Category: 2017

Former employees of “Nairit” plant started termless sit-down strike outside the Government building. Their demand remains unchanged- rerun of the plant. “There are investors, who want to do audit, sign a memorandum, but the Government does no action,” Anahit Manukyan, former employee of “Nairit”, chemist, engineer told “A1+”.

The fire in “Nairit” plant at the beginning of the week is commented in different ways by the former employees. “Constant evaporation can lead to it and the substance could burn from a simple spark. I don’t think that it was done intentionally,” says Anahit Manukyan.

“I think that here is something intentional; first they want to solve that issue at once showing “Nairit”’s inability to operate without understanding that chemical industry is a constant process and the whole staff is alert as a soldier in the posts. Those containers were under direct sunrays for a long time and nothing happened,” noted former employee of “Nairit” Tamara Mirazizyan.

If “Nairit” plant continues to be neglected, former employees don’t rule out even more dangerous situations, especially when, according to their details, starting from 2009 the plant has been plundered periodically.

While the former employees of “Nairit” were holding a protest action, the Minister of Emergency Situations went out of the Government building. According to the former employees, after numerous dismissals the MES is responsible for the security of “Nairit”.

Davit Tonoyan didn’t rule out that the human factor may have been the reason for the fire in “Nairit”. So it is possible that the incident on August 28 may be the result of negligence.

Many of Tamanyan’s layouts continue to remain on paper. One of them is the tower drafted in the yard of the Government building of the Republic Square. It became a topic of hot discussions years ago.

The reason was that in 2010, March 18 the RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan made a decision (569 A), according to which within 18 months a tufa tower of 50 meters high and 30 meters in diameter was planned to be constructed in the central square of the Republic. The tower would cost USD 10 million. After making the decision it was largely discussed by the state bodies and architects. As a result months later a decision was made according to which the square wasn’t subject to changes, as it is included in the list of immovable monuments of history and culture and is untouchable.

But what was the spirit of the architect Alexander Tamanyan put in his projects. On this issue “A1+” interviewed Anush Ter-Minasyan, Director of National Museum-Institute of Architecture after Al. Tamanyan.

“For Tamanyan the Square was the most important part of the architectural solution of Yerevan. He wanted not only to create a wonderful architectural draft, but also an ideological construction. The building of the Gallery wasn’t included in Tamanyan’s draft. The Government building itself should have been dominant. The Government building must have been the back of the Square, from which the streets must have started. The territory of the building of the Gallery should have been open, which had its ideology. That open territory would show that the layout was open towards Western Armenia, towards the Mont Ararat. It was the embodiment of national dreams, which proved that Tamanyan’s draft wasn’t simply an architectural draft. There was the national idea.”

According to Anush Ter-Minasyan, North-South axis would unite the city and would connect the square with the theatrical square, “Those avenues, besides having separating role, would have a uniting role. The square would be the beginning of the avenues, where the movement of the city would start and would end in the square. That was the reason that Tamanyan paid more attention to the square, as it would be the main features of the city. We should also state that the square and many of his buildings were constructed after Tamanyan’s death.”

The Director of the Museum highlighted that his heritage will increase and will be reconsidered, but at the same time she expressed her concern, “As a result we have what we have. No one can say what the architect would do with the square now.”

With the draft of Tamanyan architectural buildings were constructed also outside of Armenia. His first work was the reconstruction of Armenian St. Katarine church in Saint Petersburg. Besides, in Russia he constructed the mansion of Kochubey, the house of Scherbov, the hospital complex of Moscow-Kazan railway and other buildings. Tamanyan’s first architectural work was the main layout of Yerevan, which was intended for 150 000 people. That layout was approved in 1924. In 1934 the architect started developing the layout of “Big Yerevan”, which was intended for 500 000 people. But that draft remained unfinished as in 1936 Tamanyan died.

The bilateral relations between the Republic of Armenia and the United States have always been distinguished by their multifaceted and unique nature. For instance, the US has been the major donor country for humanitarian aid to Armenia since 2004. The assistance provided by that country by years has even exceeded the 50 million USD threshold, making up 73% of the total humanitarian aid received from all the countries.

Nevertheless, the economic relations between Armenia and the USA do not stand out by being close. Moreover, as statistical data show, the trade between the two countries has continuously declined during the recent years. The factors accounting for such a decline are mentioned below.

Exports

According to published statistical data, the exports from Armenia to the US dropped by 26.8% in 2016, reaching 38.7 million USD compared to the previous 52.9 million USD. As a result, the US has become Armenia’s 11th largest partner country in terms of exports, with just a 2.2% share in total exports from Armenia.

As can be seen from the figure above, exports to the US continuously grew during 2008-2011, almost doubling over three years. However, the export volumes started to drop since 2014, reaching 38.7 million USD from the previous 87.5 million USD. The reason for such a sharp change of trends can be found in the study of the export commodity structure. Thus, in the export commodity structure from Armenia to the US, the largest share belongs to “aluminum and items made from it” commodity group, which made up about 90% of total exports for some years.  Thus, the total volume of exports to the US largely depends on the changes in volumes and prices of this single commodity group.

As a consequence, the approximately 109% increase in international prices for aluminum resulted in doubling of exports to the US. Nevertheless, in spite of the continuous growth in prices for aluminum since 2015, the exports from Armenia to the US have not returned to their previous level. It can be claimed that the reason for that may lie in the GSP+ preferential customs regime granted to Armenia by the EU since 2014. Unlike the already existing GSP regime, this new regime, among other products, gives customs privileges for export of aluminum to the EU. As a result, the Armenian businessmen who export aluminum have been reoriented towards European markets (Germany, Poland, Netherlands, and etc.), considering the logistics and customs advantages of those countries over the US.

Imports

As it is expressed in the attached figure, similar decline tendencies have been observed in the imports from the US to Armenia. In 2016, 73 million USD worth commodities were imported from the US to Armenia, which is less than the figure recorded in the previous year by 31.8%. As a consequence, the US has become Armenia’s 12th largest partner in terms of imports, having a 2.2% share in the total imports.

On the other hand, unlike exports, the import commodity structure from the US is more diversified. Largest import commodity groups include meat and its sub-products (17%), ground transportation means (15%), nuclear reactors (13.5%), as well as optical devices (11%). In case of all these commodity groups, the EAEU customs tariffs are noticeably higher than the tariffs in Armenia before EAEU membership, which has made American products artificially uncompetitive, contributing to the sharp decline in imports from the US since 2015.

Andranik Manukyan

“Union of Informed Citizens”

On 31 August a solemn awarding ceremony dedicated to the 26th anniversary of the NKR proclamation took place at the Artsakh Republic President’s Residence.

The Golden Eagle Order and the highest Honorary Title of the “Hero of Artsakh” was granted to Arthur Aghabekyan.

High state awards were handed in to the Defence Army servicemen, freedom-fighters, a group of state and public figures, diplomats, philanthropists, economic, education and culture spheres representatives of Artsakh, Armenia and foreign countries.

For substantial contribution to the development of art and journalism the NKR honorary titles were conferred to a group of people.

Congratulating the attendees, President Sahakyan noted that the state always acknowledged people who have registered substantial achievements in their work and service rendered to the Motherland.

Primate of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan, National Assembly Chairman Ashot Ghoulyan, prime-minister Arayik Haroutyunyan and other officials were present at the event.