Category: 2021

 13:29,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government is deeply concerned over the situation on the inter-state road at the Kapan-Goris section where the Azerbaijani military have set up a police checkpoint and considers that this status is greatly harming the economy, trade and tourism, Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan told reporters, stressing that these problems must be solved sober-mindedly.

“Numerous tourists, having apprehensions over the road, avoiding coming, and I know that our foreign ministry, the national security service, the defense ministry are all working in real time to solve these issues as soon as possible. Naturally, such problems will occur after the war until shifting back to normal life, we simply have to solve these issues consistently, without emotions,” he said.

 

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 13:39,

DUSHANBE, SEPTEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. The next CSTO summit will take place in Yerevan in the end of 2022, the organization’s council decided during the September 16 meeting in Tajikistan.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan earlier said that the CSTO members have agreed the plan of implementing events in all member states regarding the 30^th anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty, and the 20^th anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, marked in 2022. 

On September 16, the CSTO chairmanship was passed over to Armenia.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 13:49,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenia and Portugal plan to expand the commercial cooperation.

Today, on September 16, the leaders of the respective structures of the two countries signed a memorandum of cooperation for boosting the business ties and investments.

CEO of the Trade Agency and Investments of Portugal (AICEP) Luís Filipe de Castro Henriques and Director of the Enterprise Armenia Levon Ohanesyan signed the respective document in Yerevan.

The Director of the Enterprise Armenia said that Armenia, in terms of foreign investments, is interesting also as an EAEU market.

Currently, Armenia has certain business cooperation with Portugal. However, Mr. Ohanesyan is confident that still a lot needs to be done. “We must strengthen those bilateral business ties, organize business forums so that our and Portuguese businessmen will get acquainted with one another and will start cooperation”, he said.

According to the memorandum, the sides agreed to strengthen the business ties with forums and expand the partnership. “Portugal will direct its investors to us, we will serve them with the one window principle and will assist at all stages. As well as, if there is an interest from the Armenian side to invest in Portugal, we will do the same”, he said and thanked the Armenian Ambassador to Portugal, the diplomatic corps.

In his turn Luís Filipe de Castro Henriques said: “We believe that Armenia will very soon be much more interesting for the Portuguese business. Currently, the business community of Portugal doesn’t know so well Armenia. This is the first step”.

He also commented on the geographical positions of Armenia and Portugal. “We believe that when Portuguese companies arrive in Armenia, we will look at the whole region with which you have trade, and when Armenian companies arrive in Portugal, they will look at the region with which Portugal has trade”, he said, adding: “We are searching for new trade opportunities, not only for expanding the current export, but also diversifying the export portfolio”.

He stated that there are some fields which can have potential investments from Portugal in the future, in particular mentioning the fields of IT and food production.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 13:58,

DUSHANBE, SEPTEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. During its chairmanship in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Armenia plans to restore the practice of holding security conferences in Yerevan, also taking into account the existing dialogue with the CSTO, OSCE and UN working bodies, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the extended-format session of the CSTO Collective Security Council.

“We have already heard a harmonious position from our Kazakh partners and are ready for joint work”, the Armenian PM said.

He proposed to continue the drafting of legal-normative and organizational documents, which will allow to have an updated legal-contractual base in accordance with today’s realities.

The Armenian PM is also expecting to get the support of the leaders of the CSTO member states in the work with the young generation, with the creation of summer schools on security issues in Armenia for the students of the CSTO states.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 14:50,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government will allocate around 1 billion dollars for the construction of the Kajaran-Sisian section of the North-South Road Corridor, Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan told reporters while speaking about the situation at the Kapan-Goris section, where the Azeri authorities have set up a police checkpoint in an area that has gone under their control.

“You know that we have a bypass [linking Kapan with Goris], which is in poor condition, but which is also a functional road, and it’s our so-called plan B for a worst case scenario. We are now intensely working to make that road easier to pass. We also know that in terms of the Kajaran-Sisian section of the North-South we are already very close to making practical, major steps. The government plans to invest approximately 1 billion dollars in the construction of the Kajaran-Sisian section,” he said.

Kerobyan dismissed concerns that Iran could potentially halt shipments through Armenia because of the problems caused by Azerbaijan on the interstate road.

“I am very well aware of the composition of the trade with Iran, but I don’t think that there is a major problem. Certainly there is an obstacle, but I am sure that this obstacle will be resolved very soon,” the economy minister said.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 15:58,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. The National Assembly’s Council held an extraordinary meeting to confirm the compositions of the Armenian delegations to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (PABSEC).

Vice Speaker of Parliament Ruben Rubinyan from the ruling Civil Contract party will lead the Armenian delegation to PACE. Members of the delegation include Nazeli Baghdasaryan (Civil Contract), Vladimir Vardanyan (Civil Contract), Sona Ghazaryan (Civil Contract), Eduard Aghajanyan (Civil Contract), Armen Gevorgyan (Hayastan bloc), Armen Rustamyan (Hayastan bloc) and Hayk Mamijanyan (Pativ Unem bloc).

In Euronest PA, the Armenian delegation will be led by Maria Karapetyan (Civil Contract). Members of the delegation include Arman Yeghoyan (Civil Contract), Babken Tunyan (Civil Contract), Sargis Khandanyan (Civil Contract), Meri Galstyan (Civil Contract), Tatevik Gasparyan (Civil Contract), Artur Khachatryan (Hayastan bloc), Anna Grigoryan (Hayastan bloc), Artur Ghazinyan (Hayastan bloc) and Hayk Mamijanyan (Pativ Unem bloc).

The delegation to PABSEC, led by Babken Tunyan (Civil Contract), is composed of Anush Beghloyan (Civil Contract), Sergey Bagratyan (Civil Contract) and Aghvan Vardanyan (Hayastan bloc).

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan

 16:06,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. The government today approved decisions according to which Chairman of the Special Investigation Service Sasun Khachatryan was relieved from the position and appointed Chair of the Anti-Corruption Committee for a 6-year term.

During today’s Cabinet meeting chief of staff at the Prime Minister’s Office Arayik Harutyunyan said this is an important step on the government’s anti-corruption policy path. He also presented the procedure of the election to the Cabinet members. Harutyunyan informed that the competition for the election of the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee was held on September 10, and Sasun Khachatryan received most of the scores as a result.

“The creation of a united anti-corruption body is one of the government’s priorities. Given that different agencies have dealt with corruption disclosure works, we are now creating a united body, and I am sure that it will make the ongoing works more effective”, Deputy Prime Minister Suren Papikyan said.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan

 16:55,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. On September 16, Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan received Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) to Armenia Abbas Badakhshan Zohouri, the Parliament told Armenpress.

Welcoming the guest, the Parliament Speaker has underlined that the relations with Iran are of strategic importance for Armenia. He has noted that the centuries-old friendship and the two peoples’ peace loving attitude serve as a unique bridge between the Republic of Armenia and Iran. The active political dialogue formed as a result of Armenia-Iran collaboration is considered to be as a firm basis and guarantee in all spheres for continuous development and strengthening of the inter-state cooperation. Alen Simonyan has underscored that our country seeks to maintain and to further strengthen the continuous growth for the dialogue of the political and economic fields and the trade cooperation. In this aspect, the Speaker of Parliament drew attention especially to the fact that during 2020, despite the spread of COVID-19 and its negative consequences, the Armenian-Iranian trade turnover had not undergone the most serious changes, and the export even had grown to some extent. Alen Simonyan also noticed that the indices of the Iranian investments in Armenia and the Armenian investments in Iran affirm that the potential of the Armenian-Iranian trade-economic relations is not realized with its entire volume. In the viewpoint of the Armenian side Iran is a reliable friend and a good neighbour. Alen Simonyan highlighted the Armenian-Iranian interaction in the development of the regional strategic infrastructures, as well as in the regional military-political security issues. The works for the solution of the situation in the vicinity of Vorotan settlement of Goris-Kapan inter-state road were touched upon.

Thanking the Parliament Speaker for the reception, the Ambassador has documented that the role of the Armenian cultural heritage is considerable in the Iranians’ life, and the Armenian community is rather active and inclusive is presented Iran.

The sides referred to the role of the inter-parliamentary cooperation in strengthening of bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation bases. In this context the activity of the parliamentary friendship groups was emphasized.

 16:59,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. On September 16, Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan received Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Netherlands to Armenia Nicolas Schermers, the Parliament told Armenpress.

Nicolas Schermers is the first resident Ambassador of the Netherlands to the Republic of Armenia.

Welcoming the guest, Alen Simonyan noted that he had an effective meeting with the President of the Senate of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Jan Anthonie Bruijn within the framework of the Fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments recently held and invited him to pay an official visit to Armenia.

Presenting some details from the meeting, Alen Simonyan thanked the Ambassador for the substantive position of the Netherlands towards our region and for supporting democratic priorities of Armenia.

The Speaker has referred to the scope of issues, where Armenia expects political support from its partners. Those are the establishment of peace in our region, the urgent implementation of the repatriation of Armenian prisoners of war and civilians, and the effective implementation of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement. He has underlined the destructive position of the Azerbaijani delegations at different parliamentary assemblies, emphasizing that their rhetoric is not aimed at establishing peace in the region.

Thanking the Parliament Speaker for the reception, the Ambassador reaffirmed the readiness to support the activities of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group in the region.

The sides touched upon the development of the inter-parliamentary relations and the need to develop a roadmap promoting the further deepening of the cooperation.

 17:04,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian met with Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Geneva, the Presidential Office reports.

The Armenian President and the WHO Director-General discussed the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccination process against the virus. They noted that vaccination is the main mean and opportunity to fight, prevent and treat the pandemic, as well as to resume the normal life during the COVID-19.

The officials expressed their concerns that vaccination rates in Armenia are still low and the country has recently appeared in the red zone, which supposes possible restrictions for the country and its citizens. They emphasized that affordable, safe and effective vaccines and the vaccination process are the way to overcome this situation. In this context President Sarkissian highlighted the support of the international partners.

Armen Sarkissian invited the WHO Director-General to Armenia to meet with the healthcare authorities and to take part in the Third Armenian Summit of Minds, scheduled for October 23-24, 2021. The President proposed to organize a discussion during the Summit over the COVID-19 and its prevention, new treatment measures, as well as about the issues that are vital for states in pandemic situations.

 

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan