The delegation headed by Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan will leave for the Russian Federation on July 9 for a working visit, Government’s Press Service informs.
PM Abrahamyan is expected to meet with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.
The Prime Ministers of the two countries will discuss a wide range of issues related to the trade-economic relations and cooperation within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday he had no knowledge of a letter sent by Hollywood actress Pamela Anderson to Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking him to prevent the passage of a cargo ship carrying 1,700 tonnes of fin whale meat to Japan, TASS reports.
“No, we do not know anything about it [the letter],” Peskov told journalists.
On Tuesday, the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society published on its website a “personal request” letter from the Canadian-American actress and model, asking President Putin to use his authority over Russian territorial waters to block the passage of the cargo vessel Winter Bay through the Northeast Passage.
The Saint Kitts and Nevis-registered cargo vessel, Winter Bay, is reportedly carrying more than 1,700 tons of fin whale meat, harvested off the shore of Iceland and bound for sale at markets in Japan.
In her letter, Anderson says Putin has the power to “stop this illegal transit by forbidding this vessel from carrying a cargo of endangered Fin whale meat through Russian waters to Japan”.
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) decided in 1982 to cease the hunting of fin whales until the increase in their numbers. In 2006, Iceland unilaterally resumed commercial whaling. It exports fin whale meat to Japan.
The Golden Apricot International Film Festival has been traditionally cooperating with foreign Embassies accredited to Armenia. The tradition will not be abandoned this year.
Within the framework of this cooperation the 12th edition of the Golden Apricot will hold days of French, German and Polish films. Russian films are included in almost all competitive programs.
French Ambassador extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia Jean-Francois Charpentier told a press conference today “this is a brilliant opportunity to introduce the Armenian audience to the creative expressions of international cinema. The Ambassador said the “New French Cinema” program will include the best French film if the regent period.
The film Caprice is the opening film of the New French cinema program. The film’s producer Frédéric Niedermayer will be present at the Yerevan premiere.
French-Armenian film director Robert Guédiguian will arrive in Yerevan to be the Main Jury president of Golden Apricot IFF. His film Don’t Tell Me the Boy Was Mad, which was presented in the Special Screenings section at the 2015 Cannes, is the Opening film of the festival.
Patrick Chesnais, the prominent French actor, will be an honorable guest of the festival. He is the lead actor in Not Here to be Loved by Stefan Brize and will attend the Yerevan premier of the film.
In different programs of 12th Golden Apricot there are more than 14 French co-productions and French films including Stéphane Brizé’s The Measure of a Man (Cannes Film Festival’s official selection).
The Festival will also host a New German Cinema program in cooperation with the Embassy of Germany and Goethe Institute-Tbilisi. The program will feature the selection of the best of recent German films. There is also a large selection of German films in the four main competition programs.
The Embassy of Poland in Armenia supports the Polish Film Day event.Małgorzata Szumowska’s Berlinale Silver Bear winning film for Best Director Body will be screened.
A number of Polish films are presented in the competition sections, mainly in the “Apricot Stone” Short Film Competition.
The renowned Polish film director Krzysztof Zanussi will also arrive in Yerevan.
The Russian Federation Embassy in Armenia and the Russian Center of Science and Culture are supporting the representation of Russian films within the frames of the festival. Russian films are included in almost every program.
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs James Warlick (US), Pierre Andrieu (France) and Igor Popov (Russia) plan to return to the region in late July, the US co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick told Trend July 8.
Commenting on the recent meeting of the co-chairs in Washington, the diplomat said that the co-chairs held routine consultations in Washington where they met with US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and other senior US government officials to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and ongoing mediation efforts.
The Knesset must do the moral thing and recognize the Armenian genocide, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said at a Knesset Education, Culture and Sport Committee meeting Wednesday, the reports.
“I visited one of the Armenian memorial sites and it is very hard to ignore what I saw there,” Edelstein recounted. “I expect that I and the Knesset behave appropriately so that we can make decisions according to the moral standards of a democratic state.”
The Knesset Speaker explained that many governments do not recognize the atrocity, while their parliaments clearly do.
“I will try to promote the issue and I hope that MKs will know the right way to vote in the moment of truth,” he stated.
Twenty-two countries recognize the 1915 massacres as a genocide, including Canada, France and Germany, but not the US.
The Knesset sent a delegation to the Armenian government’s 100th anniversary ceremony in April, but Israel does not formally recognize the Armenian Genocide, in hopes that it can repair ties with Turkey, which perpetrated it.
Education, Culture and Sport Committee chairman Ya’acov Margi (Shas) said “we are aware of the diplomatic sensitivities, but we overcame them and the time has come for the government to do so, too.”
Margi called for the government to recognize the genocide and for the Knesset plenum to make a historic decision in keeping with Jewish values.
“Ignoring [the Armenian genocide] will bring the next genocide,” MK Zehava Gal-On (Meretz), who initiated the meeting along with MK Nachman Shai (Zionist Union), said.
Shai, who attended the memorial ceremony in Armenia, said: “We want to be in the international arena with countries that respect morals. Israel, the state of the Jewish People, must recognize what happened to the Armenians. Nothing will change in our relations with Turkey or Azerbaijan.”
Foreign Ministry representative Oded Yosef said that Israel has ties with Armenia and cooperates with the country in many projects, but the international debate as to whether there was a genocide or not is a political one about semantics.
Gal-On responded: “It would bring honor to Israel to recognize the Armenian genocide. It was a tragedy, but the word tragedy is not enough.”
The Armenian regulatory body unanimously voted today to fine the Electric Networks of Armenia $60 million AMD for its failure to provide proper services.
Chairman of the Commission Robert Nazaryan declared at today’s sitting that the company has failed to provide proper services to citizens for years. Moreover, it has illegally demanded huge sums for connecting new customers to the power network.
Audit will be conducted at the Electric Networks, but its terms are yet to be determined. However, starting from August 1 there will be changes in the methodology of the company’s work: the technical losses will now be calculated by the Calculation Center CJSC.
Lusine Avanesyan
Public Radio of Armenia
Stepanakert
Russian billionaire German Sterligov intends to start farming in Artsakh. He’s currently in Nagorno Karabakh to look for appropriate lands.
Sterligov will announce his plans at a press conference Monday.
The billionaire told Public Radio of Armenia he’s not made a final decision on his future steps. Sterligov added, however, that his wife is modeling clothes and is going to open a fashion house in Karabakh.
On 8 July Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan visited the Royal Institute of International Affairs Chatham House and delivered there a speech, Central Information Department of the Office of the Artsakh Republic President reports.
The President touched upon state building, domestic and foreign policy of Artsakh, the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement, regional developments and responded to the questions of the audience.
In his speech President Sahakyan noted that Chatham House’s mission to help build a sustainably secure, prosperous and just world was very much congenial to Artsakh, adding that those ideas were also part and parcel of our world vision.
According to the President, such meetings are useful both for Artsakh and different states and international structures.
Foreign diplomats, scientists and analysts were present at the meeting.
On July 8, in accordance with an agreement reached with the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the OSCE Mission conducted a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan in the Martuni direction.
From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistants of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Khristo Khristov (Bulgaria) and Jiri Aberle (Czech Republic).
From the opposite side of the Line of Contact, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistant of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Yevgeny Sharov (Ukraine) and staff member of the Office Peter Svedberg (Sweden).
The monitoring passed in accordance with the agreed schedule. No violation of the cease-fire regime was registered.
From the Karabakh side, the monitoring mission was accompanied by representatives of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense.
With the aim of helping boost computer literacy in Artsakh schools, the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s Cypriot affiliate has initiated and sponsored the establishment of computer classrooms at five secondary schools in the Karvachar area, by donating six computer systems as well as computer furniture to each of the schools. The government of Artsakh has given the project additional support by funding the complete renovation of the computer classrooms.
The beneficiaries of the project comprise the William Saroyan School (city of Karvachar), J. Jlavyan School (Nor Verin Shen village), S. Erumyans School (Nor Brajur village), V. Nazaryan School (Nor Getashen village), and P. Ghevondyan School (Yeghegnut village). The five schools have a total of close to 300 students. As Zhora Sargsyan, principal of the P. Ghevondyan School, stated, today it would be hard to imagine the life of children and teenagers without computers, especially at school.
Sebouh Tavitian, chair of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s Cypriot affiliate, said he’s delighted that the small Armenian community of Cyprus was able to help enhance the learning experience of Artsakh schoolchildren. “I’m sure they will take good care of their new computers and enjoy using them to broaden their knowledge and skills,” Tavitian stated.