Category: 2022

 13:21,

YEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. A winner has been named in the tender announced for the construction of the Ajapnyak statin of Yerevan Metro.

During the Cabinet meeting today, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said the issue and possibility of constructing the Ajapnyak station has long been discussed.

“We have started the practical stage. A tender was announced for the designing of the station. There is a winner based on the tender results, and today the issue of funding will be discussed so that the designer will already make the design of the Ajapnyak station, which means that we are entering the construction stage”, the PM said.

He said that 750 million drams from the 850 million dram compensation paid for the damage caused by the Parking City Service to the Yerevan community will be directed for the designing works of the station.

Mayor of Yerevan Hrachya Sargsyan said that the project will be implemented in 510 days or maybe earlier, within 50 million dollars.

“The project will be in three phases. We will be able to finance the first two phases at the expense of these funds. At the same time, I would like to ask for your instruction so that we can work for searching for financial resources necessary for the third stage from now on”, he said.

PM Pashinyan said this is a strategic project because it means that the metro crosses the opposite bank of River Hrazdan, which means that there is an opportunity for further branching to Davtashen, Malatia-Sebastia, 15^th district, etc.

 13:40,

YEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan commented on the normalization process between Armenia and Turkey during a meeting with representatives of national minorities in Turkey.

According to the Turkiye Gazetesi newspaper, Erdogan said that the normalization process with Armenia continues and that soon trade will commence and problems will be resolved.

“We are in negotiations with Armenia. Hopefully the borders will be opened and our relations will continue,” Erdogan said.

 14:24,

YEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. The city of Yerevan will launch a special control center tasked with supervising public transport, Mayor of Yerevan Hrachya Sargsyan told reporters.

“The city buses are equipped with surveillance cameras. We will have operators at the control center who will conduct real-time surveillance at any moment. The program is now undergoing testing. We will have the complete control center in October,” he said.

 15:04,

YEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Healthcare Anahit Avanesyan and the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Europe Hans Henri P. Kluge signed a two-year cooperation agreement aimed at high-quality health care and effective protection from health emergencies for everyone.

The agreement defines the WHO-Armenia 2022-2023 cooperation priorities, the purpose of which is to support the Armenian healthcare ministry in reaching the national healthcare goals by closely cooperating with the civil society and other partners.

The agreement is based on the achievements recorded during the many years of partnership between WHO and Armenia, including the anti-smoking campaign, the emergency response readiness, effective response to COVID-19 and mental health.

“With this agreement, health is becoming more priority in Armenia’s agenda and its importance is being highlighted as a fundamental human right and a key priority for development for a better economy, peace and security,” Kluge said, noting that the cooperation with Armenia has been productive.

 15:34,

YEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan received Patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church, His Beatitude Raphaël Bedros Minassian, the Presidential Office said.

Raphaël Bedros Minassian thanked the President for the welcome and congratulated the latter on assuming office, wishing a productive activity.

President Khachaturyan highly appreciated the role of the Armenian Church especially in the preservation of the nation’s identity.

“Your work is of great importance for our people. Historically it has always pursued one goal – to preserve our type and help our people get out of difficulties”, the President said.

The Armenian Catholicos-Patriarch of Cilicia agreed with the President, stating that it was possible to move forward with joint efforts and by helping each other.

The meeting also touched upon the national-church issues, as well as the role and significance of the Armenian church in Diaspora.

 16:18,

YEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. The next session of the Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan deputy prime ministerial working group dealing with unblocking of transportation communications in the region will take place in the near future, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a press briefing.

She said that Russia considers the high-level trilateral agreements as a base for moving forward the process of settling the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations and continues the active work with Yerevan and Baku in all directions, including in the unblocking of economic and transportation ties, the launch of the demarcation process of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the agreement over a peace treaty.

“The communication unblocking issues were discussed during the April 26 meeting of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. An agreement has been reached with the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides on holding the next session of the trilateral working group chaired by the deputy prime ministers in the future. As for border issues, contacts are planned in Baku by the end of this week at a foreign ministry level”, she said.

Zakharova said the Russian side records that Armenia and Azerbaijan are ready to meet halfway with each other, and informed that trilateral contacts are being developed on this topic.

“It’s obvious that the real work in different formats gives a result. We are in the existing formats and see that the work is underway there. We attach great importance to the formats and fulfillment of the documents which together give a real result. Civilians, economic operators and the region in general feel that result”, she said.

 16:40,

YEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Narek Mkrtchyan says that during his recent visit to India a number of agreements were reached to boost the cooperation in employment and social protection sector.

During a press conference in Armenpress today, the minister said this is the first experience of such a level of dialogue.

“India is a very important country for Armenia in the context of mutli-sectoral cooperation. In this respect I would like to note that the visit was quite productive and was full of agreements reached. Working groups have already been formed to deal with the implementation of these agreements”, he said.

He particularly highlighted the meeting with the executives of Skill India large state corporation. The corporation is cooperating with different business associations, major companies and is engaged in development of human skills, trainings. It also has active relations with educational institutions, business organizations, clarifies priority areas and what kind of specialists are needed. It trains 60 million people annually. Minister Mkrtchyan informed that a memorandum has been signed with the corporation’s leadership on introducing such an institute in Armenia.

“India’s experience in training a large number of people, making them competitive in the labor market is very important for us. Today we re-assess our employment programs in order to make them more targeted. And studying the successful international experience is very important here. India has quite a successful experience in this respect. If we manage to introduce such a system in Armenia, we will be able to offer new paths for development of skills to our citizens”, the minister said.

Mkrtchyan informed that he had a productive meeting also with the Indian Minister of Labor, Employment and Environment, and they agreed to sign agreements in a number of directions. A working group has already been formed to deal with pushing forward these activities. “We will start these activities next week. One of the directions relates to the discussions over an organized labor migration. As you know, a labor force from India is attracted to Armenia’s different areas. We are planning to put this movement on legal relations, provide legal consulting, formalize everything that is informal and give an opportunity for training”, he said.

The next direction, he said, is the field of social protection and working relations, which is again developed in India. Narek Mkrtchyan said India is among those unique countries that granted people working remotely a status by including them in the social protection system. “This is also important for Armenia. A process of exchange of experience will start in this direction”, he added.

 16:47,

YEREVAN, APRIL 28, ARMENPRESS. Russia has now focused its efforts on the formats that ensure real results in the Nagorno Karabakh issue, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a press briefing.

Zakharova said she is referring to the high-level trilateral agreements between Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan.

“Principled disagreements are maintained between Baku and Yerevan over the status of Karabakh. We see our role in rapprochement of the sides,” she said.

Zakharova said that by providing support to Armenia and Azerbaijan in preparations for the peace treaty, Russia is guided with proposals on fundamental principles of establishing inter-state relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. “These were prepared in Baku and received a constructive reaction from Yerevan. We think that these are good grounds for harmonizing the positions,” Zakharova said.

 17:32,

YEREVAN, 28 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 28 April, USD exchange rate down by 3.31 drams to 456.67 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 8.58 drams to 479.32 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate stood at 6.32 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 9.74 drams to 569.33 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 478.72 drams to 27687.84 drams. Silver price down by 4.51 drams to 347.02 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams.

 18:01,

YEREVAN, APRIL 27, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Economy of Armenia Vahan Kerobyan received the delegation led by the Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance of the Islamic Republic of Iran Seyed Ehsan Khandouzi on April 28 to discuss the opportunities of expanding bilateral relations in the economic sphere.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Ministry of Economy, the meeting was also attended by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Republic of Armenia Abbas Badakhshan Zohouri, the Deputy Minister of Economy of Armenia Narek Teryan and Armenia’s Trade Representative to the Islamic Republic of Iran Vardan Kostanyan.

Welcoming the guests, Vahan Kerobyan noted that although Armenia’s trade turnover with Iran increased by 25% in 2021, there is a great potential for further expansion of bilateral cooperation and bringing that figure to $ 1 billion. In his speech, Vahan Kerobyan also presented the priority directions of the Armenian economy and the mechanisms of state support.

The Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance of the Islamic Republic of Iran Seyed Ehsan Khandouzi noted that the policy of the new government of Iran emphasizes the development of relations with neighboring countries, especially neighboring friendly country Armenia. According to Seyed Ehsan Khandouzi, the Iranian side strongly attaches importance to not only the development of economic relations with Armenia, but also views Armenia as a “gateway” to enter the markets of Russia and other EEU member states.

During the meeting, issues related to the implementation of joint investment programs, the construction of an industrial zone with the participation of the Iranian side, the improvement of logistics infrastructure, simplification and regulation of procedures in the cargo transportation process, as well as revision of transit cargo payment rates were discussed.

Reference was made to the most promising directions of cooperation in the economic sphere, a number of other issues of mutual interest, which will be discussed in more detail during the forthcoming 17th sitting of the joint intergovernmental commission of the Republic of Armenia and the Islamic Republic of Iran.