes, are needed for the election of the Prosecutor General. This means that having a majority in the parliament – 88 deputies – Pashinyan can Arthur Davtyan easily replaced by any of his teammates.”

“People” the newspaper writes: “Yesterday Prime Minister of RA Nikol Pashinyan President of the Republic Armen Sargsyan presented the recommendation on the pardon petitions. In general, let’s note that the topic of pardon is the most discussed recently, especially the life sentence Mher Enokyanwithin the framework of the case, because supporters are actively fighting for his release. And here, a proposal related to Mher Enokyan was also sent to the president. No government agency details the exact decision that was made. According to the press service of the president, the president signed the relevant decree without objections. In any case, it is not clear whether Nikol Pashinyan proposed to forgive or not to forgive Mher Enokyan. According to the circulating news, the offer to pardon Yenokyan was rejected. Let’s add that those decisions have already been sent to the Ministry of Justice, however the latter’s news service told the “Zhoghovurd” daily that they will make a statement in this regard only today and cannot reveal other details. At the same time, “Zhoghovurd” newspaper received reliable information that the prime minister has clearly instructed all relevant departments to carefully study all the cases, discuss them from many angles and then present them to the prime minister so that the public does not have any doubts or other questions in this regard. Nikol Pashinyan put that question very clearly.”

“Publication” the newspaper writes. “The Armenian broadcasting field is in the process of reorganization. For a long time, they were talking about selling the H3 TV station, but they answered us that they have no such intention, but it is possible for the “management” of the house. “Ararat” JSC, transformed into the 5th channel, is being seriously re-equipped. Some do not rule out that the TV company will be subjected to “sanctions” for its one-sided, biased “reporting” by the Armenian National Congress, whose president was the former editor of “Hayk” newspaper Tigran Hakobyan. TV 5, located in the “black” building of the RPA, will be moved to a new, renovated area – “Erebuni Plaza” after being re-equipped. Kocharyan the media “empire” associated with the name gathers under one roof. Until the end of the month, the “Armnews” TV station, which has been equipped with the latest technology and expanded its coverage area, will also start its activities, which is going to provide only news (only that function is written in the license) with the “logic” of CNN. In other words, every hour, with 24-hour broadcasting. To remind, these works are carried out by the “Quartet” of former MPs who broke away from the RPA: Samvel Farmanyan, Karen Bekaryan, Arman Saghatelyan, Mihran Hakobyan composition”.

“Fact” the newspaper writes. “As it is known, a respectable delegation of RPA representatives left for Germany the other day. It is noteworthy that this visit coincided with the Prime Minister Pashinyanwith a visit to Germany. According to our sources, this is not a coincidence. According to the source of the newspaper, the members of the RPA present the internal political situation of Armenia during their meetings in Germany. On the other hand, the visit is related to the upcoming reforms and modernization process in the party, in other words, rebranding. According to some reports, the Republicans want to apply the German experience of parties. The members of the RPA, taking advantage of the opportunity, also talked about the issues arising from the interests of RA during the meetings. In particular, there were discussions about the ratification of the RA-EU agreement in the Bundestag. according to our information, it will take place by September of this year. The next issue raised by RPA members is related to visa liberalization with Germany. According to our source, the German partners emphasized that it is still too early to talk about this problem, because the European Parliament elections are expected in the near future, and, as we know, migration issues are very acute in Europe, and it is quite risky to manipulate them during the pre-election period.

“time” the newspaper writes. The “Bright Armenia” faction of the National Assembly has come forward with a legislative initiative, proposing to amend the NA Rules of Procedure and add a provision according to which the ambassadors of the Republic of Armenia and/or the heads of diplomatic missions accredited to foreign countries and international organizations, after being nominated, meet with the members of the NA Foreign Relations Committee before being appointed. Such meetings may also take place after their appointment in the course of their work. This is an accepted order in many democracies of the world and is meant to ensure parliamentary control over diplomatic missions.”

Avet Adonts was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a corresponding decree, which was published on the government’s website.

Earlier, Avet Adonts headed the diplomatic mission of Armenia in Spain.

As part of his official visit to Germany, RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with representatives of the German-Armenian community and local community structures in the presbytery of the German Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Cologne.

Prime Minister Pashinyan, welcoming the attendees, specifically noted:

“It is a great honor for me to be in the Presbytery of the Diocese of Germany of the Armenian Apostolic Church today. Basically, we can say that Cologne is the capital of the Armenian community in Germany, and it is no coincidence that we start our official visit from this city.

It is a great pleasure for me to have the opportunity of such a meeting today, and I want to emphasize what a major change has taken place in Armenia, around Armenia and in the relations between Armenia and the world.

I can say the following. After the famous changes, the Republic of Armenia has become more visible and more audible to the civilized world. This is indeed a reality. sometimes a little uncomfortable situation arises for me, when representatives of various powerful civilized countries of the world directly say during discussions and contacts with us that we have a lot to learn from you. This is, of course, a very strange expression, and to be honest, sometimes I don’t know how to behave because the situation is awkward. ? But by and large, when one, two, three, four such phrases are repeated, I think we should not hesitate to record. yes’, we have problems in many areas, but there is one area in which we are truly considered a leading country in the world today. it is the sphere of building a society free of violence and achieving changes without violence, where we can say that we are a leading country in the world, yes.

Today, political change and keeping public life in general free of violence is one of the greatest challenges that exists in the world, and today the world recognizes that we have achieved great success in this area. I want to emphasize that I am not saying this as a reason to brag or be arrogant, but so that we can record this situation and with this every representative of our people and we as a collective have more confidence in the way of building our future, our homeland, our state.

Today we can record that we are on the way to or already are at least in the family of civilized nations. We say this not to be arrogant, as Paruyr Sevak rightly stated at one time, and we are faithful to that formula today: we do not prefer ourselves to anyone, but we must also state that we really have something to say and do in the modern world. That action is positive, carries universal logic, and what is said and done is interesting to the world and civilization.

This is a very important record, and I think that what happened could not have happened with the efforts of a single group, individual, party. This is the result of our nationwide efforts that we have been able to invest in the process of putting our country on a great path of transformation. We showed an unprecedented example of nationwide cooperation in April-May, and in fact, every Armenian contributed to the changes that took place in the Republic of Armenia.

And, finally, I am very happy to record that for the first time in the Republic of Armenia, parliamentary elections were held, the free, fair, legality of which is not disputed not only by the international community, but also within Armenia, for the first time we had elections, the results of which are not contested in the Constitutional Court.

These are indeed important changes, but we face an even greater challenge. We need political changes to be transformed into economic changes, to move from a political revolution to an economic revolution, so that the level of social protection, economic activity and well-being of people in our country continuously increases. This is our mission, and this is not the task of an individual party, individual, or even the government. This is a nationwide thing to do, and I am convinced that our people have enough potential to continuously strengthen and strengthen their homeland and international to occupy a larger and more permanent place among civilized nations and states in society.

I hope that we will really be able to use the potential that we have created for the sake of our national dreams and goals and to bring our next and no less important meaning to the modern and future civilization.

Long live freedom, long live the Republic of Armenia, long live us and our children who live and will live in a free and happy Armenia.”

Referring to the vision of the economic revolution, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan presented the government’s approach to this issue. “Our idea has not changed, it has remained the same. just as the political revolution was not possible and could not be carried out without the participation of every citizen, the economic revolution will not be carried out without the participation of our compatriots, citizens. How did we carry out the political revolution? we created an opportunity for every citizen to express his position and we guaranteed that the moment the RA citizens, the majority of the public, will register and show their position, will do their part to bring about changes, we guarantee that these changes will happen. The same applies to the economic revolution, where every person is required to be willing to contribute to the economic revolution.

The modern world, modern Armenia is even more a country of opportunities, and our greatest task is to realize these opportunities, to make them realistic. Who changes the world, who changes reality? that’s what people do. The 21st century is the time of people who believe in their own power. Now is the time for us and our people to believe in their own strength.”

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan answered the questions of representatives of the German-Armenian community and community structures, which were related to the negotiation process of the Artsakh conflict settlement, structural changes related to the Ministry of Diaspora, Armenia’s energy security, activities of the Armenian community in Germany, etc.

In particular, referring to the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Prime Minister Pashinyan said. “I have announced several times from the podium of the National Assembly and said: why is everyone asking us whether we are ready for compromises or not? And who said that we are the primary subject answering that question? Why doesn’t anyone ask Azerbaijan if they are ready to compromise or not? And therefore I have said several times publicly that we will not answer that question until Azerbaijan does not answer.”

In response to the question regarding the Ministry of Diaspora, Nikol Pashinyan informed. “The staff of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia will have a special assignment ambassador for the Diaspora, who will be the representative of the Prime Minister’s staff in relations with the Diaspora. Our understanding is as follows: the functions of the Ministry of Diaspora should be redistributed. The Ambassador with Special Assignments will have nothing to do except gather Diaspora-related issues, propose solutions, and implement those solutions through the Prime Minister. Therefore, we have thought of allocating the functions of the Ministry of Diaspora according to branch ministries, and having an ambassador with special assignments in relations with the Diaspora, who will work in the Prime Minister’s office under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister.

Our whole aim of optimizing the composition of the government is that every function should be handled by one body. For example, the Ministry of Diaspora always sent textbooks for Armenian educational centers abroad, but the training of Diaspora teachers was carried out by the Ministry of Education and Science. And we very often have situations when teachers are trained under the program of one ministry and receive textbooks from another ministry. It turns out that the use of that textbook and the training of teachers becomes ineffective. The Ministry of Education should be the one dealing with the issue of education. of these circumstances As a result, we have one policy of Armenian education in the Diaspora, and another in Armenia. The same is the case in the field of culture,” the Prime Minister said, emphasizing that the cornerstone of the policy should be bringing the identity of the Diaspora and the Armenians of Armenia closer together.