Category: News

A Regional Center for Restoration of Monuments will be established in Armenia within the framework of Armenian-Italian cultural cooperation. Architect Rita Gonelli from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gaianè Casnati, head of the “Preserving Cultural Heritage in Armenia” program, and Maria Cristina Zambrano of the Politecnico di Milano have arrived in Armenia to discuss the details with officials and experts. Members of the delegation have already held a meeting with Minister of Culture Armen Amiryan.

The “Preserving Cultural Heritage in Armenia” program co-financed by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Politecnico di Milano became the winner of a Europa Nostra Award 2015. The establishment of the Regional Center for Restoration of Monuments will be the next step.

“Armenia’s rich cultural legacy lies in the basis of the program. Your cultural field is truly broad and requires huge efforts and work,” said architect Rita Gonelli, an expert at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Huge work has been done in the field of restoration of monuments within the framework of Armenian-Italian cooperation, but there is still a lot to be done,” she added.

Italian experts say the Armenian policy of restoration of monuments is closest to that ofItaly, this is the reason behind the idea of establishing a reconstruction center in Armenia.

The National Postal Operator of Armenia “HayPost” CJSC today announced the launch of an unprecedented service in the history of Armenia. Starting from the 1^st of October 2016, HayPost will carry out regular scheduled mail and cargo transportations to and from Europe.

The new program and the vehicles imported for the program implementation were presented on the 29^th of September in the Republic Square, Yerevan. The Minister of Transport and Communication of the Republic of Armenia Vahan Martirosyan and the Managing Director of “HayPost Trust Management” B.V. Juan Pablo Gechidjian handed the symbolic keys to the drivers, wishing them a good journey.

The new service is meant to expand the connectivity of Armenia, by means of weekly mail and cargo transportations from Yerevan to the hub in Frankfurt and vice versa. This innovative reliable, fast and secure service facilitates the process of export and import of products to and from Armenia, enabling the Armenian companies to expand their business. At the same time, the new service will help to dramatically increase the volumes of the online commerce in Armenia.

In order to provide the new service, HayPost introduced 2 brand-new Mercedes-Benz Actros 2530 GigaSpace 6×4 trucks with 530 horsepower, with the capacity to carry 27 tonnes of cargo each one, and with their extra fuel tanks they have a range of 4,500 km with no refueling.

The trucks dispose of the latest equipments from the industry leaders and provide the drivers with the most comfortable conditions for long distance drive. The flexible configuration of the refrigerated cargo holds allows the transportation both of perishable and of general cargo. The trucks correspond to the highest European Euro-6 emission standards, ensuring the lowest level of CO emissions up today.

Together with the mentioned trucks, today HayPost adds to its fleet 12 brand-new Renault Dokker vans, the routes of which will reinforce the connectivity within Armenia. The vans are eco-friendly, they run with compressed natural gas, minimizing the level of CO emissions.

The total amount invested in these 14 new vehicles made about 1.000.000 USD.

This new service continues the series of innovations made by the Trust Manager of HayPost. During the last 7 years HayPost with the leadership of “HayPost Trust Management” B.V. has added 140 new vehicles to its fleet. This enlarged fleet runs 3.500.000 km per year, interconnecting the whole territory of Armenia up to Nagorno Karabakh. The Company has also renovated 250 Post Offices all over the country and created the largest online network in Armenia, with more than 700 Post Offices connected up today.

More than 20 cases of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani side were reported at the line of contact with the Karabakh forces overnight.

The rival used firearms of different calibers as it fired about 500 shots in the direction of the Armenian positions, the NKR Defense Ministry reports.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army remain committed to the ceasefire regime and confidently continue with their military duty, the Ministry said.

On September 28, political consultations between the Foreign Ministries of Armenia and Georgia were held at the MFA of Georgia. The Armenian and Georgian delegations were headed by Shavarsh Kocharyan, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, and Gigi Gigiadze, Deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia, respectively.

In the course of political consultations the sides discussed a wide spector of issues related to the current situation of bilateral political, trade and economic relations and perspectives of their development. The agenda of the consultations focused on the deepening of cooperation in the areas of transport, energy, culture and education. Moreover, the necessity of inventory of the existing legal field was emphasized.

The interlocutors also touched upon the intensification of cooperation within the framework of international organizations, as well as exchanged views on a wide range of international and regional issues.

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) should broaden cooperation in defense and security, Russia’s Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov said on Thursday, TASS reports.

“Taking into consideration that the situation on the external borders of the Commonwealth is far from being stable, we have a common task not to allow the spread of terrorism to the CIS space,” Gerasimov told a meeting of the Committee of Chiefs of Staff of CIS member states.

