Tuesday,
Armenia Told To `Prepare' For Visa-Free Travel To EU
. Hovannes Movsisian
Luxembourg -- A street sign marks the beginning of the village of
Schengen, January 27, 2016
A senior European Union diplomat urged Armenia's government on Tuesday
to start "internal preparations" for the eventual lifting of the EU's
stringent visa requirements for Armenian nationals.
"The experience of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine shows that each
country needs to make many legislative and administrative changes in
order to meet the necessary [EU] requirements," said Piotr Switalski,
the head of the EU Delegation in Armenia,
"So don't lose time and do your homework. I hope that moment will
come," he added, appealing to the authorities in Yerevan.
The EU scrapped its visage regimes for the citizens of Georgia,
Moldova and Ukraine travelling to the Schengen Area, which covers most
of Europe, after signing Association Agreements with the three former
Soviet republics in 2014.
Armenia was on course to also sign such an agreement with the EU until
President Serzh Sarkisian unexpectedly decided in 2013 to make the
country part of the Russian-le Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Brussels
and Yerevan are due to sign a less far-reaching accord during an EU
summit that will be held in Brussels November 24.
"I believe that there will be some good news coming for Armenia from
the Brussels summit," Switalski said at a round-table discussion in
Yerevan.
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian urged the EU to launch a "dialogue"
with Yerevan on visa liberalization when negotiations on the
EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA)
officially began in December 2015.
EU leaders expressed readiness to do that at a May 2015 summit in
Riga. They said that such a process is contingent on the "full
implementation" of an EU-Armenia agreement on "readmission" of illegal
immigrants.
The readmission agreement was signed in April 2013 shortly after the
EU eased some of its visa rules and procedures for Armenians. Armenia
unilaterally abolished its visa regime for the citizens of the EU
member states around that time.
First Toll Roads Planned In Armenia
. Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - Trucks pass through a newly expanded highway running south
of Yerevan, 29Dec2015.
The government plans to introduce first-ever road tolls in Armenia in
a bid to complete an expensive project to upgrade the country's key
highways, Transport and Communications Minister Vahan Martirosian
revealed on Tuesday.
The project, supposedly launched in 2009, has fallen behind schedule,
with less than 10 percent of the national highways stretching over 550
kilometers to Georgia and Iran refurbished and expanded so far. Work
on two other road sections is due to be finished in the next few
years. These roadworks are mostly financed from loans extended to the
government by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Martirosian insisted that the government is committed to rebuilding
the remaining highways mainly passing through the mountainous Vayots
Dzor and Syunik provinces in the country's southeast. He estimated
that that will require as much as $1.5 billion in funding, a figure
equivalent to roughly half of the Armenian state budget.
Martirosian said the government hopes to attract the investments from
private firms, rather than seek more loans from the ADB or other
international lenders. "The decision has already been made and we are
working in that direction," he told a news conference.
This means, the minister went on, that the new highways stretching
over 350 kilometers from the southern town of Ararat to the Iranian
border would be toll roads operated by private firms. He said they
would run parallel to the existing toll-free roads.
Martirosian added that the government is already holding preliminary
talks with potential private investors but did not name them. As part
of the same effort, it plans to enact a new law on public-private
partnerships, he said.
The new figures cited by Martirosian raise the total cost of the
North-South transport project to more than $2 billion.Armenian
officials estimated it at less than $1 billion when they negotiated
the first loan agreement with the ADB in 2009. The Manila-based
development bank has disbursed $330 million to date.
The main official rationale for the highway upgrades is to facilitate
the landlocked country's access to the Georgian and Iranian ports. It
is also meant to enable Iran to use Armenian and Georgian territory
for large-scale freight shipments to and from Europe.
Teachers, Students Resume Protests Against Poor School Conditions
. Anush Muradian
Armenia -- Teachers of a public school in Ashtarak go on strike,
26Sept2017.
Hundreds of teachers and students of a rundown Armenian school
boycotted classes on Tuesday to again demand urgent repairs of its
facilities.
The public school in Ashtarak, a town 30 kilometers northwest of
Yerevan, has two buildings constructed in Soviet times. One of them is
dilapidated and disused, while the other is too small to adequately
accommodate the school's 600 students. It is also in need of new
furniture.
The schoolteachers protested against a grave lack of space and
decaying facilities there when they went on a one-day strike in
May. They failed to force the Armenian government to allocate funds
needed for the repairs.
The teachers said on Tuesday that they will not resume their work
until the government acts on their demands. They said the government
should at least provide more adequate premises for their youngest
students aged between 6 and 10.
Most parents of these and the students backed the strike action,
saying that their children will boycott the classes indefinitely.
"There are no normal toilets, no canteen, you can't call it a 21st
century school," one of them told RFE/RL's Armenian service
(Azatutyun.am). "What do our provincial administration and education
ministry think? Would they send their kids to such a school?"
"I've been working in this school for 21 years and I've been hearing
promises for 21 years," said one teacher. "But nothing has been done."
The school principal, Grisha Gevorgian, sought to justify the
protest. "People don't trust me anymore because I was deceived [by the
authorities] and then deceived them," he said.
A senior official from the Ministry of Education visited the Ashtarak
school later in the day. The official, Ashot Arshakian, claimed that
Gevorgian has saved some of the budgetary funds allocated to the
school in recent years and could have spent them on refurbishing
it. The principal strongly denied that, saying that the school has
actually been underfunded by the government.
Ashot Simonian, the recently appointed governor of the surrounding
Aragatsotn province, also met with the protesting staff and
students. He said he too is concerned about the poor condition of the
school and is lobbying the government to set aside additional funds
for it in the 2018 state budget.
Last year, students of a school in an Aragatsotn village also
boycotted classes to protest against similarly poor conditions. The
government scrambled to provide funds for its urgent reconstruction.
Gyumri Students Back Embattled Professor
. Satenik Kaghzvantsian
Armenia -- Students of Shirak State University boycott classes in
Gyumri, 26Sept2017.
More than a hundred university students in Gyumri boycotted classes on
Tuesday in a show of support for one of their senior professors who
risked losing his job after accusing the university rector of
corruption.
Hovannes Khorikian, the acting history chair at Shirak State
University, and another professor, Gagik Hambarian, made the
allegations in an open letter to President Serzh Sarkisian and Prime
Minister Karen Karapetian published last week. They requested an
urgent audit of the university's books.
The university's supervisory Scientific Council loyal to the rector,
Sahak Minasian, responded to the letter by expressing "no confidence"
in Khorikian. The decision paved the way for his dismissal.
The protesting students, most of them enrolled in the university's
History Department, condemned the move as illegal and arbitrary
retribution. A petition signed by them demands its reversal by the
council.
The professors' letter alleged various financial irregularities
committed by Minasian. In particular, it accused him of having misused
500 million drams (just over $1 million) in university funds since
taking over as rector a year ago.
"An audit would expose the real state of affairs here," Khorikian told
RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).
"Enough is enough," Hambarian said for his part. He also complained
that university employees holding administrative positions are paid
much more than lecturers.
Minasian flatly denied any wrongdoing, calling the allegations
"slander."
Press Review
"Zhamanak" says that it is not clear whether the Armenian and
Azerbaijani foreign ministers made progress towards organizing a
meeting of their presidents when they held fresh talks in New York on
Saturday. The paper notes a lack of clarity in a statement on those
talks released by the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE
Minsk Group. It also distrusts official statements made by the
Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers.
"Azerbaijan is not interested in [peace] negotiations at the moment
because it would have to make concessions during them," a Russian
political analyst, Aleksandr Skakov, tells "168 Zham." "And Baku is
not going to make any concessions. Generally speaking, none of the
parties to the conflict is prepared for mutual concessions right now,
and negotiations are continuing just for the sake of negotiations."
Skakov is equally skeptical about the results of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani summit expected later this year.
"Armenia has again started pursuing a complementary [foreign] policy,"
writes "Hraparak." "An Armenian delegation headed by National Assembly
speaker Ara Babloyan is now visiting Georgia, while another one headed
by deputy speaker [Eduard] Sharmazanov is in Saint Petersburg. Also,
Russia's education minister is in Yerevan. We have sent a delegation
even to Azerbaijan." The paper claims at the same time that
"practically no issue is solved as a result of these mutual visits."
"Zhoghovurd" is concerned about Armenia's rising public debt, saying
that it is approaching a legal ceiling set at 60 percent. "This is
something the authorities have repeatedly been warned about," the
paper writes. "Countries with such a heavy burden are denied fresh
loans."
"Haykakan Zhamanak" says that even more worrying is the way the
Armenian authorities have used their foreign loans. The paper says
that infrastructure projects financed through such loans have not
really shored up Armenia's construction sector which is continuing to
decline.
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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