Category: 2020

Captain of the Armenian National Soccer team Henrikh Mkhitaryan will remain with Roma until the end of the season. Mkhitaryan is on loan to the Italian team from the British Arsenal.

Reports indicated that there is a preliminary agreement in place for Mkhitaryan to remain at Roma for the next season.

Mkhitaryan has made 19 appearances for Roma since joining from the Premier League side in September last year, including both league games the team has played since the division resumed series, which was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan on Monday held a telephone conversation with US Acting Assistant Secretary of European and Eurasian Affairs Philip T. Reeker, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.

The officials discussed the problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the actions taken at the national level to halt the spread of the disease, highlighting the importance of international assistance and cooperation in fighting the pandemic. In this context the Mnatsakanyan thanked the US government for the financial aid provided to Armenia.

Reeker stressed the importance of maintaining relations in remote format, saying  direct contacts should continue  after the end of the epidemic, and  the agreements reached within the framework of the Armenian-American strategic dialogue and the Armenian-American trade and investment council be carried out.

“The two men exchanged views on reforms carried out by the Armenian government, which include the fight against corruption, justice and law enforcement. In this context, Mnatsakanyan praised the consistent support provided by the United States,” the ministry said.

The parties also touched upon cooperation on the readmission of citizens. Reeker said that evaluating Armenia’s steps in this direction, the US Department of Homeland Security removed Armenia from the list of high-risk countries and included it in the list of countries cooperating in the readmission of citizens.

In the context of cooperation within the framework of the Alliance for Religious Freedom, Mnatsakanyan presented the programs initiated by Armenia to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of national, religious and ethnic minorities in the Middle East.

Mnatsakanyan and Reeker also discussed a number of issues of international and regional importance. They also exchanged views on recent developments in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

President Armen Sarkissian on Tuesday told Parliament Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan that he would not sign further amendments to the constitution about the composition of the Constitutional Court, reported the presidential press service.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s My Step bloc on Tuesday more legal approved are amendments meant to complete the dismissal of three of the nine members of Armenia’s Constitutional Court. On June 22, the legislature approved constitutional changes calling for the replacement of three judges and amending the tenure of the high court’s chairman Hrayr Tovmasyan. The president signed the June 22 package of legislation.

The judges in question refused to step down and issued a statement regarding changes that needed to be made to other aspects of the law on the Constitutional Court. On Tuesday, parliament passed legislation making the ousted judges eligible for government pension.

In both the votes last week and Tuesday, the opposition parties represented in parliament, Prosperous Armenia Party and Bright Armenia Party, boycotted the session, thus both changes to Armenia’s Constitution were approved by the parliament majority My Step bloc.

On Tuesday, the parliament also changed the legal procedure for the appointment of Constitutional Court members. The new approach envisions the nomination of justices by the Armenian government, the president and an grouping of the country’s judges. The court will have to fill the three vacancies, before replacing its chairman.

Under Armenia’s constitution, the parliament speaker must sign a bill into law if the president refuses to do so.