Author: Emil Lazarian

Central Bank of Armenia: exchange rates and prices of precious metals – 24-09-21

 17:27,

YEREVAN, 24 SEPTEMBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 24 September, USD exchange rate down by 1.51 drams to 482.24 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 1.24 drams to 565.81 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.05 drams to 6.61 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 0.81 drams to 660.72 drams.

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

Gold price down by 448.89 drams to 27132.66 drams. Silver price down by 1.03 drams to 352.57 drams. Platinum price down by 125.49 drams to 15240.8 drams.

 14:21, 21 September, 2021

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS. Cellist virtuoso Mischa Maisky and the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra lit up the stage at the Coca-Cola Arena under the baton of Sergey Smbatyan at the InClassica Dubai International Music Festival 2021 on September 16, performing Alex Vella Gregory, Tchaikovsky and Joseph Vella.

Inspired by the warm reception and ovations from the audience, who seemingly drifted away to the abode of spiritual pleasures from their love to classical music, Smbatyan said that the evening was special for him.

“What matters is that we had the chance to present the work of Maltese composers. It is always nice to perform Malta’s music,” Smbatyan said, adding that working with the renowned cellist Mischa Maisky was impressive.

“The experience of performing with Maisky on the same stage was simply amazing,” Smbatyan said.

Maisky himself admitted that he loved the concert because the Dubai audience is very emotional.

“I was actually surprised with such reception, given the fact that this is a non-orthodox arena for classical music. I was happy to perform together with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and Sergey Smbatyan, they have passion for music. We’ve had some discussions and made plans with Smbatyan. It  is possible that we perform in Armenia. I’ve already been to Armenia and I have very good memories,” Maisky said.

Reporting by Angela Hambardzumyan

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

Photos by Alexey Molchanovsky

 14:50, 21 September, 2021

LONDON, SEPTEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS. The UK Minister for European Neighbourhood and the Americas at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Wendy Morton released a congratulatory statement on the Armenian Independence Day.

“Congratulations to Armenia as it celebrates 30 years of independence!” Morton tweeted. “! I was delighted to visit Armenia in February, and the UK will continue to be a proud supporter of Armenia’s democratic and economic development.”

 19:03, 21 September, 2021

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov sent a congratulatory message to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Armenia’s Independence, reaffirming the high level of Armenian-Russian allied relations and the close, deep-rooted friendship between the Armenian and Russian peoples, ARMENPRESS was informed from the MFA Armenia.

‘’Dear Ararat Samvelovich, I cordially congratulate you on the occasion of the National Day of the Republic of Armenia, the Independence Day.

Russia invariably values the allied relations with Armenia, and the close friendship of our peoples with deep historical roots.

We are happy with the success of the Armenian partners in the issues of complex development of Armenia and strengthening of its international position.

We hope that the multidimensional partnership between Moscow and Yerevan will further enhance the prosperity of the two countries.

We attach great importance to the rich dialogue between our foreign ministries; we are pleased to note that we have common position on current issues of bilateral and regional agendas, effective cooperation on international platforms, and fruitful cooperation within the framework of common integration projects.

Dear Ararat Samvelovich, I wish good health and all the best to you and the entire staff of the Foreign Ministry of Armenia’’.

 10:32,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. During the September 8 Cabinet meeting the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that a decision has been made to duly mark the 30th anniversary of Independence, albeit the non-festive mood. This decision caused much controversy in the political and public arena, and some were demanding the authorities to cancel the event, particularly because the Prime Minister had said that the event would be “colorful”.

The event did take place in Yerevan’s Republic Square on September 21. The Prime Minister said that the event was dedicated first of all to the independence, security and sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia and the memory of those who gave their lives for Artsakh.

ARMENPRESS talked with Vice Speaker of Parliament Ruben Rubinyan over the matter. The vision of opening an era of peace was also addressed.

ARMENPRESS – Mr. Rubinyan, the celebrating-not celebrating of Independence Day was being discussed a lot in the recent period. How would you assess yesterday’s event?

Rubinyan – I believe it was the right decision to mark the 30th anniversary of Independence this way, because after all, all our sufferings of not only these 30 years but several centuries were for independence. I think such discussions shouldn’t had taken place at all. We shouldn’t allow for any suffering, any loss to weaken our resoluteness to build a free and independent homeland. For hundreds of years our ancestors struggled for us today to be able to have this day, and to celebrate it, and I think yesterday’s event was humble, tasteful and appropriate.

ARMENPRESS – There is a lot of talk now about opening an era of peace, but we constantly see incidents which question as to what extent this is possible, for example the latest incident which took place with two residents of Kasakh near Vorotan.

Rubinyan – Indeed, unfortunately during this period we’ve witnessed numerous destructive statements and actions, which force us to think that opening an era of peaceful development is unrealistic. But I think we must have strong nerves and patiently advance our agenda based on our state interests. In this context perhaps we should try to give significance also to small positive steps. Let’s take the incident you mentioned. It is a negative fact that the Azerbaijani military or law enforcement agencies detained our lost citizens. But it was positive that practically after one and a half day Azerbaijan repatriated them, moreover, they [repatriated citizens] themselves testified that they haven’t been ill-treated in any way during their time in Azerbaijan. We hope that with such continuous steps an opportunity will be created to move forward with the agenda of peace.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan