Category: 2020

 14:59,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 14, ARMENPRESS. The government of Armenia is developing a package of regulations that will enable “worthily” receiving repatriates from Lebanon after the August 4 Beirut blast, the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs Zareh Sinanyan said at a news conference after returning from the Lebanese capital where he led a delegation to assess the situation.

“We must be able to worthily receive the people who are willing to come to Armenia, live here, become full members of the society, citizens, taxpayers, soldiers, and try to build the homeland we dream about,” Sinanyan said.

Asked whether Armenia is implementing a repatriation policy for the Lebanese-Armenians, Sinanyan noted that he doesn’t consider this description to be accurate. He said that in the event of repatriation policy it is the government who is creating the conditions which lead to people willing to return, whereas this isn’t the case.

“In this case we are actually in the role of an observer”, he said, noting that the current situation was caused by different accumulating problems in Lebanon.

He pointed out the Lebanese economic crisis, the banking sector’s paralyzed condition, the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and the August 4 explosion in Beirut. “And the blast was the last blow. As a result, we have what we have,” Sinanyan said.

According to him, Lebanese-Armenians had sentiments of leaving Lebanon as early as 2019. He presented results of a 2019 survey conducted among 521 Lebanese-Armenians, with 58% of respondents saying they would leave Lebanon soon. A significant part of them had said they consider moving to Armenia.

“We, as a state, bear responsibility for our citizens. According to the embassy’s information, there are 25000 Armenian citizens living in Lebanon, we have responsibility for our compatriots,” Sinanyan said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 16:00,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 14, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Economy Tigran Khachatryan has expressed hope that inbound tourism to Armenia will resume in autumn this year.

“There are businesses that shut down during the coronavirus outbreak,” he said at a news briefing. “Compared to last year tourism turnover dropped more than 90%. Because there is no inbound tourism, these organizations have no income. We find the shutdown of these companies to be conditional, because they will immediately reopen when tourism flows will be restored,” he said.

He hoped that by late autumn tourists will start arriving to Armenia from some directions.

Reporting by Lilit Demuryan; Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 16:20,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 14, ARMENPRESS. High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs Zareh Sinanyan says he has come across two different messages while visiting the Lebanese-Armenian community in Beirut after the August 4 explosion. Sinanyan led a government delegation to the Lebanese capital to assess the damages. 

Sinanyan said that during a meeting with the spiritual leaders he received the message that the Lebanese-Armenians are firmly standing on their land and that the community will be restored, however, a different message was conveyed in meetings with individuals from different organizations.

“The panic mood people had there was obvious”, said Sinanyan. “They had the desire to leave Lebanon, many of them want to come to Armenia. I have to say that the issue is very complex. Even having that desire some of them physically cannot come because due to banking restrictions they are unable to withdraw their savings, sell their homes or businesses. These are the savings they had planned for their next home. I don’t think that this flow will happen in just a week, a month or even a year,” he said.

In one month, over 470 Lebanese-Armenians have repatriated to Armenia, Sinanyan said.

370 of them arrived on 5 different flights operated by Middle East Airlines on July 14, July 21, July 28, August 4 and August 11.

101 others were airlifted back to Armenia on board the emergency relief planes that delivered humanitarian aid to Beirut after the August 4 explosion.

 “Those who came were the ones who were unable to stay in Lebanon now, they wanted to return to their homeland and we helped them”.

“These are people who are coming to settle down and live in Armenia,” he said.

High Commissioner Zareh Sinanyan stressed that repatriation is one of the strategic directions for Armenia and the government’s actions in this area are envisaged for all repatriates.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 16:50,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 14, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government is considering the possibility of introducing a COVID-19 testing location at the Yerevan airport in order to facilitate the arrivals of foreign travelers.

On August 12, Armenia extended the coronavirus state of emergency but announced about fewer restrictions.

Armenia is now open for foreign travelers as the ban on entry of non-citizens was lifted.

At the same time, it is envisaged that upon entering Armenia, if the traveler isn’t hospitalized they must self-quarantine for 14 days, however there is one innovation, they can get tested during these 14 days and in case of a negative result the self-quarantine regime is changed.

“Now we are discussing to create the opportunity to test the arrivals at the airport. We are working in this direction,” Deputy PM Tigran Avinyan’s spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan told ARMENPRESS.

Hunanyan said that under the current regulation the arriving person must immediately head to their self-quarantine location and doesn’t have the right to leave it, even for testing. In order to be tested, the person must invite lab medics to their self-quarantine location, and in the event of the results coming back negative, the person is entitled to exit self-quarantine.

This new rule is retroactive and is covering travelers who have arrived to Armenia in the two weeks proceeding August 12.

Reporting by Norayr Shoghikyan; Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 17:30,

YEREVAN, 14 AUGUST, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 14 August, USD exchange rate down by 0.34 drams to 484.83 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 2.24 drams to 571.91 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.01 drams to 6.61 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 0.54 drams to 634.16 drams.

