12:13,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s spouse Anna Hakobyan, together with their daughter Arpi, visited on December 15 the Amasia Children’s Arts School in Shirak Province.

Students from the painting and embroidery classes presented their work. Hakobyan watched the painting process in the class and talked with the students. She then participated in a concert program featuring vocal-instrumental and dance performances.

Principal Jemma Manukyan briefed Anna Hakobyan on the school’s future plans.

The Amasia Children’s Arts School was founded in 1964. It is currently functioning in a newly renovated building.

 12:26,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has congratulated HRH King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and HRH Crown Prince, Prime Minister of Bahrain Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa on the National Day of the kingdom.

“I convey to you my warmest congratulations and sincere good wishes on the occasion of the National Day of Bahrain,” the Prime Minister said in a letter to King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa published by his office. “On this joyous occasion, I wish robust health and happiness to you, and eternal peace and stability to the friendly people of Bahrain. I am sure that through joint efforts we can achieve deeper Armenian-Bahraini ties, for the benefit and prosperity of our countries.”

In a separate letter to the Crown Prince, the Armenian Prime Minister said, “I convey to you my warmest congratulations on the occasion of the National Day of Bahrain. On this joyous occasion I wish happiness and success to you, and peace and sustainable development to the friendly people of Bahrain. I am sure that through joint efforts we can intensify the Armenian-Bahraini friendly relations.”

 12:28,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has discussed the prospects of the normalization process with Armenia during a meeting with the new United States Ambassador to Baku Mark W. Libby.

According to a readout issued by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Bayramov and Libby discussed “the bilateral and multilateral cooperation agenda between the two countries, the situation in the region, as well as the prospects of the normalization process between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”

According to the readout, FM Bayramov said that Azerbaijan is interested in the establishment of peace and stability in the region.

 13:57,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his wife Anna Hakobyan have visited the Sergey Merkurov House-Museum in Gyumri to view the Ghosts of Communism’s Demise exhibition by painter Karen Ohanyan.

The exhibition will be open until the end of January 2024. Most of the paintings are in the genre of landscape and still life.

“These two traditional genres have gotten an unexpected, innovative and impressive interpretation in Karen Ohanyan’s new series of work,” the prime minister’s office said in a press release.

“In his works, he expresses himself about the demise of communism and war sometimes directly, and sometimes by creating impressive artistic symbols and metaphors.”

 15:11,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. The emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, died on Saturday, the royal court said.

He was 86.

"With great sadness and sorrow, we mourn… the death of Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Emir of the State of Kuwait," said a statement aired on Kuwaiti state television, according to France24.

In November, Sheikh Nawaf was admitted to the hospital "due to an emergency health problem", according to the official KUNA news agency, which did not elaborate on his illness. He was later declared in stable condition.

Sheikh Nawaf was named crown prince in 2006 by his half-brother Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and took over as emir when Sheikh Sabah died in September 2020 at the age of 91. Kuwait’s crown prince and his half-brother, Sheikh Meshaal al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, now 83, was subsequently named new emir, state media reported.

 18:43,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the housewarming ceremony of the multi-apartment building built in Aparan city of Aragatsotn region. It was built to solve the task of providing housing for 38 families living in dilapidated building at Baghramyan N 43 and Garegin Nzhdeh N 7, the Prime Minister's Office said.

The Prime Minister congratulated everyone on the occasion of the construction of the multi-apartment building and noted in his speech. "Among other problems in Armenia, we also have a problem related to dilapidated building. Unfortunately, there are a large number of dilapidated buildings in the republic, and we are constantly thinking about how to solve this issue. I cannot say that we are solving this issue at a very fast pace, but of course we have to think about it. Returning to today's event, I consider it necessary to record what I wish to the families who will celebrate the housewarming today. I want those families, receiving these apartments from the Government and the state budget, to focus on work, and their children – on education."

According to Nikol Pashinyan, people work, they pay taxes to the state budget, and the government is able to implement such programs with the funds of the state budget. "I want all the residents of this building to work, pay taxes to the state budget, so that others who have various needs also get their share. Taxes are not paid to the state, people pay themselves, and this building is an example of that," said the Head of the Government, adding that thanks to these taxes, roads are paved, medical centers, schools, kindergartens are built, etc. "I want you to enter your homes today with this understanding. Today, of course, I came to see with my own eyes that everything is done with quality and I hope it is so. I want to wish you a happy New Year, we are already entering the new year and I want you to celebrate the New Year and Christmas in high mood," said the Prime Minister.

It is noted that Nikol Pashinyan emphasized the importance of perceiving the Republic of Armenia as something belonging to all of us. "This is our problem, let's learn together to plant trees, plant flowers, keep clean together, share with each other. And the sense of ownership doesn't necessarily require fences, doors with big locks, the sense of ownership inside the door is enhanced by the sense of ownership outside the door, because that ownership starts, yes, I don't know whether it starts there or here. The Republic of Armenia is the property of all of us, because if we perceive our property as the inside of our building, we will forget our real greatest property and greatest wealth, which is the Republic of Armenia. By providing these apartments to you today, the Republic of Armenia wants you to feel happy there, to feel free, to feel a proud citizen of a proud country, but it is not a toast, it is a job that we must do together."

Afterwards, the Prime Minister toured the apartments of the newly built building, got acquainted with the quality of the construction works and the created conditions.

According to those in charge, the new multi-apartment building with 43 apartments was built with 682 million AMD of state funds, 38 of which will be allocated to families living in dilapidated buildings, and 2 will be allocated to families whose houses were destroyed in Aparan as a result of the 1988 Spitak earthquake who did not receive an apartment before, and 3 more to the families of the fallen servicemen.

 19:18,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS.  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on December 15 visited Aragatsotn region and got acquainted with the construction works of the Ashtarak-Talin 34 km road section of the "North-South" project implemented with the support of the Asian Development Bank, the Prime Minister's Office said.

The construction works of the project started on November 13 of the current year. On the instructions of the client, the works started from the outskirts of the Nerkin Bazmaberd community to the Talin community.

Thanks to the efficient organization of work, large-scale work was completed in the 10-kilometer section in a short time. Work on marking and equipping the specified area is being completed. As a result, on the mentioned 10-kilometer section the traffic will be one-way.

 19:33,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Paruyr Hovhannisyan on December 14 had a meeting with the Vice Minister of Foreign Relations of Paraguay Wilma Patricia Frutos Ruiz, who was in Yerevan to participate in the Ministerial Meeting of Landlocked Developing Countries, the foreign ministry said.

During the meeting, the Armenian side underscored its interest in developing multifaceted relations with Paraguay. In this regard, the Deputy Minister mentioned that in the nearest future the Embassy of Armenia in Montevideo will be jointly accredited to the Republic of Paraguay, and will definitely contribute to the bilateral agenda.

According to the source, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Paraguay expressed her gratitude for the hospitality and reiterated her country's interest in developing relations with Armenia.

During the meeting, the interlocutors discussed the prospect of developing the Armenia-Paraguay agenda on bilateral and multilateral platforms.

It is noted that the Deputy Minister briefed on the current security situation of Armenia, as well as the process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The efforts of the Government of Armenia towards addressing the needs and rights of the Armenians forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan were emphasized.

Current developments in Latin America and the South Caucasus, as well as a number of urgent issues were touched upon during the meeting.

 20:24,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Armenia Paruyr Hovhannisyan on December 5 participated in the 47th meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) held online, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Commending the achievement of the agreement on important issues reached under the current presidency, particularly the adoption of the 2024 budget, the completion of the process of updating the fundamental document “BSEC Economic Agenda”, and the reactivation of the Project Development Fund (PDF).

In his statement, Paruyr Hovhannisyan presented the national macroeconomic policies and legislative reforms and emphasized Armenia’s continuous strong economic growth as well as significant increase of foreign trade volumes, including with several BSEC member states.

According to the source, Hovhannisyan reiterated Armenia’s position on unblocking the communication links in the region on the basis of sovereignty, territorial integrity and national jurisdiction. The Deputy Minister briefed on the “Crossroads of Peace” project, recently presented by the Armenian Government, which, through regional connectivity, will contribute to strengthening economic cooperation and political dialogue between the countries of the region. 

The Deputy Minister drew the participants’ attention to the issue of the flow of more than 100,000 forcibly displaced refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia in September this year, which seriously affected Armenia’s socio-economic development. He highlighted the measures by the Government of Armenia to address the life-saving and early recovery needs of the refugees, among them 30 thousand children, with the support of the international partners.

It is noted that the Council of Ministers endorsed a number of important resolutions and decisions and at the conclusion, the Chairmanship-in-Office of BSEC was handed over to Albania.

 20:26,

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. The New Year Tree lighting ceremony will be held on December 19 in Yerevan’s Republic Square, at 19:30 to the music of Aram Khachatryan.

 Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan  said on social media.

In addition to the main Christmas tree of the Republic, the lights of the  streets and bridges in the administrative districts of the capital will also be lit.

 Yerevan Mayor noted that on the same day, a Christmas fair will be opened in Yerevan 2750th Anniversary Park.