Category: 2020

 11:38, 4 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARH 4, ARMENPRESS. Poland has confirmed its first coronavirus infection, Poland’s Health Minister Lukasz Szumowski said on March 4, Reuters reported.

Szumowski said the sick man is in hospital in Zielona Gora, western Poland, and that his condition is good.

The patient arrived in Poland from Germany, RIA Novosti said.

 12:18, 4 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARH 4, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Healthcare Arsen Torosyan received Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin, the ministry told Armenpress.

The sides discussed the joint projects, as well as touched upon the current situation caused by the novel coronavirus and the preventive actions.

Andrea Wiktorin welcomed the Armenian healthcare ministry’s actions on detecting the first case in the country. She expressed readiness to assist not only in fighting the new coronavirus, but also developing the healthcare sector in general.

“The transparent action taken by the healthcare ministry and the government is the best way to reduce panic”, Arsen Torosyan said, expressing readiness to cooperate on this direction.

The EU Ambassador highlighted the support to the social reforms.

“We highly value the European Union’s support to Armenia. I hope our productive cooperation will continue”, Minister Torosyan said.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

 13:05, 4 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARH 4, ARMENPRESS. The political opening in Armenia that began with Nikol Pashinyan’s rise to the premiership in 2018 had a positive effect on Nagorno Karabakh during 2019, according to the Freedom in the World 2020 report published by the Freedom House.

According to the report, “there was an increase in competition and civil society activity surrounding local elections in September, and the stage was set for further changes in the 2020 elections for Nagorno Karabakh’s president and parliament. Unfortunately, the Eurasia region’s other breakaway territories, which are all occupied by Russian troops, remained locked in a pattern of stagnation or decline in political rights and civil liberties”.

The report in general registered a grim picture in Eurasia in terms of human rights and fundamental freedoms, but states that some positive signs were evident in several of the region’s Partly Free environments, including in Armenia and Ukraine.

As for the other regions of the world, the report says democracy faces obstacles around the world in 2020. Not only China, Russia and Iran, but also a number of other countries with democracy traditions recorded a regress. In terms of freedoms, the worst condition is recorded in Syria, Eritrea, South Sudan, Turkmenistan and North Korea.

 13:53, 4 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARH 4, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s official visit to Georgia is over, the PM’s spokesperson Mane Gevorgyan said on Facebook.

“The Armenian and Georgian prime ministers continued their discussions also in an informal format. The two PMs agreed over facilitation of procedures of mutual visits between the citizens of the two countries. They also touched upon the regulations connected with cargo transportation issues”, Gevorgyan said.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited Georgia on March 3 where he met with the top leadership of the country, as well as the Armenian community representatives.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

 16:30, 4 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARH 4, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan received today Holy See Apostolic Nuncio to Armenia, Archbishop José Avelino Bettencourt (residence in Tbilisi), the deputy PM’s Office told Armenpress.

Deputy PM Avinyan said the close cooperation of Armenia and the Holy See is based on not only the Christian values, but also on the common historical heritage and same approaches on tackling various challenges of the contemporarily world.

The sides expressed confidence that with joint efforts it will be possible to further develop and strengthen the bilateral relations.

Deputy PM Avinyan and Archbishop Bettencourt discussed the possibility of opening of a residence of Apostolic Nunciature in Armenia.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

 17:36, 4 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. Charges are pressed against former Defense Minister of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan for misappropriation of property of particularly large scale, spokesperson of the Special Investigation Service of Armenia Marina Ohanjanyan told ARMENPRESS.

She added that signature bond has been chosen as a preventive measure for Ohanyan.

The amount of misappropriation amounts to over 1 billion AMD (over 2 million USD).

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan

 17:45, 4 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan assures that the meeting of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs in the foreign ministry of Turkey was part of the routine and Armenia has no concerns over this fact.  Turkey can have no role in the Nagorno Karabakh peace process, ARMENPRESS reports Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said during parliament-Cabinet Q&A session.

Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said that the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs have their working routine which includes also meetings with representatives of the OSCE member states and the Minsk Group in case of necessity. He emphasized that such meetings are not something new and there is nothing bizarre there.

”This is not the 1st meeting. They met with a number of other countries before and other meetings are scheduled.  This is normal and we have no concerns regarding the Minsk Group Co-chairs. Maybe the difference is that Turkey made some comments. By the way, to be honest, the comments did not include anything that we had never heard in the past. And we made an announcement about this.  Everybody knows that approach, which is Turkey with its unfriendly policy towards Armenia and the Armenian people, which in Nagorno Karabakh conflict is reflected also by the one-sided military assistance to Azerbaijan, can have no direct role in Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement process”, FM Mnatsakanyan said.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan

 17:22, 4 March, 2020

YEREVAN, MARH 4, ARMENPRESS. The movement of Armenian and Georgian citizens to both directions is being simplified as they can make visits with their identification cards, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said during a Q&A session in the Parliament, introducing details from his recent visit to Georgia.

“The visit was held at a very high level, I want to thank Giorgi Gakharia [Prime Minister of Georgia], all our Georgian partners for the productive and impressive visit. Armenia and Georgia signed a memorandum according to which their citizens will be allowed to cross the border with their ID cards. We agreed that we will start implementing this agreement from now on”, he said.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan paid an official visit to Georgia on March 3.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan