Category: 2019

The dynamics of the state debt allows us to conclude that the risks are manageable. We have no unforeseen or unexpected negative change. Minister of Finance Atom Janjughazyan said this in a briefing with journalists today after the government session.

“Increases and decreases are recorded during the year. One month there may be a trend of growth and one month a trend of decrease, but, as a rule, a judgment about the state debt is made based on the annual results, because that allows us to assess how the debt burden developed. From the point of view of debt development, our annual forecasts allow us not to talk about the uncontrolled growth of the debt burden,” said Janjughazyan.

The minister noted that it is assumed that the debt will increase in nominal terms, which, however, does not mean that an increase in the debt-GDP ratio is predicted. At the same time, he did not elaborate from which sources and what financial means will increase the state debt.

It should be noted that 2019 will be quite difficult from the point of view of repayment of the RA state debt. In 2018, the debt servicing amount was about 400 million dollars, and the “peak” will be 2019, when the debt repayment can reach about 800 million dollars. The main part of it is Eurobonds issued 5 years ago, which were placed in the financial market, and the deadline for the fulfillment of financial obligations is approaching.

The Venice Commission is ready to provide an advisory opinion on Kocharyan’s case. The RA Constitutional Court issued a message about this.

The message says:

“The staff of the Constitutional Court informs about the application submitted by the Constitutional Court to the Venice Commission to receive an advisory opinion on the cases accepted for examination by the Constitutional Court based on the applications of the General Jurisdiction Court of Yerevan City and Robert Kocharyan.

On August 20, 2019, in a letter addressed to the President of the Constitutional Court, Mr. Hrayr Tovmasyan, the director-secretary of the Venice Commission, Mr. Thomas Markert, stated that the commission is ready to provide an advisory opinion (amicus curiae opinion).

On August 21, RA Ambassador to Romania Sergey Minasyan met with the newly appointed Foreign Minister of Romania Ramona Nicole Mănescu. This was reported by the press service of the MFA.

At the beginning of the meeting, Ambassador Minasyan congratulated Minister Menescu on assuming the post of Foreign Minister of Romania and wished him success. The parties discussed the prospects of expanding bilateral cooperation between Armenia and Romania, based on the centuries-old friendship between the two peoples.

Minister Minsku assured that Romania supports the efforts of the mediation mission of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship aimed at the peaceful and long-term settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, based on the principles of international law.

A number of issues related to bilateral relations were discussed, the need to strengthen inter-parliamentary ties, the promotion of bilateral trade and economic relations, the development of cooperation in the fields of culture and education, as well as the activation of contacts in the security fields were emphasized.

The interlocutors emphasized the role of the Armenian community in Romania, which continues to be actively involved both in strengthening bilateral relations and in preserving the Armenian identity.

Ambassador Minasyan thanked the Romanian people and the country’s authorities for their caring attitude towards the Romanian Armenian community, as well as the Armenian historical and cultural heritage in Romania.

In the event that “Lidian” company, implementing the Amulsar mine development project, applies for arbitration, it is possible to submit a claim for the minimum investment amount, and the amount of compensation is determined by the court, considering various factors, including, for example, the expected income. International arbitration specialist Arayik Papyan announced this.

During today’s press conference, he noted, as “Armenpress” reports, that several numbers of investments have been mentioned recently: 500 million, 700 million and 2 billion dollars. However, the public will only be informed about the money invested by Amulsar if the investor submits a claim to the arbitration court.

“The state should make a decision that it should completely regulate the mining field, tighten the legislation, and of course, measures should not be taken that could create a situation where any investor finds himself in a target situation and all actions are focused against one importer. This is dangerous because it creates a fertile ground for foreign investors to bring arbitration cases against Armenia, which is an undesirable phenomenon and includes many dangers,” the specialist noted.

Speaking about the effects of mining license revocation in general, Papyan noted that it is possible to resort to arbitration through corporate restructuring, as well as through an individual who ultimately owns or owns these assets. There may even be a question of diplomatic protection, that is, investors turn to their country stating that they need protection.

“In the case of Lydian, a situation was created when the corporate restructuring was carried out and after that the notification of the existence of a dispute was sent (subsidiaries of Lydian International Limited Company, Lydian UK Corporation Limited and Lydian Canada Ventures Corporation, announced on March 11, 2019, the existence of disputes with the Armenian government and informed that they can apply for international arbitration – ed.). This is not accidental at all. if the notification of the existence of the dispute was sent before the corporate reorganization, the arbitration court would have refused to accept its jurisdiction and the case would have been lost from the beginning,” Papyan emphasized.

In general, when applying for arbitration, the investor can claim that discriminatory actions have been applied to him, there can be issues of discrimination, indirect expropriation (deprivation), not showing fair, impartial treatment, physical protection of investments, which can cause significant damage to the positions of Armenia, if the investor is able to win.

At the moment, no agreement has been reached regarding the possible meeting of RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan with US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

RA Minister of Foreign Affairs Zohrab Mnatsakanyan announced this at the end of the government session today. “A meeting with US President Trump and Secretary of State Pompeo is on our foreign policy agenda. It will happen when it happens,” said the minister.

Mnatsakanyan disagreed with the journalists’ observation that the RA diplomatic corps was unable to organize Pashinyan’s meeting with the US leaders, saying: “they say wrong”.

“We have not had a meeting with Trump and Pompeo, but the level of our relations with the USA has not decreased,” said Mnatsakanyan.

To remind, RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s visit to the USA within the framework of the UN General Assembly is scheduled for September 22. Pashinyan will meet with the Armenian community at 16:00 Los Angeles time.

On August 21, Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan had a telephone conversation with EAU Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri, during which the parties discussed issues related to the bilateral agenda. This was reported by the press service of the MFA.

The foreign ministers of the two countries emphasized the role of political dialogue activation, mutual high-level visits and regular consultations between foreign political departments in the context of the development of bilateral relations.

The interlocutors noted with satisfaction that there is effective cooperation between the two countries on both bilateral and multilateral platforms. The RA Foreign Minister reaffirmed Armenia’s support to Egypt regarding the negotiations on the EAEU-Egypt Free Trade Agreement.