Category: 2018

Five of the 11 forces participating in the NA elections are in favor of drastic changes in foreign policy. And in this sense, the force with the most extreme position is the “Sasna Tsrer” party. Arman Ghukasyan, the chairman of the “For Social Justice” party, announced this at the press conference, presenting the results of the party’s study, the target of which is the external component of the pre-election programs of the political forces participating in the extraordinary NA elections.

According to him, the “Sasna Tsrer” party has always advocated Armenia’s withdrawal from the CSTO and EAEU, and also stated that the Russian border guard troops and the military base should be withdrawn from Armenia. The “We” bloc is also in favor of Armenia leaving the EAEU, noting that this integration union has not given anything to our country. In the pre-election program of the newly-found “Ko” party, it is stated that the existing bilateral agreements between Armenia and Russia should be reviewed, in particular, it is about the Gyumri military base and the Russian border guard troops.

“This, in our opinion, is a non-standard and unbalanced approach, but it also has the right to exist,” said Ghukasyan, pointing out that their political force is in favor of a balanced policy in the external vector and considers that every sharp reversal of Armenia, related to both the West and Russia, is dangerous for the country and does not stem from our state interests. 

Referring to another newly found force, the “National Progress” party, Ghukasyan reminded that this party had recently announced that the EUTM is a club of dictators. This power also supports the Western model in foreign relations, deepening and developing cooperation with the EU. According to him, one more force deserves consideration. It is political scientist Levon Shirinyan’s “Christian-Democratic Revival” party, which declares that it supports “Sasna Trees” and that they are Armenian-centric.

“The question arises: how can they be Armenian-centric, but support a force that supports drastic policies and drastic measures,” he said.

The speaker emphasized that the approaches of political forces are important not only in terms of domestic but also foreign policy, and we hope that the voter will make his choice knowing full well that it is in the country’s interest to choose those forces that support a balanced foreign policy.

According to Arman Ghukasyan, there is no doubt that the “My Step” alliance led by Nikol Pashinyan will be the majority in the National Assembly, but here it is important to realize that even those forces that were in favor of drastic reverses in the field of foreign policy, when they came to power, softened those approaches, putting the state’s interest first.

“I think that this time we will witness such an approach, even if the forces are not represented in the National Assembly, they will be prudent and the abruptness will yield to the realization of the national and state interest,” he added.

The next speaker of the press, party member, political scientist Levon Rukhkyanalso noted that this campaign was unprecedented and stood out in both positive and negative aspects. On the positive side, the culture of debate has been further developed during the campaign, which will give voters a clear idea of ​​who they will vote for. Unlike the previous elections, this time the technologies played a very serious role, which made all the candidates more accessible to the public through the candidates’ live broadcasts, marches, and announcements. The third positive trend is that the public has high hopes for these elections, as the threat of falsification of their results has been minimized as much as possible.

“We cannot completely exclude the factor of voter bribery, but it is obvious that voter bribery is not widespread in these elections compared to all previous elections,” Rukhkyan said.

As for negative manifestations, according to the speaker, it is inadmissible when political forces fight for second place, and today exactly that trend is observed. He noted that the political force that came up with a specific program will get votes for that program, and when it announces that it is fighting for only second place, it reduces the importance of its ideas, sending a message to the voters that it will not be implemented. In addition, it is not acceptable when some political forces build their propaganda on criticizing the mistakes of the previous authorities, instead presenting what they have to do and say.

“Unfortunately, we cannot say that there were no such phenomena during this campaign, such as obstructing political forces in the process of carrying out their campaign, using administrative resources, etc.,” he added.

Contract soldier Hayk Karamyan, who was left under an avalanche in Sisian on December 5, was found dead today. The news about this was confirmed by the commander of the serviceman, colonel Hrachya Ohanyan.

Earlier, VERELQ reported that a group of contract soldiers were trapped under an avalanche in Sisian yesterday, and it was not possible to find one of them.

Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who is on a working visit to the Russian Federation, participated in the regular session of the Eurasian Higher Economic Council in Saint Petersburg. The event was also attended by the President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbai Jeenbekov, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. Tigran Sargsyan, chairman of the board of the Eurasian Economic Commission, was present at the meeting.

First, the session of the Supreme Economic Council of the EAEU was held with a narrow and then with an expanded composition.

The participants of the Council summarized the annual activities of the Eurasian Economic Union during the presidency of the Russian Federation, highlighted the key areas of further deepening of Eurasian integration, such as trade, energy, digital agenda. 

In particular, reference was made to the removal of obstacles and restrictions, the creation of a single market for goods and services, the provision of conditions for the free movement of capital and labor, the approximation of financial and monetary policies of EAEU member states and the creation of a single financial market in the future, as well as the implementation of the Union’s digital agenda, the creation of a common oil products market.

The leaders of EAEU member states also considered current and organizational issues of the organization’s activities.

A decision was made to transfer the EAEU presidency to Armenia in 2019.

In his speech, Nikol Pashinyan, in particular, noted:

“Dear members of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council,
Dear participants of the session,

Let me welcome all the participants of today’s meeting and thank the Russian side for the excellent organization of our meeting and the traditional warm and hospitable reception we received here in St. Petersburg.

Dear colleagues,

Membership in the Eurasian Economic Union is one of the priorities of our government. Trade and economic cooperation with EAEU countries is becoming one of the most important positive factors affecting the country’s economic growth and foreign trade potential.

So, in 2018 In the first 10 months of 2017, the increase in trade turnover between Armenia and the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union. compared to the same period was 15 percent. During the same period, the volume of exports to EAEU countries increased by more than 22 percent, and the volume of total exports of Armenia increased by 11.7 percent. The share of EAEU countries in the total export structure of Armenia is also increasing.

These facts, I think, testify not only to the favorable conjuncture created for our products in the EAEU markets, but also to the effectiveness of the free trade instruments operating within our Union.

Armenia is interested in the further deepening of integration processes in EAEU. We are ready to make every effort to improve integration institutions and find new ways and mechanisms of cooperation. In this context, I would like to note that Armenia welcomes the “Declaration on further deepening of integration processes” and supports the provisions of that document, which define the philosophy of our cooperation and the main directions of its development.

We are convinced that the integration of our countries should ultimately serve to create a comfortable environment for business and the full realization of human potential. If we can achieve visible results in this matter, a number of businessmen and individuals will appear who will be interested in deepening the integration. Integration will become irreversible if the citizens of the countries see concrete results.

Dear colleagues,

The Armenian government aims to develop the technological sectors of the economy. Information technology is the fastest growing sector of our economy and is a potential competitive advantage for our country. In this regard, the digital agenda of the Eurasian Economic Union is of particular interest to us. It is fully in line with our priorities and we are interested in its full implementation.

Armenia attaches particular importance to the diversification of foreign economic relations. We fully support the 2019 EATM. major areas of international activity’ and efforts to expand the geography of free trade agreements. We consider cooperation with the European Union as a priority, as well as with the countries that are our direct trade partners. Armenia is ready to become an effective platform for the development of trade and economic relations with Iran. We are also ready to play an active role in the negotiations on a free trade agreement with Egypt.
We are interested in the agreements with Iran and China entering into force as soon as possible. The Government of Armenia is completing the internal procedure to ratify these documents, and soon, after the parliamentary elections, they will submit them for the approval of the National Assembly of the country.

Dear colleagues,

Today, changes are taking place in Armenia, which, in fact, affect all spheres of our society’s life. As you know, extraordinary parliamentary elections will be held in our country in three days. I can confidently say that today in Armenia there are all the conditions necessary for holding the most open, free and fair elections held in our country in the last quarter of a century. All conditions have been created for the free expression of the will of our people.

The new parliament will give the people of Armenia the opportunity to form a government whose activities will be aimed at achieving results in priority directions for the society as soon as possible, in particular, in the fight against corruption, strengthening the rule of law and creating equal conditions for all entities operating in the economic and political spheres.

Finally, I would like to address the issue of Armenia’s representation in the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council. Guided by the principles of a constructive approach to our partnership relations and the activities of our union, we do not insist on immediately discussing this issue and making an appropriate decision. However, this is a sensitive issue for us and we would like to leave it on the general agenda of our discussions to find a mutually beneficial solution for all of us.

And, finishing my speech, I want to assure you that Armenia is ready to accept the chairmanship of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council and is happy to host one of the meetings of the Council. We will make every effort to successfully solve this important and responsible problem. I hope that in a year we will have a more united union that will serve the interests of our economies, states and peoples.”

Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan is currently participating in the session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Saint Petersburg.

The Russian media captured an interesting moment: Nikol Pashinyan’s look at the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.

To remind, Pashinyan reaffirmed the other day that during this meeting he will demand clarifications from Lukashenko in order for the latter to present the CSTO internal kitchen to the ambassador of Azerbaijan.

In turn, the RA Foreign Ministry, evaluating the meeting, stated that it was not correct for Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to present the discussions on the appointment of the CSTO Secretary General to the meeting with the Azerbaijani ambassador.