11:22,
YEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. 3 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed over the last 24 hours, bringing the cumulative total number of confirmed cases to 422,858, the Armenian Healthcare Ministry said.
No new deaths were recorded and the death toll stood at 8,622.
216 people recovered (total recoveries: 410,814).
2,546 tests were administered (total tests: 3,045,254).
As of April 28 the number of active cases stood at 1,739.
ArmInfo. At a government meeting on April 22, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced another record, this time in terms of the number of jobs.
“In March 2022, an absolute record was registered in the republic in terms of the registered jobs,” the prime minister said. Thus, the figure reached 654,784, and, as the prime minister emphasized, these statistics take into account only those jobs in which people received a salary and for which income taxes were paid.
Compared to March 2021, the indicator for March 2022 is higher by 32,622 registered jobs (5.3%), compared to March 2019 – by 70,714 registered jobs (12.1%), compared to March 2018 – by 120,660 registered jobs (22.4%). With the indicator for the same period in 2020, as Pashinyan pointed out, the authorities decided not to compare, since the year is considered a crisis.
As of March 2022, the average monthly salary was 243,607 drams, which increased by 32,202 drams (15.2%) compared to March 2021, by 59,730 (32.4%) compared to March 2019, and compared to March 2018 – 69,530 (39.9%)
At the same time, as Pashinyan noted, the purpose of these statistics is not to state that inflation has in no way affected the standard of living of citizens. “I just wanted to show that there are such balancing factors,” the prime minister added.
In 2021 inflation reached 7.7%. In March 2022 to March 2021, inflation of 7.4% was recorded (against inflation of 5.8% in March 2021 to March 2020). Next month, as RA Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan recently forecasted, we are likely to see higher inflation again as food and energy prices rise.
By Trend
The results of the first round of the presidential election in France, questions addressed to the candidates during the debates before the first and second rounds, and the answers to these questions proved once again the non-significance of global processes for the country’s citizens and the absence of any interest in the “Armenian issue” among them, Azerbaijani expert Elchin Mirzabayli told Trend.
According to Mirzabayli, the absolute majority of the promises made in the election campaigns in both the first and second rounds of the election regard social problems, which indicates that these problems in France have reached a critical level in recent years.
“The main problem of voters in France now is the rapid rise in food prices and forecasts about their inaccessibility to middle and poor segments of the population,” he said. “Given this factor, provision of the population with food ranks in the first place among the promises on the social sphere made by the incumbent president and at the same time presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron.”
“As part of the election campaign, Macron told the France Bleu television channel that food stamps could be introduced due to the rising prices. Macron noted that in case of his re-election, he plans to develop and implement a “food stamp program” to protect the poor and middle classes from rising food prices and a new crisis,” the expert further said.
He noted that according to the results of pre-election polls in France and according to experts, voters are concerned about such issues as a decrease in the level and quality of life of the population, religious and ethnic contradictions, an increase in the number of offenses, crime, problems with migrants and the demographic situation, issues of social infrastructure.
According to him, the “Armenian issue” hasn’t been mentioned among these problems, which indicates that the Armenians living in France are only used by the political authorities as an insignificant geopolitical pretext if such a need arises.
Mirzabayli also noted that the election campaign has shown that the possibilities of the influence of the Armenian lobby in France have significantly decreased and have no significance for the country. In this context, the hopes of the Armenians regarding Anne Hidalgo and Valerie Pecresse, the candidates for the presidency of France, weren’t justified.
As the expert pointed out, this proves that talks about a “strong” Armenian lobby have nothing to do with reality, just like the “history” of Armenia, consisting of myths and legends.
The Armenian lobby, in fact, has influence only at the municipal level, but in reality, its capabilities are quite low, he said.
According to Mirzabayli, the analysis of the comments in the Armenian press and the noticeable points in the mainline of the ongoing propaganda has shown that the political leadership of Armenia, the Armenian diaspora and the lobby didn’t expect Macron to reach the second round.
“In fact, the participation of Armenians in the election campaign of these candidates was not particularly noticeable, and in the election marathon of Macron, they were not noted at all,” the expert noted.
According to him, Armenians most likely believed that Marine Le Pen and Pecresse or Hidalgo would compete in the second round.
“As for Macron, he most likely won’t be able to continue to pay much attention to the “Armenian issue”, given the concern of his voters with internal social problems, as well as the weakness and unscrupulousness of the Armenian lobby,” added Mirzabayli.
MK Mossi Raz (Meretz) will leave Israel for Armenia on Saturday night to take part in a memorial ceremony for the Armenian genocide on Sunday.
This will be the second time Israeli MKs take part in the ceremony in an official capacity after current Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai and former Likud MK Anat Berko attended in 2015.
“The murder of more than a million Armenians is one of the most awful shows of human cruelty,” said Raz. “The time has come for also Israel to remember the victims and their stories. It’s our duty as Jews and as human beings. It’s a great honor for me to represent the Knesset and Israel and this important event.”
Israel does not formally recognize the Armenian genocide although bills to do so have been submitted in the past.
MP Tigran Abrahamyan of the opposition With Honor faction on Thursday denounced the current Armenian authorities for loudly trumpeting their “unprecedented” financial support to the Artsakh people after the 2020 war.
In a public post on Facebook, the lawmaker stressed the Armenian leadership “is trying to convince the people that they have not abandoned Artsakh.”
“Thus, the authorities are attempting to present as a favor the relief provided [to the Artsakh people] in the wake of the war and their defeat in it, which led to an unprecedented situation in Artsakh and Armenia,” he wrote.
“If they had not brought the state to a fiasco, there would not have been so many social problems and the available funds would have been channeled to security and development,” the MP added.
He also condemned the authorities for the statements that “Artsakh has a future as a part of Azerbaijan.”
20:15,
YEREVAN, APRIL 21, ARMENPRESS. The United States has banned Russian ships from approaching US ports as part of sanctions against Russia, ARMENPRESS reports US President Joe Biden said.
“I declare today that the United States will ban vessels having links with Russia from entering our ports, as is already the case in Europe. This means that any ship with the Russian flag, owned or used for Russian interests, will not be allowed to approach our shores,” he said.
16:42,
YEREVAN, APRIL 20, ARMENPRESS. On April 20, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan held a phone conversation with the Foreign Minister of People’s Republic of China Wang Yi, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release.
The interlocutors referred to the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and China, emphasizing the tangible world carried out through that period for the establishment and development of bilateral relations in political, trade and economic, humanitarian and other directions. The sides expressed their readiness to resolutely strengthen and deepen the Armenian-Chinese relations.
The utilization of the potential in the field of economic cooperation, the promotion of investments, development of infrastructures and addressing of logistic challenges was underlined. In this regard the need for the process of unblocking transport and economic infrastructures was highlighted.
Presenting Armenia’s position on the establishment of peace and stability in the region, Ararat Mirzoyan stressed the importance of negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan in different directions, as well as the role of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship in the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The viability of the internationally accepted existing format, as well as promotion of the peace process was emphasized.
The interlocutors exchanged views on the issues of mutual interest within international and regional agenda.
17:37,
YEREVAN, 20 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 20 April, USD exchange rate down by 1.62 drams to 469.21 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 1.26 drams to 509.33 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.11 drams to 6.07 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 0.38 drams to 612.55 drams.
The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.
Gold price down by 90.94 drams to 29627.82 drams. Silver price up by 2.59 drams to 390.94 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams.
Foreign Minister of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan held a phone conversation with the Foreign Minister of People’s Republic of China Wang Yi.
The interlocutors referred to the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and China, emphasizing the tangible world carried out through that period for the establishment and development of bilateral relations in political, trade and economic, humanitarian and other directions. The sides expressed their readiness to resolutely strengthen and deepen the Armenian-Chinese relations.
The utilization of the potential in the field of economic cooperation, the promotion of investments, development of infrastructures and addressing of logistic challenges was underlined. In this regard. The need for the process of unblocking transport and economic infrastructures was highlighted.
Presenting Armenia’s position on the establishment of peace and stability in the region, Ararat Mirzoyan stressed the importance of negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan in different directions, as well as the role of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship in the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The viability of the internationally accepted existing format, as well as promotion of the peace process was emphasized.
The interlocutors exchanged views on the issues of mutual interest within international and regional agenda.
I am guilty that in 2018-2019 I did not stand before our society and did not voice that all our friends expect us to hand over the seven known regions to Azerbaijan in this or that configuration and lower the yardstick we set for the status of Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)], that the international community unequivocally recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, expects us to also recognize [it]. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this Wednesday during the National Assembly debates on the execution of the 2021 program of the government of Armenia.
“This is not the end of the story because it is one thing to talk about it with the people in time, it is second to convince the people of concessions, and the third issue to bring all that to fruition.
In order to talk to people about it in time, I first had to convince myself that it was the right way. And I confess to myself, I could not convince.
I could not convince myself because we have been telling the Armenian society for 25 years that all the hardships we have suffered have a greater purpose, and that is the freedom of Artsakh. (…)
I could not convince myself because when I was getting familiarized with the negotiation documents, I was becoming convinced that [then-President] Serzh Sargsyan was not exaggerating at all when he said that Armenia was ready to leave the 7 regions, but every time Azerbaijan was positing new demands and that Azerbaijan’s expectations are unrealistic and unacceptable to us.
I also could not convince myself also because when I realized that [then-President] Robert Kocharyan was not exaggerating at all when he was stating that Armenia also has an issue of territorial integrity.
It was difficult to become convinced that as a result of 30 years of hardship, one can simply hand over the fruits of victory and get nothing in return. To accept this meant to admit that by declaring a state, we have created a facade and completely and utterly failed the work of institutional establishment of the state,” Pashinyan said.
According to him, the situation is the same in terms of content, and he cannot repeat the same mistakes.
“Today, the international community clearly tells Armenia that being the only country in the world that does not recognize—at a bilateral level—the territorial integrity of Turkey’s ally Azerbaijan is a great danger not only for Artsakh, but also for Armenia.
Today, the international community is telling us, ‘Lower our bar on the matter of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh a little, and you will ensure great international consolidation around Armenia and Artsakh.’ Otherwise, the international community says, ‘Do not pin hopes on us—not because we do not want to help you, but because we cannot help you,”’ said the Prime Minister of Armenia.