Author: Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS

Armenia, India boost cooperation in employment and social protection field

Emil Lazarian

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 16:40,

YEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Narek Mkrtchyan says that during his recent visit to India a number of agreements were reached to boost the cooperation in employment and social protection sector.

During a press conference in Armenpress today, the minister said this is the first experience of such a level of dialogue.

“India is a very important country for Armenia in the context of mutli-sectoral cooperation. In this respect I would like to note that the visit was quite productive and was full of agreements reached. Working groups have already been formed to deal with the implementation of these agreements”, he said.

He particularly highlighted the meeting with the executives of Skill India large state corporation. The corporation is cooperating with different business associations, major companies and is engaged in development of human skills, trainings. It also has active relations with educational institutions, business organizations, clarifies priority areas and what kind of specialists are needed. It trains 60 million people annually. Minister Mkrtchyan informed that a memorandum has been signed with the corporation’s leadership on introducing such an institute in Armenia.

“India’s experience in training a large number of people, making them competitive in the labor market is very important for us. Today we re-assess our employment programs in order to make them more targeted. And studying the successful international experience is very important here. India has quite a successful experience in this respect. If we manage to introduce such a system in Armenia, we will be able to offer new paths for development of skills to our citizens”, the minister said.

Mkrtchyan informed that he had a productive meeting also with the Indian Minister of Labor, Employment and Environment, and they agreed to sign agreements in a number of directions. A working group has already been formed to deal with pushing forward these activities. “We will start these activities next week. One of the directions relates to the discussions over an organized labor migration. As you know, a labor force from India is attracted to Armenia’s different areas. We are planning to put this movement on legal relations, provide legal consulting, formalize everything that is informal and give an opportunity for training”, he said.

The next direction, he said, is the field of social protection and working relations, which is again developed in India. Narek Mkrtchyan said India is among those unique countries that granted people working remotely a status by including them in the social protection system. “This is also important for Armenia. A process of exchange of experience will start in this direction”, he added.

Patrushev states about US “military biological activities” in Armenia

Emil Lazarian

TASS reports that Patrushev particularly said:

 

“After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States and its satellites deployed a network of biolaboratories in the territory of the former Soviet republics – in Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Armenia, where, under the guise of scientific research, they conduct military biological activities.”

 

Mediamax reminds that in May 2021 Armenia and Russia signed Memorandum of Understanding on Ensuring Biological Safety.

‘Sona will always remain in our hearts’: Support Our Heroes mourns loss of its founding member

Emil Lazarian
Panorama
Armenia –

SOCIETY 14:36 27/04/2022 ARMENIA

Support Our Heroes – Armenia NGO took to Facebook on Wednesday to pay tribute to its founding member, Sona Mnatsakanyan, 29, who was killed after reportedly being hit by a car of Nikol Pashinyan’s convoy on Tuesday.

“It is with great sorrow that we mourn the loss of our beloved Sona and her unborn child. Sona Mnatsakanyan was a founding member of Support Our Heroes and the leader of the Artsakh Tever IT Center project group within SOH. Sona will always remain in our hearts as an exemplary patriot and a dear friend with great human values. Our condolences to Sona’s family, loved ones, friends…” the organization said.

Catholicos Aram I calls on French president to support Artsakh

Emil Lazarian
ARMINFO
Armenia –
Marianna Mkrtchyan

ArmInfo.Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I has addressed  congratulatory message to Emmanuel Macron on the occasion of his re-election as President of  France.

In his message, Aram I highly appreciated Mr Macron’s support for the  Armenian people and Armenian Cause and called on France to continue  supporting Artsakh’s independence and Armenia’s territorial integrity  and sovereignty. 

In the context of contemporary concerns, Aram I emphasized France’s  decisive role in the present-day geopolitical developments and as a  symbol of justice, diversity and human rights in Europe, Middle East  and Caucasus. 

Aram I also emphasized France’s vital role for Lebanon and expressed  hope that Lebanon will remain among President Macron’s priorities,  especially in the present critical period of its history. 

U.S. official`s statement evidence of USA, EU`s combined efforts to force Russia out of South Caucasus – David Stepanyan

Emil Lazarian
ARMINFO
Armenia –
David Stepanyan

ArmInfo. The statement by U.S. Secretary of State  Antony Blinken is evidence of the combined efforts of the United  States and European Union to force Russia out of Artsakh first and  later of the entire South Caucasus, David Stepanyan, associate  member, Armenian Institute of International and Security Affairs  (AIISA), said in an interview with ArmInfo. 

“This statement by Mr Blinken, as well as his telephone talks with  Armenia’s Premier Nikol Pashinyan and President of Azerbaijan Ilham  Aliyev before the Brussels meeting, are evidence of not only indirect  – through the EU – but also direct involvement of the United States  in, let us say, the post-Minsk process of settlement of the Artsakh  problem. And we can be sure of the USA’s presence, albeit invisible,  at the Michel-Pashinyan-Aliyev meeting in Brussels on April 6, 2022,”  he said. 

In his remarks at the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee session,  Secretary Blinken said the United States supports a long-term  political settlement with regard to Nagorno Karabakh.

“I have been very actively in directly engaged with leadership in  both Armenia and Azerbaijan including just as recently as a week ago  phone calls with Prime Minister Pashinyan and with President Aliyev,  as well as their foreign ministers, trying to help advance prospects  for a long-term political settlement with regard to Nagorno  Karabakh”, Blinken said. “We have been developing and promoting  various confidence- building measures. We have been trying to push  back on any unilateral actions particularly by Azerbaijan that would  only inflame the situation and we have a number of programs in place  that are part of the budget to try to help advance more peaceful  prospects”.

After the geopolitical confrontation over Ukraine entered an active  phase, the trilateral OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship has  transformed into two separate, even rivaling, processes. And intense  rivalry of the United States and France with Russia is an  accomplished fact. However, neither the USA nor France or Russia is  not going to officially dissolve the OSCE Minsk Group in the  foreseeable future, primarily due to the fact that it is as OSCE  Minsk Group co-chairs that they are internationally mandated to  mediate between Armenia and Azerbaijan.   

“I would like to emphasize the part of Mr Blinken’s statement saying  that the USA has ‘been trying to push back on any unilateral actions  particularly by Azerbaijan.’ I think that part of the statement is  addressed to Moscow rather than to Baku. And it is not without  reasons that the United States believes that Russia, along with  Turkey, is actually provoking Azerbaijan’s excessive bellicosity as a  means of keeping a tight rein on Armenia and preventing it from  making any steps toward the West,” Mr Stepanyan said.

In other words, the USA’s statements are a means of curbing the  present and preventing further militant tendencies by President Ilham  Aliyev thereby stripping its principal rival, Russia, of one of the  means of influencing Armenia and, therefore, the settlement process. 

“Of course, it is being done primarily in the national interests of  the United States, which is seeking to project the current situation  in Ukraine to the South Caucasus and force Russia to leave the other  side of the Caucasian Range,” Mr Stepanyan said.    

Priority issues of Artsakh’s foreign policy agenda remained unchanged: FM meets heads of parliamentary factions

Emil Lazarian

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 16:51,

YEREVAN, APRIL 26, ARMENPRESS. On April 26, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh David Babayan met with heads of parliamentary factions in the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh, the Artsakh Foreign Ministry said in a news release.

A wide range of issues related to the recent regional developments, the settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict and the foreign policy of Artsakh were discussed.

David Babayan stressed that the priority issues of the foreign policy agenda of Artsakh remained unchanged; the international recognition of the independence of Artsakh, comprehensive settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict with the full-fledged participation of official Stepanakert, as well as the expansion and consolidation of bilateral relations and  preservation of the status of Artsakh as a geopolitical actor.

The Minister noted the importance of maintaining the Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora trinity and the perception of Artsakh as a supreme value by the Armenian people in the context of providing effective solutions to the aforementioned issues.

Minister Babayan also highly appreciated the role of parliamentary diplomacy as an effective means of achieving foreign policy goals.

The development of education is of strategic importance for us – PM Pashinyan chairs consultation

Emil Lazarian

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 19:28,

YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan chaired a consultation at the Government, during which the state program for the development of education in Armenia until 2030 was discussed, which was amended based on the results of the previous consultation, as well as the main provisions of the draft law on “Higher Education and Science”, ARMENPRESS was infomred from the Office of the Prime Minister.

In particular, reference was made to the changes made in the above-mentioned state program as a result of amendments, the vision and goals of the program. The officials stressed that the main goal of the program is to provide a competitive education that meets international standards.

It was noted that the program was developed in cooperation with international partners.

In the context of presenting the main provisions of the draft law on “Higher Education and Science”, the provision of quality education by the universities, their compliance with the clear standards to be still defined, and the consistent solution of the existing problems in the university system were emphasized.

A number of issues related to the licensing and accreditation processes of the universities, the future activity of the departmental universities, the training of qualified personnel meeting the professional requirements of the labor market, the development of a new complete list of professions were touched upon. Various suggestions and observations were presented, around which an exchange of views took place.

Prime Minister Pashinyan specially emphasized the implementation of consistent work aimed at improving the quality of education, noting that a person should be able to satisfy the needs based on the education he received. “A person should be endowed with knowledge and skills from childhood, so that he can build a dignified life in his own country. We must rule out a situation in which any student with progress is dismissed from the university due to financial problems,” said the Prime Minister, considering it necessary to have a clear plan of development measures for universities, which will solve the existing problems in a targeted way and will foster the development of the higer education system. At the same time, the head of the government attached importance to the existence of a research component in the universities, the link between science and higher education. “The future of our country depends on the development of education, it is of strategic importance for us,” said the Prime Minister, considering it necessary to continue the discussions on the state program for the development of education until 2030 and draft law on “Higher Education and Science” for finalising them.

President of Uruguay lambasts Turkish FM for ultranationalist salute at Armenians in Montevideo

Emil Lazarian

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 15:20,

YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. President of Uruguay Luis Lacalle Pou criticized Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu for making the Grey Wolves ultranationalist organization’s salute towards Armenians in Montevideo.

“It is very unfortunate that the Turkish foreign minister showed the Turkish ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves salute to a group of Armenians in Montevideo. Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s conduct must be strongly critisized. The Armenian community is hurt, and they are right,” the Urugayan president said, noting that advancing ties in commercial matters doesn’t mean that they agree with the other side’s domestic or foreign policy.

During a visit to Uruguay for the opening of the Turkish embassy , Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu mocked demonstrators in Montevideo who gathered to demand recognition of the Armenian Genocide on the eve of the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.

A video posted on Twitter shows how demonstrators were shouting “asesino” – meaning murderer in Spanish, when Cavusoglu exited the building and was about to be driven away. Then, Cavusoglu is seen smiling and making the gesture of the ultranationalist Turkish Grey Wolves organization, taunting the demonstrators.

The gesture used by the Turkish ultra-nationalists was banned in Austria in 2019. In Germany, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and the Left party also proposed to ban the use of the symbol, describing it as fascist.

Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 25-04-22

Emil Lazarian

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 17:22,

YEREVAN, 25 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 25 April, USD exchange rate down by 0.76 drams to 466.52 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 4.83 drams to 500.53 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.02 drams to 6.38 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 10.22 drams to 592.95 drams.

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

Gold price down by 79.74 drams to 29121.24 drams. Silver price down by 5.10 drams to 365.15 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams.