Category: 2022

 14:56,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, ARMENPRESS. Electricity prices on the Day Ahead market for August 22 delivery have hit fresh all-time highs again in a number of European countries, TASS reports citing Nord Pool electricity exchange’s data.

Particularly, the price reached 563.81 euros per MWh in Eastern and Western Denmark, 564.66 euros in Austria, 561.94 euros in Belgium, 563.81 euros in Germany, 571.34 euros in France, and 558.23 euros in the Netherlands.

The price of electricity followed an increase in the gas price. Earlier on Monday the price of gas in Europe exceeded $3,000 per 1,000 cubic meters for the first time since early March.

 15:01,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, ARMENPRESS. All the songs, thoughts, plans for the future in and about the motherland: campers know – there is no better place than Armenia. The formula for life is to learn, become a good specialist and strengthen the country.

For six years now, the office of Financial System Mediator has been conducting summer educational programs to impart financial knowledge to children. Game-competitions and discussions are organized for children. Through them children learn what services financial institutions provide, what financial insurance, deposit and, in general, money is.

Acba bank is also participating in the educational program, organizing an interactive program for the campers. The bank employees convey the ideas of friendship, mutual help, unity and team work to children through games.

Ahead of the educational year, Acba bank has also prepared gifts for the campers – stationery and books. In September, the campers will go to school as good friends, with warm memories and enriched with knowledge.

“The main goal of the day is to make children happy, spend a good day together, and create good memories. The games were based on the idea of mutual help and cooperation. The children were able to play the game by helping each other, uniting around one idea and cooperating”, mentioned Armine Tumanyan, Non-Financial Services Team Lead at Acba Bank.

More details in the video.

The bank is supervised by the Central Bank of Armenia.

 17:21,

YEREVAN, 22 AUGUST, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 22 August, USD exchange rate up by 0.31 drams to 405.46 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 1.55 drams to 405.95 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.06 drams to 6.81 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 0.85 drams to 478.81 drams.

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

Gold price down by 175.33 drams to 22822.50 drams. Silver price down by 7.56 drams to 250.68 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams.

 17:36,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, ARMENPRESS. President of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia Ashot Saghyan and Founding Director of STARMUS International Festival, Doctor Garik Israelian signed a memorandum of understanding on August 22.

According to the MoE, the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia is officially the partner and supporter of the organization of STARMUS festival in Yerevan.

STARMUS VI festival will be held in Yerevan, Armenia on September 5-11, 2022. The previous STARMUS festivals were held in Spain, Norway and Switzerland.

“This festival will firstly create new directions for cooperation and opportunities for new discussions because world-renowned scientists, Nobel Prize winners are going to visit Armenia. This event will particularly be of special importance for young scientists. With these events we should try to guide our young scientists and keep them in science. I welcome this initiative and on behalf of the National Academy of Sciences I want to thank the organizers, Mr. Israelian, the respective structures of our government who support the holding of the festival”, Ashot Saghyan said.

“STARMUS VI festival is first of all for our youth in order to motivate them not to leave science, continue working in science sector and be convinced that the role of science in society will further strengthen. There was a phase when science capacity declined, but I always say that it is in the past, and now we are entering a new stage. Everyone will gradually understand that humanity has no future without science”, Garik Israelian said.

 17:48,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, ARMENPRESS. On August 22, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Armenia Karen Giloyan received the Armenian boxers who won 2 gold and 4 bronze medals at the European Youth Championship recently held in Erzurum, Turkey.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Ministry, Hamest Afrikyan (42 kg) and Samvel Siramargyan (66 kg) won the title of Europe’s champion. Vahram Dovlatbekyan (40 kg), Tigran Hovsepyan (50 kg), Alen Stepanyan (57 kg) and Hayk Ghahramanyan (75 kg) won bronze medals.

The Deputy Minister congratulated the young boxers for their wonderful performances and achievements.

"Thank you and congratulations. Most importantly, continue training and working with the same logic and diligence. This is just the beginning, don't overestimate yourselves. Now you have to practice better, work to win medals in the adult competition as well."

 17:54,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, ARMENPRESS. The search and rescue operations for the missing citizen in the "Surmalu" shopping center continue, there is 40 m2 of space left, where the rescuers still need to carry out search operations, ARMENPRESS reports deputy director of the Rescue Service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia, colonel Hovhannes Yemishyan said in a briefing with journalists.

"We worked for two days to reach the area where the missing person is supposed to be. We are looking at all possible places, we are not ruling out any part," said Yemishyan.

According to the deputy director of the rescue service, there was a high temperature in the likely location of the missing person, and firefighting operations were carried out in that area for more than 20 hours.

"There is about 1-1.5 meters of ash there. The temperature during the explosion and fire was between 500 and 1000 °C. It is possible that the body has turned into ashes," Yemishyan said.

The deputy director of the rescue service noted that, probably, search and rescue operations will be carried out for one more day, after which a conclusion will be made whether the citizen was found or not.

After the explosion and fire in the "Surmalu" shopping center on August 14, 16 bodies of citizens were found, all of them have been identified. Vanik Khachik Amirkhanyan is currently considered missing.

Armenia's GDP grew by 13% in the second quarter

 18:40,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, ARMENPRESS. Armenia's gross domestic product, GDP, in the second quarter of 2022, compared to the previous quarter, increased by more than 414 billion AMD, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Government of Armenia.

"In the second quarter of 2022 the gross domestic product (GDP) of Armenia was 1 trillion 898 billion 759.5 million AMD, against 1 trillion 484 billion 608 million AMD of the previous quarter. In the second quarter of the current year, compared to the same quarter of the previous year, the Armenia’s GDP increased by 13%. GDP per capita in Armenia was 641 thousand 105 AMD in the second quarter, while in the previous quarter it was 501 thousand 303 AMD", the press release states.

 19:26,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, ARMENPRESS. The news circulating in the mass media and social platforms that in the case of a possible transit trip by road transport through the territory of the Republic of Armenia from the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan and in the opposite direction, the roads of local and international importance in the Republic of Armenia will be closed during the transit, which will hinder the free movement of the citizens of Armenia, does not correspond to reality, ARMENPRESS reports the National Security Service of Armenia said.

3 new checkpoints will be opened by the Government decision, which will allow the citizens of Azerbaijan to travel to Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan from Azerbaijan. “Currently, the possible transit routes and procedure are being developed, in which no closure and/or other restrictions are planned for the movement of the Armenian population or foreigners, as well as their vehicles, by any local and/or international (interstate) roads”, NSS Armenia clarified.

Erdoğan and Assad may meet in Uzbekistan – Shahan Gantaharian’s comment

 21:18,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, ARMENPRESS. After many years of conflict, the Turkish-Syrian relations, which have been going through historical upheavals, show signs of normalization again. Talking to ARMENPRESS about this topic, the editor-in-chief of the Lebanese "Aztag" Armenian daily, political analyst Shahan Gantaharian stressed that all the prerequisites for the rapprochement of Turkey and Syria should be considered in the framework of Russia-Turkey strategic cooperation.

Turkish, Arabic, and Iranian media are writing these days that the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Bashar Al-Assad, may meet for the first time in 10 years in Uzbekistan, at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which will be held on September 15-16 in Samarkand.

The editor-in-chief of "Aztag" presented his point of view on this information, saying that there have been talks about the possibility of Ankara-Damascus rapprochement or re-establishment of relations for some time, and it is noticeable that Ankara's official representatives are more active about this than Syria's.

"Reconciliation initiatives of the Syrian opposition and Syrian President Bashar Assad under the mediation of Turkey are also on the agenda. Çavuşoğlu (Turkey's Foreign Minister-ed.) announced that the security services of the two countries are already talking and are holding joint discussions on common issues. It is clear that security issues refer to the first problem for Ankara, the Kurdish factor," the analyst noted.

Shahan Gantaharian draws attention to the statement of the President of Turkey that his country is in favor of maintaining the territorial integrity of Syria and has no intention of ousting Assad.

“I believe that all these preconditions for rapprochement should be considered in the sidelines of Moscow-Ankara strategic cooperation. It should not be forgotten that Damascus coordinates such actions, steps and breakthrough positions with Moscow. Let's add that until now Ankara has not managed to form the geography of the security zone that it proposed from the first stage of the Syrian war. And Turkey did not have the permission not only of the West, but also of Moscow," emphasized Shahan Gantaharyan.

 19:15,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, ARMENPRESS. On August 22, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia, Major General Edward Asryan received Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Armenia Sergey Kopirkin. The defense attaché of the embassy, colonel Igor Shcherbakov also took part in the meeting.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MoD Armenia, Sergey Kopirkin congratulated Edward Asryan on assuming the post of the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and wished him success during his responsible mission.

A number of issues related to military cooperation as well as regional security were discussed at the meeting.