Category: 2017

                                        Friday, September 1, 2017
Ruling Party Said To `Choose' New Armenian PM In April
 . Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian and Prime Minister Karen
Karapetian arrive for a cabinet meeting in Yerevan, 29Jun2017.
The leadership of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) will
decide next April who will be the country's prime minister after
President Serzh Sarkisian completes his final term, parliament speaker
Ara Babloyan claimed on Friday.
"Come April, we will jointly choose our prime minister," Babloyan, who
is also a member of the HHK's governing board, told journalists.
Asked whether the HHK leadership is already discussing possible
candidacies for the post, he said: "They will be discussed in April."
Armenia - Parliament speaker Ara Babloyan speaks to journalists,
1Sept2017.
Sarkisian will also serve out his second and final five-year
presidential term in April 2018. The end of his presidency will
complete Armenia's transition to a parliamentary system of
government. The next head of state will be elected by the Armenian
parliament and have largely ceremonial powers.
Sarkisian has still not clarified whether he plans to become prime
minister or stay in government in another capacity. "I have never
thought about what my next area of activity will be # There is still a
lot of time [left before April,]" he said in a televised interview
aired in July.
"He who has the parliamentary majority will nominate the [next] prime
minister," he added vaguely, referring to the HHK.
Sarkisian said in March that he would like to "play a role, in some
capacity, in ensuring the security of our people" after April 2018.
The president stated in 2014 that he will not "aspire" to the post of
prime minister if Armenia becomes a parliamentary republic. However,
he pointedly declined to reaffirm that pledge on the eve of a disputed
referendum on his sweeping constitutional changes held in December
2015.
Armenia's current Prime Minister Karen Karapetian has repeatedly
indicated his desire to retain his post next year. Some Armenian media
outlets alleged earlier this year a rift between Karapetian and
Sarkisian.
Sarkisian dismissed those claims as "untrue" in early June. He said
afterwards that Karapetian's government continues to enjoy his "full
trust."
Government Sees Strong Growth In Armenian Brandy Industry
Armenia - Farmers deliver grapes to a brandy distillery in Ararat
province, 9Sep2013.
Armenia's wine and brandy companies will likely increase grape
purchases from local farmers by 28 percent this year after posting
sharp production gains in the last 18 months, Agriculture Minister
Ignati Arakelian said on Friday.
Arakelian spoke at a meeting with senior executives of those companies
held by Prime Minister Karen Karapetian. It focused on government
support for a major sector of the Armenian economy providing income to
tens of thousands of grape farmers.
According to Agriculture Ministry projections cited by Arakelian, the
country's 2017 grape harvest is on track to shrink by 10 percent due
to an unusually cold winter that severely damaged many
vineyards. Nevertheless, the ministry expects wholesale grape
purchases by Armenian distilleries to rise to 141,000 metric tons from
110,000 tons in 2016.
Arakelian implicitly attributed that to a nearly 30 percent rise in
exports of Armenian brandy which he said was registered so far this
year. Russia is the main export market for the alcoholic beverage.
According to the National Statistical Service (NSS), brandy and wine
production in Armenia soared, in physical terms, by 61 percent and 30
percent respectively in the first half of 2017. The NSS reported less
drastic but still double-digit production increases in 2016.
Output in the sector contracted in 2015 primarily because of a sharp
depreciation of the Russian ruble. Many local firms struggled to pay
grape farmers as a result. Some small manufactures also delayed
payments for grapes purchased from mostly subsistence farmers last
fall. Hundreds of such villagers staged angry protests this winter and
spring.
Arakelian, who managed Armenia's largest brandy producer until being
named agriculture minister last October, was reported to urge all
liquor firms to sign contracts with their grape suppliers "in order to
avoid problems."
Karapetian, for his part, promised continued government support for
the winemaking industry. He said his government is already subsidizing
loans extended to brandy and wine companies for grape purchases. It
also engineered late last year a significant cut in the price of
natural gas used by them, the premier said.
"I don't know of many other governments that provide so much financial
and other assistance to the agriculture sector," Karapetian added,
according to the government statement.
The statement said the industry executives presented their "problems,
proposals and observations" during the meeting.
New Armenia-Karabakh Highway Inaugurated
Nagorno-Karabakh - Cars on a newly constructed highway connecting
Karabakh to Armenia.
A newly built second highway connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh
was inaugurated in the presence of President Serzh Sarkisian and other
senior officials on Friday.
Work on the 115-kilometer -long road began in 2011 and was essentially
completed months before the inauguration ceremony, costing 17 billion
drams ($36 million) in funding. The Armenian and Karabakh governments
footed 56 percent of the bill.
The rest of the sum was raised by the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund in
annual telethons broadcast from Los Angeles in 2013 and 2014. In a
statement on the ceremony, the pan-Armenian charity headquartered in
Yerevan noted the "strategic significance" of the project.
Nagorno-Karabakh - Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian and other
officials inaugurate a new highway connecting Karabakh to Armenia,
1Sep2017.
Passenger and cargo traffic between Armenia and Karabakh has until now
been mainly carried out through a highway passing through Lachin, one
of the seven districts in Azerbaijan proper that were partly or fully
occupied by Karabakh Armenian forces during the 1991-1994 war.
The Lachin road stretches for more than 80 kilometers from the
Karabakh capital Stepanakert to the southeastern Armenian town of
Goris. It was built in 1997 with the financial assistance of the
Armenian Diaspora and the late U.S.-Armenian billionaire Kirk
Kerkorian in particular.
The second highway runs from the northern Karabakh town of Martakert
to Vartenis in eastern Armenia through the Kelbajar district that has
been under Karabakh Armenian control since 1993.
Officials say that the new highway will not only shorten travel time
between Yerevan and northern Karabakh but also stimulate economic
activity in nearby rural communities and bring more tourists to the
Armenian-populated territory. In particular, it will significantly
facilitate visitors' access to two medieval Armenian monasteries
located in the area.
The Vartenis-Martakert road should also benefit an Armenian company
mining gold and copper in northern Karabakh. It is Karabakh's single
largest corporate employer and taxpayer.
New Armenia-Karabakh Highway Inaugurated
Nagorno-Karabakh - Cars on a newly constructed highway connecting
Karabakh to Armenia.
A newly built second highway connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh
was inaugurated in the presence of President Serzh Sarkisian and other
senior officials on Friday.
Work on the 115-kilometer -long road began in 2011 and was essentially
completed months before the inauguration ceremony, costing 17 billion
drams ($36 million) in funding. The Armenian and Karabakh governments
footed 56 percent of the bill.
The rest of the sum was raised by the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund in
annual telethons broadcast from Los Angeles in 2013 and 2014. In a
statement on the ceremony, the pan-Armenian charity headquartered in
Yerevan noted the "strategic significance" of the project.
Nagorno-Karabakh - Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian and other
officials inaugurate a new highway connecting Karabakh to Armenia,
1Sep2017.
Passenger and cargo traffic between Armenia and Karabakh has until now
been mainly carried out through a highway passing through Lachin, one
of the seven districts in Azerbaijan proper that were partly or fully
occupied by Karabakh Armenian forces during the 1991-1994 war.
The Lachin road stretches for more than 80 kilometers from the
Karabakh capital Stepanakert to the southeastern Armenian town of
Goris. It was built in 1997 with the financial assistance of the
Armenian Diaspora and the late U.S.-Armenian billionaire Kirk
Kerkorian in particular.
The second highway runs from the northern Karabakh town of Martakert
to Vartenis in eastern Armenia through the Kelbajar district that has
been under Karabakh Armenian control since 1993.
Officials say that the new highway will not only shorten travel time
between Yerevan and northern Karabakh but also stimulate economic
activity in nearby rural communities and bring more tourists to the
Armenian-populated territory. In particular, it will significantly
facilitate visitors' access to two medieval Armenian monasteries
located in the area.
The Vartenis-Martakert road should also benefit an Armenian company
mining gold and copper in northern Karabakh. It is Karabakh's single
largest corporate employer and taxpayer.
Press Review
"Aravot" claims that "Russian jealousy and Azerbaijani hatred have
joined forces against Armenia's sovereignty." "Russian-Azerbaijani
interests are congruent with the existence of a weak and hesitant
Armenian government lacking confidence in Karabakh peace talks,"
writes the paper. By contrast, it says, the United States wants to
"make sure that Armenia can make a sovereign decision in the choice of
its economic and political model."
"Haykakan Zhamanak" predicts that Prime Minister Karen Karapetian's
cabinet will fail to make good on its pledge to attract $830 million
in mostly foreign investments in Armenia this year. Citing official
statistics, the paper says that more capital has flown out of the
country than been invested in its economy in 2017.
"Zhoghovurd" comments on the start of a new academic year in schools
and universities across Armenia. The paper is alarmed by a continuing
decline in the number of schoolchildren in some rural communities. "So
especially in some villages September 1 will be no different from
other days," it says. "The situation is tragic and it is the
consequence, first and foremost, of emigration. According to official
statistics, though, just like last year, the number of fist-graders
going to school in 2017 stands at 40,000."
"Chorrord Ishkhanutyun" quotes an official from the Armenian Ministry
of Education as saying that parents failing to send their children to
school will risk heavy fines. The paper slams the warning, saying that
poverty is the main reason why some children skip classes or drop out
of schools altogether. "Parents just don't have 15,000-20,000 drams
($31-$41) to buy bags or clothes for their children," it says. "Of
course, even in the wealthiest states there are people living in
extreme poverty. But for some reason, their governments help such
people, instead of fining them."
(Anush Mkrtchian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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