The Armenian presidential palace is hosting the 31st sitting of the Board of Trustees of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund.
Activity report of the foundation for 2021 is to be presented at the meeting which began on Saturday morning.
Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan and third President Serzh Sargsyan as well as former Artsakh leaders Bako Sahakyan and Arkadi Ghukasyan are not in attendance.
Famous French pop singer Zaz is in Armenia and is ready for her first solo concert in Yerevan, which will be held at Hrazdan Stadium on Saturday evening as part of the Haya Music Festival.
The singer shared her feelings about the Armenia trip at a news conference ahead of the concert on Friday.
“I’m super excited to be in Armenia, because this is Charles Aznavour’s homeland,” she said. “I feel great responsibility to perform in his homeland.”
Remembering the legendary French-Armenian chansonnier, Zaz said that Aznavour gave her many good pieces of advice.
“One of them was to learn English, which I never did,” the singer said.
Speaking about her three-year career break, Zaz said she took it to take care of her personal life.
“Last time I was in Armenia was years ago on the sidelines of the Francophonie. I did not spend much time in Yerevan, but I immediately felt the warmth of the people,” she said, adding she loves the Armenian duduk.
Zaz promised the Armenian audience a good time at Saturday’s concert.
“I want to make it a great holiday for the Armenian audience so that everyone is full of positive energy at the end of the concert,” said the French singer.
Armenia must be fully ready for “imminent war” with Azerbaijan, expert on Iran Vardan Voskanyan said in his new Telegram series concerning the conflict.
“Is it possible to avert war in such a region and with such an enemy as Azerbaijan? Yes, it is but only in the case of actual surrender. But is this the vision of the millennia-long program of the Armenian statehood? Of course no!” he wrote.
“Accordingly, there is only one way to avoid war: not to fear it and surrender, thus destroying the dream of our ancestors, our dream and the dream of our generations, but to be prepared for war in the broad sense,” Voskanyan said.
He underscored that the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict is a matter of existence for Armenians and cannot be settled through some territorial concessions.
“Therefore, in order to move in the right direction, it is necessary to take the following key circumstances into account:
1․ The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict is an existential matter, thus it cannot have “technical” settlement.
2. War can be avoided only in case of unconditional acceptance of the enemy’s plan for the “peaceful destruction” of the Armenian statehood.
3․ War can be averted or won only if we are completely prepared for it in every sense,” Voskanyan said.
An Armenian woman living in Gandza, a village in Georgia’s Ninotsminda region, has given birth to her 14th child, Sputnik Armenia reports.
Varduhi is from Armenia’s second largest city of Gyumri. She got married at the age of 19 and moved to Ninotsminda to live with her husband.
The woman admits that her dream was to become a mother, although she never thought about having so many children.
She gave birth to her first child when she was 20. Now Varduhi’s oldest son is 23 and her youngest child is a few days old. Two of the 14 children are already students, while the rest go to school and kindergarten.
The children’s names are Hakob, Aleksan, Hovhannes, Manuk, Nare, Harutyun, Davit, Arfin, Mariam, Gohar, Mkrtich, Lusine, Angelina and Daniel.
The Ghazaryan family lives off agriculture and raises livestock. In addition, they also receive state assistance for the children.
YEREVAN. – Zhoghovurd daily of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: According to the data by Ministry of Finance, at the end of May 2022, the national debt of Armenia amounted to about 9 billion 581 million [US] dollars, which increased by 355 million dollars—or 3.8%—compared to the beginning of the year.
The foreign debt amounted to 6 billion 533 million dollars. Domestic debt increased by 18.2%, amounting to 3 billion 047 million dollars. If the dollar exchange rate is lower at the end of this year compared to the beginning of the year, Armenia’s national debt will be lower in [Armenian] drams; so, the government’s debt/GDP indicator will be lower than the projected 60.2%. When the dollar falls, the burden of national debt is somewhat lightened for the state.
The bulk of Armenia’s national debt, about 70%, is foreign debt. It is mainly received and repaid in dollars. But for that, the amount provided from the state budget is naturally in RA drams, and therefore, the cheaper the dollar is, that much less money is directed to the main amounts of national debt and interest payments. The dram has been appreciating at a rapid pace against the dollar since the end of May, especially in the first two weeks of June.
The situation in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) is quite stable compared to February-April. Artsakh Minister of State Artak Beglaryan told about this to Armenian News-NEWS.am.
According to Beglaryan, the aforesaid is thanks to the preventive and restraining actions of the Artsakh Defense Army and the Russian peacekeepers, as well as the additional geopolitical guarantees—mainly by Russia.
“However, on the other hand, Azerbaijan does not refrain from nor has abandoned in any way its anti-Armenian and Armenophobic policy. And [Azerbaijani president] Aliyev does not hide that he can launch a new aggression, not only against Artsakh, but also against the Republic of Armenia, as needed. This means that the situation cannot be considered long-term safe or stable,” the Artsakh official added.
Referring to bringing the “era of peace” to the agenda, Artak Beglaryan said. “The position of the authorities of the Artsakh Republic is that, yes, we want peace in the whole region. But that peace must be through the unlimited, unconditional exercise and respect of our rights, our freedoms, including our right to self-determination. And there can be no peace simply by debasing the Armenians of Artsakh and Armenia and striking at our vital interests. From this point of view, I still do not see any positive preconditions that Azerbaijan is ready for a dignified peace.”
And referring to the statement by Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan that the state budget of Artsakh has increased by an unprecedented amount in the last two years, and this is because of the financial assistance provided by the government of Armenia, the Artsakh Minister of State said, in particular: “The Republic of Armenia has provided quite considerable assistance in the restoration of post-war Artsakh and the ensuring of social stability.”
The Armenian-Italian archeological expedition has begun exploration of Dvin area: Ditak, Tiknuni, and the Getazat “pyramid.” Armenian News-NEWS.am learned about this from the aforesaid expedition’s Facebook page—where several respective photos also have been posted.
12:57,
YEREVAN, JUNE 24, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Vahram Dumanyan and his deputy Artur Martirosyan met today with Ambassador of Germany to Armenia Viktor Richter, the ministry said in a news release.
During the meeting Minister Dumanyan highlighted the continuation of Armenian-German cooperation in educational, scientific, cultural and sport fields, and stated that Armenia has a broad agenda to expand it. He mentioned several areas where Germany could provide consulting and expert support to Armenia.
Particularly, emphasizing the importance of a deep teaching of German in Armenia’s public schools, the sides considered the possibility of including more schools in the project. Vahram Dumanyan attached importance to the Armenian-German cooperation program in secondary professional field, as a result of which a dual education has been introduced in a number of secondary professional institutions of Armenia.
Minister Dumanyan also suggested to develop the inter-university cooperation by conducting student, teacher, young scientists exchange and research projects, as well as emphasized the necessity of holding joint events in culture and sport fields.
In this respect the minister highlighted the projects implemented by the support of DAAD, over which the Ambassador informed that the scholarships provided to Armenia will increase.
Viktor Richter highly valued the Armenian-German partnership, adding that Germany will continue the cooperation in all of the aforementioned directions and is ready to assist Armenia in steadily passing this path.
The meeting sides also touched upon the effective activity of the Armenian Diaspora in Germany.
13:10,
YEREVAN, JUNE 24, ARMENPRESS. European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell will visit Iran on June 24, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said, IRNA reports.
Borrell will meet with Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and some other Iranian officials within the framework of ongoing exchange of views between Iran and the EU on bilateral ties and regional and international issues, according to the spokesman.
13:16,
YEREVAN, JUNE 24, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan signed a decision on dismissing Tigran Gabrielyan from the position of deputy minister of economy.
According to the PM’s another decision, Tigran Gabrielyan was appointed deputy minister of environment.