12:57,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 28, ARMENPRESS. The Cabinet installed Razmik Petrosyan as the new Governor of Aragatsotn after Davit Gevorgyan stepped down.
PM Nikol Pashinyan congratulated Petrosyan on assuming office and also thanked Gevorgyan for the work he’s done.
Governor Razmik Petrosyan thanked for the trust and assured that he’ll try to justify all expectations.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
12:11,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 28, ARMENPRESS. Amid rising COVID-19 infection rates the government is considering reinstating the outdoor mask mandate, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting.
He said that the government believes that lockdowns should be avoided and that they must work in two directions. “First, heightened mask mandates, and I don’t rule out that we’ll make new decisions here,” the prime minister said, adding that they consider re-instituting the outdoor mask mandate.
However, the most important approach, in the PM’s words, is the vaccination process. “Our government succeeded, including through the support of international partners and thanks to major donations, to have the necessary doses of vaccines for vaccinating all Armenian citizens. And our strategy must be to go in the direction of vaccinations.”
The Prime Minister, his spouse and their adult son and daughter have been vaccinated, with the exception of two children. The PM revealed that when their 14-year-old daughter got infected with COVID-19, none of their other vaccinated family members got infected. “We saw the effectiveness of the vaccine on our own concrete example,” he said.
He further noted that there are cases of abuse in the vaccination campaign. “I am saying this with regret, we have more than a dozen of health workers who are involved as defendants in criminal cases. We have detained persons, if I am not mistaken six persons, and cases of issuing fake vaccination certificates. The most regrettable thing is that we are working hard to acquire the vaccines but we have cases when they give the paper, waste the vaccine by simply opening the vial and emptying it,” he said
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
13:04,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 28, ARMENPRESS. The Government of Armenia will allocate 13,5 billion drams to the Republic of Artsakh aimed at restoring the post-war situation, reviving economic life and solving the social issues of the displaced population.
Minister of Finance Tigran Khachatryan said at the Cabinet meeting that this allocation will bring the sum of funds given to Artsakh since 2020 to nearly 120 billion drams.
1,3 billion drams from the allocation will be provided as a donation and will be directed for financing utility expenses of the population for November 2021.
12,2 billion drams will be allocated as an interstate loan with the purpose of covering the salaries, benefits, pensions, healthcare expenditures and bonds for November envisaged by the 2021 state budget of Artsakh.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
13:15,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 28, ARMENPRESS. Armenian health authorities consider keeping schools closed for another week after the two-week autumn break amid rising COVID-19 infection rates, health minister Anahit Avanesyan told reporters.
Meanwhile, universities have switched to remote learning. Avanesyan said this will help in suppressing the spread of the virus.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
13:12,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 28, ARMENPRESS. Armenia is ready for the delimitation and demarcation process with Azerbaijan, the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan told reporters after the Cabinet meeting, adding that one of the important approaches for this is the reciprocal “mirror-like” pullback of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops, the deployment of border guards of the two countries in the relevant territories and the launch of the delimitation and demarcation.
“We’ve announced that we are ready to start the delimitation and demarcation process, and we are waiting for a positive signal from Azerbaijan,” Grigoryan said, noting that Azerbaijan announced about this in the UN but the process isn’t advancing.
“Seemingly in September they made such an announcement in the UN, but we are unable to move forward in this regard. Regarding a precondition or something else, I find it difficult to say why Azerbaijan isn’t starting the delimitation and demarcation process,” Grigoryan said.
Grigoryan mentioned that in the Soviet years the first demarcation began in 1926-1927, and ended in 1929, and the basis for future maps was the map of these years. He said that the maps which should be placed at the basis of the talks have been discussed in the working group.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
13:19,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 28, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s Minister of Healthcare Anahit Avanesyan says that the experience of the past two years shows that lockdowns can’t bring final results in the fight against COVID-19.
After the Cabinet meeting, the minister told reporters that wearing face-masks is very important for preventing the spread of the virus.
As for the death cases, she said that they also involve the non-hospitalized cases.
Minister Avanesyan said that at the moment more than 200 infected citizens wait for hospitalization.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
14:19,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 28, ARMENPRESS. Armenia is discussing with Russia how to move forward in the process of normalizing the Armenian-Turkish relations, the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan told reporters.
“We’ve numerously said that we are ready to start discussing the normalization of relations with Turkey,” Grigoryan said after the Cabinet meeting. “Also, like I’ve said, we are discussing with our Russian partners how we can move forward in this process. I think it would be more effective to start this work, because both we and the Turkish side have noted that there are positive signals and we can start the normalization of relations.”
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
14:45,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 28, ARMENPRESS. The Yerevan Armenian-Russian University opened a Confucius Auditorium on October 28.
Speaking at the inauguration, the Ambassador of China to Armenia Fan Yong expressed hope that the center will enable Armenian students to obtain deeper knowledge on the path of studying Chinese, and will contribute to the development of the Armenian-Chinese cooperation and bilateral relations.
Recalling the words of Armenian and Chinese leaders that the good relations between Armenia and China are linked with the friendship between the two peoples, the ambassador stressed that what matters in these relations is the “connection of people’s hearts”.
The Confucius Auditorium – named after the prominent Chinese philosopher (551–479 BCE) can give the chance to better get to know the culture and language of China, and to deepen economic skills and mutual interest for China and Armenia, Ambassador Fan Yong said.
He added that he sees more and more young Armenians displaying interest for China and its culture, and hoped that the partnership between the embassy and the university will result in creating more opportunities for students to explore China.
In turn, the Rector of the Armenian-Russian University Armen Gharbinyan noted that the Confucius center was opened within the framework of the long-lasting, practical and fruitful cooperation between his university, the Chinese government and the Chinese embassy. He thanked the ambassador and the Chinese government in his remarks.
The Armenian-Russian University is the only university in Armenia conducting academic educational programs in Chinese studies.
The rector said that their experts on China are working already even in China and are greatly respected in their field.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
15:31,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 28, ARMENPRESS. The European Commission adopted two new decisions today certifying that COVID-19 certificates issued by Armenia and the United Kingdom are equivalent to the EU Digital COVID Certificate.
“As a result, the two countries will be connected to the EU’s system and the COVID certificates they issue will be accepted in the EU under the same conditions as the EU Digital COVID Certificate. At the same time, the two countries agreed to accept the EU Digital COVID Certificate for travel from the EU to their countries”, the statement says.
The two decisions adopted today will enter into force as of tomorrow, 29 October.
16:00,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 28, ARMENPRESS. The Chinese government will donate a new batch of vaccines against COVID-19 to Armenia in case of necessity, Ambassador of China to Armenia Fan Yong told reporters today, commenting on the demand of the two Chinese-made vaccines CoronaVac and Sinopharm in Armenia.
The Ambassador reminded that this year in May China donated vaccines to Armenia as an aid, which had a big impact on the fight against the pandemic. After that Armenia has purchased Sinopharm vaccines from China in accordance with the agreement reached between the two governments. However, the Ambassador added that if there is a necessity, the Chinese people are ready to assist the Armenian people on any matter.
“If necessary, the Chinese people, of course, are ready to assist the Armenian people on any matter. I think that in case of necessity, respective agreements will be reached between the governments of the two countries, as a result of which the vaccines can be provided in the form of a donation if needed”, the Ambassador said.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan