Category: 2022

 09:52, 1 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, ARMENPRESS. On February 28, the opening ceremony of the exhibition dedicated to the 30th anniversary of Armenia’s accession to the United Nations, organized by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Armenia was held at the UN Office in Geneva. Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan and the Director-General of UN Office in Geneva Tatiana Valovaya delivered welcoming remarks at the event.

In his speech, Minister Mirzoyan, particularly, said;

“Distinguished Director-General,

Excellencies, 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to welcome all of you today at this special event that marks the 30th anniversary of Armenia’s accession to the United Nations. I feel privileged to inaugurate this exhibition together with Her Excellency Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General of the UN Office at Geneva (UNOG). Distinguished Director-General, I highly appreciate your opening remarks and I thank the UNOG for participation and valuable contribution to this event. 

For centuries we strived, struggled and aspired for independence and statehood in our ancestral homeland. In this sense we are a lucky generation to have witnessed how our national dream comes true. 

On the 2nd of March 1992, the Armenian tricolor was raised in front of the UN headquarters, opening a new chapter in our nation’s history. A chapter of a full-fledged member of the global organization. We do not take it for granted. We know from our own experience how many sacrifices it takes to enjoy the benefits of sovereign equality. And how many more efforts it takes to preserve and sustain it.  

Hence, comes Armenia’s staunch and unwavering commitment to the multilateralism that has the United Nations at its center. Hence comes Armenia’s full adherence to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. 

In the photos that we present to your attention today you will find the tokens of our continued commitment reflected in Armenia’s contribution to the joint efforts under the UN umbrella through active engagement in different bodies and committees. Armenia has been chairing and working hard in the various bureaus and boards, participating in several peacekeeping missions, acceding to core conventions and treaties, hosting the UN events and working hand-in-hand with the UN country team. 

I hope that this handful of photos could convey the genuine spirit and extent of the collaboration that we have enjoyed within the UN, and the equal importance that we attach to all its pillars – peace and security, human rights, rule of law and development. 

Allow me to conclude by quoting Kofi Annan who believed that “there is more that unites us than divides us”. Indeed, the UN provides a unique platform for building on what unites us and for bridging the gaps among us. Armenia remains a strong believer of this mission.

I would like to thank you all again for being here with us to revisit some of the snapshots of the landmarks of the path that Armenia has covered in this global multilateral setting in the past 30 years.”

 09:57, 1 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Acting President Alen Simonyan paid tribute today to the memory of the victims of the 2008 March 1 events in Yerevan.

The PM posted a video about their visit on Facebook.

[see video]

 10:00, 1 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, ARMENPRESS. Parliament session began with 29 items on the agenda.

Lawmakers will debate the bill on amending the law on Protection of Economic Competition, the law on State Regulations for Ensuring Technical Security, the law on Ensuring the Activities of Officials, Service and Social Guarantees and several other legislative initiatives.

The election of the new chairman of the Audit Chamber is also scheduled for March 1.

Then, on March 2, parliament will hold the confirmation hearing and vote of Vahagn Khachaturyan as President of Armenia.

[see video]

 15:10, 1 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan met today with Peter Maurer, President of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), in Geneva, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said.

Referring to the ICRC’s activities as a non-political and humanitarian organization, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stressed the importance of the organization’s activities towards resolving the humanitarian issues in Artsakh.

In this context, Ararat Mirzoyan drew Peter Maurer’s attention to the urgency of repatriating 38 Armenian prisoners of war and civilians held in Azerbaijan, as well as revealing the cases of enforced disappearances and the fate of missing persons.

Minister Mirzoyan stressed the need for ensuring the unimpeded access of international organizations to Nagorno Karabakh and their active involvement on the ground.

The interlocutors agreed to continue the cooperation for the resolution of humanitarian issues.

 15:40, 1 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received Special Envoy of Canada to the European Union and Europe, Canada’s Ambassador to Germany Stéphane Dion.

During the meeting the Armenian PM said that Dion’s visit is a good occasion to discuss the Armenian-Canadian partnership agenda and attached importance to the fact that Canada shares the vision of Armenia’s reforms, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a press release.

“Armenia is committed to its democratic agenda and is grateful to Canada, the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for supporting our democracy,” PM Pashinyan said.

PM Pashinyan underscored that despite the difficulties after the 2020 war, the Armenian government is consistently advancing on the path of strengthening democratic institutions, and the assessments of reputed international organizations are a testament to this.

Stéphane Dion conveyed PM Trudeau’s warm greetings and underscored that he is visiting Armenia to discuss the prospects of the Armenia-Canada Strategic Dialogue.

“Canada is a resolute supporter of Armenia’s democratic agenda and is interested in implementing joint programs in Armenia,” Stéphane Dion said.

Issues relating to the strengthening of democracy in Armenia and in this context the expansion of the Armenian-Canadian partnership were discussed.

The Armenian Prime Minister offered the Canadian side to consider the opportunities of joint projects in Armenia in the areas of road construction, reservoir construction, renewable energy, green economy and educational infrastructures. Stéphane Dion found the proposals interesting and noted that he will present them to the Canadian Prime Minister and the government.

Views were exchanged around international and regional security issues. PM Pashinyan presented Armenia’s stance over the delimitation and demarcation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, opening of the regional connection routes, and addressed the agreements reached as a result of the meetings mediated by international partners. PM Pashinyan noted that Armenia attaches importance to peace and stability in the region and expects the support of international partners in this process.

The PM and Stéphane Dion stressed the importance of democratic institutions in the context of handling security challenges. Pashinyan noted that Armenia is ready to actively work with Canada around the joint political, economic, cultural and humanitarian agenda and programs.

PM Pashinyan asked Stéphane Dion to relay his greetings and best wishes to his Canadian counterpart, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

 16:19, 1 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian airline FLYONE Armenia started operating today the Yerevan-Moscow-Yerevan regular direct flights.

In a statement the company said that the flights will be operated from the Zvartnots International Airport with convenient timetable and affordable prices, twice a week – on Mondays and Fridays.

The ceremony of the launch of the direct flights took place at the Zvartnots International Airport today.

“Today we are launching together the FLYONE Armenia’s regular flights to Moscow. This event is of special importance for us, and the company is planning to increase the frequency and number of flights in the future”, Aram Ananyan, Chairman of the Board of FLYONE Armenia, said during the ceremony.  

General Director of the company Mircea Maleca said in turn: “The resumption of regular, direct flights to the Russian Federation is of special importance for FLYONE Armenia. By overcoming all the obstacles, we can assure now that all our passengers can confidently depart for Moscow, visit their relatives, friends in Russia or just visit for tourism or working purposes”.

All the tickets, but also additional services can be purchased from the website www.flyone.am or through the mobile application, available in the Google App or App Store, also all partner agencies.

FLYONE Armenia (www.flyone.am) started its operations in 2021. On 27 October 2021, the Civil Aviation Authority of Armenia offered us the National Air Operator Certificate, assigning the IATA 3F code, which contains 2 characters and ICAO FIE code- 3 characters.

The airline’s fleet consists of Airbus A320 aircraft, on which we will operate both scheduled and charter flights. Each aircraft has 180 seats and meets all International Air Transport Association (IATA) and EASA safety standards. Also, in pandemic conditions, the aircraft is equipped with HEPA air filters, which remove 99.97% of viruses and bacteria.

FLYONE (www.flyone.eu) was launched in 2016 on the Republic of Moldova market and is currently one of the leaders in the aviation market there. FLYONE has received IOSA certification, the highest safety standard in operational management. As well, it has been ranked multiple times in 2018, 2019 and 2020 in the TOP 10 “Most punctual company” according to the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) category.

 10:02, 1 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, ARMENPRESS. Programs are being implemented in 11 universities of 9 countries aimed at promoting Armenian studies, Armenian language and culture in universities, museum-institutes and research centers abroad, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Artur Martirosyan said in an interview to ARMENPRESS.

He informed that three of these programs are new as the contracts were signed in 2021-2022. The list includes the Cairo University, the University of Uruguay and the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. Additional funding was provided for 2 research projects in Argentina and the Mashtots Center for Armenian Studies in Germany.

“We are trying to expand the centers of Armenian studies and establish at least 2 such centers annually with the state budget, give a new content so that various such centers create relations and implement joint projects, research. We will soon hold a conference of Armenian studies which will be attended by all 11 centers of Armenian studies. We will try to understand our next steps and different cooperation formats within these centers, with the ministry and these kind of centers existing Armenia”, he added.

The deputy minister said they are planning to expand the list of universities teaching Armenian language in 2022. The possibilities of holding other events relating to Armenia and the Armenian culture are also being discussed. Programs are planned to be implemented in Poland, Portugal, Spain, Iran and Georgia.  

According to the deputy minister, the best way to counter the anti-Armenian propaganda in the world is to spread the Armenian culture, increase the interest towards the Armenian language, people and Armenia. “In terms of increasing the interest towards Armenia, the centers of Armenian studies, of course, play a significant role, and this is the reason that we continue expanding these centers so that the interest towards Armenia and its people, as a nation and state with a rich cultural history, only grows”, Artur Martirosyan said.

 

Interview by Gayane Gaboyan

 10:03, 1 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, ARMENPRESS. 17,7% more taxes were paid in Armenia in this year’s nearly 50 days compared to the previous year’s same period, Minister of Finance Tigran Khachatryan said in an interview with ARMENPRESS, when asked whether or not the government could revise the projected 7% economic growth and what actions the government must take to guarantee this figure.

Khachatryan said they’ve tried to understand whether or not they are now in a reliable interval against the projected figures of tax revenues.

“We recorded that 17,7% more taxes were paid this year compared to the previous year. And this is in line with the annual growth indicators which we have for 2022. Why is the government bringing forward the economic growth indicator in discussions with the public, for several reasons. Because first of all economic growth shows the result created by our population and the increase of revenues at the expense of it,” he said.

According to Minister Khachatryan, this 7% new economic value is created especially in the private sector thanks to the efforts of active companies who are producing goods, exporting or rendering services.

“The second question is what the government must do to guarantee or contribute to this 7% economic growth. The government is one of the major actors in the economy. We make more than 2 trillion in spending annually, most of which are spending of social significance, some are salary expenses, and some part are procurement of products and services. And all this together contribute to economic activity,” Khachatryan said.

Speaking about the kind of services which create new value in the economy, for example the construction of roads, reservoirs or implementation of economic projects aimed at the rapid development of individual sectors of agriculture, Khachatryan attached importance of how swiftly the government is making this procurement, how accurately the participants are explained with the intentions, how effectively it is cooperating with the participating or winning organization of the procurement in order to implement the work in time and in full scale.

“In all these issues our organizational actions with the private sector are directly contributing for the work to start and end within the timeframes. For example, we have planned for 2022 to make 60% more capital spending than it was planned for 2021, and in its value it is the size exceeding 350 billion drams: nearly 4,5% of the GDP. Compared to the previous year, these are very significant positive changes. And we must be able to organize it in a way so that we remain within the boundaries of what was planned in terms of time. And it is also this way that we should contribute for economic growth to be in the size that was planned. And I think that making decisions and following their implementation in a timely manner in all these issues is the action which the government must do, but of course not limiting to only this,” he said.

Asked if the government will achieve the 7% economic growth, the Finance Minister said they’ve numerously noted that they aren’t simply predictors. “The government doesn’t only project, but also has assumed obligations to fulfill it. And we not only project this, but we have the toolbox with which we are doing everything for this to happen,” he said.

However, the Finance Minister doesn’t rule out that the projected growth could not happen due to factors which don’t depend on the government.

ARMENPRESS and Armenian Basketball VBET A-League sign memorandum of cooperation

 16:26, 1 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, ARMENPRESS. ARMENPRESS State News Agency and the Armenian Basketball VBET A-League signed a memorandum of cooperation today.

According to the memorandum, ARMENPRESS State News Agency will cover the VBET League’s games organized by the Armenian Basketball League A.

During the whole competition, the staffs of ARMENPRESS and the Armenian Basketball League A will closely cooperate for the complete and uninterrupted covering of the games.

ARMENPRESS news agency was established on December 18, 1918 when by the decision of the National Council of the first Armenian Republic an unprecedented state-run news agency, Armenian Telegraph Agency, was created. Currently, ARMENPRESS news agency operates as a Closed Joint-Stock Company the stocks of which are owned by the Republic of Armenia. The agency is the oldest in Armenia. At the moment it produces eleven newslines: official, politics, economy, society, regional, international, Armenian world, culture, sport, life, innovation, interviews and photo news. The staff of ARMENPRESS preserves its leading position in the informational landscape of Armenia and has set firm basis in international and regional news platforms safeguarding its presence and development.

 10:06, 1 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, ARMENPRESS. US Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. honored the memory of the victims of Azerbaijan’s anti-Armenian pogroms in Sumgait (1988), the Armenian National Committee of America reported.

Rep. Pallone’s full statement below:

“Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 34th anniversary of the Sumgait pogrom and the 32nd anniversary of the Baku pogrom.

Hundreds of Armenian civilians living in the city of Sumgait in Azerbaijan suffered horrific acts of violence when they were indiscriminately killed, raped, maimed, and burned alive in a pogrom that started on February 27, 1988. Almost two years later, a seven-day pogrom broke out in Baku during which Armenians were beaten, murdered, and expelled from the city beginning January 12, 1990. Over 90 Armenian civilians were killed, over 700 were injured, and countless other victims were permanently displaced by the ethnic violence that followed.

The Azerbaijani Government was complicit in each of these atrocities by using violent rhetoric in rallies leading up to the pogrom and by doing nothing to halt the ensuing violence against Armenian citizens.

Azerbaijan has taken steps over the last two decades to cover up these crimes against humanity and dismiss the atrocities committed in Sumgait and Baku. Even more disturbing, the Azeri Government lauded the perpetrators of this event and similar violent attacks.

President Aliyev’s regime continues to use hateful rhetoric against Armenians to this day, including in the build up to Azerbaijan’s deadly attacks on Artsakh in the fall of 2020. Azeri forces, Turkish drones, and Turkish-backed foreign terrorists conducted a premeditated attack that violated international law. The resulting indiscriminate bombing campaigns against large population centers killed thousands of Armenians and displaced tens of thousands more. It also included appalling war crimes against Armenians at the hands of Azerbaijani forces and foreign mercenaries that included beheadings, torture, and other abhorrent acts of violence.

I continue to stand with the Armenian people in condemning the horrific pogroms and in mourning the loss of those who were senselessly killed in Artsakh and subsequent Azeri attacks on Armenian soil. It is critical for the United States to recognize and denounce violent assaults against all civilians. If we do not condemn or punish crimes against humanity and ethnic violence, we become passive bystanders, failing to live up to the lessons of the 20th century and our pledge to uphold human rights and democratic values all over the world. If we do not take a firm stand against those who commit atrocities, it will embolden them and encourage others to commit heinous acts in the future. These lessons are especially important as we prepare to commemorate the 107th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in April.

I will continue to work with my colleagues on the Congressional Armenian Issues Caucus to honor the victims of the Baku and Sumgait pogroms and the victims of Azerbaijani aggressions in Artsakh, I will also continue to condemn all acts of violence against people who are targeted simply because of who they are. I hope my colleagues will join me in rejecting violent rhetoric, intimidation and outright violations of human rights. In doing so, we renew our commitment to achieving a lasting peace in the Caucasus”.