Category: 2020

 16:09,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS. Amid increasing inbound passenger flow, the Armenian authorities are reminding travelers that COVID-19 safety procedures are still in place.

Arriving travelers must have a negative COVID-19 test from the last 72 hours in order to freely enter the country without self-quarantine. In the event of not having a negative test result document, travelers must get tested at the airport or the land border crossing points and self-quarantine until the results are available, the healthcare inspection agency said.

Testing points are available both at Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport and Gyumri’s Shirak airport and the land border crossing points. 

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 16:47,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS. The Russian Ural Airlines launched regular flights from Moscow’s Domodedovo airport to Gyumri’s Shirak airport from November 30, the Armenia International Airports company said.

The roundtrip flights will be conducted once a week on Mondays.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 15:26,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has organized a meeting with representatives of the judiciary. The meeting is attended by presidents of different instance courts, members of the Supreme Judicial Council and others.

The judges told reporters outside the prime minister’s office that they don’t know what the meeting will discuss.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 16:53,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a consultation with top law enforcement officials and representatives of the judiciary, his office said in a news release.

The consultation was attended by National Security Service (NSS) Director Armen Abazyan, Police Chief Vahe Ghazaryan, Minister of Justice Rustam Badasyan, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on State-Legal Affairs Vladimir Vardanyan, Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan, Special Investigations Service Director Sasun Khachatryan, Committee of Investigations Director Hayk Grigoryan, members of the Supreme Judicial Council, candidate for president of the Court of Cassation Lilit Tadevosyan, President of the Administrative Court of Appeals Hovsep Badevyan, President of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction Artur Mkrtchyan and other officials.

The Prime Minister said that in the current situation the growing public demand is for the government bodies and institutions to work clearly. “I am speaking in this case especially about the law enforcement system and the protection of law and order. During today’s discussion I’d like us to exchange views and share assessments as to what extent do institutions aimed at protecting law and order function duly today and what is our assessment, including from the perspective of ensuring partnership and lawfulness. I’d like to speak about a specific example. As you know, overnight November 10 events took place, and, essentially an attack happened against the Speaker of Parliament. Under these cases criminal charges are now pressed against 50 people, of which motions for arrest warrants have been filed to courts for 42 of them. 20 of the motions were rejected, 18 were granted, two people were jailed in the case of the attack on the Speaker of Parliament, and the jailing of another person was rejected. If I correctly voiced this, this statistics and the main question is the following: what is our assessment, to what extent is this situation a proper response to what has happened, if we find it to be proper, let’s take note of it, if we don’t – then let’s understand what the problem is and why we have this situation,” Pashinyan said.

Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan and the NSS Department of Investigations Director Artur Poghosyan briefed on the legal procedures regarding the November 10 overnight events and the studies and investigations results.

“In this context, a substantive discussion took place on the process of the opened criminal cases, the discovering of people involved in actions constituting crimes and organizing them and the activity of the judiciary. Various observations and opinions were presented. Summing up the consultation, Prime Minister Pashinyan underscored that as a result of the law enforcement system’s activities every citizen in Armenia, regardless of their position, ought to feel themselves fully protected, while the law enforcement system’s activity must be maximally aimed at solving this issue. In this context, the Prime Minister highlighted ensuring the effective and close cooperation of the law enforcement system bodies,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a news release.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 16:25,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS. Ameriabank issued a Green Bond in EUR for the equivalent of USD 50 million, marking a milestone in the local financial market as the first ever Green Bond project in Armenia. The Green Bond was structured in accordance with internationally recognized ICMA Green Bond Principles (the GBP).

“The debut Green Bond is issued in close cooperation with our long lasting partner – FMO, the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank- that is also the anchor investor in this transaction. Sustainalytics, a global leader in sustainability research & analysis, provided the Second-Party Opinion to our Green Bond Framework (GBF), verifying GBF’s alignment with the GBP and the global market standards. Ernst & Young acted as the external consultant in GBF design and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) adaptation for our core business.

Artak Hanesyan, CEO of Ameriabank, commented: “We are delighted to announce that Ameriabank has successfully issued the first-ever Green Bond from Armenia. Funding raised via Green Bonds provides an unrivalled opportunity to play an essential role in financing green projects that contribute to environmental sustainability. I would like to thank our partners at FMO for their support to become the key investor in this landmark transaction. Lastly, I would also congratulate our team at Ameriabank with this success.”

