Category: 2022

 14:52,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 19, ARMENPRESS. The new bridge at the Bagratashen-Sadakhlo border crossing point of the Armenian-Georgian state border was officially inaugurated on August 19.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia and Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili of Georgia inaugurated the Friendship Bridge.

In statements to the press, the prime ministers congratulated each other on the occasion of launching the bridge signaling the Armenian-Georgian close collegial partnership and comprehensive cooperation.

“Undoubtedly, the centuries-old relations between our two friendly countries anchored on common values and historic heritage have the need of such modern infrastructure, which creates solid foundation for our future comprehensive cooperation. I am more than convinced that today all necessary prerequisites exist for the development and deepening of relations with brotherly Georgia, in line with the important priorities of Armenia’s foreign policy,” Pashinyan said.

He added that despite the current conditions of difficult challenges a noticeable growth in trade was recorded between Armenia and Georgia, which is a result of joint, uninterrupted and consistent work.

“Nevertheless the Armenian-Georgian trade-economic relations have greater potential. There are serious opportunities for deepening cooperation in industry, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, information and communication, transport, energy, tourism and other sectors. It is obvious that connection routes have key significance for developing trade relations, which enable to integrate into the world economy and ensure vital connection on the national, regional and international levels. The priority of the transport sector in our bilateral cooperation and partnership in several international transport organizations enable us to take realistic steps not only in the Persian Gulf-Black Sea International Transport Corridor but also other initiatives ensuring nodal connection in the transport sector,” the Armenian PM said.

Speaking about cargo shipments, the Armenian PM said it is necessary to make additional efforts to provide more facilitated movement of the freights. In this context he noted the importance of railway transport and multimodal transport, namely ferry transport.

“As a transit country Georgia has great role for Armenia in terms of reliable supply of energy resources, connection and communication. We have big experience in productive cooperation in energy. Relevant ministries and bodies must carry out every-day and consistent work in direction of ensuring cybersecurity and the abovementioned areas.”

 17:18,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 19, ARMENPRESS. At the Bagratashen section of the Armenian-Georgian border, the Prime Ministers of Armenia and Georgia, Nikol Pashinyan and Irakli Garibashvili, had a private conversation.

The meeting took place within the framework of the launching ceremony of the Armenian-Georgian Friendship Bridge, the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement. 

Nikol Pashinyan and Irakli Garibashvili attached importance to the launch of the bridge and emphasized its role in facilitating bilateral transport flows.

The Heads of Government of Armenia and Georgia noted that high-level intensive contacts testify to the dynamic development of Armenian-Georgian relations and the high level of political dialogue.

The interlocutors discussed issues of Armenia-Georgia cooperation, exchanged ideas on regional developments. Both sides reaffirmed their willingness to consistently deepen friendly ties and continue active dialogue.

 17:46,

YEREVAN, 19 AUGUST, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 19 August, USD exchange rate down by 0.64 drams to 405.15 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 5.31 drams to 407.50 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.04 drams to 6.87 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 9.52 drams to 479.66 drams.

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

Gold price down by 57.86 drams to 22997.83 drams. Silver price down by 1.45 drams to 258.24 drams. Platinum price stood at 16414.1 drams

 18:45,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 19, ARMENPRESS. It is critical that international community understands the severity of the humanitarian issues in post-war Artsakh and makes Azerbaijan to retreat from its aggressive behavior and its policy of ethnic cleansing of the Armenians of Artsakh, leading to further complication of the already dire humanitarian situation, ARMENPRESS reports Human Rights Defender of Artsakh Gegham Stepanyan  said in his message on the occasion of the World Humanitarian Day celebrated on August 19.

“World Humanitarian Day is a reminder that we must act to alleviate human suffering irrespective of his/her origin, belief and other circumstance. Each year, World Humanitarian Day brings together partners from across the humanitarian system to advocate for the survival, well-being and dignity of people affected by crises.

As a result of the September 27, 2020 war against the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), an unprecedented situation of humanitarian crisis flared up in the country: thousands of casualties and disabled people – among them civilians and kids; about 40.000 forcibly displaced persons; prisoners of war, who are still illegally held in Azerbaijan under unknown conditions. Behind these statistics stand individuals, families whose lives are undermined and fates totally vague.

The November 10, 2020 Trilateral statement stopped the active phase of armed hostilities but inflicted new serious security and gross human rights violations by Azerbaijan, such as taking civilians hostage and threatening them, killing civilians (still with impunity), deliberate disruption of civilian infrastructure for causing serious humanitarian consequences, intimidation of the Artsakh people by different methods and regular violation of ceasefire regime. All these have been accompanied by hate speech against the Armenians by Azerbaijani’s president in his public speeches and on a state level discourse.

Due to unrecognized status of the Republic of Artsakh, the UN and other international organizations do not have presence in Artsakh, to monitor the cases of violations of the ceasefire, to record violations of international law or to provide humanitarian assistance. Although some support has been provided to Artsakh by different individuals and organizations, however a number of calls to the key international humanitarian actors are unfortunately still up in the air.

It is critical that international community understands the severity of the humanitarian issues in post-war Artsakh and makes Azerbaijan to retreat from its aggressive behavior and its policy of ethnic cleansing of the Armenians of Artsakh, leading to further complication of the already dire humanitarian situation.

On this day, I thank all those who supported the people of Artsakh in overcoming the existing humanitarian issues and want to once again urge all the international organizations from across the humanitarian system to mobilize their will and resources to alleviate the suffering of the people of Artsakh․ The UN and other organizations with humanitarian mandate have a great role and responsibility in promoting international awareness and action on these issues”, reads the message.

 20:26,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 19, ARMENPRESS. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan met with Hikmet Hajiyev, assistant to the President of Azerbaijan, in Brussels, ARMENPRESS reports Toivo Klaar, EU's special representative for South Caucasus and crisis in Georgia, wrote on his official Twitter page.

"We had good and substantial discussions with Hikmet Hajiyev and Armen Grigoryan in Brussels about Armenian-Azerbaijani relations and EU participation in that matter," he wrote.

 20:43,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 19, ARMENPRESS. The film "Beyond the Threshold", shot with the support of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Armenia and financed by the National Cinema Center of Armenia, will participate in the Linz International Short Film Festival in Austria (in the international competition).

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, the director, screenwriter and producer of the film is Angineh Isanians, the cameraman is Andranik Sahakyan.

"This short film is a social drama about the violated women's rights," the Ministry said.

The goal of the Linz International Short Film Festival is to support young, talented filmmakers by giving them the opportunity to present their work in a professional environment.

 20:52,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 19, ARMENPRESS. On August 19 of this year, based on the request of the Republic of Armenia to apply an interim measure by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for the protection of the rights of the civilian population of a number of settlements of the Artsakh Republic, the ECHR reaffirmed the interim measures applied on September 29, 2020 and further expanded on November 3 of the same year, stating that it remains in effect, ARMENPRESS reports the office of the representative of the Republic of Armenia on international legal matters informed.

"The ECHR requested the parties to refrain from actions that could lead to the violation of the rights of the civilian population protected by the Convention, including endangering their rights protected by Articles 2, 3 and 8 of the Convention," reads the statement.

The ECHR also recorded that the decision of September 29, 2020, which is still in force, is applicable to the actions referred to by the Government of the Republic of Armenia, that is, armed attacks on peaceful settlements, threats of displacement of the population of Berdzor and Aghavno communities.

 12:43,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 20, ARMENPRESS. On August 19, the next round of political consultations between the foreign ministries of the Republic of Armenia and the Oriental Republic of Uruguay took place in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay.

ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia that a separate meeting was held between the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Paruyr Hovhannisyan and the Carolina Ache, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Uruguay within the framework of the consultations.

Bilateral historic friendly relations and prospects for their further development were discussed. The regular Armenian-Uruguayan political dialogue, the expansion of the legal field, the development of trade-economic, inter-parliamentary and scientific and educational relations were highlighted.

The opening of resident embassies in both countries was evaluated as an additional indicator of friendly relations between Armenia and Uruguay. Deputy Foreign Minister Hovhannisyan informed about the intention to open the Armenian resident embassy in Montevideo, a similar decision was made by Uruguay in August 2021.

The parties also discussed cooperation within international organizations. Reference was made to the urgent issues of the regional and international agenda.

Paruyr Hovhannisyan presented the current situation over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, emphasizing the importance of the peaceful settlement process in order to establish stable peace in the South Caucasus.

On the same day, Vice President of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, the President of the Senate, Beatriz Argimón received the Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia. Issues related to the development of bilateral relations were discussed.

During the visit to Uruguay, the delegation led by Paruyr Hovhannisyan also had a meeting with the representatives of the Uruguayan Armenian community.

 14:33,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 20, ARMENPRESS. A major traffic accident took place in Gaziantep (Aintap) region of southern Turkey, as a result of which 15 people died, ARMENPRESS reports, "RIA Novosti" agency informs, citing Turkish sources.

According to the report of Haber TV channel, the passenger bus crashed into the parked ambulance and fire trucks, as well as into the car of the "İhlas" news agency, on the section called "Nizip" of the Tarsus-Adana-Gaziantep highway. 22 people were injured in the accident.

According to preliminary data, two firefighters, two paramedics and two journalists are among the victims.

 14:45,

YEREVAN, AUGUST 20, ARMENPRESS. Truck drivers blocked one of the traffic lanes of the Yerevan-Meghri road. In a conversation with ARMENPRESS, Sona Harutyunyan, spokesperson of the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Armenia, said that the reason is the process of weighing trucks, because in the last month scales have been installed on the roads by the inspection body and trucks entering Armenia are necessarily weighed.

"This process caused discontent among truck drivers, because most of the trucks are overloaded, and overloaded trucks are fined by the inspection body in the amount of 200 thousand drams. They demand to change the weighing system, as well as to change the permissible size from 26 tons to 28 tons. However, there are established norms, and their violation also causes responsibility," said Sona Harutyunyan.

The speaker emphasized that there is a strict instruction from the Government and the Prime Minister personally to follow these norms.