Author: Maral Chavushian

Azerbaijan tries to erase all traces of millennia-old Armenian presence, warns Nagorno Karabakh

Maral Chavushian

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 10:54, 4 May 2023

YEREVAN, MAY 4, ARMENPRESS. The Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) authorities warned on May 4 that Azerbaijan initiated a policy of “albanisation” of the Armenian historical and religious heritage, trying to erase all traces of the millennia-old Armenian presence in Artsakh and promoting pseudo-historical theses to justify the destruction and transformation of the Armenian monuments.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry of Nagorno Karabakh strongly condemned the statement made by the Chairman of the State Committee on Religious Associations of Azerbaijan, which says that the Armenian clergy should leave Dadivank Monastery.

Below is the full statement released by the Foreign Ministry.

“We strongly condemn the statement made on 2 May by the Chairman of the State Committee on Religious Associations of Azerbaijan, which says that the Armenian clergy should leave Dadivank Monastery, because it allegedly belongs to Caucasian Albania and, sooner or later, will be governed by the Albanian-Udi religious community.

Such a statement by the head of a state body of Azerbaijan constitutes a gross violation of the ICJ ruling of 7 December 2021, and once again demonstrates that the authorities of Azerbaijan are implementing a consistent policy of ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, destruction and appropriation of the Armenian historical, cultural and religious heritage.

In this regard, we consider it necessary to remind that since November 2020, Dadivank Monastery has been under the control of the Russian peacekeepers, who are called to ensure the unimpeded and safe access of citizens to the sanctuary. Furthermore, UNESCO, as the world’s leading specialised organisation, has repeatedly emphasised that historical and cultural heritage should not become a tool for political goals, and has called on all member states throughout the world to respect this principle.

As a result of the war and occupation of the territories of Artsakh in 2020, as many as 1.5 thousand Armenian historical and religious monuments, including monasteries, churches, khachkars (cross-stone), archaeological sites, fortresses, castles, sanctuaries, etc., came under the control of Azerbaijan. During the 44 days of aggression, the armed forces of Azerbaijan deliberately targeted, destroyed or desecrated a number of monuments and sanctuaries, and immediately after the war, the Azerbaijani government initiated a policy of “albanisation” of the Armenian historical and religious heritage, trying to erase all traces of the millennia-old Armenian presence in Artsakh and promoting pseudo-historical theses to justify the destruction and transformation of the Armenian monuments. In particular, in 2021, during a visit to the village of Tsakuri in the occupied Hadrout region, President Aliyev, pointing to the Armenian writings on the Tsaghkavank Church of the Holy Mother of God (12th century), stated that they were fake, that the church was Albanian, and personally ordered to erase those writings. Later, even a working group of “Albanian history and architecture specialists” was set up in Azerbaijan, whose task was to remove the “false traces left by Armenians” from the so-called “Albanian churches”. Among the striking examples of Azerbaijani vandalism are also the bombing of the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi during the 2020 hostilities, and after that its transformation under the guise of repair work, the destruction of the Church of St. John the Baptist (“Green Chapel”), the complete destruction of the Armenian Church of the Virgin Mary of Mekhakavan, etc.

Among the vivid examples of Azerbaijani vandalism are the bombing of the Ghazanchetsot Church of Shushi during the war, and then the transformation carried out under the guise of renovation, the destruction of the Church of St. Hovhannes the Baptist (Green Hour), the complete wiping out of the Armenian Church of the Virgin Mary in Mekhakavan, etc.

All these cases of vandalism, as well as Azerbaijan’s consistent policy of denying access to the UNESCO mission to assess the state of the cultural objects and monuments in the occupied territories of Artsakh, show that the Armenian historical, cultural and religious heritage in the occupied territories of Artsakh is in danger: they are either transformed or destroyed due to Azerbaijan’s anti-Armenian state policy.

Thus, trying in every possible way to expel the people of Artsakh from their historical homeland, Azerbaijan is pursuing a policy of not only ethnic cleansing, but also cultural genocide against Artsakh.

We once again call on the entire international community, all relevant international institutions, and first of all UNESCO, to take immediate and effective measures to ensure the access of international missions and relevant experts to the occupied territories of Artsakh to assess the state of the Armenian historical and cultural sites and monuments that have come under the control of Azerbaijan, and take them under international protection.”

As Armenia seeks allies in the West, its economic dependence on Russia grows

Maral Chavushian
Arshaluis Mgdesyan Apr 28, 2023

Economic factors arising from the Ukraine war are binding Armenia ever tighter to its longtime strategic partner and patron, Russia. 

Armenia’s trade with Russia nearly doubled in 2022, but that growth was mostly re-exports necessitated by the Western sanctions against Moscow.

Armenian producers therefore see little benefit from the increased turnover and instead face growing uncertainty because business is being conducted in the weak and unstable Russian currency. 

The trend threatens to undermine Armenia’s cautious efforts to reduce its political and security dependence on Russia and build stronger ties with the West.

Ruble trade hurts Armenian exporters

According to Armenian Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan, as of March 16 Armenia and Russia are using only rubles in mutual trade, and have abandoned the dollar and euro. 

Gradual de-dollarization of trade has long been on the agenda of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, which Armenia joined in 2013, but the sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine war lent urgency to the switch. 

The Armenian Central Bank has officially welcomed the move. “The implementation of trade without the intermediation of the currencies of third countries is positive, as it protects trading partners and entrepreneurs from the risks arising from fluctuations in the exchange rates of these third countries,” the bank’s press service told Eurasianet, while acknowledging that ruble-only trade does entail some “risks.”

Those risks to Armenian exporters are substantial, Vardan Aramyan, former Armenian finance minister and current public finance management consultant, told Eurasianet. “This is disturbing news for them.”

That’s because the ruble has been especially volatile since the start of the war and more recently has been on a downward trajectory against the Armenian dram. 

As a rule, an appreciating national currency is bad for a country’s exports. And Armenian exporters have already been reeling for the past year because of the dram’s surge against the dollar. (That depreciation of the dollar, interestingly, has to a large extent been caused by the influx of dollars from Russians moving their capital to Armenia amid the war and sanctions.)

Businessman Vahe Ghazaryan has been running Noyan, a company that produces soft drinks, jams and canned foods, for more than 20 years. Russia is his company’s biggest export market.

He is not happy about the transition to rubles and plans to take measures to protect against its effects. 

“It will certainly create discomfort. In any case, our costs are dollar-dependent. We buy part of the raw materials in dollars, we take long-term loans in dollars, so the dollar still looms behind our transactions,” he told Eurasianet.

The transition to ruble transactions and the parallel weakening of the Russian currency come at the peak of economic cooperation between Armenia and Russia. Last year, Russia’s share in Armenia’s trade turnover almost doubled to exceed $5 billion, which is 35 percent of the total. Russia is also the main export market for Armenia. Forty-five percent of Armenia’s exports go to Russia.

This growth is a result of the exodus of Western businesses from the Russian market. But while some Armenian suppliers have managed to expand their business in Russia, most Armenian exports to Russia these days are in fact re-exports of goods from Western countries. 

Aramyan, the ex-finance minister, said that while there are no precise figures for re-exports, it is clear that the minimal growth in Armenian production is not commensurate with a doubling of exports. 

“In 2022 and the first two months of 2023, according to official data, exports from Armenia to Russia increased by two-to-three times. At the same time, agriculture and industry are growing very modestly – by 0.5 percent and 8 percent [in 2022], respectively,” said Aramyan.

And Ghazaryan of the Noyan food company is one of many exporters not seeing the benefits of the growth.

“In the current conditions it is very difficult to develop a business. Our main problem is the exchange rate of the Armenian dram, which has greatly increased since last year,” he said, adding that he and others in his industry are planning to appeal to the government for help.

Political reverberations

Growing economic dependence on Russia also creates political risks for Armenia, which has recently sought closer ties with the West, in particular the EU.

And Moscow has already signaled its willingness to punish Armenia economically for political ends. 

After Armenia moved towards ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which recently issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia warned of “extremely negative consequences” for engaging with the ICC. 

Days later, Russia’s agriculture regulator, Rosselkhoznadzor, suspended dairy imports from Armenia citing safety concerns. 

This particular ban narrowly hits Armenia’s dairy farmers and is only a hint of the pain Russia could theoretically inflict.

In addition to being the main market for Armenian goods, it is the monopoly supplier of gas and other energy resources, including nuclear fuel for the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant, which provides 40 percent of domestic electricity generation. 

Also, many thousands of Armenian migrant workers reside in Russia; Russia accounts for 70 percent of money transfers from abroad to Armenia, which reached a record $3.5 billion last year.

Economist Armen Ktoyan is among many who say Armenia must reduce its dependence on Russia or face political costs. 

“Such an increase in economic dependence, which we have seen over the past year, cannot but affect the politics and the sovereignty of a country. It’s natural. In this regard, there is no need to be indignant or fight against it. We must work hard, create alternatives and open other markets for Armenian finished products,” Ktoyan said in an interview.

Arshaluis Mgdesyan is a journalist based in Yerevan.

 

‘California History Through Armenian Experiences’ Project Highlights Individual Voices

Maral Chavushian
by Contributor

 

 

 

in Community, Latest, News, Top Stories

Representatives of the USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies conducting an interview for the “California History through Armenian Experiences” oral history project


Focusing on the power of the individual story, USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies “California History through Armenian Experiences” oral history project documents the diversity and history of the Armenian presence in California. The initiative, supported by the California State Library, is part of the Institute’s continued work in collecting primary source material for academic researchers and educators.

Interviews for the “California History through Armenian Experiences” project will be conducted through spring 2024 and will become an archive of hundreds of life stories of Armenians living in California. The collection will consist of formal oral history interviews done by a team of professional interviewers as well as crowd-sourced interviews submitted through the Institute’s My Armenian Story project. The interviews will serve as primary source material to understand nearly a century and a half of Armenian-American life – including stories of migration, diaspora community development and relations, world and regional events, as well as individual and community contributions to California and beyond. Recorded oral histories will be indexed, archived, transcribed, and made available through USC Digital Libraries and the California State Library.

“The average Armenian life story is an intersection of several histories in one because migration and displacement have been endemic to the Armenian experience. The geopolitical, sociocultural, and sociolinguistic nuances in each story are invaluable for scholars in multiple fields including Armenian Studies, Diaspora Studies, American Studies, Migration Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, and many more,” said Institute Director Dr. Shushan Karapetian.

A scene from an interview for the “California History through Armenian Experiences” oral history project

In 2022, then-State Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian prioritized Armenian Studies by earmarking part of the state budget to accelerate and amplify the Institute’s documentation efforts. The commitment was part of the State’s ongoing work to highlight the diverse scholarship being produced by California institutes and research hubs. 

“Now, more than ever, California and Californians are looking to academic institutions to guide us through our history,” said Assemblymember Nazarian. “This opportunity with the USC Institute of Armenian Studies highlights the stories of individuals who – one by one – built the largest Armenian Diaspora in the country and contributed immensely to the fabric of the State of California. We all stand to learn so much from this initiative.” 

As a part of the Institute’s academic work, hundreds of testimonies collected through this initiative will serve scholars and educators of multiple disciplines. The recorded life histories provide a primer for researchers and allow for further exploration of the invaluable impact Armenians have made over the last century in the State of California, an under-researched subject in the fields of Armenian and American Studies. 

“Through these oral histories, we not only learn about the contributions of Armenians to the State of California, but also expose the cultural threads that run through the state via individuals’ global trajectories, both lived and passed down,” said Dr. Lilit Keshishyan, who is directing the Institute’s California oral history initiative. 

The grant supports the Institute to continue and expand the scale and geographic scope of its earlier oral history initiatives. For instance, some oral history interviews will be accompanied by digitized documents and photos – allowing for further contextualization of the Institute’s existing archives of diaspora documents.

Institute staff and a growing team of interviewers with expertise in Armenian communities have been conducting and recording thorough, full-life interviews across California. The public also has an opportunity to become part of the project by submitting interviews through the My Armenian Story crowd-sourced initiative. Anyone, regardless of background, can submit an Armenian story. 

The My Armenian Story initiative adds another compelling layer to the California project. An individual interviewing a grandparent or other family member can learn about how larger events have impacted both the world and especially their family and peers. 

“Understanding how an individual confronts the military draft during the Vietnam War in Los Angeles, decides to immigrate after surviving the 1955 pogroms in Istanbul, grapples with the agricultural crisis in 1980s Central Valley or navigates through various stages of US immigration policies are only some of numerous intersections of the personal and the historical,” said Manuk Avedikyan, education and outreach manager for the Institute.

Armenia: EU-funded exhibition on combating sexual violence opens in Yerevan

Maral Chavushian

An exhibition on ‘Combating sexual violence in Armenia: current challenges and joint steps’ opened in Yerevan on 19 April. 

The exhibition and the round table to coincide with its opening were organised by the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Sexual Violence Crisis Centre. The events took place within the framework of the EU-funded project ‘Accountable institutions and the protection of human rights in Armenia’. 

Representatives from government, parliament, the police, the Investigative Committee, the Human Rights Defender’s Office, civil society organisations and development and international organisations took part in the discussion.

On this occasion, EU Ambassador to Armenia Andrea Wiktorin reiterated the need for Armenia to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. “It is not only a matter of justice and law, but also one of fairness, compassion and humanism. This issue requires a consensus-based approach, free from controversial opinions and radicalism,” said Andrea Wiktorin.

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Press release

Partnership between Yerevan and Germany’s Saxony-Anhalt to encompass business ties

Maral Chavushian

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 12:45,

YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS. Acting Mayor of Yerevan Levon Hovhannisyan met with Gunnar Schellenberger, the president of the parliament (Landtag) of the German federal state Saxony-Anhalt to discuss development of business ties and implementation of joint projects, Yerevan City Hall said in a press release.

The honorary consul of Armenia in Saxony Lucas Flother was also present at the meeting.

Speaking about the city economy development programs, Hovhannisyan said that given the high level Armenian-German relations the City Hall is open and willing to consider mutually beneficial investment offers.

Schellenberger expressed the interest of their businesses in establishing partnership in various areas. Offers were made regarding new projects and exchange of experience in education and healthcare.

Speaking about a memorandum of intent on establishing friendly relations between Yerevan and Leipzig in Saxony, signed in 2021, the German side expressed hope that the agreement could develop into a clear program of partnership. Schellenberger invited his Yerevan colleagues to visit Germany.

Armenia, Russia hold political consultations on Iran cooperation, Asia-Pacific

Maral Chavushian

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 12:36,

YEREVAN, APRIL 12, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian and Russian foreign ministries held political consultations on April 11 in Yerevan on partnership in the Asia-Pacific region, cooperation with Iran, as well as cooperation in multilateral platforms in the Asia-Pacific region.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mnatsakan Safaryan and Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan represented the Armenian side, while Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko represented the Russian side, the foreign ministry said in a press release.

A broad circle of issues relating to activities in the mentioned regions and cooperation in regional organizations was discussed.

The sides stressed the importance of discussing the positions on key topics in international relations, and at the same time recorded bilateral readiness to continue the useful exchange of ideas on issues of mutual interest.

After the talks, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan held a meeting with Rudenko. During the meeting the importance of holding political consultations was noted. A number of issues of the bilateral agenda were discussed, as well as the regional security challenges in the South Caucasus. In this context, the urgency of a proper reaction and practical steps by allies and partners interested in regional stability was emphasized.

Sanna Marin defeated by Finland’s conservatives in tight race

Maral Chavushian

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 10:19, 3 April 2023

YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. Finnish conservative leader Petteri Orpo has won a three-way election race, defeating Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s centre left, BBC reports.

“We got the biggest mandate,” said the leader of the National Coalition Party, after a dramatic night in which the result gradually swung away from Marin’s Social Democrats.

Orpo secured 20.8% of the vote, ahead of the right-wing populist Finns Party and the centre left.

The populists won a record 20.1%.

It is a bitter defeat for Marin, who increased her party’s seats and secured 19.9% of the vote.

She continues to enjoy high poll ratings and has been widely praised for steering Finland towards imminent entry into Nato and navigating her country through the Covid-19 pandemic.

Shortly after the conservative leader claimed victory, the centre-left leader conceded the election.

“Congratulations to the winner of the elections, congratulations to the National Coalition Party, congratulations to the Finns Party. Democracy has spoken,” she told supporters.

Meanwhile, three of the other parties in the outgoing coalition – the Centre Party, Left Alliance and Greens – all rang up big losses.

Now 37, Sanna Marin became the world’s youngest leader when she burst on to the political scene in 2019. She headed a coalition of five parties, all led by women.

The conservatives will have the first opportunity in forming a government, and if they succeed, Orpo, 53, will become the next prime minister. Under Finland’s system of proportional representation he will have to muster more than 100 seats in the 200-seat parliament to run the country, and that will not be straightforward.

Navigating the Phygital Reality: 8 out of 10 transactions in Armenia are contactless Visa states

Maral Chavushian

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 17:30,

Doing Digital Forum, set to take place in Yerevan on April 5, will bring together leading worldwide experts to explore the latest trends and future developments in digital transformation, a topic of critical importance in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape. The Forum’s founder and organizer is SPRING PR Company, and the co-organizer is Ameriabank. Forum’s keynote speaker is Chris Skinner, a renowned fintech digital transformation global expert. As a leading financial services company, Visa is an innovation partner of the DDF. Armenpress talked to Diana Kiguradze, Visa Country Manager in the Caucasus, about their insights into the digital transformation agenda worldwide, the company’s views on the future of payments and plastic cards, and their expectations for the upcoming event. 

Why is it important today to advance the digital transformation agenda worldwide?

Digital transformation is both, a driving force of progress, but also an answer to many challenges we are facing today. It connects and brings the world together, helps businesses to be more effective and governments to improve performance; it saves resources and give us lots of data to understand better what happens around us. It gives people access to resources, products and services that make life more convenient or just fun. Visa has been a global promoter and enabler of digital payments for more than 60 years, uplifting everyone everywhere. Electronic money and payments are vital part of cashless and paperless economy. Sometimes we even say that we all live and work in a “phygital” (physical + digital) world. Especially for younger generations, as they don’t even know what the world was like before invention of Internet, smartphones, apps.

Referring to digital acceleration, we cannot avoid impacts of pandemic environment since the COVID-19 pandemic outburst; digital transformation has been accelerating across all sectors in the whole world. Developed e-com, delivery and contactless payments were crucial factors that ensured businesses’ survival during the crisis and helped people to have access to services and goods during strict lockdowns. And even now, as most countries gradually return to normality with restrictions lifted and physical stores and offices reopened, society sustains these new digital habits adopted during lockdown. In a way we are speaking about digital evolution. With each new challenge we adapt and become even stronger.

Cashless future is our strategic direction, and we are working to enable it every day for everyone. Currently we observe certain trends, that can shape the payment industry in the coming years. First, we are happy to see that payment around the globe go contactless. Second, it is growth of embedded finance: with innovations making once complex and expensive banking infrastructure easy and accessible, companies adding different financial services and products to their offers improving customer experience. We are talking about real time payments in apps and messengers, BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) products; recurring payments and subscriptions, etc. Digital and crypto currencies will also grow, and open banking will be driving innovations and changes in banking and payments. 

We also see growing trend of ‘super apps’ that serve as one universal platform where consumers can get many different services, make purchases, communicate and play, not leaving those applications.

In its turn, to meet the ever-changing customer needs, we will continue to evolve Visa to be a network of networks and being the best way to pay and be paid. We are trusted by more than 3 billion of cardholders, millions of merchants, thousands of financial institutions worldwide.

The process of digitalization is accelerating with a mind-boggling speed now, and changes that took five years a decade ago are now happening much faster. We live in the era of “phygital”, where technology is used to bridge the digital world with the physical world and provide a unique interactive experience to the user. Visa seeks to provide the most comfortable payment solutions to customers – whether they prefer just to tap a card or pay with a smartphone or another gadget. 

We constantly work with our partner banks in Armenia to drive digital payments, as we see year after year, more people opt for simpler and more convenient ways to pay and be paid. According to Visa data, 8 out of 10 transactions in Armenia are contactless. These figures indicate an upward trend in the country’s cashless economy development and the population’s willingness to further evolve in this direction. As a result, cash digitization in Armenia can be considered a current key trend. We expect that the digital shift will continue, e-commerce will expand further, which will eventually accelerate online transactions. 

On the top of that, moving towards a digital future is a mutual process: Visa develops technologies, businesses implement them, and customers enjoy them, and by such joint efforts we accelerate the advancement of cashless economy. 

And I truly believe that soon there will be no need for plastic cards, as even now cardholders more and more using virtual ones, adding them to digital wallets, so they can pay using, for instance, Apple Pay or G Pay. 

Visa is global enabler of electronic commerce. We work with big merchants and retailers, with marketplaces, with logistic operators and providers of the content. We also support digitalization of small and medium business, so they can benefit from e-com and digital payments, expanding sales volumes and geography. In order to support acceptance development in small and medium size businesses, we introduced Visa Tap to Phone technology in Armenia last year, along with our partner banks. Visa Tap to Phone enables a business acceptance of contactless payments of any amount on an Android mobile phone or tablet in the same way their customers pay at a traditional payment terminal at the point-of-sale. Our intention is simple – we want both, consumers and businesses, to have access to simple, secure and reliable payments.

Following recent global trends, which accelerated during COVID-19 outbreak, new shopping habits that combine the physical and virtual and build on consumers’ familiarity with e-commerce have been emerging. Many consumers choose a product in person, then purchase it online – or browse products in store and compare them to different options using their mobile device. Moreover, businesses that were able to adapt to digital platforms, on the other hand, thrived in general, while traditional retailers who had limited knowledge of online strategies struggled to survive.  

The way we work with data and analytics help our client-banks and merchant to build stronger customized marketing and offers to consumers. We drive global and cross-border commerce, but also part of our strategy is supporting small local and authentic brands, making them successful and available to wider audience – and e-com really helps with that. In this regard, our team launched “World of Privileges” loyalty Program in Armenia last year. The platform provides exclusive offers and promotions from partner companies for all Visa Premium cardholders, including – Visa Gold, Visa Platinum, Visa Signature and Visa Infinite.

As growth of e-commerce is accelerating, fraudulent activities in digital space are gaining momentum too. As a global leader of payment industry, Visa undertook the mission to protect the digital movement of money. We developed Visa Secure, a program that helps ensure online payments are made by the rightful owner of the Visa account. We also actively apply tokenization technology Visa Token Service as one of the most effective tools to fight fraud. Tokenization allows to secure sensitive information, such as the 16-digit account number, by replacing it with a unique digital identifier, a token. However, it is also important to remember that the first line of defense against fraudsters is be educated on how to protect and detect us from threats coming from online. 

As Visa’s vision is to be the best way to pay and be paid, for everyone everywhere, mean a huge responsibility for us that we accomplish through various strategic pillars. One of them is the development of e-commerce and solutions to protect our customers when they shop online. Our decisions to minimize frauds online, safeguard our consumers. We made major investments worldwide, such as $9 billion in fraud prevention and cybersecurity in the past five years. 

Moreover, we work closely with Central Bank of Armenia to raise financial awareness of our consumers and teach them on how to avoid and detect fraud and social engineering scams. I would mention the latest payment security campaign, we’ve conducted with CBA. 

Visa is working closely with the governments to advance digitalization of economies. We quickly adapt to changes: for example, when avoiding physical touch became a way to stop the spread of the disease, we partnered with state regulators in more than 50 countries across the world to raise contactless limits and enable customers to freely enjoy safe tap to pay transactions. 

We share data insights on digital commerce trends to help shape public strategies and decision-making. We advise on legislation that affects payment sector and implement the strictest security standards and customer authentication technologies in compliance with the national or international legislation (f. e., EU’s Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requirement). I would like to highlight partnerships with USAID Georgia, Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine aiming at supporting digital transformation process, small and medium-sized businesses, and the digitization of their activities, improve financial ecosystem, extension of digital capabilities and access for citizens.

We invest our competence, technologies and knowledge to increase penetration of digital payments, helping economies, business and individuals to thrive. I think we always have the same goal with governments and regulators – building strong and inclusive cashless economy. 

What are your expectations of joining Doing Digital Forum as an innovative partner? Why is it crucial to have such platforms on the ground?

Visa brings and drives innovations globally because the digital future is what we believe in and invest in. Partnering with the Doing Digital forum serves the same reason and more. We anticipate this event to bring novelty, value, and experience on a local level to boost the process of digital transformation in Armenia. Additionally, having such a platform strengthens partnerships and facilitates the establishment of new collaborations. We believe our role, as an international company, is to step in when it comes to fostering the growth of tech, business, and financial ecosystems, and create an exciting future together with our partners.




Armenpress: French Ambassador summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry for rewarding members of Kurdish organizations in the Senate

Maral Chavushian

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 20:18,

YEREVAN, MARCH 27, ARMENPRESS. French Ambassador to Turkey Hervé Magro was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry for rewarding members of Kurdish organizations in the French Senate, whom Ankara considers terrorists, ARMENPRESS reports, TASS informed, referring to its source at the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

At the Turkish MFA the French Ambassador was told that Turkey does not accept and strongly condemns the awarding of members of the “People’s Defense Units” Syrian-Kurdish formations in the French Senate.