Category: 2022

 11:25, 17 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting that the pre-qualification tender for the Sisian-Kajaran section of the North-South road was announced on February 17.

Pashinyan said that this project is of great strategic importance. The project is worth a few hundred million dollars.

“Essentially, an investment project of this size has never been implemented in the history of independent Armenia,” Pashinyan said.

“I want to say that as a result of the latest discussions we have re-formulated the North-South project and made it a “North-South, East-West” project. We hope to implement this project with fast pace. This means that one of the branches of this road will connect Armenia with Iran, the other branch will connect Armenia with Azerbaijan, then in the future towards Nakhijevan and Turkey. We place this project in the general context. We hope we’ll have a construction company by yearend who will implement the work. Of course the east-west section of the road project isn’t done but we will realize this in the context of reaching future agreements,” Pashinyan said.

The pre-qualification phase will last 70 days.

Pashinyan added that concrete works are now underway for the construction of the Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway. He expressed hope that the agreements that have been reached will soon be recorded in the form of any document, and the process would take full-swing implementation already de jure.

 11:52, 17 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. The Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Gnel Sanosyan said the new Sisian-Kajaran road section will be “a well-maintained, safe road in line with modern standards.”

Sanosyan said it is a massive project with rather encompassing infrastructures.

“The total length of the North-South road is approximately 560 kilometers, and this 60 kilometers are one of the key sections. Now we have an average of 50 km/h speed on the current road from Sisian to Kajaran. We will have 100 km/h speed with this new road, and the travel time will be reduced by two hours. It will be a well-maintained safe road in line with modern standards, which is very important from a strategic point of view,” Sanosyan said.

He added that the road is an entirely new road with 27 bridges. The total length of the bridges are 4,7 kilometers. There are tunnel sections with a total length of more than 12 kilometers. There will be 5 tunnels in total, with one of them being 8,6 kilometers in length.

“We will do everything so that major international companies have serious interest in this project. We will have a contractor by yearend if no obstacles happen,” he said.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting that the pre-qualification tender for the Sisian-Kajaran section of the North-South road was announced on February 17.

Pashinyan said that this project is of great strategic importance. The project is worth a few hundred million dollars.

“Essentially, an investment project of this size has never been implemented in the history of independent Armenia,” Pashinyan said.

“I want to say that as a result of the latest discussions we have re-formulated the North-South project and made it a “North-South, East-West” project. We hope to implement this project with fast pace. This means that one of the branches of this road will connect Armenia with Iran, the other branch will connect Armenia with Azerbaijan, then in the future towards Nakhijevan and Turkey. We place this project in the general context. We hope we’ll have a construction company by yearend who will implement the work. Of course the east-west section of the road project isn’t done but we will realize this in the context of reaching future agreements,” Pashinyan said.

The pre-qualification phase will last 70 days.

Pashinyan added that concrete works are now underway for the construction of the Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway. He expressed hope that the agreements that have been reached will soon be recorded in the form of any document, and the process would take full-swing implementation already de jure.

 12:02, 17 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17, ARMENPRESS/ARTSAKHPRESS. Nearly 30 NGOs in Artsakh issued a statement condemning the recent statement of the Azerbaijani prosecution directed against the President of Artsakh, emphasizing that Azerbaijan’s terrorism is directed against the statehood and the citizen of Artsakh.

Armenpress presents the full text of the statement issued by NGOs:

“The threats made by the Azerbaijani authorities at the highest state level to arrest the President of the Republic of Artsakh are a clear manifestation of terrorist policy, a gross violation of fundamental international principles and norms and pursue far-reaching geopolitical goals.

These criminal plans aim at paralyzing the governance system of the Republic of Artsakh, create panic among the population of Artsakh, distort our country’s connection with the outside world, disrupt the activity of the Russian peacekeeping mission and complete the expansionist plans of Turkey and Azerbaijan.

We strongly condemn such statements and address a call to the society of Artsakh and all Armenians. Azerbaijan’s terrorism is directed against the statehood and the citizen of Artsakh. Our people should not be subject to provocations, they should unite, act against the criminal goals of the enemy, put aside the existing disagreements.

We call on the international community, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship and the United Nations to condemn the Azerbaijani state terrorist policy, take steps to curb it. Such policy is a danger not only to Artsakh and its citizen, but also to the whole civilized community”.

 12:35, 17 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. In the context of the opening of regional connections the Armenian government re-formulated the North-South project and is terming it “North-South, East-West” Project, or “Armenian Crossroads”, the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting.

“As a result of our latest discussions, I mean the topic of opening regional connections, we have basically re-formulated the North-South project and made it a “North-South, East-West” project. We hope to implement this project with fast pace. Essentially this means that one of the branches, I mean the North-South, East-West, or in short one of the branches of the Armenian Crossroads, will connect north with south, meaning, essentially, from the Republic of Armenia to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the other branch, essentially, Azerbaijan, Armenia and in the future towards Nakhijevan and Turkey. We place this project in this general context. We hope we’ll have a construction company by yearend who will implement the work. Of course the east-west section of the road project isn’t done but we will realize this in the context of reaching further agreements,” Pashinyan said.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting that the pre-qualification tender for the Sisian-Kajaran section of the North-South road was announced on February 17.

 12:40, 17 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. The government of Armenia approved today providing financial support to the Boxing Federation for holding the 2022 European Boxing Championship in Yerevan on May 21-31.

During the Cabinet meeting today Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Vahram Dumanyan said the draft envisages providing 77 million 768 thousand drams for holding the event.

The minister said that nearly 280 athletes from over 40 countries are expected to participate in the championship.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in his turn said that it is necessary to properly prepare for the event. He said that other allocations will also be provided on this direction.

“We are also allocating money to the Sports and Concert Complex so that it manages to get ready. This year we will have an event of pan-European significance in the Sports and Concert Complex. The talk is about the Junior Eurovision Contest. I draw the attention of the ministry of economy, our partners of the tourism sector on these events. I think this is a good chance for our tourism companies to get activated and recover the tourism flows in the post-Covid period”, the PM said.

In turn Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan informed that other events are also expected in the country this year. Particularly, the UN World Tourism Organization’s annual conference which will be held in Armenia this year on June 1-3. The minister said they will try to hold it in Gyumri’s Sev Berd (Black Fortress). In addition, the Starmus international festival will take place in September on the sidelines of which 6 Nobel Prize winners will arrive in Armenia.

Works are also underway to invite Nobel Prize winner Artem Patapoutian to Armenia in mid-June.

The Minister of Education said that Armenia will also host the 2022 International Biology Olympiad.

 13:13, 17 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. The 2nd President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan says he’s never opposed the opening of the border with Turkey and establishment of relations. 

However, he says that in this matter Armenia should not be the one to ask for it. 

Speaking at a press conference, Kocharyan said that naturally the border of the two countries must be open, but the villagers and producers in Armenia must be protected.

“I’ve never opposed the establishment of relations with Turkey. It was easier for me then, we were the victorious side, our security in Karabakh was ensured. And we, as the victorious side were saying ‘open the border right now’. My formula is the following: we never even closed the border. The border is closed from the other side. The moment they open it, the border will start to work,” Kocharyan said.

However, he argued that this closed border was a protective factor in a sense for the Armenian market when back in the day the process manufacturing was starting to develop. 

“It enabled us to have serious success in several sectors. If they were to say that they were opening the border we would swiftly apply rather serious mechanisms to protect our market. This ought to be done now as well. It’s just that back then our positions were different. We were the ones dictating the agenda back then,” Kocharyan said.

He reiterated that he doesn’t oppose the opening of the border, but stressed that the Armenian villagers must be protected. “If you don’t protect them, you will simply destroy what we have today. The greenhouse businesses will suffer disaster, all cultivating plants must be changed. Potato producers will face the most serious problems. I don’t know whether or not our villagers understand this,” Kocharyan said.

The former president says Turkey will benefit more from the opening of the border. “This means that we must not be in the role of the asking ones. We must say the following: it is natural that the border of the two countries should be opened. But it is unnatural that only a year ago they were killing our soldiers with Turkey’s Bayraktars [UAVs]. And I am sure that the operators of these Bayraktars were not Azerbaijanis, but Turks. This means we must bring this factor forward as well,” he said.

 14:28, 17 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. Second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan says he believes that now a respected clergyman from the Armenian Apostolic Church would be the best candidate for President of Armenia.

Speaking at a press conference, Kocharyan said the ruling party’s candidate for president doesn’t meet the qualities defined in the Constitution.

“Could we have nominated someone just to use the tribune, yes. But I am convinced that we shouldn’t have done so because it would be a staged performance, and I don’t think we should be the decoration in that performance. It would’ve meant entering a process where success isn’t visible, is impossible,” Kocharyan said, referring to his alliance’s refusal to nominate a candidate for president.

However, he voiced a proposal. “If we truly want to have a president who will be guided impartially with national interests, when our nation is polarized and we need someone to be able to find bridges and try to unite, to protect our national, endangered identity, the best option now would be a respected clergyman from the Armenian Apostolic Church. At this critical moment a candidate like that would be the best in my conviction,” Kocharyan said.

“Consider this a proposal, and yes, an agreement can be reached around this proposal.”

The ruling Civil Contract Party nominated the High-Tech Industry Minister Vahagn Khachaturyan for the presidency.

 13:15, 17 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government approved a bill during the Cabinet meeting which envisages redistribution in the capital projects under the 2022 budget of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport.

The funding will be directed at the renovation of educational facilities, namely the construction of more than 20 modular schools, 17 gyms of educational institutions, the renovation of a university, the construction of 2 sports schools, construction of 10 modular kindergarten buildings and more in various provinces.

PM Pashinyan said this project is of great importance.

He reminded that his administration has assumed the obligation to commission 300 schools and 500 kindergartens by 2026.

 14:07, 17 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government approved today the Industrial Greenhouse Complex investment program.

The program will be implemented in Lchashen community of Gegharkunik province.

Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan said the talk is about a major investment program. “The total cost of the investment program is 48 million Euros. With the draft the government expresses its readiness and support to the implementation of the program. As a result of the direct sale of the land, about 22 million drams will enter the community budget. The program will be implemented on a total area of 115 hectares, will include the lands of Lchashen and Varser settlements”, the minister said.

The program envisages constructing a major greenhouse complex with a total area of 45 hectares and an industrial nursery with an area of 2.7 hectares. The construction works will last 60 months. During that period 350-400 temporary jobs will be created, however, after the completion of the program, there will be 400-450 permanent jobs. The minister said nearly 75% of the workers will be women.

“Nearly 12,000 tons of vegetables will be produced annually, 80% of which is expected to be exported. There is an important condition in this project that the lands acquired as a result of the government’s support must serve only for this program”, he added.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said the government is interested in such major investments. “The main message must be that the normal process of investment programs is not obstructed in any way. This is important for the government because we have put very ambitious economic growth figures, but its main part is ensured by the private sector. Therefore, we must do everything for the public and private investment programs not to meet any artificial obstacles”, the PM said.

 14:40, 17 February, 2022

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. In the resolution on the implementation of the common foreign and security policy-annual report 2021, the European Parliament reaffirmed its “unwavering support to the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries, and in particular as regards their independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within their internationally recognized borders as well as the respect for the will of the people to decide their own future and foreign policy, free from outside interference”.

The European Parliament also called for the full implementation of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement with Armenia, stressed the need for increased EU and Member State engagement in the South Caucasus for the region’s stability and prosperity as well as to counteract the influence and interference of regional powers.

The EP also called on the EU, its Member States and the Vice President/High Representative to actively engage in finding a lasting settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabakh and to prevent a further escalation of tensions in the region, notably by pressing Azerbaijan and Armenia to address post-war issues, including the demarcation of borders and the release of all remaining prisoners of war.

The MEPs note that the OSCE Minsk Group remains the only internationally recognized format for the resolution of this conflict, on the basis of the principles of territorial integrity, non-use of force, self-determination and equal rights, and peaceful resolution of conflicts.

The European Parliament also called for the OSCE Minsk Group’s swift return to its mediating role.