Huib-Jan de Ruijter, CIO of FMO added: “Today marks another important step in our strong and successful relationship with Ameriabank. Throughout the years, we have taken a wide variety of steps together, including the provision of a subordinated loan, various senior debt facilities, and a loan targeted at youth entrepreneurs. In 2019 we agreed to embark on a green finance development journey, leading to the green bond we can present today. I’m very much looking forward to our future cooperation and supporting Ameriabank in further developing its Green Strategy to help reach its ambitions to be the leading green bank in the country,”” the bank said in a news release.

About FMO

FMO is the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank. Investing in over 80 countries, FMO supports jobs and income generation in order to improve people’s lives in the parts of the world where it can make the biggest difference. The role of FMO extends beyond financing, as it helps businesses to operate and grow transparently in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.

WithFMO clients serving millions of customers, their adoption of good practices will have a broad positive impact on local development. They create jobs, provide people with an income, generate taxes and contribute to a healthy private sector. This makes it possible to build a local economy that offers opportunities for people today without compromising the opportunities of future generations.FMO is one of the largest bilateral private sector development banks globally. For more information, please visit www.fmo.nl

About Ameriabank

Ameriabank is a dynamically developing bank and one of the major and most stable financial institutions in Armenia with clearly formulated digital agenda. The first investment bank in Armenia, Ameriabank is a universal bank offering innovative corporate, investment and retail banking services in a comprehensive package of banking solutions.

For further information, please visit www.ameriabank.am

 17:02,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS. The ruling My Step faction of the Armenian Parliament has nominated Davit Nahapetyan’s candidacy for the position of the member of the Board of the Central Bank.

The discussion of the issue is included in the session of the parliamentary standing committee on financial-credit and budgetary affairs. The session will take place on December 1.

Davit Nahapetyan is serving as CBA secretary-general – executive committee member since December 2019.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 17:04,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS. Police Chief of Armenia Vahe Ghazaryan has addressed a congratulatory message on the occasion of the Day of Police of Artsakh.

The message reads:

“On behalf of the Board of the Police of Armenia and myself personally I offer congratulations on the Police Day of the Republic of Artsakh.

The police officers of Artsakh always stand on the frontline of the fight against crime, as they were in the liberation war frontline and during these difficult days as well they are sacrificing their lives for the defense of the Homeland.

The contribution of the Artsakh police officers to the strengthening of legality and defense of citizens’ rights is invaluable.

I am confident that the Police of Artsakh will continue fulfilling its mission for the sake of the Homeland and the people.

I once again offer my congratulations, wishing productive work and achievements”.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 17:50,

YEREVAN, 30 NOVEMBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 30 November, USD exchange rate down by 1.81 drams to 506.40 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 0.88 drams to 606.82 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.05 drams to 6.65 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 4.14 drams to 674.68 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 562.67 drams to 28969.03 drams. Silver price down by 5.03 drams to 376.66 drams. Platinum price down by 202.28 drams to 15450.8 drams.

 18:06,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan held a telephone conversation with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin at the latter’s initiative, the Armenian PM’s Office told Armenpress.

The Russian PM informed that due to the coronavirus situation he has applied to the Eurasian Economic Commission to hold the session of the Eurasian Inter-governmental Council, scheduled on December 4 in Moscow, online.

The officials also discussed a number of issues relating to the agenda of the Armenian-Russian allied relations during the phone conversation.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 18:27,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan received today Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergei Kopyrkin, the ministry told Armenpress.

Ambassador Kopyrkin congratulated Vagharshak Harutyunyan on appointment as Armenia’s defense minister.

During the meeting the sides highly valued the dynamics of the Armenian-Russian allied cooperation and political dialogue, as well as the productive partnership in the defense sector.

Defense Minister Harutyunyan specifically highlighted the role and efforts of Russia aimed at stabilizing the military-political situation in the region, the efficiency of the ongoing peacekeeping mission in Artsakh within the frames of the implementation of the November 10 statement signed by Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The officials also attached importance to the activity of the Russian inter-agency humanitarian center in the territory of Nagorno Karabakh aimed at the return of the refugees, restoration of civilian infrastructure, search for those killed, captured and missing in action and combination of the activities of various organizations in the humanitarian field.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan