Author: Jagharian Tania

Armenian acting FM meets with Belgian Deputy Prime Minister – Foreign Minister

Jagharian Tania

Armenian acting FM meets with Belgian Deputy Prime Minister – Foreign Minister

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18:58, 4 December, 2018

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, who is in Belgium on a working visit, met on December 4 with Belgian Deputy Prime Minister – Foreign Minister Didier Reynders.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia, highly assessing the traditionally high level of bilateral and multilateral close cooperation, the Foreign Ministers of the two countries reaffirmed the readiness to take measures to further deepen and develop the cooperation in different spheres, particularly in the sphere of trade and economy. The interlocutors exchanged views on further enhancing partnership agenda, pointing out innovation, high technologies and creative education as priority directions.

Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Didier Reynders expressed satisfaction over the cooperation between the two countries and mutual support in international institutions. Armenia-EU relations were also touched upon during the meeting. Acting FM Mnatsakanyan emphasized that the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement opens new opportunities for Armenia-EU cooperation.

Mnatsakanyan presented to his counterpart the recent domestic political developments in Armenia. Referring to the upcoming parliamentary elections, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan emphasized the commitment of the Government of Armenia to hold them free and fair that will meet the international standards.

A number of regional and international issues were also touched upon during the meeting, including the situation in Syria and the recent developments over Iran’s nuclear program.

The acting Foreign Minister of Armenia presented the approaches and position of Armenia on Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement. In this context the sides highlighted that the conflict should be settled through exclusively peaceful means in the sidelines of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chair format, which is the only internationally authorized format.   

At the end of the meeting Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Didier Reynders signed the “Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the Kingdom of Belgium on the remunerated work of family members of diplomatic missions and consular officers”.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan




Belarus Defense Ministry’s working group arrives in Armenia

Jagharian Tania
News.am, Armenia
No 27 2018
Belarus Defense Ministry’s working group arrives in Armenia Belarus Defense Ministry’s working group arrives in Armenia

18:11, 27.11.2018
                  

A working group headed by the Head of the Main Financial and Technical Directorate of the Belarusian Defense Ministry, Assistant Minister of Defense of Belarus for financial issues and the military economy arrived in Armenia on Monday.

The working group arrived in accordance with the plan of cooperation between the Armenian and Belarusian Defense Ministries, Armenian Defense Ministry’s press service reported.

Russian expert: The situation around the candidacy of the CSTO Secretary General will not affect the election results in Armenia

Jagharian Tania
Arminfo, Armenia
Nov 26 2018
Russian expert: The situation around the candidacy of the CSTO Secretary General will not affect the election results in Armenia

Yerevan November 26

Tatevik Shahunyan. The situation around the elections of the CSTO Secretary General is perceived differently in different member countries. Director of the EAEU Institute Vladimir Lepekhin expressed this opinion today at a press conference.

“If for Armenia the situation in the CSTO is intrigue, Belarus doesn’t see any intrigue in it. Russia is quite calm about the passions around the post of the Secretary General of the organization,” the expert explained.

In general, the situation in the CSTO, he considered the result of the error of some politicians in Armenia. “But I think there is nothing terrible about what is happening, and I am sure that whatever the outcome of the situation is, this will not affect the results of the elections in Armenia,” Lepekhin said.

To note, Armenia has withdrawn Yuri Khachatyrov from the post of the CSTO Secretary General, since he is being held as an accused in the case of March 1, 2008. Belarus, with the support of Kazakhstan, is seeking to occupy the post of chairman in the organization ahead of schedule, which is opposed by Armenia, which wants to complete its term as CSTO Secretary General. The issue, by prior arrangement, will be resolved on December 6 at the CSTO summit. -sh–

168: Acting PM Pashinyan to meet with parents of Karen Ghazaryan who is in Azerbaijani captivity

Jagharian Tania
| 12:49 | November 28 2018
Category
Politics

Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on November 28 will meet with the parents of Karen Ghazaryan who is currently in the Azerbaijani captivity.

“Today I will meet with the parents of Karen Ghazaryan in the municipality. My spouse has visited them two times. Azerbaijan has made a semi-official offer to exchange three Azerbaijani citizens in Artsakh with the three Armenians who are in Azerbaijan. But two of these Azerbaijani citizens are imprisoned in Artsakh, the one for 20 years and the other to life imprisonment because they have killed citizens of Artsakh. And now the question is the following: whether the relatives of those killed will agree that Artsakh returns the murderers of their kids to Azerbaijan. It’s clear that Azerbaijan will declare new Ramil Safarovs from these murderers. Do we want to bear the political and practical consequences of this? A man accidentally crossed the border from Turkey, and we sent him back to his country without any preconditions. It would be logical if they returned Karen in the same way. We dealt and are dealing with the issue of Karen also in accordance with the agreement reached in Dushanbe. It’s a simple, humanitarian issue, and we will make all efforts to solve this issue”, Pashinyan said during the election campaign of My Step alliance in Noyemberyan town.

Pashinyan said there is a version that Karen has been kidnapped from his own home.

“People are concerned and worried about the level of defense at the border. There is a suspicion that Karen was kidnapped from his own home, but there are no proofs yet. I will definitely discuss this issue with the representatives of our Armed Forces. We will take actions if necessary”, he said.

Dutch church holds 800-hour service to save Armenian family

Jagharian Tania
WPXI Pittsburgh
Nov 30 2018


Updated: Nov 30, 2018 – 8:06 AM

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – A Dutch church is holding an around-the-clock service that has lasted more than 800 hours, to shield an Armenian family from deportation. Under Dutch law, police officers are not permitted to enter a church while a religious service is taking place. 

To prevent the Tamrazyan family from being removed from the country, hundreds of pastors and volunteers have been meeting to maintain the 24/7 service. The service has been ongoing for more than a month.

Theo Hettema, Chairman of the General Council of Protestant Ministers in the Netherlands told CNN, “We are severely, severely convinced that hope can change society, and hope can change politics. How long that will take, we don’t know but we leave that to God, we pray. Yeah, we have this service here. We have some 450 pastors who are leading part of the service, an hour or more going on. And that’s so much faith and love and hope. It must affect something I am sure about that.” 

The idea for the nonstop service was hatched in secret to protect the safety of the family until they were able to be moved into the church building. That was on October 26. The family’s only hope now is for the government to intervene in the case and allow them to stay. 

In a statement to CNN, a spokesman for the Dutch minister for migration Mark Harbour said, “The minister for migration has the power to decide cases involving specific exceptional and urgent circumstances.” However, he added that “factors such as a long period of residents in the Netherlands and enrollment in education in the Netherlands are not sufficiently exceptional circumstances.” 

Despite that, church leaders say they are having behind-the-scenes talks with the government about the case and are hopeful of a resolution. But until the family is allowed to stay, they say the church service will continue, as Hettema said, “as long as it’s necessary.”

RA President: Armenia considers Germany a political and economic partner and friendly country

Jagharian Tania
Arminfo, Armenia
Nov 30 2018
RA President: Armenia considers Germany a political and economic partner and friendly country

Yerevan November 29

Alexander Avanesov. A meeting between Armenian President Armen Sarkissian and Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Angela Merkel was held In Berlin.

According to the press service of the Armenian President, welcoming the official visit of the Armenian President to Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed that she has very good memories of her recent visit to Armenia. She noted that she was particularly impressed by the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies, and at the moment the German side is discussing the possibilities of cooperation.

“Armenia considers Germany a political and economic partner and a friendly country,” President Sarkissian said and noted that he was pleased to meet again and continue discussions on expanding Armenian-German relations. According to him, both countries can successfully cooperate in the areas of high and information technologies, in which Armenia has great potential. “Our country can become a platform for different start- ups,” Armen Sarkissian said.

The President of Armenia and the German Chancellor from the point of view of strengthening ties between the two friendly nations attached great importance to expanding mutually beneficial cooperation in the cultural, scientific and educational fields. They also touched upon the topic of cooperation in the field of tourism and exchanged views on the liberalization of the visa regime.

Azerbaijani Press: Russian FM to hold substantive talks on Karabakh conflict in Milan

Jagharian Tania
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Nov 30 2018
20:13 (UTC+04:00)
322

By  Trend

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will hold substantive discussions on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict during bilateral meetings within the OSCE Ministerial Council in Milan Dec. 6-7, Spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said at a press conference on Nov. 30, answering Trend’s question on what is planned for discussion.

“The minister’s speech will cover everything related to the OSCE agenda, and especially those issues in which Russia is directly involved,” said Zakharova. “We will share our assessments. Of course, there will be bilateral meetings as well, and this issue will be discussed substantively during these meetings. Naturally, some specific steps or concrete proposals may be outlined there.”

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

Azerbaijani press: Statement: Overlooking Karabakh conflict is harmful for reputation of EaP CSF

Jagharian Tania
00:25 (UTC+04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.25

By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:

Overlooking the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the context of the Draft Resolution of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum is harmful for the reputation of the EaP CSF in the eyes of the broader Azerbaijani community, reads a statement from the Azerbaijani National Platform of the EaP CSF.

“We, the Members of the Azerbaijani National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (EaP CSF), following the widespread discussions of the Draft Resolution of the 10th Annual Assembly of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum in the Azerbaijani media, feel the need to clarify our position on the following points.
We appreciate the role of the EaP CSF in aiding all EaP countries’ civil societies in their strengthening of democracy, rule of law and sustainable development, which leads to greater integration with the European community,” said the statement.

The Azerbaijani National Platform said it acknowledges the positive role of the EaP CSF in bringing Azerbaijani and Armenian civil society representatives together, helping them to advance their peace agendas on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict; however, the Draft Resolution has failed to uphold the importance of territorial integrity issues for all of the EaP countries.

“This position has been stressed by the Joint Declaration of the Eastern Partnership Summit, held on 24 November 2017 in Brussels, Belgium, stating: “The European Union remains committed in its support to the territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of all its partners”.”

The Azerbaijani National Platform is also concerned regarding the lack of Azerbaijani government representatives in the list of invitees. “It wishes to see the active participation of Azerbaijani government representatives in the Forum and calls on the Forum, the government of Georgia and the EU to issue the invitations in a speedy manner.”

The Azerbaijani National Platform stresses once more its appreciation for the work of the EaP CSF.

“At the same time, it would like to draw attention to the fact that the Azerbaijani government and civil society have developed complementary narratives on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, which remains a sensitive issue for the country.

“Overlooking the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the context of the Draft Resolution is harmful for the reputation of the EaP CSF in the eyes of the broader Azerbaijani community.

“We would like to remind that the core objective of the CSF is to establish mutual cooperation and understanding among the Civil Societies of the Eastern Partnership Member Countries in the best interest of our peoples. Unfortunately, the adoption of such a Draft Resolution within the CSF platform would lead to dissatisfaction among Azerbaijani government and society representatives, undermining the credibility of the Forum,” reads the statement.

The 10th Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum Annual Assembly will take place in Tbilisi on 10-12 December. This annual event brings together civil society organizations from all six Eastern Partner countries and the EU. It has been organized every year since 2009.


Armenia to start producing tractors

Jagharian Tania
Agriculture Monitor Worldwide
November 22, 2018 Thursday
Armenia to start producing tractors
 
 
Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Wednesday, November 21 met Armen Harutyunyan, the head of Beltekhnika, a Lithuanian company engaged in the production of agricultural equipment.
 
At the meeting in Yerevan, the sides discussed issues related to Beltekhnikas initiative to implement an investment project for the production of agricultural machinery such as tractors in Armenia.
 
Reaffirming the Armenian governments interest in implementing the proposed investment project, Pashinyan said it will generate new jobs in line with his governments drive for providing favorable conditions for investors.
 
Harutyunyan said they are going to produce modern farm equipment, affordable for local farmers, part of which will be exported to the European market.
 
The new plant will be created on the basis of the former Hayelectromash factory. $5-7 million will be invested in the first stage, followed by an additional investment of $10-15 million. Harutyunyan said his team will start working on its implementation as early as December 1, 2018.
 
The first plants annual output capacity is 3,000 tractors. The second plant will increase the output by additional 5,000 tractors. Nikol Pashinyan welcomed the initiative and expressed confidence that it was going to be a success story.

Armenian military launches own uniform manufacturing brand

Jagharian Tania
| 18:10 | November 12 2018
Category
Society

The Armenian defense ministry has developed a special brand called Armenian Army to manufacture uniforms for the Armenian military, caretaker defense minister Davit Tonoyan told reporters today.

“The armed forces of various countries have their own military brands. What I wear while visiting military positions isn’t the official uniform of the armed forces. Since I am a civilian, I find that I shouldn’t wear the military uniform. We have developed this brand in order to promote the [military],” Tonoyan said.

He said that the uniforms will be entirely made in Armenia.