Author: Garnik Zakarian

 18:39,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani side handed over the bodies of three Armenian servicemen killed in November 16 attack by the Azerbaijani armed forces against the eastern part of the Armenian border through the direct mediation of the Russian peacekeeping troops in Shushi, late in the evening of November 18, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Emergency Situations Service of Artsakh.

It’s mentioned that according to preliminary information, the bodies were evacuated from the administrative territory of Ishkhanasar village of Syunik Province.

The bodies were taken to Yerevan on November 19.

In the afternoon of November 16, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces once again violated the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia, attacking the Armenian positions in the eastern border area, using artillery, armored vehicles, firearms of various calibers. According to the agreement reached through the mediation of the Russian side, the fire was stopped at 18:30 on the same day.

Balance has not changed in any way as a result of yesterday’s operations – Pashinyan on Azerbaijan’s aggression

 17:37,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS. According to Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, as a result of the hostilities unleashed by Azerbaijan on November 16, the balance has not changed in any way, ARMENPRESS reports the Armenian PM said at the National Assembly, during the parliament-Cabinet Q&A session, answering the question of MP Vahagn Aleksanyan from “Civil Contract” Party whether new territories have passed under the Azerbaijani control.

As for the 41 square kilometers occupied as a result of the Azerbaijani aggression, the PM said that this number was not formed as a result of yesterday’s or the previous day’s operations. “As a result of yesterday’s operations, the balance has in no way changed. I mean these 41 square kilometers existed and a week ago, in the period since May 12, and remains the same following yesterday’s operations. It’s not so that the Azerbaijani armed forces have a full control of those 41 square kilometers. As a result of the processes following May 12, in fact the positions of the Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces are located like a chess desk, sometimes deep into one another in an illogical way”, Pashinyan said.

The Prime Minister highlighted the correct understanding of the situation particularly now. According to him, before May 12, about 40 square kilometers of the territory of Armenia was under the control of Azerbaijan, as a result of the first war. “We know the precise locations of those areas. As a result of the first war, there are also territories of Soviet Azerbaijan, which are under the control of the Republic of Armenia,” Pashinyan said, adding that for these reasons he attaches great importance to the demarcation or delimitation process.

 17:47,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. IDBank and Idram’s initiative, “The Power of One Dram”, has concluded its’ 6th program and transferred 8.057.944 AMD to the Health Fund for Children of Armenia, which organizes treatment of children with life-threatening diseases abroad.

The amount was provided from the companies by transferring 1 AMD for each payment made through the Idram & IDBank applications, Idram.am website, IDBanking.am online platform, bank, and Idram terminals.

According to Gor Amiryan, Idram’s Head of Marketing, the project has also raised the awareness of the two companies’ clients about social responsibility. “We are especially pleased to receive feedback from our clients that they prefer to make payments through Idram not only due to the speed and convenience, but also due to the fact that we donate 1 AMD to charity for each payment”, said Gor Amiryan.

The next beneficiary of “The Power of One Dram” initiative is already known․ The entire amount collected throughout November and December will be donated to Teach for Armenia Educational Foundation’s “Nation Builders” program.

“In the context of revealing the potential of our school communities, I would like to highlight the cooperation between Teach for Armenia Educational Foundation and IDBank. IDBank hereby joins our family of Nation Builders, allowing students from distant communities to have educational equity, and opening up opportunities for themselves and their community thanks to the work of our Teacher-Leaders during their two-year journey,” says Larisa Hovannisian, the Founder and CEO of Teach for Armenia Educational Foundation.

According to the head of the communications unit of the Bank, Tatevik Vardevanyan, the cooperation with the Teach for Armenia Educational Foundation stems from Idram and the Bank’s corporate social responsibility strategy. “One of our main goals is to contribute to the processes of ensuring equity in the education of our society and improving the quality, as well as ensuring the continuity of education for our children. We want to play our role in shaping the next generation and our cooperation with Teach for Armenia is a vivid confirmation of this. We are confident that our users and clients, as always, will continue making payments through the Idram&IDBank applications, Idram.am website, IDBanking.am online platform, Idram and Bank terminals, and will become goodwill ambassadors again”, says Tatevik Vardevanyan.

“The Power of OneDram” was launched in June 2020 and has carried out 7 programs to date, transferring more than 45 million AMD to various organizations:

• AMD 3.701.910 to “Vahe Meliksetyan” foundation
• AMD 6.925.000 to the Insurance Foundation for Servicemen
• AMD 8․648․000 to “VIVA” charitablefoundation
• AMD 6․962․504 to the “HomelandDefender’sRehabilitation Center”
• AMD 3․603․291 to the Insurance Foundation for Servicemen
• AMD 2․521․255 to “Hayastan” All-Armenian fund
• AMD 5․034․750 to 

THE COMPANIES ARE CONTROLLED BY CBA

 10:28, 10 November, 2021

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 10, ARMENPRESS. The tariff of water is planned to be increased from the current 180 drams to 200 drams starting January 1, 2022, the Chairman of the Public Services Regulatory Commission of Armenia Garegin Baghramyan told reporters.

If approved, the 200 dram tariff will remain unchanged for at least 10 years, he said.

However, Veolia Jur – the water supply operator – initially sought to increase the tariff for consumers to 223 drams.

Baghramyan said they are now finalizing negotiations with Veolia Jur for signing the contract. He added that at the same time the water tariff for socially vulnerable consumers will not increase.

“At the same time we are putting into circulation a draft government decision which recommends differentiating a socially vulnerable consumer group, for whom the price won’t be increased,” Baghramyan said.

The Public Services Regulatory Commission is planning to convene a session over the matter in the end of November.

Speaking about their monitoring in the water supply company, Baghramyan said the results have already been summed up. “Yesterday the report was sent to the company. There will be an increase of about 2 million water volume. Some violations were discovered during the monitoring. The factual volume will be increased,” he said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 11:48,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 11, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan notified Armenia that it will conduct inspections of Armenian citizens and vehicles in the part of the Goris-Kapan road which is under its control.

After receiving the notification the Armenian government decided that citizens and cargo transporters will be offered to use the alternative road instead, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting.

In his speech, Pashinyan reminded that since August 2021 the Azerbaijani authorities were charging Iranian cargo trucks with customs duties in the parts of “Eyvazli and Chayzami” passing through their territory of the Goris-Kapan road.

“Yesterday an unofficial notification was received from Azerbaijan that they are planning to conduct passport and customs control of Armenian citizens and vehicles starting midnight November 11. After receiving the notification we made a decision to guide our citizens traveling on that part towards the Kapan-Aghvani-Tatev-Halidzor-Shinuhayr-M2 road and organize traffic here. The Tatev-Aghvani section, which was practically impassable for several decades, was paved and commissioned last week. Last Thursday I personally used that road to travel to Kapan and back,” the PM said, adding that nearly 100 cargo trucks have already used this road in the Kapan-Tatev section since Wednesday midnight.

Moreover,  the commissioning of this new road means that the problems caused by Azeri authorities for Iranian cargo trucks traveling to Armenia is resolved. Iranian cargo vehicles can now use this new road and avoid the additional customs duties levied by Azeri authorities.

“After yesterday’s decision of Azerbaijan, by the way, the situation doesn’t change for the Iranian cargo trucks [on Azeri-controlled Goris-Kapan part], with the difference that now they can travel via the paved Tatev-Aghvani road without additional customs duties,” the prime minister said.

The high-quality of the road also cuts travel time from/to Yerevan-Kapan.

PM Pashinyan noted that other major construction works are ongoing to build alternative roads in Tatev-Ltsen, Shurnukh and Vorotan and elsewhere.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan