A protocol on the implementation of the EU-Armenia readmission agreement was signed in Germany on Tuesday
The agreement was signed between the Armenian and German government on the sideline of a working visit of Armenian Foreign Ministry’s Secretary General Vahagn Melikyan to the country, the ministry’s press service reported.
Armenia and the EU signed the agreement on visa facilitation on December 17, 2012 and the agreement on readmission was signed on April 19, 2013. Both agreements came into force on January 1, 2014. Two joint committees have been set up to monitor the implementation of the agreements.
ArmInfo. Car importers – individuals oppose the relocation of vehicles customs office to Gyumri. Today, on September 11, they gathered at the government building and demand a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan.
As Tigran Hovhannisyan, chairman of the organization for drivers protection, stated in an interview with reporters, what is the point of transferring the customs clearance of vehicles to faraway Gyumri if import of cars into Armenia decreases from the beginning of next year. “According to the official information of the SRC, vehicles customs will work at best from mid-October. Meanwhile, given the entry into force of the EAEU customs regulations in 2020, the flow of car imports will soon stop. And even if we import from Russia, which is also a question, then this import is not subject to customs clearance, “he explained.
Thus, as the importers said, it turns out that the country’s authorities force people to go this far in the winter months only for customs clearance. In addition, they doubt that the city of Gyumri itself will cope with such a stream. “Every day, about 1 thousand cars go through customs clearance. Can you imagine what volumes are involved? What traffic jams will be there,” Hovhannisyan asked. According to him, if you want to develop the region, then let the authorities begin with themselves – the president, government, parliament and others government agencies will relocate to Gyumri.
Tigran Hovhannisyan also noted that today about 10 thousand cars are in ports of different countries. According to him, in the Georgian port of Poti there are three ships loaded with cars bought by the Armenians, but they are not unloaded. “We still need to change the steering wheel from right to left, and it will take another two months. 10 thousand people after January will not be able to deliver their cars to Armenia,” he concluded.
Protesters were invited to meet with the adviser to the prime minister. They rejected the proposal, saying that as large taxpayers they have the right to be heard, if not at the level of the prime minister, then at least the deputy prime minister.
Earlier, ArmInfo reported that from January 1, 2020, new customs rates on cars imported into the republic from third countries will begin to be applied in Armenia. These rates will be in tune with the tariffs set for all EAEU countries. As a result, if in 2018 about 67 thousand cars were imported, then by the end of July this year the figure reached about 70 thousand. In this regard, at the customs clearance points, in particular, in Yerevan Noragavit, kilometer-long queues were formed.
According to the SRC, as of July, about 700 cars were registered daily in Armenia, of which about 500 were registered in the Noragavit village. Since August 1, a seven-day work schedule has been set in the Noragavit vehicles customs departments. However, for a comprehensive solution to the problem, the Armenian Prime Minister instructed the SRC to relocate the vehicles customs office to Gyumri, where all necessary conditions and appropriate infrastructures for quick and easy registration of cars will be created.
The program to create a new center of foreign economic activity in Gyumri, including customs clearance of cars, was estimated at 2.2 billion drams. Construction is planned on the territory of 21.5 hectares owned by the Ministry of Defense. 4.5 hectares from this territory will be allocated for the establishment of a customs and police service center. Cabinet has already allocated 966.4 million drams for the construction. As the head of SRC David Ananyan recently stated, although this is difficult to implement, the construction of a car customs will be completed by October 11.
ArmInfo. “If today we illegally close the Amulsar mine, tomorrow we will begin to close the media, then enterprises. Then we will begin to misappropriate everything.
We are not going to follow this path,” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated on September 11 during a government hour in parliament, to the question of the MP about why Pashinyan “shares political responsibility for the license issued by the former criminal regime of the” Lydian “company, thus” going against revolutionary promises. “
“And why do you share political responsibility with the previous criminal regime by agreeing to a parliamentary mandate formed on the basis of the Electoral Code adopted under the same regime?” The prime minister asked.
According to him, in connection with Amulsar today there are questions that can be answered by the checks outlined by the inspection body. “My answer in this and other questions is unequivocal – the decision should be legal, since we are talking about a rule of law,” he said. As the prime minister pointed out, his priority has been and remains – state and national interest. “My position on Amulsar is that in any case, we should be guided by the truth, without a presumption as to what it should be,” Pashinyan said.
ArmInfo. A protest rally in protection of Amulsar is taking place in Yerevan.
Activists, environmentalists, ordinary citizens began the march from the park adjacent to the National Assembly, where they were already met by an enhanced police cordon.
From the National Assembly, the procession marched along Baghramyan Avenue to Mashtots Avenue and further to Republic Square.
Activists made a short stop in France’s square, and ecologist Ani Khachatryan made a statement on behalf of many attendees, who accused Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of abusing power, betraying the values of the revolution and continuing the policies of the previous authorities. Khachatryan emphasized that the Lydian company, which was entrusted with the development of Amulsar, misinformed the authorities, the public and its own creditors. “However, the prime minister does not want to see this. Pashinyan provides the highest level of protection for the company. This is a blatant fact of abuse. Pashinyan and his government are responsible for the fact that at the expense of the entire population of the country, some corporation will profit by blackmail, and Pashinyan’s statements create fertile ground for Lydian’s actions. Most of the population does not believe the arguments about the safety of the mine, while the government’s legitimacy is threatened. Amulsar’s defenders will make every effort to protect the rights and AIAM citizens “, Khachatryan said.
Then the procession continued its movement, activists moving along Mashtots Avenue to Republic Square chanting: “Amulsar will remain a mountain”, “Amulsar is only a mountain”, “We are the masters of our country”, “Amulsar without a mine”. The procession is accompanied by law enforcement. Several hundred people participate in the protest.
To recall the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on September 9 live Facebook said that at the moment there is no legal basis to prohibit the operation of the Amulsar mine. Nikol Pashinyan also formally asked Jermuk residents to unlock all roads leading to the Amulsar mine.
As Pashinyan assured, the Lydian leadership committed themselves to 100% safe operation. In addition, he said that he ordered the inspection body to study the project in detail, and the criminal case in the IC (under Art. Concealment or intentional misrepresentation of information on environmental pollution), previously entrusted to Yura Ivanian, a relative of the former Minister of Ecology Aramayis Grigoryan, who approved the assessment of the impact of the development Amulsar to the environment, transferred to the deputy head of the Investigative Committee to Arsen Ayvazyan. “A new investigation team will be formed, which will consider the facts, give answers to questions in the framework of the criminal case,” Pashinyan said.
In response, environmentalists, activists and residents of the resort town of Jermuk said they were not going to openthe roads leading to the Amulsar mine. “We do not understand the position of the Prime Minister, who agreed to open the mine solely on Lydian’s” honest Injun “on 100% safe its operation, “said the residents of Jermuk, stressing that they would negotiate exclusively around the closure of the mine.
It should be noted that despite Lydian’s assurances that about $ 400 million of the authorities have already been invested in the project and another $ 450-500 million will go to the state treasury within 10 years of the mine’s operation, local ecologists do not share the government’s enthusiasm about the attractiveness of the plan mine exploitation. Environmentalists fear that the exploitation of the mine,, during which sodium cyanide will be used, could lead to the oxidation of water in rivers. Contaminated waters will become unsuitable for drinking and irrigation and may cause irreparable harm to the mineral springs of Jermuk and the ecosystem of Sevan. In addition to the water basin, the public is also concerned about the possible presence of uranium reserves in the mine. .367 в® бҐаҐЎа б® б।Ё¬ ᮤҐа¦ ЁҐ¬ 9.29 Ј в®г. ЏаЁ н⮬, ® б ¬®¬ га Ґ – Ё б«®ў . -0- So, in his work “Uranium bearing of geological formations in Armenia”, the famous scientist, Doctor of Geological Sciences Petros Aloyan noted that the Amulsar manifestation of uranium is located 4 km south- east of the village of Ketchut and 5 km north-west of the top of the mountain of the same name. Approximately 76 tons of uranium were calculated for five sites of the Amulsar occurrence, and taking into account uranium in the thorium site, its total reserves can be estimated at 100 tons. Moreover, according to the research of another scientist, Professor G.S. Avagyan, according to 40 samples of Amulsar ore, there are 195 tons of uranium and thorium there. Meanwhile, the development of uranium deposits requires special permission from the government, which Lydian does not have. According to the company, the mine contains about 73733 kg of gold with an average grade of 0.78 g per ton, as well as 294.367 tons of silver with an average grade of 9.29 g per ton, at the same time, not any word about uranium itself.
The former striker of the Italian national team and Brescia forward Mario Balotelli sent a video message in Armenia to Armenian playmaker Henrikh Mkhitaryan. The video posted on Twitter account of kickboxer Armen Petrosyan shows the Italian appealing to Mkhitaryan: “Hey Micky, it is so cool in Italy, isn’t it?” the Italian player says in Armenian.
The video was later retweeted by Mkhitaryan’s Twitter account along with laughing emojis.
To remind, Roma agreed a deal to sign Henrikh Mkhitaryan on loan from Arsenal on the last day of summer transfer window with an option to buy the attacking midfielder.
Renowned Grammy-award winning Armenian-American violist Kim Kashkashian is set to perform in Yerevan on the sidelines of the 20th Yerevan Perspectives International Music Festival.
She will share the stage with two-time Grammy Award-winning violinist Pinchas Zukerman, famous American percussionist Robyn Schulkowsky, Kuss String Quartet and others during the festival’s jubilee concerts scheduled for 1-9 October, the festival’s press service reported.
Moreover, legendary pianist Sir András Schiff will perform his first-ever recital in Armenia on the sidelines of the festival on 15 September. The concert program features compositions by Robert Shuman and Ludvig van Bethoven. Yerevan Perspectives will host world-famous cellist Gautier Capuçon on 24 September.
Legendary British vocal group The Swingles opened the Yerevan music festival on 29 April, followed by a recital of prominent pianist Ivo Pogorelich and the first performance of Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet in Armenia on 28 May.
The Yerevan Perspectives International Music Festival is being held under the auspices of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and with support of My Step foundation.