18:42,

 09:48,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS. Slovenia is allocating €120,000 to Armenia through the ICRC to support the forcibly displaced persons of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The aid was announced by the Slovenian Foreign Ministry on social media.

“In the face of multiple humanitarian crises, we haven't forgotten refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia extended its support to Slovenia during last August's floods, now Slovenia reciprocates by donating EUR 120.000 through ICRC to aid Armenia in hosting Karabakh refugees,” Edvin Skrt, Director-General of the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid at the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs said on X.

 09:52,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS Pobeda Airlines has launched direct flights from the Russian city of Sochi to Armenia’s Gyumri.

The roundtrip flights will be operated 4 times per week from Sochi International Airport to Shirak International Airport in Gyumri, Armenia International Airports said in a statement.

 10:32,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS. The tense international situation creates serious threats for Armenia, but the skillful management of these threats could create equally serious possibilities for the country, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said.

“The international situation escalated significantly over the past two years,” Pashinyan told lawmakers during a joint committee hearing on the 2024 state budget. “The likelihood of a nuclear war has become a serious topic of discussion among politicians and experts. We are living in conditions of a collapsing world order that existed since the end of the Cold War. This situation creates serious threats for Armenia, but the skillful management of these threats could create equally serious possibilities for our state,” Pashinyan said.

He said that the management of threats in turn requires a conceptual work.

“What does independence mean to us? What’s our collective understanding of our sovereignty and independence, what kind of a tool is statehood to us and what purpose do we need it for? The expert public discussions of these questions is a national security agenda,” Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan said that adjusting the conceptual foundations of the statehood is of key importance.

He proposed a new state concept – ‘the homeland is the state, you love your homeland, strengthen your state’.

“In a collapsing world order, the only tool of ensuring our security is the identification of our homeland with the state, its territory, internationally recognized borders and territorial integrity.”

 10:40,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia Suren Papikyan, in the framework of his working visit to the People’s Republic of China, on October 30 attended the “10th Beijing Xiangshan Forum” opening ceremony and a plenary session, the Ministry of Defense said in a press release.

 11:00,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said that the Government of Armenia plans to sign a peace treaty and establish relations with Azerbaijan and normalize relations with Türkiye.

“Signing a treaty on peace and normalization of relations with Azerbaijan, and the normalization of relations with Türkiye is in our plans. As much as we realize that this won’t be easy, moving forward with this plan is in the state interests of Armenia,” Pashinyan told Members of Parliament at a committee hearing on the 2024 state budget. In the collapsing world order, the only tool for ensuring security of Armenia is the identification of the homeland with the state, its territory, internationally recognized borders and territorial integrity, the PM said.

“The key, practical issue stemming from this perception, as strange as it may sound, is the realization of the state’s geographic location, and before the global discussion on East-West, North-South, I find it important to realize that we are situated in the South Caucasian region, we have four neighbors, and all the main threats and possibilities that we could have are hidden in the relations with them. In this regard, the further deepening of the friendly and cooperative nature of relations with Georgia and Iran are also important,” Pashinyan said.

 11:03,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS. The three main principles of normalization of relations and peace with Azerbaijan are agreed upon and the signing of a peace treaty will be realistic if both the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides remain committed to these principles, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said.

“Essentially the three main principles of normalization of relations and peace with Azerbaijan are agreed upon. And if the parties remain committed to these agreed principles, the signing of the treaty on peace and normalization of relations becomes realistic,” Pashinyan said at a committee hearing in parliament on the 2024 state budget.

The principles are: the mutual recognition by Armenia and Azerbaijan of each other’s territorial integrity, with the understanding that Armenia’s territory is 29,800 square km and Azerbaijan’s 86,600 square km. These numbers are taken from the latest USSR encyclopedias. The demarcation and delimitation will be carried out during further discussions and agreements. The second principle is that the parties agree to carry out delimitation based on the Alma-Ata Declaration, which means that the administrative borders that existed between the Armenian SSR and Azerbaijani SSR have become the state borders between the two countries when the USSR collapsed. The inviolability of these borders is recognized by the parties based on the Alma-Ata Declaration.

“The presence of maps recording the situation when the Alma-Ata Declaration was adopted is of key importance in the delimitation process. Essentially, the parties have the maps that reflect those realities. Thus, in case of political will by the sides it is possible to swiftly and effectively move forward in this process as well,” Pashinyan said.

The third principle is the opening of the regional connections based on the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the sides, and the regional connections will function on the basis of reciprocity and equality. The Armenian government has presented its position in the Crossroads of Peace concept in this regard.

 11:13,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has expressed hope that the Armenia-Türkiye land border would soon be opened for citizens of third countries and diplomatic passport holders.

“Speaking about the Armenia-Türkiye relations, I’d like to express hope that soon we will have the implementation of the agreements reached as a result of the discussions and negotiations between the special representatives, which pertains to the following: At this phase the Armenia-Türkiye border gets opened for citizens of third countries and diplomatic passport holders. Besides the political agreement, significant infrastructure work has been done. In particular, we worked in the Margara checkpoint in the direction of re-equipping and restoring it and in this regard, we are already ready for such developments. We hope that these agreements get implemented,” PM Pashinyan said at a committee hearing in parliament on the 2024 state budget.

 11:24,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS. The Government of Armenia expects at least 7% economic growth in 2023, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told lawmakers during a joint committee hearing on the 2024 state budget.

“One of our most important achievements in the environment of threats and security challenges is our macroeconomic stability, which we’ve been able to maintain during both the war, the domestic instabilities and the coronavirus pandemic. Armenia continues to be in an environment of high economic growth for the second consecutive year. This year we expect at least 7% economic growth,” Pashinyan said.

The inflation environment is stable, he added. The inflation indicator is at 2,8% with results of the 9 months of the year.

PM Pashinyan said that his administration has created 178,000 jobs since taking office in 2018.

Pashinyan said that a possible re-activation of corruption is one of the biggest threats to the macroeconomic stability. He said that the government must continue its strong, principled fights against corruption.

 11:46,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS. The Government of Armenia has allocated approximately 54 billion drams for the forcibly displaced persons of Nagorno-Karabakh, and at this moment 16 billion of this sum has been spent, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Monday during a parliamentary committee discussion on the 2024 state budget.

He said that a part of the assistance programs for the forcibly displaced persons of Nagorno-Karabakh will be included in the 2024 state budget as well.

“With decisions that we’ve already taken so far, we’ve allocated approximately 54 billion drams for our forcibly displaced brothers and sisters of Nagorno-Karabakh. But at this moment 16 billion of this amount has been spent. Understandably a part of it will be spent in the 2024 state budget. For example, the accommodation assistance program is a 6-month program, and it must continue for 6 months,” Pashinyan said.

The Armenian PM said that they are working with international partners because the country needs support from international partners to manage the humanitarian crisis.

Approximately 100,000 forcibly displaced persons have already received the 100,000-dram lump sum assistance.