14:57, 9 April, 2020
YEREVAN, APRIL 9, ARMENPRESS. According to the latest data the number of people infected with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Iran has increased by 1634, bringing the total to 66,220, the Armenian Embassy in Iran said.
117 more patients have died, the death toll has reached 4,110.
3,918 of the infected patients are in serious condition.
2,497 more patients have recovered. The total number of recovered people is 32,309.
In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. WHO declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus a global pandemic and named the virus COVID-19.
According to the data of the World Health Organization, coronavirus cases have been confirmed in 204 countries and territories.
Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
Thursday, April 1, 2020
Tsarukian’s Top Business Manager Faces More Charges
Ապրիլ 09, 2020
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia -- Sedrak Arustamian speaks to workers of a cement plant in Ararat,
April 15, 2019. Կիսվել
• 1
Կարդալ մեկնաբանությունները
Տպել
A law-enforcement agency has brought more criminal charges against the top
manager of companies belonging to Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) leader Gagik
Tsarukian. The Investigative Committee said on Wednesday that Sedrak Arustamian, the chief
executive of Tsarukian’s Multi Group, is prosecuted for his refusal to stop the
“illegal” construction of a luxury hotel in downtown Yerevan which the holding
company began in early 2018. Yerevan’s current municipal administration froze the construction shortly after
taking office in October 2018. It said Multi Group never received a building
permission for the high-rise. Tsarukian denied that. Arustamian’s lawyer, Hovik Sukiasian, insisted on Thursday that both the current
and previous Yerevan mayors did issue construction permits to Multi Group. Sukiasian also said that Multi Group is now locked in a court battle with the
municipality and the Investigative Committee should not have indicted his client
before a final court ruling in the case. Arustamian was already charged with fraud and tax evasion in September 2019. Those accusations do not relate to any of the several dozen firms making up
Multi Group and stem from Arustamian’s separate economic activities. The Investigative Committee claimed that Tsarukian’s right-hand man helped a
Chinese construction company building a 56-kilometer highway in northwestern
Armenia evade 240 million drams ($503,000) in taxes. It said the company also
paid an Armenian firm owned by Arustamian and run by two other men 117 million
drams in fictitious consulting frees as part of the scam. Arustamian denied those charges as well. He avoided arrest after Armenian courts
granted him bail over investigators’ objections. The Investigative Committee
decided not to seek his arrest this time around. Tsarukian is one of the country’s wealthiest men. His opposition party controls
the second largest number of seats in the Armenian parliament. Armenia Evacuating Nationals From Turkey
• Tatevik Sargsian
Turkey A worker sprays disinfectant outside Ortakoy Mosque, to prevent, the
spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Istanbul. Armenia’s government is evacuating at least 70 Armenian citizens from
coronavirus-hit Turkey in coordination with Turkish and Georgian authorities,
the Foreign Ministry in Yerevan said on Thursday. Three buses carrying them left Istanbul on Wednesday morning and were due to
reach Armenia via Georgia early on Friday. “The transportation was agreed with relevant Turkish and Georgian authorities
whose assistance is appreciated,” the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Anna
Naghdalian, said in written comments to the Armenpress news agency. Naghdalian said that just like Armenians returning from other countries, all of
the evacuees will be placed in a two-week quarantine on their arrival in Armenia. One of them, Gagik Musheghian, confirmed that the Armenian government paid for
the bus service. “The Armenian authorities have helped us a lot,” Musheghian told RFE/RL’s
Armenian service by phone. “They’ve paid our bus fares, they’ve covered all our
expenses.”
“The buses will pass through a transit corridor in Georgia and enter Armenia
through the Bagratashen crossing,” he said. It was not clear whether more Armenians living and working in Turkey will be
repatriated in the coming days. According to Naghdalian, about 100 of them have
so far contacted Armenia’s Foreign Ministry for the purpose of their possible
evacuation. Turkish President Recep Tayyip reportedly expressed readiness to assist in the
repatriation of Armenian citizens when he spoke to the spiritual leader of
Turkey’s ethnic Armenian community, Patriarch Sahak Mashalian, on Wednesday. According to the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul, Erdogan also said that
Ankara is ready to provide Yerevan with medicines that could be used for
treating coronavirus. Commenting on the reported offer, Naghdalian said: “As a third party, we will
refrain from commenting on unofficial information. In any case, such information
is not on our agenda.”
The Turkish authorities have reported more than 38,000 coronavirus cases and 812
deaths resulting from them so far. Armenia and Turkey do not have diplomatic relations. Successive Turkish
governments have kept the border between the two neighboring states closed
because of the unresolved conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. World Bank Warns Of Recession In Armenia
• Emil Danielyan
Armenia -- A deserted sidewalk in the center of Yerevan, April 7, 2020. The World Bank has warned of the growing risk of a recession in Armenia while
saying that the Armenian economy could still grow modestly this year despite the
coronavirus pandemic. “Under the baseline scenario, envisaging the start of a gradual recovery [of
economic activity] in mid-summer of 2020, the real GDP growth rate in 2020 is
expected to moderate to 1.7 percent,” the bank said in its Europe and Central
Asia Economic Update released on Thursday. “At the same time, a prolonged [coronavirus] outbreak scenario would result in
stagnant GDP or even an economic contraction,” it warned. “The probability
weight on that happening is rising due to worsening health, economic, and
financial outcomes across the world.”
The Armenian economy grew by 7.6 percent last year and continued to expand
robustly in the first two months of this year. However, the situation changed
dramatically last month as the Armenian government put the country under
lockdown to fight against the spread of coronavirus. The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) forecast last week a 0.7 percent GDP growth
rate for 2020. Economy Minister Tigran Khachatrian agreed with that projection. The World Bank noted that the pandemic has already shut down the Armenian
tourism sector, caused a major drop in international prices of copper, one of
the court’s main exports, and will increasingly cut multimillion-dollar
remittances from Armenians working abroad and Russia in particular. “Efforts to contain the spread will dampen demand further,” reads its report. “A
dollarized economy and undiversified exports add to the challenges of managing
the shock. However, a relatively healthy banking sector, a precautionary [loan]
arrangement with the IMF, as well as some fiscal buffers partly mitigate the
risks.”
A wide-ranging stimulus package approved by the Armenian government late last
month calls for one-off cash payments to a large part of the population,
financial assistance to businesses and loan subsidies for farmers. In
particular, many creditworthy firms and individual entrepreneurs are due to
receive grants worth $500 million ($1 million). Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian holds a cabinet meeting in Yerevan,
April 9, 2020. The government on Thursday decided to extend the cash handouts to the owners of
microbusinesses with annual revenue of up to 24 million drams. They will be
eligible for up to 136,000 drams in compensation. “The government has a clear strategy of how to overcome the crisis,” Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian insisted during a cabinet meeting in Yerevan. The government has already spent 3.7 billion drams on coronavirus relief, he
said, adding that the sum makes up less than 10 percent of emergency spending
planned by it. Pashinian went on to praise Armenian banks for honoring their pledge to suspend
loan repayments for some 290,000 individual borrowers and 5,300 businesses. He
also noted that the Armenian national currency, the dram, has rallied against
the U.S. dollar in recent days after losing more than 4 percent of its value in
March. The World Bank report warns that falling remittance inflows from Russia may lead
to “stronger depreciation pressures” on the dram in the months ahead. The bank offered a far more positive outlook for the next few years. “GDP growth
is forecast to recover over the medium term, to around 4.5 percent in 2021-22,
supported by stabilizing external conditions and catch-up of delayed
activities,” it said. The Ministry of Health reported on Thursday morning that the number of
coronavirus cases in Armenia rose by 28 to 921 in the past 24 hours. The latest
official figures suggest that the virus, which has killed 10 people so far,
continued to spread considerably more slowly than it did in the second half of
March. Pashinian again stated that the government is “cautiously optimistic” about
containing the COVID-19 epidemic. He said a government task force will meet on
Friday to decide whether to extend or ease the nationwide lockdown imposed on
March 24. EU To Boost Coronavirus Aid To Armenia
Belgium -- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen holds a news
conference detailing EU efforts to limit economic impact of the coronavirus
outbreak, Brussels, April 2, 2020. The European Union has pledged to nearly double its promised financial
assistance to Armenia aimed at helping the country tackle the coronavirus
epidemic and its severe socioeconomic consequences. The EU said last week that its aid package will be worth 51 million euros ($55
million). The EU Delegation in Yerevan announced late on Wednesday that the 27-nation bloc
has decided to increase the assistance to 92 million euros after “further
restructuring” of ongoing projects in Armenia financed by it. “The funds will be directed towards supplying medical devices and equipment,
training for medical and laboratory staff, support to [small and medium-sized
enterprises] and business community, as well as social and humanitarian
assistance to those affected by the coronavirus outbreak,” it said in a
statement. The statement added that they will be part of the EU’s 20 billion-euro aid
program for “partner countries” around the world hit hard by the disease. The Delegation specified on its Facebook on April 2 that the EU will spend 30
million euros on supporting Armenian businesses by improving their “access to
cheap loans, working capital and guarantees.” It also promised to deliver
“humanitarian aid packages” to over 3,000 poor families living in three Armenian
provinces. The EU announcements mark the largest coronavirus-related aid allocation secured
by Yerevan so far. Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
The Armenian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport is considering different scenarios for the conduct of joint examinations, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan told a news conference on Tuesday.