“In this uneasy situation it is necessary to broaden cooperation in the sphere of defense and security,” the general said, adding that the military cooperation in the CIS format “allows successful cooperation in a broad range of areas.”

The International Army Games, the International military-technical forum “ARMY-2016” and other joint events held earlier this year show great possibilities and prospects of the military cooperation of the CIS countries, he said.

The legal basis for this is a concept of military cooperation of the CIS member-states up to 2020 approved by the CIS Council of Heads of State, he reminded. “The concept envisages strengthening our armed forces, maintaining national security and developing good neighborly relations.”

The CIS, a regional organization formed during the collapse of the Soviet Union, now consists of nine countries – Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Turkmenistan and Ukraine are associate members.

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Karen Nazaryan received the delegation headed by French MP Francois Rochebloine.

During the meeting reference was made to the dynamically developing relations between Armenia and France, the high-level political dialogue and the effective cooperation in most different spheres.

Deputy FM Nazaryan attached importance to the visit of the French lawmakers to Armenia and Artsakh. He expressed gratitude to Mr. Rochebloine for his pro-Armenian activity and especially for is consistent attitude towards Artsakh-related issues.

The parties emphasized the mutually beneficial cooperation of the Armenian and French delegations within international organizations. Special reference was made to the exceptionally peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict and the continuous efforts towards the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

An ethnic Armenian identified as George Mutafyan has been wounded in a shelling on the Armenian General Athletic Union field located in the Armenian-populated Azizieh neighborhood of Aleppo, Kantsasar newspaper reports.

According to the source, the French rocket attack has left two killed and 10 wounded.

Due to shortcomings in situation of democracy and political freedoms prior to and during the Referendum, including the voting day, the Referendum failed to meet requirements of election legislation and international commitments of the country with regards to democratic elections.

As a result of amendments to the NGO legislation, independent civil society is not able to operate freely in the country. Criminal investigation and large tax fines lingering over some foreign and domestic NGOs, along with restrictions of accessing the foreign funding prevented civil society organizations from meaningfully participating in the referendum and engaging in voter education and election monitoring.

Political repressions intensified during the Referendum resulting in increased number of political prisoners.

The Referendum day was marred with violations including ballot-box stuffing, multiple voting, group voting (carousel) and voting of persons without registration, similar irregularities from the previous elections. EMDS observed that voter turnout was artificially raised in majority of polling stations through multiple voting and ballot-box stuffing. The official turnout do not correspond to real figures.

Following the opinion of the Constitutional Court of Azerbaijan on the Constitutional Act on amendments to the main law of the country, EMDS published its opinion about the proposed changes and preparations to the Referendum, and called for consulting with the European Commission for Democracy through Law of the Council of Europe (the Venice Commission).

EMDS believes that comprehensive assessment of 26 September 2016 Referendum requires consideration of all stages of the referendum including evaluation of awareness raising among public on proposed changes, political situation and conditions prior to the referendum, the election legislation, conduct of the referendum day and vote tabulation against the international commitments of the country.

EMDS notes with regret that there was no open public debate or adequate awareness raising campaign among public on proposed changes to the Constitution which are essential for expression of people’s true will. Increased restrictions on freedoms of expression, assembly and association in the last few years, along with very short official campaigning period (22 days) and refusal to register opposition campaign groups contributed to the lack of vibrant debate during the referendum.

EMDS believes that the government should demonstrate political will to restore mutual confidence in relations between the state and public, should create competitive environment for all political opponents and should release all political prisoners.

Moreover, as the Referendum fails to deliver adequate Constitutional reforms on separation of power and protection of human rights, the government should work together with the Venice Commission and civil society to address the issues in this field.

Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan introduced newly-appointed Minister of Culture Armen Amiryan to the staff of the Ministry.

The Prime Minister thanked ex-Minister Hasmik Poghosyan for the work done during her tenure in office.

Karen Karapetyan noted that “culture and history are the pride of our nation” and added that he expects the specialists to maximally value the legacy.

“Culture plays an important role in the formation of the taste and education of the citizen of the Republic of Armenia. We must think of ways to have the world familiarize with our culture and to create an environment that will allow the citizens of Armenia to get to know more about the world cultural legacy. For that very reason we expect a maximally effective work from the new Minister and your team,” PM Karapetyan said.

According to the Prime Minister, the Armenian culture can play a great role in attracting tourists. He wished an effective and creative work to Minister Armen Amiryan and his staff.

The Prime Minister also introduced the Ministers of Sports and Youth Affairs, Environmental Protection, Healthcare and Economy to the staffs of the respective Ministries.