Category: News

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan met with India’s Ambassador to Armenia Nilakshi Saha Sinha on Tuesday on the occasion of the completion of her diplomatic mission.

According to the Foreign Ministry’s readout, the sides expressed satisfaction with the significant expansion of the strategic partnership agenda between Armenia and India in recent years, as well as with the tangible results achieved. They also discussed future plans.

Minister Mirzoyan highlighted Ambassador Sinha’s personal contribution to the development of Armenia-India relations and the deepening of bilateral cooperation, wishing her success in her future endeavors.

At its meeting on August 4, 2026, the Board of the Central Bank of Armenia decided to keep the policy rate unchanged at 6.50%.

The Central Bank said in a press release that the board also decided to leave the key standing facilities unchanged. The Lombard Repo Facility Rate remains at 8.00%, while the Deposit Facility Rate stays at 5.00%.

The CBA Transparency Report will be published later today.

YEREVAN, 4 AUGUST, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 4 August, USD exchange rate up by 1.03 drams to 367.01 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 0.74 drams to 422.5 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.0379 drams to 4.526 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 0.68 drams to 493.33 drams.

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

Gold price up by 152 drams to 47531 drams. Silver price up by 4.75 drams to 683.97 drams.

Civil Contract faction MP Hayk Konjoryan received 63 votes in favor and 28 against and was elected Deputy Speaker of Parliament on Tuesday.

Before the confirmation vote, the Strong Armenia opposition faction said it would vote against his candidacy, while the other opposition faction, the Armenia bloc, boycotted the vote.

Konjoryan served as the majority leader in the previous parliament.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan spoke by phone on Tuesday with Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

President Tokayev congratulated Nikol Pashinyan on his reappointment as Prime Minister of Armenia and wished him success for the benefit of Armenia and the Armenian people, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a readout.

Prime Minister Pashinyan thanked President Tokayev for the congratulations, as well as for awarding him Kazakhstan’s highest state honor during his official visit to the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2025, emphasizing the importance of the consistent development of Armenia-Kazakhstan relations.

At the same time, the Prime Minister wished President Tokayev success in the legislative elections — the Kurultai elections scheduled for August 23 — highlighting the strategic importance and consistency of the domestic and foreign policies pursued by the Kazakh leader.

Prime Minister Pashinyan invited Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to visit Armenia. The President of Kazakhstan accepted the invitation.

The two leaders also discussed several issues related to the Armenia-Kazakhstan bilateral agenda and touched upon prospects for further developing cooperation.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has not ruled out the possibility that the range of goods traded between Armenia and Azerbaijan could expand.

“This year, we have already witnessed the supply of petroleum products from Azerbaijan to Armenia,” TASS quoted Bayramov as saying at a press conference with OSCE Chairman-in-Office Ignazio Cassis.

“It cannot be ruled out that at later stages the range of goods in mutual trade may expand,” Azerbaijan’s foreign minister said.

He noted that in less than a year, around 60,000 tons of cargo had been transported through Azerbaijan’s territory to Armenia and in the opposite direction.

Bayramov also said that the volume of petroleum products sold by Azerbaijan to Armenia amounted to around 20,000 tons.

“I am confident that we will see continued work in this direction,” Bayramov emphasized.

Azerbaijan lifted restrictions on the transit of cargo to Armenia through its territory at the end of October last year and began supplying petroleum products to Armenia in December.

An expanded working meeting chaired by Romanos Petrosyan, the temporary manager of Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA), was held at the company, bringing together deputy chief executive officers, branch directors, the management of the Yerevan Power Supply and Service Department, and the heads of operational districts. 

The company said in a statement that Petrosyan informed participants that a public hearing had recently been held at the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure. 

In the coming weeks, the government will declare the entire 100% stake in Electric Networks of Armenia CJSC subject to overriding public interest. 

In accordance with the established procedure, the company’s market value will be assessed, the shareholders will be officially notified and compensated, after which the company will be registered as a wholly state-owned enterprise. 

During the meeting, it was noted that although the average duration of scheduled works on the electricity distribution network has been reduced, challenges remain in terms of the effectiveness of the works and oversight. 

The temporary manager said all inspectors are required to remain available to the public 24 hours a day and respond promptly to all emergencies, ensuring uninterrupted electricity supply to customers and proper notification regarding both emergency and scheduled works. 

Emergency repair works must be carried out in a way that provides permanent, rather than temporary, solutions to prevent similar incidents from recurring. 

The meeting also discussed the sharp increase in applications from new customers seeking to connect to the distribution network, largely driven by a significant reduction of up to 40% in connection tariffs introduced at the end of April. 

Around 2,500 new customers have joined the distribution network over the past two months, representing an increase of about 35% compared with the same period last year. 

Connection works for new customers are currently being carried out through various mechanisms, including contractor companies, the company’s own resources and newly signed contracting agreements.

Petrosyan also referred to the recent cable line accident on Pap Tagavor Street in Yerevan, noting that ENA is conducting an internal investigation into the incident. 

Electric Networks of Armenia said it will closely monitor improvement works carried out in communities across Armenia to prevent damage to company-owned power cables and the resulting outages. 

Summing up the meeting, Petrosyan said: 

“From today, we are transforming the crisis management phase at Electric Networks of Armenia CJSC into a large-scale process of sustainable development.”

Shushan Aleksanyan, Chief Executive Officer of HayPost and the wife of National Assembly Vice Speaker Hayk Konjoryan, has commented on recent public discussion regarding her reported monthly salary of 3.6 million drams as head of the national postal operator.

In a Facebook post, Aleksanyan provided clarifications regarding HayPost CJSC’s performance during her tenure, expressing hope that the facts presented would help dispel misconceptions surrounding the issue.

She said that under her leadership HayPost had paid 1 billion drams in dividends to the state budget.

“Based on the 2025 results, the company did not incur losses. The relationship between its revenues and expenses (the company’s EBITDA) was positive. The negative figure of around 500 million drams was due to depreciation charges, which are a normal occurrence for organisations with substantial real estate assets and vehicle fleets.

It is also important to emphasise that depreciation is not a cash outflow. Therefore, neither the company nor, especially, the state has actually incurred financial losses (source: published external audit report).

According to the published financial statements, during my tenure, the company’s financial result improved by around 900 million drams in 2025 compared with 2024 (source: published external audit report),” Aleksanyan wrote.

She also said that she has been the lowest-paid HayPost chief executive over the past ten years in terms of both salary and bonuses.

“In previous years, even the heads of individual departments received higher remuneration than I do today as Chief Executive Officer, including during the years of state management. Although I have repeatedly stated that there is nothing inherently wrong with receiving a high salary.

The approximately 5 million drams paid to me in 2024, which was declared in my asset declaration as ‘other income’, was maternity benefit provided in accordance with the law.

I also consider it necessary to remind everyone that I assumed the duties of Chief Executive Officer of HayPost on November 22, 2024. Therefore, I cannot objectively be held responsible for the company’s annual financial results for 2024 or for preceding processes, including tariff revisions,” she wrote.

Aleksanyan called on the public to refrain from arbitrary interpretations of the facts and to consider the issue exclusively from a professional perspective.

In recent days, discussions about Aleksanyan’s reported monthly salary of 3.6 million drams as Chief Executive Officer of HayPost have been taking place both in the media and in the National Assembly, particularly among opposition lawmakers.

The Embassy of the Republic of Armenia in Lebanon has expressed its solidarity with the families of those killed in the Beirut port explosion on the sixth anniversary of the tragedy.

In a Facebook post, the embassy said:

“On the sixth anniversary of the Beirut Port explosion, the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia in Lebanon honors the memory of the victims and stands in solidarity with their families and the Lebanese people.

May their souls rest in peace, and may Lebanon find justice and healing.”

The Beirut port explosion occurred on August 4, 2020, at 6:07 p.m. local time and became one of the most powerful non-nuclear explosions in history.

The disaster was caused by the detonation of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had been stored for around six years in Warehouse No. 12 at the port without appropriate safety measures.

At least 218 people, including 13 Armenians, were killed, while more than 7,000 others sustained injuries of varying severity.

The shockwave destroyed a significant portion of the city’s housing stock, leaving around 300,000 people homeless.

The explosion caused an estimated $10-15 billion in economic and infrastructure damage. Its force was equivalent to an earthquake measuring between magnitude 3.3 and 3.5, while the blast and tremors were felt as far away as the island of Cyprus, about 240 kilometres from Beirut.

The Anti-Corruption Court has partially granted the investigator’s motion, extending by one month the house arrest imposed on Armen Ashotyan, vice-chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia and former minister of education and science.

Ashotyan’s lawyer, Ruben Melikyan, announced the decision in a Facebook post.

Ashotyan was remanded in custody on June 5, 2026. On July 3, the Anti-Corruption Court of First Instance extended his detention for another month, after which the defence appealed the ruling to the Court of Appeal.

The criminal proceedings concern alleged abuse of official powers and money laundering. According to the investigating authority, the case concerns the circumstances surrounding the removal from state ownership of real estate belonging to Brusov State University on Pushkin Street in Yerevan and its transfer to private individuals.