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

Gold price вup by 171.39 drams to 30306.28 drams. Silver price вup by 6.58 drams to 409.18 drams. Platinum price вup by 114.43 drams to 14777.09 drams.

 16:42,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 14, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government is easing the coronavirus restrictions and the mandatory face mask rule is being revised.

Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan, the coronavirus response task force leader and the Superintendent in charge of enforcing the state of emergency restrictions, published on August 14th a decision effective immediately defining the areas where citizens are no longer required to wear face coverings.

Citizens no longer have to wear face covering in their personal vehicles, in resort zones and beaches, in the mountains and forests and similar open areas. However, the mandatory face mask rule in these areas remains in force in the event of visiting historic-cultural sites, pilgrimages,  during organized individual or group tours, hiking tours etc. Citizens can also visit without masks open-air leisure locations outside rural and urban residential locations.

Other earlier announced rules are still in force – face masks are mandatory in open air and enclosed public areas. Children below the age of 6 and people with respiratory illnesses are allowed to not wear face coverings.  Face masks aren’t mandatory during exercising and cycling also.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 16:52,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 14, ARMENPRESS. High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs Zareh Sinanyan says discussions are underway to understand how they can help Armenians living in Syria in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking at a press conference on August 14, Sinanyan said Armenians in Syria face not only financial but healthcare problems.

“Indeed, this issue exists and it was raised by our Syrian-Armenian compatriots. We are considering how we can help. The problem concerns medication, the most basic medications have become unavailable [there]. We are now thinking how we can [quickly] help our compatriots”, he said. 

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 18:07,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 14, ARMENPRESS. In response to mass media inquiry, we would like to inform that on 13 August this year Yerevan First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction partially awarded Ucom CJSC’s motion to apply interim measure to the extent that prohibited TEAM LLC to conclude an acquisition transaction of Veon Armenia CJSC shares and submit for registration the rights arising from the transaction, ARMENPRESS was informed from Ucom.

Ucom CJSC filed a claim with Yerevan First Instance Court of General jurisdiction against TEAM Limited Liability Company requesting to confirm that in the existing conditions the use of undisclosed information possessed by Ucom CJSC in the negotiation on the acquisition by TEAM LLC of Veon Armenia CJSC shares and the violation by the TEAM LLC founders of the fiduciary obligations against Ucom CJSC is an unfair competition as well as requested to oblige TEAM LLC to stop unfair competition.
It should be noted that Ucom requested to apply an interim measure, particularly prohibit TEAM LLC to conduct negotiations on conclusion of acquisition transaction of Veon Armenia CJSC shares as well as conclude the negotiated acquisition transaction of Veon Armenia CJSC shares (sign the transaction and submit for registration the rights arising from the transaction).

Taking into consideration the peculiarities of the case Ucom refrains from provision of further information, but in the upcoming stages of the case additional clarifications will be disclosed to the public, if needed.

 18:24,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 14, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian has sent a letter to Secretary-General of Commonwealth of Nations Baroness Patricia Scotland. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the President’s Office, President Sarkissian referred to the ‘’Armenian Summit of Minds’’ and ATOM (Advanced Tomorrow) presidential initiative, noting that that they are aimed at fostering technological and humanitarian development at an international level and can become an representational platform for new and unusual ideas and concepts.

The President invited Patricia Scotland to participate in the “Armenian Summit of Mind’’, scheduled on October 10-11 and will be dedicated to geopolitics and artificial intelligence. Emphasizing the great feedback from last year’s Summit, President Sarkissian hoped it will be a success this year as well.

Among the presidential initiatives aimed at the development of science, technologies and artificial intelligence, President Sarkissian referred to ATOM program, noting that it has already gained interest among global giant technological companies and preliminary cooperation agreements will be signed in the near future with some of them.

At the end of the letter President Sarkissian presented details about the Azerbaijani attacks against Armenia in the recent period, emphasizing that Azerbaijan violated universal values attempting to solve its short-term tasks in a period when the entire world has consolidated against the pandemic.

The Commonwealth of Nations, generally known simply as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 54 member states, nearly all former territories of the British Empire.

Editing and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan

 19:13,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 14, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has signed a petition asking President Armen Sarkissian to award a group of participants of the recent clashes along the Armenian-Azerbaijani borer with the first and second class Order of “The Combat Cross”, as well as to honor captain Ruben Sanamyan with the title of National Hero, ARMENPRESS reports Pashinyan wrote on his Facebook page.

Pashinyan noted that he has presented 71 servicemen for state awards, 16 for first-class Order of “The Combat Cross” and 55 for second-class Order of “The Combat Cross”. Captain Ruben Sanamyan is presented to the President for the title of National Hero and Motherland Medal.

‘’A while ago I had the honor to meet with Sanamyan. This is a real act of appreciation to all the participants of the victorious clashes in Tavush, all the servicemen of the Armenian army, officers and Generals, as well as all our heroes of the past and present, all our martyrs who inspired our present-day heroes with their own example’’, Pashinyan wrote.

Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan