WB and IMF experts to assess Armenian banking sector’s stability
24.05.2018 13:19
YEREVAN, May 24. /ARKA/. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund experts are conducting an assessment of the Armenian banking system’s financial stability, Arthur Javadyan, the central bank chairman, said Wednesday in the National Assembly.
“The experts are already rated highly the state of the Armenian banking sector, since everybody has seen how firm it was even amid mini crises – there we no problems in the banking system,” he said.
He said that starting from 2006 international organizations provide their assessment once in every six years. In 2006, international financial organizations assessed Armenian banks’ conformity with international standards at 65%, while in 2012, they won 93%.
Javadyan said that the banking system is more transparent sector in the country than any other sector, since banks are regularly undergone international audits and are included in the list of the 100 biggest taxpayers of the country.
“Not a single developed country has mediator organizations outdoing businesses – banks pay AMD 40 billion (excluding profit tax), while banks’ profitability is just 6% and margin from attracted and distributed means only 2%.” -0—
The Israeli parliament voted to bring to a debate the recognition of the mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I as genocide.
The move comes during a low point in Turkey–Israel relations following fierce criticism of Israel by Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan after Israeli soldiers killed dozens of Palestinians during protests in the Gaza Strip last week.
The petition by Tamar Zandberg, leader of the left-wing Meretz party, was confirmed by a 16-0 vote.
The parliament will now hold a debate and vote on recognising the mass killing as genocide. A date for the debate has not been announced.
The Israeli government, which has consistently opposed debating the issue, did not respond to the petition or rally the coalition to vote against it.
Israel has refrained from voting on the issue in an effort to maintain relations with Turkey despite widespread support for recognising the mass killing as genocide.
Turkey vehemently rejects any assertion that the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottomans constitutes genocide.
However, Turkey, the Ottoman Empire’s successor state, accepts that many Armenians were killed during the war.
A number of nations around the world, including Germany, France and the Netherlands, have recognised the killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide. (dpa)
This week, a team of audiologists from Starkey Hearing Technologies, in Hazel Grove, Stockport is returning to Armenia on their third hearing mission.
The five-strong team from the hearing device manufacturer includes Helen Whipday, Margaret Black and Julie Adshead from the sales team. Joined by two members of the European HQ operations team and 14 volunteer audiologists from across the UK and Ireland, they’ll all travel some 2,400 miles to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, on Friday.
The team’s visit is part of the worldwide Starkey Hearing Foundation initiative, which has provided over 1.9 million hearing devices in more than 100 countries. Its mission is to give the gift of hearing to those in need, helping them to achieve their potential. High-profile supporters include Richard Branson, Bill Clinton and Elton John.
During Starkey Hearing Technologies’ previous visits in 2017, the mission worked closely with local teams to help fit more than 1800 Armenians with hearing devices.
Last June they carried hearing screening tests and took ear impressions to identify candidates. Then in October, The Starkey mission team returned to fit the hearing instruments, counsel patients and support them with what is all-important aftercare. This month’s visit will further build upon the work already undertaken. Starkey UK Managing Director, Roger Lewin, said: “Meeting the people of Yerevan and those helping them on the ground is always a truly humbling, inspiring and worthwhile experience.
“This will be the third visit for some of the team, but there is still so much work to be done. It goes without saying that the team are really looking forward to returning, yet again, to give what is without a doubt the gift of better hearing to more people who really need it.
“Providing access to hearing care opens up a whole new world of opportunity. It connects individuals to life and helps them accomplish more than they ever thought possible – bridging gaps at school, work and in life for both children and adults with hearing loss. Our aim is to establish an ongoing community based hearing service in Yerevan.”
According the World Health Organisation, more than 360 million people have disabling hearing loss, with the greatest number living in developing countries. Unfortunately, less than three per cent can afford hearing aids or access to care.
In its 51st year, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which runs June 27-July 1 and July 4-8 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., will explore “cultural heritage enterprise,” through the lens of winemaking in Armenia and human tower building and use of fire in Catalonia, DC Military Magazine reports.
“In both Armenia and Catalonia, there are deep and rich cultural bonds. Some are fragile and need tending. Others are robust. Both lead families and communities to look at the future in different ways,” said Sabrina Lynn Motley, the festival’s director.
“What’s amazing is that you can take one cultural activity and, from that, open up an entire world,” she added.
Home to the world’s earliest known winery, discovered eight years ago in a cave near the village of Areni, Armenia’s 6,000 year-old winemaking tradition was nearly snuffed out under Soviet rule. Fueled by that 2010 discovery, a new generation of vintners has set out to reclaim Armenia’s winemaking heritage. The country is experiencing a viticultural rebirth.
“There’s a real interest in revitalizing the wine industry,” said Motley. “Some are employing traditional practices while others are using cutting-edge technology. Either way, they are connected to this historic site. Also connected to the winemaking are food, music and song.”
The memories and emotions these traditions convey will ideally challenge visitors to explore their own notions of home while experiencing Armenian culture. “What do you value that gives you a sense of home and connects you to your family and future?” said Motley. “I hope people go home from the festival and explore their own cultural lives.”
Armenian FM: We mobilized all resources for La Francophonie summit
According to MFA, Zohrab Mnatsakhanyan has emphasized that the Armenian authorities attach great importance to the La Francophonie summit and the upcoming chairmanship in the organization is a priority in Armenia’s foreign policy.
The parties have discussed the preparations for the Summit of La Francophonie, due to be held in Yerevan this year.
Armenia, Yerevan flags wave in International Space Station (PHOTOS) Armenia, Yerevan flags wave in International Space Station (PHOTOS)
11:12, 24.05.2018
On the initiative of Armenian benefactor Hrachya Poghosyan of St. Petersburg, Russia, the flags of Armenia and capital city Yerevan were sent to the International Space Station (ISS), reported Novostnik.
At present, these flags are making their next orbit of Earth.
The Russian cosmonauts’ team in the ISS will return to Earth in September.
And in October, the centennial of the First Republic of Armenia and the 2800th anniversary of Yerevan will be celebrated in the capital city.
A delegation from Russia will also take part in these celebrations. The aforesaid cosmonauts also will be in this delegation, and they will hand these flags to the leadership of Armenia and Yerevan.
House President Demetris Syllouris wrapped up his official visit to Armenia with a farewell meeting with President of the Armenian National Assembly Ara Babloyan, who reiterated that efforts would be intensified to promote cooperation between the two countries.
Babloyan said Syllouris’ speech at the National Assembly impressed the Armenian MPs. In his speech Syllouris expressed his feelings about the real problems the two peoples have to address, noting that justice c
Armenians have been charmed by the men-of-the-people style of the new government.
Joshua Kucera
A woman sews Armenian flags in Republic Square on the day Pashinyan was elected premier. (Photo: Nazik Armenakyan)
Riding the subway. Eating a fast-food burger. Laundry. Armenia’s new leaders, it appears, are just like the rest of us.
Since coming to power on a wave of popular protest last month, the new government led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has adopted a conspicuously everyman style.
A photo of Education Minister Arayik Harutyunyan riding the metro home from work was eagerly shared on social media, for the vivid contrast it made to the black cars and tinted windows Armenians have come to expect from their leaders.
Diaspora Minister Mkhitar Hayrapetyan was seen eating a burger in the Syrian-Armenian basement burger joint The Pit Stop, and Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan was spotted eating a burrito as he waited in line at a bank.
“Our officials’ simple lifestyle has excited and inspired many people,” wrote Karen Andreasyan, Armenia’s former human rights ombudsman, in a widely shared Facebook post featuring the aforementioned images. “It is a truly new government culture in a new post-revolutionary Armenia.”
The change in style is being led from the top. Pashinyan’s protest movement began with a humble gesture: a walk from the second city of Gyumri to Yerevan. The casual uniform of camouflage T-shirt, cap, and backpack he adopted for the march achieved cult status – and the scorn of an MP from the then-ruling Republican Party, who told Pashinyan that a “hunting shirt that cost 4.99 Euros” was unbecoming a leader.
Since becoming prime minister Pashinyan has switched to suits, but he is still trying to maintain the close contact with citizens that won so many hearts.
As prime minister, he has adopted the practice of hosting regular Facebook Live video streams to speak directly to citizens. In one, on May 19, he showed viewers around the government dacha where he is now living with his family. The dacha itself was typical post-Soviet formal: huge rooms empty but for a couple of pieces of heavy furniture. And so Pashinyan’s tour – including his jeans-and-T-shirt-wearing wife, two young daughters, their laundry drying and a kid’s bike underfoot – was a symbolic takeover of this previously inaccessible space by the man who has fashioned himself as “the people’s candidate.”
The new guard’s common touch has also spilled over into the old guard. President Armen Sarkissian – who was elected by the parliament less than two months before Pashinyan took over – has since been working in tandem with the new government.
President Armen Sarkissian’s ice cream social (Photo: President.am)
The influence seemed clear when, on May 18, Sarkissian invited a bunch of schoolchildren into his office for ice cream and a photo op. “Presidents, prime ministers and ministers have children and grandchildren too,” he told the press. Sarkissian also took the occasion to announce that he would open up parts of the presidential residence to the public. “This residence must be the symbol of the people’s power, and not the authorities’,” he said.
It remains to be seen how much of this common touch translates into governance that helps ordinary Armenians, who have suffered years of deprivation at the hands of a distant, kleptocratic state.
There have been gestures toward cutting back some of the excessive perks of office. At a recent cabinet meeting Pashinyan discussed the number of official cars that top officials had and called for “serious cuts.” Deputy Prime Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said that on assuming office he found that he had inherited five official cars; he planned to give up three and “will discuss the need for the other two.”
Some Armenians, though, are already grumbling that the focus on style is hindering serious engagement with the substance of how to govern Armenia. One essay on the website EVN Report worried about the lack of a clear ideological direction in post-revolution Armenia, and noted that the public’s “excessively emotional interpretation of how the new members of the government use public transportation, walk on the streets, and talk to ordinary people” was a crutch to keep Armenians thinking about the past rather than the more challenging future.
Still, for most Armenians it’s a welcome change. “Armenia’s new govt members talk to the public in live video broadcasts; they use [the metro] or walk to work,” tweeted Anahit Shirinyan, a Yerevan-based fellow at the think tank Chatham House. “They are the neighbor next door, one of your facebook friends. Power in #Armenia has never been so touchable.”
Joshua Kucera is the Turkey/Caucasus editor at Eurasianet, and author of The Bug Pit.