Author: Garnik Tadevosian

 12:46, 5 July 2022

YEREVAN, JULY 5, ARMENPRESS. On July 4, around 9:15 p.m., the units of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan opened fire from various, including large-caliber firearms, at Armenian military positions located in the western part of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, specifically in the Khachik village of Vayots Dzor region, as well as in the direction of the road leading to the village, as a result of which the car of the head of the community was damaged, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Defense Ministry of Armenia.

The fire of the Azerbaijani units was silenced by the retaliatory actions of the Armenian side. There are no casualties on the Armenian side.

 14:17, 5 July 2022

YEREVAN, JULY 5, ARMENPRESS. “To honor and support the heroic, inspiring, and strong people of Artsakh who choose to raise future generations in their Homeland”

This is the motto of the “Ser Artsakh” charity program initiated by “Anna Astvatsaturian” Foundation: to bring love to all those Artsakh families living in such difficult conditions.

All the items included in the gift boxes that are provided to the mothers of Artsakh in the framework of the “Ser Artsakh” Program: onesies, pajama sets, sleeping sacks, towels and blankets, health care essentials (diapers, wipes, baby shampoo, thermometer and pacifier), as well as maternity hygiene necessities for the new mother, custom-made soft baby book and a wooden wheeled toy are made in Armenia or Artsakh.  In Artsakh, they are carefully packaged and delivered to maternity hospitals right in time for the next baby to be born, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Foundation.

There are three maternity hospitals in Artsakh: Martakert, Martuni and Stepanakert. Since the launch of the program, 161 children, 10 of them in Martakert, 6 in Martuni, have received their gift-boxes. Among the newborns were 2 sets of twins, a pair of beautiful sisters and a pair of brothers with their grandfather’s strength in the veins.

Victoria is one of the most common names: parents hope that the choice of the child’s name will be decisive in the fate of both the child and Artsakh.

“The news about the donation of 18 boxes in one day made me very happy. When mothers told me how helpful these items are for them to raise these babies that was the moment when I realized how important for the diaspora to keep donating to maintain the continuity of this project,” said Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte, president of the “Anna Astvatsaturian” Foundation, and added, “Despite my childhood of a refugee from Baku, I was taught by my parents to always work toward more out of life. With this project, I choose to do the same in Artsakh. Armenian children and their future are my constant focus and I will never stop expecting and working toward a better future for them.”

An individualized approach is taken with each mother. Working with Ministry of Health of Artsakh the Foundation is aware when these mothers will be checking out of the hospital. It is important to the Foundation that no baby leaves the hospital without receiving a gift box.

“Mothers always accept the gift with gratitude. Many are even waiting for our gift boxes. There was a case when a pregnant woman contacted us and informed that her child will be born in a few months. She asked us not to forget about her baby and to visit her with a box as well,” Armine Vardanyan, representative of the “Anna Astvatsaturian” Foundation in Artsakh, recalls with a smile.

Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte is an American-Armenian writer, philanthropist, lawyer, elected official, president of the Westbrook City council and the president of the “Anna Astvatsaturian” foundation. Anna also is an author of a book “Nowhere, a Story of Exile, 2012″based on her diaries which she wrote as an 11 year old child escaping the Baku massacres. In 2013 Anna spearheaded a successful recognition of Artsakh at the state of Maine legislature. Since then Astvatsaturian Turcotte has implemented a number of charitable programs in Armenia and Artsakh. In 2020 she founded the Anna Astvatsaturian Charitable Foundation. One of the fund’s major projects is the “Artsakh War 2020: Losses, Challenges – Opportunities for resistance development” survey conducted after the 44-day war.

 13:32, 29 June 2022

YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS. The relations between Yerevan and Lyon are entering into a new practical stage.

Mayor of Yerevan Hrachya Sargsyan met with Mayor of Lyon Grégory Doucet, the Yerevan City Hall said.

Hrachya Sargsyan is in Lyon to attend the 4th Armenian-French decentralized cooperation conference.

At the meeting the Lyon Mayor said Yerevan has a special place among their partner cities. He expressed confidence that the conference will open new prospects and opportunities for moving the partnership of the two cities into a new practical stage.

“I am sure that the friendly and partnering relations between the two cities will enable to implement new mutually beneficial projects. The problems of all large cities are almost the same, and in the stage of upcoming reforms we are ready to be useful to friendly Yerevan by sharing our successful experience”, the Mayor of Lyon said.

In his turn the Mayor of Yerevan thanked for the invitation and warm welcome and also highlighted implementing substantive programs and exchanging experience.

“Implementing programs on exchange of experience in the field of city economy management with Lyon is very important for us. We believe we can have concrete partnership in areas of transportation, traffic management and urbanization. Yerevan is really interested in the expansion and deepening of the Armenian-French decentralized cooperation, and we see great perspectives here. Today we are participating in a regular conference which is very important in terms of establishing and strengthening partnering ties between the cities”, Hrachya Sargsyan said and invited his counterpart of Lyon to visit Yerevan.

During the meeting a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the City Halls of Yerevan and Lyon. According to the document, the sides are obliged to make joint efforts in education sector, by assisting the development of the French-Armenian professional study center.

 19:01,

YEREVAN, JUNE 30, ARMENPRESS. A consultation chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was held, during which issues related to land reforms were discussed, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister.

In particular, the reduction of unused land plots of agricultural significance, the distribution of land plots, the expansion of irrigated areas, the main reasons for the land plots not being used, and some works carried out so far within the framework of land reforms were referred to.  Issues related to land enlargement, implementation of a pilot program for land market development, development and application of proposed economic mechanisms for land cultivation and consolidation were discussed.

Inventory of lands that are irrigated but not used, measures to be taken to increase the efficiency of land cultivation were highlighted.

An exchange of views took place on the above-mentioned issues, various proposals and observations were submitted by the heads of the concerned departments.

Prime Minister Pashinyan attached importance to the implemenation of land reforms and increase of the profitability of farms, including as a result of enlarging the cultivated lands. The Prime Minister instructed the officials in charge to form a relevant working group, which will develop a roadmap for action. The Prime Minister considered it necessary to implement a pilot program, which will help identify the problems and further implementing the reforms effectively.

 10:08, 21 June 2022

YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS. If factors contributing to decline of US dollar exchange rate, in other words, if the devaluation of the Armenian dram lasts long, it could positively affect the inflationary pressures, however, in that case exporters could suffer somehow, Economist Edgar Aghabekyan, an expert at the Amberd Research Center, said in an interview to ARMENPRESS.

Commenting on the factors affecting the devaluation of the dram, the economist said they are many. “The main phase of dram devaluation started with the increase in foreign currency flows to Armenia due to the actions of Russia in Ukraine. The banking system has some restrictions in this sense, it cannot absorb foreign currency all the time, and this leads to the fact that the foreign currency exchange rate is regularly decreasing. And this is the main pressing factor leading to devaluation”, he said.

The season, the entry of tourists to Armenia are also factors for the devaluation of the dram. Thus, demand and supply are the main factors of the formation of dram-dollar exchange rate. The question is what boosts this supply-demand. There are sometimes emotional effects when in some situation people expect to get a big benefit from exchange rate fluctuations.  

“That emotional stage, for instance, was the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian military operations when many people here were in panic and were buying dollar, assuming that the dollar exchange rate should rise. However, according to the Central Bank and in my view, the sensitivity of our population is certainly decreasing in that sense because they understand that making predictions and trying to get major benefits from exchange rate fluctuations in a short period of time is difficult, and as a result they are taking risks”, the economist said.

The economist notes that the norms of supply, demand formed in inter-bank markets could also be factors affecting the exchange rate. The export and import volumes should also be considered in the market as factors of supply and demand.

But in order to understand the results and consequences of the dram devaluation against the dollar, it is necessary to know how long this process will last.

“As there are a lot of uncertainties, the main reasons are the Russian-Ukrainian military actions and some regional processes. And in order to have an imagination on the end, it is necessary to understand when it ends, to understand whether a new situation comes with a new price, or after the stop of flows the market returns to forming a new, more balanced exchange rate”, the economist said.

Making predictions is difficult, therefore, the economist says some scenarios should be considered. If this situation lasts long, he says that it will have some positive effect on inflation.

“As the prices of imported goods depend on the foreign currency exchange rate, in my opinion, it will positively affect it in case of lasting long. On the other hand, the exports will somehow suffer. Everything depends on economic policymakers – the government, the Central Bank, who will take respective steps to normalize the situation”, he said.

Recently the dram has been appreciated in Armenia, but inflation comprised 9% as of May. Asked why the dram devaluation has not yet affected the prices, the economist says that first of all it is necessary to understand the causes of inflation.

“The cause of the inflation is mainly the increase in prices in international markets. If we compare the price increase in international markets with the price increase in the Armenian market, it could be turned out that the prices of some goods here have increased less than in international markets. Therefore, it is possible that the exchange rate had somehow affected the price increase. But assessing it is a difficult task, because one needs to understand which commodity groups they are, which part of these goods we import in Ruble, and which part in dollar: the Ruble exchange rate has not changed considerably, we also need to understand what changes these commodity groups have faced in international markets”, Aghabekyan said.

If the dollar exchange rate have not declined, whether a higher inflation was possible in Armenia, the economist assumes that this affects some commodity groups, but identifying concrete types of goods is still impossible.

The economist also commented on the question whether the prices of gas and electricity could be revised in the conditions of decline of dollar exchange rate and devaluation of the dram. Usually, the producer applies to the Public Services Regulatory Commission requesting to revise the tariffs, however, Aghabekyan doesn’t think that such a step is possible in the near future. It is necessary to consider how long these factors will stay in the market. “It could greatly affect the tariffs, the prices, if these factors remain unchanged for a long-run”, he said.

The economist believes that the devaluation of the dram will have its biggest effect on inflation. In all this situation, he highlights the right coordination of the policy of the government and the Central Bank, as well as support to some suffering sectors in the form of tax privileges or subsidies which will raise the competitiveness of the field in international markets or for exporters.

Interview by Anna Grigoryan