Category: 2022

Rescue Service to upgrade 20-25% of vehicle fleet by yearend

 09:00, 19 July 2022

YEREVAN, JULY 19, ARMENPRESS. 28 new vehicles will replenish the fleet of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Rescue Service by yearend after the government provided funding for the upgrade.

The Deputy Director of the Department of Rescue Forces of the Rescue Service under the Ministry of Emergency Situations Bagrat Vardazaryan told ARMENPRESS that upgrading the fleet is highly necessary. Moreover, vehicles from the Soviet-era are still being used.

The government allocated 1,2 billion drams for repair works and acquisition of special equipment.

“We are planning to buy all-terrain vehicles and first-response vehicles with part of the money. These will mostly be used by firefighting brigades deployed in communities near forests. We will deploy these vehicles also in high incline terrain. These vehicles can also be equipped with water tanks if required,” Vardazaryan said.

The new vehicles will be deployed in Syunik, Vayots Dzor, Ararat, Kotayk, Gegharkunik and Tavush – provinces where upgrading the fleet of emergency services is a pressing issue.

“Upgrading the fleet will be continuous. By cooperating with international donor organizations we receive new vehicles with grant money. This year, as a result of cooperation with Russia new vehicles have already been donated to us, which were deployed to firefighting units,” Vardazaryan said.

The Rescue Service fleet will be upgraded by 20-25% using grants and the money provided by the government.

Anna Gziryan

 09:10, 19 July 2022

YEREVAN, JULY 18, ARMENPRESS. The number of people signing up for the state support program for the implementation of the pilot program of introducing insurance system in the agricultural area that is being implemented in Armenia for already three years is growing every year.

5091 insurance contracts for around 6444 hectares are already sold as of mid-July.

The most insured crop is grain.

The Ministry of Economy’s Head of the Department of Agro Project Development, Resource Utilization and Cooperative Development Ira Panosyan said that agricultural insurance is one of the most important programs among the support programs of the area.

“We were waiting for its inception for many years but it wasn’t succeeding. But in 2019, the government adopted a decision to approve the pilot program and it was launched in 2020,” Panosyan said, stating that the results, number of signed contracts and covered hectares are growing every year.

As this is a new culture in the sector, officials are doing everything they can for the product to be established to have a main insurance program in the future.

“In all countries this program is aimed at managing the risks in the agricultural area and stabilizing the incomes of farmers, in our case also. And this is very important for further development of agriculture,” Panosyan said.

The program began by offering insurance only for two crops, but today farmers can insure around 13 types of crops, such as apricot, grape, wheat, potato, apple etc.

Moreover, farmers were initially enabled to insure their crop only from hailstorms, fires and springtime freeze, but now drought can also be covered.

Jointly with KfW the government is subsidizing up to 60% of the insurance payment: the volume of subsidy of the insurance sum varies depending from the risk.

The program is expected to extend the insurance coverage instead of the current coverage of the crop expenses with around 20% extra. In most cases the insurance money will include the entire crop insurance volume.

In 2020, only over 1500 insurance contracts were sold for 2345 hectares, in 2021 over 4300 contracts for 1500 hectares, and in 2022 the number is already 5091 for around 6444 hectares.

The top insured crop is grain, Panosyan said. Grain is followed by apricot, potato and grape respectively.

Most insurances were sold in Lori province, but Shirak province is first by insured hectares.

Three insurance firms – Rosgostrakh-Armenia, Sil-Insurance and Ingo Armenia are participating in the program.

Farmer Mikayel Petrosyan insured 5 hectares of apricot gardens in the village of Shenavan in Armavir from risks of hailstorm and springtime freeze.

In the past, there were times when Petrosyan lost the entire harvest due to hailstorms and didn’t receive any compensation. But now, he feels more confident. “This insurance, albeit not 100%, is covering at least my expenses,” he said, adding that the government is subsidizing 60% of the insurance payment.

Anna Grigoryan

 09:30, 19 July 2022

YEREVAN, JULY 19, ARMENPRESS. The KnowWay Online Educational Platform is offering group and personal lessons and other modern classes to help Armenian youth living abroad become more competitive and successful in the job market.

KnowWay founder Hakob Tagayan told ARMENPRESS that they offer comparably affordable and high-quality lessons that will connect Armenians abroad and provide a platform for networking. By conducting the classes in Armenian language they seek to contribute to the students preserving and developing their knowledge of their native language.

Tagayan worked for a similar platform for more than 4 years. He first worked at the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies and then taught programming.

KnowWay offers 5 educational directions: Programming, Graphic Design, Game Development, Music and Chess.

Tagayan states that the name KnowWay says it all – they try to show the way to knowledge and learning new things to their students.

Soon KnowWay will add Character Design and Algorithms to their classes.

Music and Chess, directions that at first glance might seem to have nothing to do with technologies, are most directly tied with the digital world in the platform.

“We introduced chess into the platform based on the demand. It is directly tied with the development of students, its scheme can be reflected in the programming classes. For example, we create 2D arrays with _javascript_, which is a coordinate system. The arrays are like chess, which in turn is built upon a coordinate system. Regarding music, we teach only using interesting instruments,” Tagayan said.

The platform is currently in English language but soon the Armenian version will be launched. 

Karine Terteryan

 10:34, 19 July 2022

YEREVAN, JULY 19, ARMENPRESS. The Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan emphasizes that conscripts from Armenia will no longer be deployed to the Republic of Artsakh for military service.

Grigoryan added that conscripts in Artsakh will continue being conscripted to military service in the Artsakh Defense Army.

ARMENPRESS: Mr. Grigoryan, there’s been much criticism recently saying that the Republic of Armenia is withdrawing troops from Nagorno Karabakh, thus leaving Nagorno Karabakh undefended. How would you respond to this criticism?

Grigoryan: During the war a number of units from the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia went to help the Defense Army of NK. After the establishment of the ceasefire and the deployment of the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation the withdrawal of the units of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia from NK is logical.

ARMENPRESS: But doesn’t this mean that Nagorno Karabakh is indeed being left undefended?

Grigoryan: No, because in the past the function of ensuring the security of NK was again being fulfilled by the NK Defense Army. And nothing is being changed in this regard. Although, it should be noted for the record that the deployment of the Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno Karabakh should be a security guarantee.

ARMENPRESS: But the events in Parukh showed that this is not the case….

Grigoryan: The events in Parukh were a gross violation of the 2020 November 9 trilateral statement and applicable international law. The Azerbaijani Armed Forces invaded into the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno Karabakh. The Russian Federation assured us that the invading Azerbaijani forces must withdraw, and we hope that the Russian peacekeeping forces will ensure the withdrawal of the Azerbaijani units that have illegally invaded into the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno Karabakh. The presence of the Russian peacekeeping forces in itself shows Russia’s accepting the fact that there is a real existential threat for the population of NK and the peacekeeping forces have a key significance in guaranteeing the security of the Armenians of NK.

ARMENPRESS: Please clarify: Are the conscripted servicemen of the Armed Forces of Armenia in NK being replaced with contract (voluntary) servicemen or are the units of the Armed Forces of Armenia withdrawing from NK?

Grigoryan: Let me clarify to be clear. Due to the war, a number of units of the Armed Forces of Armenia entered NK to help the Defense Army. After the establishment of the ceasefire they are returning to the Republic of Armenia. This process is nearing completion and will end in September. Regarding the Defense Army: it has been and continues to be in Nagorno Karabakh.

ARMENPRESS: This means that no conscripted servicemen from Armenia will be deployed in NK from September?

Grigoryan: Yes. But according to information received from NK authorities the conscripts of Nagorno Karabakh will continue serving in the Defense Army just like before.

ARMENPRESS: What about contract (voluntary) servicemembers?

Grigoryan: According to information received from NK authorities, contract servicemen will continue serving in the Defense Army just like before.

ARMENPRESS: From Armenia also?

Grigoryan: Contract servicemembers from Armenia are not deployed to the NK Defense Army. Upon necessity, NK is organizing the involvement of contract servicemembers on spot.

 

Shant Khlghatyan

 11:33, 19 July 2022

YEREVAN, JULY 19, ARMENPRESS. Rosa Linn took Armenia to an 11th Grand Final this May, and now she’s enjoying life beyond the Eurovision Song Contest as her song ‘Snap’ becomes a viral summer sensation, Eurovision said.

Rosa is gaining legions of new fans thanks to her entry’s enduring popularity.

‘Team Snap’ has revealed to Eurovision.tv that the song has gained 4.2 million new listeners on Spotify, culminating in over 23 million streams, with a huge chunk of that audience originating in the United States of America, thanks in no small part to Snap’s success on TikTok and social media.

The song's hook 'Snapping 1, 2 – where are you?' is proving popular with content creators, using it to soundtrack their short videos.

Even Hollywood superstar Reece Witherspoon used the track as part of an Instagram Reel… but sadly missed the opportunity to reference the ‘bend and snap’ from her cult film Legally Blonde.

This new found popularity has propelled the song into the UK and Italian charts this week at numbers 67 and 83 respectively, also charting at number 32 in Germany, while over on the Emerald Isle the track has reached 16 on the Irish Official Charts.

Snap is also doing well on the Viral 50 (USA) Spotify list and steadily climbing the global Spotify chart.

As Rosa pointed out back in March: ‘The power of manifestation is real when it is combined with hard work; persistence; and just putting oneself out there’ - and that seems more true now than ever.

 12:50, 19 July 2022

YEREVAN, JULY 19, ARMENPRESS. 589 students from 104 countries participated in the 63rd International Mathematical Olympiad, which was held in Oslo, Norway, from July 6 to 16.

Armenia was represented by 6 school-children at the Olympiad.

Vahagn Hovhannisyan and Ruben Hambardzumyan (Physics and Mathematics Specialized School named after Artashes Shahinyan) won a silver medal, Hayk Karapetyan, Vahram Asatryan, Areg Mkrtchyan (Physics and Mathematics Specialized School named after Artashes Shahinyan) and Arayi Khalatyan (Quantum College) captured bronze medals, the ministry of education of Armenia said.

Last year the Olympiad was held in a virtual format.

 13:10, 19 July 2022

YEREVAN, JULY 19, ARMENPRESS. The value of Iran’s export to Armenia increased 21% in the first quarter of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-June 21), from the first quarter of the previous year, the spokesman of Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) said, Tehran Times reports.

Ruhollah Latifi said that Iran exported commodities worth $74 million to Armenia in the three-month period.

Iran and Armenia signed a memorandum of understanding at the end of the two countries’ 17th meeting of Joint Economic Committee in Yerevan in mid-May.

The MOU, which covers cooperation in areas of transit, transportation, facilitation of exchange of goods, energy, development of environmental cooperation in Aras area and removal of pollution from border rivers, as well as medical tourism, was signed by Iranian Energy Minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian and Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan, who are the chairmen of the two countries’ Joint Economic Committee.

According to the officials, the purpose of holding the 17th meeting of Iran-Armenia Joint Economic Committee was the real and tangible development of relations between the two countries.

 13:15, 19 July 2022

YEREVAN, JULY 19, ARMENPRESS. The official visit of the Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan to Poland commenced, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan said on social media.

“Ararat Mirzoyan had a tête-à-tête conversation with the Foreign Minister of Poland Zbigniew Rau, followed by a meeting in an extended format”, he said. “Issues related to the development of Armenian-Polish relations in bilateral and multilateral formats, and regional stability and security were discussed”.

 13:35, 19 July 2022

YEREVAN, JULY 19, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tileuberdi held a meeting with the Ambassador of Armenia Armen Gevondyan, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry reported.

During the meeting, topical issues of bilateral cooperation, as well as interaction between Kazakhstan and Armenia within the framework of international organizations were discussed.
The interlocutors noted the need to strengthen efforts to improve bilateral trade and create favorable conditions for the business circles of both countries.

The schedule of joint international events and issues of celebrating the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and Armenia were also discussed.