Thursday,
Government Moves To Raise Minimum Wage In Armenia
• Artak Khulian
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian holds a cabinet meeting in Yerevan,
.
The Armenian government announced on Thursday plans to increase the minimum
wage in the country by more than 23 percent.
A bill drafted by two members of Armenia’s parliament and discussed by the
government at a weekly meeting in Yerevan would raise it from 55,000 drams
($115) to 63,000 drams per month.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s cabinet decided to go further and ask the
National Assembly to set the minimum monthly wage at 68,000 drams ($142).
The higher figure was proposed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.
Deputy Labor Minister Gemafin Gasparian said it is based on recent research on
the cost of living in the country which was commissioned by the ministry.
Gasparian added that 35,000 people working in the public sector and 45,000
others employed by private firms are paid 55,000 drams per month at present.
According to government data, the average monthly wage in Armenia stood at
179,000 drams as of April.
Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian said in this regard that the government
should make sure that private employers are unable to illegally underpay their
workers through “hourly wage manipulations.” “I think that we need to add to
this bill regulations that would limit such room for maneuver by defining the
length of a working day,” he said.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian agreed. “Especially against the background of
the existing level of social security … we must do everything to preclude
abuses in this sphere,” he told government members.
Russian Airlines Plan Extra Flights To Armenia
RUSSIA -- A Pobeda Boeing 737-800 aircraft is seen at Vnukovo International
Airport in Moscow, July 14, 2016
Russia’s leading airlines will reportedly help Russian tourists travel to
Georgia via neighboring Armenia after all passenger flights between Russia and
Georgia are suspended next month.
According to the Armenian Civil Aviation Committee, they are planning to launch
additional flights to and from Armenia for that purpose.
President Vladimir Putin last week temporarily banned Russian airlines from
flying to Georgia following an outbreak of unrest in Tbilisi triggered by the
visit of a Russian lawmaker. The Russian Transport Ministry imposed at the
weekend a similar ban on Georgian airlines carrying out flights to Moscow and
other Russian cities.
The punitive measures, effective from July 8, will hit the Georgian tourism
industry. More than one million Russian tourists visited Georgia last year.
Senior officials from the Civil Aviation Committee met with Russian airline
executives in Yerevan to discuss the situation on Wednesday. A statement by the
Armenian government agency said a representative of Aeroflot reported at the
meeting that the Russian flagship carrier will increase the frequency of its
daily flights between Moscow and Yerevan.
Two other carriers, Ural Airlines and S7 Airlines, also announced such plans,
according to the statement. Ural was reported to be considering transporting
its passengers from Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport to Tbilisi and Batumi by bus.
Ural also flies to Yerevan from Saint Petersburg. It is planning to launch next
month regular flights to Gyumri as well, said the Civil Aviation Committee.
A budget airline, Pobeda, has until now been the sole Russian carrier flying to
Armenia’s second largest city. According to the committee statement, a Pobeda
representative said at the meeting that the company wants to enable Russian
tourists to proceed to Georgia from Gyumri by rail and will negotiate with
Armenia’s Russian-managed railway network for that purpose.
Senior executives of a Yerevan-based airline, Armenia Air Company, also
attended the meeting. They announced that starting from July 8 the company will
fly to Tbilisi and Moscow twice a day.
The Armenpress news agency quoted Armenia’s deputy director, Gevorg
Khachatrian, as saying that the Yerevan-Tbilisi flights will be carried out
jointly with its sister airline, Georgian Airways. The Georgian carrier’s
founder, Tamaz Gaiashvili, holds a major stake in Armenia Air Company.
Georgian Minister Allays Armenian Concerns Over Russia Border Crossing
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia -- Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian (R) and his Georgian
counterpart Maya Tskitishvili sign a memorandum of understanding in Yerevan,
Julne 27, 2019.
Georgia’s sole border crossing with Russia heavily used by Armenian exporters
is not at risk of closure following renewed tensions between Moscow and
Tbilisi, Georgian Deputy Prime Minister Maya Tskitishvili insisted on Thursday.
Moscow temporarily banned passenger flights between Russia and Georgia last
week after violent protests in Tbilisi sparked by the visit of a Russian
lawmaker. Some Russian pro-government politicians and commentators have called
on the Kremlin to impose harsher sanctions on Georgia. A Russian government
watchdog issued on Monday what was widely construed as a veiled threat to ban
imports of Georgian wine.
This raised fears in Armenia that Moscow could also shut down the
Russian-Georgian border crossing at Upper Lars. Most of Armenia’s trade with
Russia, which reached nearly $2 billion last year, is carried out through that
mountainous route.
Tskitishvili, who is also Georgia’s minister for regional development and
infrastructure, said she does not expect any problems at Upper Lars because
“there is no tension in economic relations” between her country and Russia.
“I can’t understand why such a question is raised in the first place,” she told
reporters during a visit to Yerevan. “There are certainly no problems for
representatives of any country [using Upper Lars,] including Armenian
businesspeople, because we are doing everything we can to further economic ties
between Georgia and Armenia.”
Tskitishvili argued that Moscow and Tbilisi, which fought a brief war in 2008,
restored bilateral commercial ties in 2012 despite having no diplomatic
relations. “We seek to develop transport corridors,” she went on. “It is
therefore not desirable to have any tension that could affect economic ties.”
Speaking at a cabinet meeting held earlier in the day, Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian thanked the Russian and Georgian governments for ensuring “the normal
functioning of Armenia’s export routes.”
Tskitishvili spoke after a two-day session of a Georgian-Armenian
intergovernmental commission economic cooperation which discussed ways of
expanding trade and investments between the two neighboring states.
According to official Armenian statistics, Georgian-Armenia trade rose by 14
percent but still stood at a modest $43.4 million in the first four months of
this year.
New Judge Barred From Constitutional Court Hearings On Kocharian
Armenia -- Vahe Grigorian, a nominee to the Constitutional Court, speaks in the
parliament, Yerevan, June 18, 2019.
Armenia’s Constitutional Court on Thursday excluded Vahe Grigorian, its newest
judge appointed by the parliament last week, from its upcoming hearings on
appeals lodged by former President Robert Kocharian and retired army General
Yuri Khachaturov.
In a “working decision” signed by its chairman, Hrayr Tovmasian, the court said
Grigorian cannot participate in the consideration of the appeals because of his
“biased attitude” towards the two men prosecuted in connection with the 2008
post-election violence in Yerevan. It also argued that Grigorian has
represented relatives of protesters killed in March 2008 in other courts.
Kocharian has challenged the legality of his arrest and coup charges brought
against him last year. Khachaturov filed a similar appeal in the Constitutional
Court earlier this year.
The court agreed on June 21 to hold hearings and rule on the two appeals. It
scheduled the first hearing for August.
The decision came three days after the National Assembly approved Grigorian’s
appointment to a vacant seat in the country’s highest court. Two days later
Grigorian effectively declared Tovmasian and six other members of the court
illegitimate.
Grigorian said that under constitutional amendments which took effect last year
the Constitutional Court now consists of “judges,” rather than “members,” as
was the case until April 2018.He said that only he and Arman Dilanian, who was
elected by the parliament last year, can be considered judges and make
decisions. What is more, Grigorian declared that because of Dilanian’s absence
from the country he will take over as acting chairman of the Constitutional
Court on June 21.
Tovmasian and the six other court members have continued to meet and make
decisions since then. Grigorian did not immediately react to their latest move.
Press Review
“Zhamanak” reacts to a statement by the former ruling Republican Party of
Armenia (HHK) strongly condemning the latest arrest of former President Robert
Kocharian. “The HHK is seemingly lending political support to Kocharian and
that is not something new,” comments the paper. “However, that support is
provided only in form [rather than in substance.]” It claims that the HHK
continues to ignore Kocharian’s moves and statements on the political arena. In
particular, it says, Serzh Sarkisian’s party has not responded to Kocharian’s
stated efforts to form a broad-based anti-government alliance.
“Haykakan Zhamanak” scoffs at the HHK’s and Kocharian supporters’ latest,
socioeconomic line of attack against the current government. “Kocharian and his
‘witnesses’ claim that hundreds of thousands of people in Armenia took to the
streets [in 2018] because they were hungry and had only one expectation from
the revolution: to fill their stomachs,” writes the pro-government paper. “As
the number of people with the mentality of slaves declines and that of citizens
having a sense of dignity rises the former rulers will have fewer chances of
provoking socioeconomic protests against the new authorities.”
Lragir.am accuses Russia of demonstratively meddling in Armenia’s internal
affairs, pointing to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kopyrkin’s meetings with
Kocharian, Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr Tovmasian and Prosecutor-General
Artur Davtian. The publication claims that Kopyrkin is thus trying to show that
“without the Russian Foreign Ministry’s consent nothing can happen in Armenia.”
It also notes that Davtian discussed with Kopyrkin the issue of repatriation of
illegally accumulated assets taken out of Armenia.
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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