Month: November 2023

 16:25, 6 November 2023

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Switzerland is stepping up its support for civilians in Armenia and the region through the immediate release of 1.5 million Swiss francs to be distributed among key humanitarian actors on the ground, the Embassy of Switzerland in Armenia said in a press release.

“In less than a week, more than 100,000 people have fled Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia in search of security, food, shelter, and a future livelihood. The international community, the Armenian authorities and the civil society are working hard to create best possible conditions to receive and support these people, especially in view of the coming winter.

“In response to this urgent situation, Switzerland has taken initial decisions to release 1.5 million Swiss francs to support humanitarian efforts on the ground in a comprehensive manner. Distributed equally among three key actors WFP, UNHCR and the ICRC, the funds are directed towards addressing the immediate needs of the refugees. With their specificities, all three interventions will work on hosting, increasing food security, and building economic resilience of the refugees.

“The World Food Programme WFP of the UN will utilize a grant of 500’000 Swiss francs to extend the ongoing Swiss-funded REBCA (Resilience and Economic Recovery of Border Communities in Armenia) project launched back in November 2022. With the additional funds, the REBCA project will prioritize the most vulnerable refugees settled in rural areas of Syunik and Gegharkunik regions, as well as their host families, providing them with immediate humanitarian, psycho-social, and economic support. The project will also set-up integration mechanisms to build resilience.

“A contribution of 500’000 Swiss francs to the UN Refugee Response Plan (RRP) was approved earlier in October, with the UNHCR as the lead partner. The RRP will reinforce UNHCR’s emergency response to support the RA Government’s efforts to host the refugees and enhance resilience.  As an additional effort, a Swiss expert has been made available for UN organizations for communication and data analysis.

“The last portion of 500’000 Swiss francs will cover the efforts by the International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC, jointly with the Armenian Red Cross Society, providing emergency psycho-social and economic aid. The ICRC will also continue to support the Armenian authorities in their endeavor to clarify the fate of missing persons. A specific attention will be put on the families of the missing. This funding is in addition to the one million Swiss francs already granted to the ICRC for its operations in the region in 2023,” the embassy said.

 17:11, 6 November 2023

YEREVAN, 6 NOVEMBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 6 November, USD exchange rate up by 0.12 drams to 402.34 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 4.36 drams to 432.44 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.03 drams to 4.36 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 8.00 drams to 499.59 drams.

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

Gold price up by 148.01 drams to 25799.27 drams. Silver price down by 5.02 drams to 292.86 drams.

 18:29, 6 November 2023

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s Central Bank has unveiled its approaches to regulation and control over the issuance and turnover of virtual assets (crypto-assets).

The statement issued by Armenia’s Central Bank said that the central Bank is monitoring the developments in this area both in Armenia and globally in order to adequately respond to the risks arising along with the emergence of virtual assets.

"In 2018, the Central Bank issued a statement on virtual assets, informing the public about the high risk and danger of transactions with them. With the increasing turnover of virtual assets in recent years, a number of related problems have become evident," the statement reads.

''These problems include

– the growth of individuals’ investments in virtual assets occurs with insufficient protection of their interests, with unfair preservation of funds and unsatisfactory transparency of information, liquidity and pricing;

– the virtual assets market is characterized by a high degree of interconnection of different cryptosystems, vulnerable structures of vertical integration of functions accumulated in one organization or group, inappropriate management systems, significantly high level of liabilities, containing, among other things, clashes of interests of other persons and financial stability risks;

– the anonymity of virtual asset transactions and the volume of cross-border transactions increase the associated money laundering and terrorist financing risks;

– a number of services provided by virtual assets are similar in content to traditional financial services and therefore should be regulated by the same legislation, but in fact they operate outside the existing legislation, which creates an unequal competitive environment for traditional financial service providers.

International standardization organizations (IOSCO, FSB, IMF, BIS, FATF) have expressed a clear position, giving importance to the need for uniform and comprehensive regulation of virtual assets by all countries, due to the non-localized (virtual) nature of the virtual asset market and cross-border turnover.

''Taking into account the above, as well as global developments related to this sector, the Central Bank has initiated activities to develop and implement an effective model for comprehensive regulation and control of virtual assets.

For effective regulation, the Central Bank will adopt the principle of "same activity, same risk, same regulation", whereby virtual asset service providers offering services similar to traditional financial activities should be regulated in the same manner.

Regulation will allow for an adequate response to existing and potential risks in virtual assets, while creating a clear legal framework for the development of related innovation and technology,'' reads the statement.

 19:07, 6 November 2023

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan’s younger son, Levon Kocharyan,  has been released from prison.

A few days ago, opposition Hayastan faction MP Armen Charchyan submitted a petition to the NA speaker to give up his parliamentary seat. The next three candidates on the proportional representation electoral list of the "Hayastan" (Armenia) bloc,  have submitted petitions for self-revocation to the Central Electoral Commission.

Thus, Levon Kocharyan, was given to fill the vacant parliament seat by a decision of Armenia’s Central Electoral Commission.

 19:39, 6 November 2023

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. The death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks in war on Gaza has exceeded 10,000 people, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Monday.

''The death toll includes 4,104 children and 2,641 women,'' the ministry said.

 21:48, 6 November 2023

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. The United Nations on Monday stressed that 88 staffers have been killed in Gaza, marking the highest toll ever for UN fatalities recorded in a single conflict, The Times of Israel reported.

The 88 staff members from the Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA have been reportedly killed since the beginning of the war, October 7.

A joint statement from the heads of all major UN agencies stated that the figure represents "the highest number of United Nations fatalities ever recorded in a single conflict."

 14:30, 6 November 2023

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. A U.S. Ohio-class submarine, a type of vessel which can be equipped with advanced ballistic or Tomahawk cruise missiles, has arrived in the Mediterranean as the US continues to bolster its defensive posture amid the Israel-Hamas war.

CENTCOM, the U.S. Department of Defense combatant command with authority over US forces in the Middle East and West and Central Asia, posted a photo on Sunday of the submarine on X, formerly Twitter, confirming it had arrived in the region.

The disclosure of the submarine's location is significant as the whereabouts of the vessels are typically kept secret for security regions, according to Business Insider.  

The CENTCOM photo appears to show the vessel sailing through the Suez Canal.

Last week, the U.S. military said it would deploy an additional 300 troops to the CENTCOM region.  The Pentagon said the forces “are intended to support regional deterrence efforts and further bolster U.S. force protection capabilities," stressing that the forces will not go to Israel.

 20:26, 6 November 2023

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Hayk Mamijanyan, Head of the "I Have an Honor" faction of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia and the faction deputy Taguhi Tovmasyan, on Monday held a meeting with the Co-Rapporteurs on Armenia of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Monitoring Committee Kimmo Kiljunen and Boriana Åberg.

The deputies drew the attention of the co-rapporteurs to the genocidal actions carried out by the Azerbaijani authorities against  Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, they highlighted the need to ensure the status, accommodation, work for the forcibly displaced Armenians from Nagorno- Karabakh.

During the meeting the problems of Armenian prisoners of war and missing persons who are still being held in Baku were touched upon.

At the meeting, the members of the “I Have an Honor” faction also touched upon, as they assured, violations of democratic values in Armenia, cases of using criminal cases as a tool to suppress the opposition, in particular, the arrests of the vice-chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia Armen Ashotyan,  Narek Malyan, Tatev Virabyan and about five dozen, by their definition, political prisoners.

 21:03, 6 November 2023

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS.  According to the information provided by the Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, in January-September of the current year, 1 million 839 thousand 4 foreign tourists visited Armenia, compared to 1 million 239 thousand 394 people last year.

'The rise amounted to 48.4%, according to the National Statistical Committee.

The bulk were from Russia (931 thousand 695 people or 50 7% of the total), Georgia (185 thousand 82 people or 10.1%,) and Iran (116 thousand 62 people or 6.3%).