Tuesday,
Diaspora Urged To End Armenia’s Trade Dependence On Russia
• Narine Ghalechian
Armenia - Arayik Harutiunian, chief of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's staff,
chairs a meeting in Yerevan, November 30, 2022.
Armenians around the world should buy more food and beverages produced in
Armenia to end the country’s heavy dependence on their exports to Russia, Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s chief of staff said on Tuesday.
Arayik Harutiunian made the extraordinary appeal as hundreds of Armenian trucks
remained stuck at the main Russian-Georgian border crossing due to Moscow’s
decision to subject them to stricter sanitary checks. Dozens of other vehicles
mainly carrying agricultural products were denied entry to Russia and had to
return to Armenia in recent days. The tighter border controls come amid mounting
tensions between Moscow and Yerevan.
“Now it is extremely important that Armenians in Armenia and the Diaspora buy
only Armenian goods: agricultural products, drinks and services provided by
Armenian companies,” Harutiunian wrote on Facebook. “Supporting business and the
taxpayer in this way is vital for strengthening our Independence and Sovereignty.
“No closure of the Lars checkpoint will affect us if Armenian business finds new
markets on the holiday and non-holiday tables of our compatriots living abroad.
On New Year's and Christmas tables there should be only Armenian-made
vegetables, fruit, wine, brandy, and other agricultural products.”
Russia has long been the main export market for these products. They still
account for a significant share of Armenia’s overall exports to Russia that
nearly doubled to $2.6 billion in January-September this year mainly because of
a re-export of Western consumer goods.
Russia is also home to the largest Armenian Diaspora community in the world
comprising an estimated 2 million people. The figure is believed to exceed the
combined number of ethnic Armenians living in the United States and the European
Union.
Georgia - Armenian and other heavy trucks are lined up on a road leading to the
Georgian-Russian border crossing at Upper Lars, 6May2016.
Armenia exported $575 million worth of goods -- mostly base metals, ore
concentrates and refined diamonds -- to EU countries in the nine-month period.
Armenian exports to the U.S. totaled a meager $35 million, according to Armenian
government data.
Harutiunian did not say whether the Armenian government can help domestic food
exporters gain greater access to the tightly regulated Western markets. The
government official, who is also a senior member of Pashinian’s Civil Contract
party, could not be reached for comment.
Harutiun Mnatsakanian, a wholesale wheat trader who has done business in Europe
for the last eight years, said Harutiunian’s appeal is “dangerous” in the
absence of alternative export markets for Armenia’s agricultural and
food-processing sectors. Mnatsakanian argued that the EU has strict sanitary and
quality standards for foodstuffs that are not enforced in Armenia.
“On top of that, you have to solve logistical problems,” he told RFE/RL’s
Armenian Service. “It can be said that we don’t have a logistical system for the
European market and transportation costs are very high. These problems make it
practically impossible for us to engage in major commerce in the European
markets.”
Hovik Aghazarian, a pro-government parliamentarian, was also skeptical, saying
that while Harutiunian sent a “very important message” to the Diaspora it alone
“will not solve the problem.” Armenia can only diversify its exports “in the
long run,” he said.
Echoing statements by his opposition colleagues, Aghazarian suggested that the
tighter border controls introduced by the Russians are politically motivated.
Government officials in Yerevan have so far been careful not to make such claims
in public.
Issue Of Karabakh’s Self-Determination Closed For Yerevan
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia - Parliament speaker Alen Simonian speaks to journalists, Yerevan,
.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is over and Armenia should not prioritize the
quick return of the recently displaced Karabakh Armenians to their homes in
peace talks with Azerbaijan, parliament speaker Alen Simonian said on Tuesday.
“The Republic of Armenia has no such issue today,” Simonian told journalists
when asked about the Karabakh people’s right to self-determination that had for
decades been championed by Yerevan. “Armenia fully recognizes the territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan, including Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian recognized Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh
months before Baku regained full control of the territory as a result of the
September 19-20 military offensive that forced its practically entire ethnic
Armenian population to flee to Armenia. Pashinian’s political opponents and
other domestic critics say that the far-reaching policy change paved the way for
the Azerbaijani takeover.
Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mnatsakan Safarian said last week that the
issue of the rights of the Karabakh Armenians is “on the agenda” of Yerevan’s
dealings with Baku and international mediators. But he did not elaborate.
Simonian, who is a close associate of Pashinian, was skeptical on this score,
saying that the Karabakh refugees are not eager to return to their homes because
there are now no realistic mechanisms for guaranteeing their security. He
appeared to equate them with ethnic Azerbaijanis who had fled Soviet Armenia in
the late 1980s.
“I believe that at this historical stage we must concentrate on signing the
Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty and opening all regional communication routes,”
he said in this regard. “Whether or not some Azerbaijanis will wish to return to
Armenia or some Armenians will wish to return to Baku … Stepanakert, Shushi or
the other settlements where Armenians used to live is a matter of the future.”
Blinken Again Talks To Armenian, Azeri Leaders
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian at the Munich Security
Conference in Munich, Germany, February 18, 2023.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken telephoned the leaders of Armenia and
Azerbaijan late on Monday to discuss ways of kick-starting Armenian-Azerbaijani
talks on a peace deal sought by Western powers.
His separate phone calls followed Baku’s cancellation of a meeting in Washington
of the Armenian-Azerbaijani foreign ministers scheduled for November 20. The
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry blamed the move on what it described as
pro-Armenian statements made by James O’Brien, the U.S. assistant secretary of
state for Europe and Eurasia.
Speaking during a congressional hearing in Washington on November 15, O’Brien
condemned Azerbaijan’s September 19-20 military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh
and warned Baku against attacking Armenia to open a land corridor to its
Nakhichevan exclave.
“We’ve made clear that nothing will be normal with Azerbaijan after the events
of September 19 until we see progress on the peace track,” he said, adding that
Washington has cancelled “high-level visits” by Azerbaijani officials and
suspended military and other aid to Baku.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev complained about O’Brien’s comments during
his phone conversation with Blinken. According to Azerbaijani media, Aliyev
agreed to receive the senior U.S. diplomat in Baku in December in return for
Blinken’s pledge to lift the “unfounded ban on Azerbaijani officials’ visits to
the United States.”
“The Secretary welcomed President Aliyev’s commitment to conclude a durable and
dignified peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia,” Matthew Miller, the
U.S. State Department spokesman, said in a statement on the call.
U.S. - James O'Brien, head of the State Department's Office of Sanctions
Coordination, testifies during a Senate hearing in Washington, September 28,
2022.
Blinken also “noted recent points of concern” in U.S.-Azerbaijani relations and
discussed “opportunities to strengthen cooperation, especially around the peace
process,” added Miller.
He did not say whether Blinken and Aliyev agreed on a new date for the
Armenian-Azerbaijani talks in Washington. The press offices of Aliyev and
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian also did not report such an agreement.
Aliyev and Pashinian had been scheduled to meet on the fringes of the European
Union’s October 5 summit in Granada, Spain. Pashinian hoped that they will sign
there a document laying out the main parameters of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace
treaty.
However, Aliyev withdrew from the talks at the last minute. He also cancelled
another meeting which EU Council President Charles Michel planned to host in
Brussels later in October. A senior EU diplomat indicated last week that the
onus is on the Azerbaijani side to revive the stalled peace process.
O’Brien questioned Aliyev’s commitment to signing a Western-backed treaty with
Armenia when he testified before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee
two weeks ago. The peace accord would commit Baku to formally recognizing
Armenia’s current borders.
Speaking to journalists earlier on Monday, O’Brien said there is still a “real
opportunity for Azerbaijan and Armenia to make peace.” He warned at the same
time that the U.S. is ready to “use whatever tools we could” to prevent Baku
from forcibly opening the corridor through Armenian territory.
“So we’ve been very clear with the parties about what we hope to see and about
the consequences of moving forward otherwise,” added the U.S. official.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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