She said that now they are working on those options, including conduct of electronic exams, as well as holding discussions on the timeframes of the examinations.
According to the official, the education authorities are ready for any developments, adding the ministry tailors its activities to the situation in the country.
“The ministry will announce the results of the discussions in the near future. The solution will not violate the rights of any school student; it will take into account all the participants in the process,” the deputy minister said.
As for the Last Bell ceremony in schools, she said various possible scenarios are being considered.
12:02, 2 April, 2020
YEREVAN, APRIL 2, ARMENPRESS. Amid the growing number of coronavirus cases in the country, Armenian healthcare authorities are designating more hospitals for treating only COVID-19 patients.
Minister of Healthcare Arsen Torosyan said at the Cabinet meeting that besides the Nork Infectious Diseases Hospital of Yerevan, six other medical facilities have been designated to receive coronavirus patients only. The medical facilites are – the Orthopedics Insitute, the Police Hospital, the maternity ward of the Holy Mother of God Medical Center, the Medical Center of Artashat, the Vanadzor Infectious Diseases Hospital and a separate building of the Kapan Medical Center.
In addition, he said that given the growing numbers of infections they have decided to designate Armenia’s largest hospital – the St. Gregory the Ilumniator Medical Center of Yerevan – as a coronavirus-only hospital. Torosyan said other patients will be transported to other medical facilities.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 3
Trend:
Australia supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and does not recognize the so-called “elections” held in Nagorno-Karabakh on March 31, Marc Innes-Brown, Australian Ambassador to Turkey, tweeted, Trend reports.
“It is more important than ever the OSCE Minsk Group continues its role in the peace process to achieve a negotiated settlement,” he wrote.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
16:45,
YEREVAN, MARCH 30, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian tourism industry has suffered approximately 134,750,000 dollars in losses in Q1 because of the coronavirus pandemic, the country’s tourism committee said.
Tourism Committee chief Susanna Safaryan told a news conference that the tourism flow to the country in the first three months of 2020 was 175,000 tourists less than usual. However, Safaryan said they haven’t done official calculations yet.
“If we calculate how much one tourist is spending in Armenia, then it would be approximately 175 thousand times 770 dollars. This is a very significant loss for the tourism industry given the fact that the first quarter isn’t even the most active season,” she said, adding that the Q2 may be worse because of the closed borders and suspended flights.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
Minister of Justice of Armenia Rustam Badasyan today told parliamentarians that the government is currently considering introducing a different framework for restricting freedom of speech during the state of emergency in the country or lifting the restriction completely.
The minister added that the government also proposes to refer to mass media outlets as outlets carrying out media activities. “This is not only for the state of emergency, but also the future since the mass media covers a narrow scope. For instance, it doesn’t cover websites,” he said.
After the government declared a state of emergency, the Commandant’s Office was criticized for its actions against the media.
Rustam Badasyan said the restrictions might be totally lifted and that the government will announce its decision soon.