Author: Hagop Kamalian

 14:02, 2 June 2022

YEREVAN, JUNE 2, ARMENPRESS. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan has provided details what issues the commission on delimitation and border security between Armenia and Azerbaijan are going to discuss at the upcoming second meeting in Moscow.

“Issues relating to delimitation and demarcation will be on the agenda. It will be discussed how we will continue moving on this process. As for the date of the meeting, there will be a statement by Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan”, Grigoryan said.

Commenting on the question that the Armenian commission is small and involves non-targeted specialists, the Secretary of the Security Council said the number of the working group on delimitation and demarcation is not so important because all issues are passing inter-agency discussions, and before negotiations the working group is getting prepared.

“If the member of the working group is a deputy minister, it doesn’t mean that other staffers of the ministry are not participating in the preparation of the process. I do not see any problem with the number”, he said.

As for the question why the opposition figures are not involved in that working group, he said that they are not represented in the executive, it is logical why they are not involved in the commission.

 14:23, 3 June 2022

YEREVAN, JUNE 3, ARMENPRESS. Mher Margaryan, Permanent Representative of Armenia to the United Nations, delivered a statement in the UN Security Council open debate on “Strengthening Accountability and Justice for Serious Violations of International Law”, the Permanent Mission of Armenia said.

In his remarks Mher Margaryan touched upon the issue of impunity of crimes that happened in the past, in the context of prevention of genocides, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“Armenia alerted the international community about the level of hate speech and racist rhetoric dominating the political discourse in Azerbaijan, where state-led anti-Armenian policies extensively reported and documented by international institutions seek to dehumanize one particular nation which come to manifest that genocidal ideology does not merely belong to the past. The fact that a large-scale military aggression was unleashed amid the unprecedented global pandemic in the fall of 2020 is a crime of global proportion in itself and should be evaluated and addressed as such”, he said, also touching upon the fact that Azerbaijan is still holding Armenian prisoners of war and civilians in captivity.

“As the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, the International Court of Justice has a central role in ensuring justice and accountability and upholding the faith in international law”, he said.

[see video]

 14:35,

YEREVAN, MAY 27, ARMENPRESS. Iranian Ambassador to Armenia Abbas Badakhshan Zohouri commented on the negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan over opening of regional connections, emphasizing the need for respecting international laws in that process.

Talking to reporters, the Iranian ambassador said that the Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan deputy prime-ministerial working group’s meetings recorded good results.

“It is very important for all sides to respect the internationally recognized laws and that the negotiations are constructive. The region is ready to develop in various directions, and this can happen with effective negotiations of these several countries,” he said, adding that by respecting internationally recognized borders these roads can be opened and connection can be created.

 18:21,

YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRES. Real economic growth in Armenia in the first quarter was 8.6%, despite the geopolitical situation and crises, ARMENPRESS reports Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said at the National Assembly during the parliament-Cabinet Q&A session, answering the question of MP from Civil Contract Party Gevorg Papoyan.  

Papoyan reminded that in January-April the economic activity index increased by 9.4%, which he considered quite satisfactory, especially against the background of worse forecasts due to the situation in Ukraine. He inquired what actions the government is going to take to maintain that pace.

According to the Prime Minister, the index of economic activity is transformed into economic growth by certain formulas. But at this stage, the economic growth of the first quarter is summed up. “And we have 8.6 percent real economic growth. This shows the economic resilience of Armenia. In April, we set an absolute record for the highest number of registered paid jobs in the history of the Third Republic. According to the results of April, the number of paid jobs registered in Armenia is by over 120 thousand more than in 2018. According to the data of the first 4 months, this year trade turnover was by 570 billion AMD more than last year,” Pashinyan said.

According to him, this means that despite the crises, the geopolitical situation, 7% economic growth must be ensured this year, which requires a lot of effort. The Prime Minister expressed hope that the peace agenda of the Armenian government will improve the economic mood, and that it will be possible to achieve that goal.

Referring to the question, what are the reasons that despite the pessimism, the economy shows such resistance, the Prime Minister said, “It’s because there is no corrupt system to take that money away from the economy, put it in some shelves, put it in offshore accounts. This is a very important fact. Business today knows that it has no relationship with anyone else, its relationship is with itself, with the competitive field, it is with its tax obligations and law. And this is first of all connected with this, and also with the economic policy pursued by the government.”

 13:00,

YEREVAN, MAY 23, ARMENPRESS. 22 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Armenia in the past one week, the ministry of health said.

The total number of confirmed cases has reached 422,939.

11,121 tests were conducted within a week.

One patient has died from the disease. The death toll has risen to 8624.

The number of recoveries rose by 150, bringing the total to 412,221.

The number of active cases is 388.

 15:21,

YEREVAN, MAY 24, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan received today the Multiple World and European Arm Wrestling Champion, Master of Sports of International Class Ashot Adamyan by his request, the Parliament’s press service said.

Congratulating Ashot Adamyan for not giving up anybody the champion title for many years, Alen Simonyan was interested in the athlete’s last European Arm Wrestling Championship held in Bucharest on May 14, when the episode of standing of the Azerbaijani athlete, who was the third, on his feet, trying to appear tall and cast shadow the winner of the European Championship Ashot Adamyan.

The Master of Sports informed the Speaker that at that moment he did not notice that athlete’s behavior being obsessed with our hymn and victory. As Ashot has presented, during the competition the Turkish and the Azerbaijani competitors tried to put psychological pressure on him, but they did not succeed deviating him, as the Champion noticed jokingly that he simply did not understand the competitors’ language. The athlete also noted that during his sport career he competed in 60-kg category, and it was for the first time when he competed in 65-kg weight. To Simonyan’s remark whether this is final weight, the young athlete answered that everything is ahead, adding with smile that he did not want to gain weight.

Alen Simonyan was interested in the perspectives of the sport, once again congratulating Ashot Adamyan for registering significant success and handed him a souvenir.