14:14,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS.  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received the delegation headed by Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker, the chairperson of the Legal Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag.

According to the readout issued by the PM's office, the Prime Minister welcomed the delegation's visit to Armenia and emphasized the importance of consistently developing and expanding cooperation with Germany. Nikol Pashinyan noted that political and economic cooperation has been dynamic in recent years and emphasized the fact of bilateral high-level, as well as inter-parliamentary dialogue.

The Prime Minister emphasized Germany's support in the effective promotion of democratic reforms in our country, as well as in ensuring peace and stability in the South Caucasus.

In this regard, Nikol Pashinyan highlighted the contribution of Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process, as well as emphasized the importance of the principles established by the quadripartite declaration of the German Chancellor, the President of France, the President of the European Council and the Prime Minister of Armenia in Granada last fall.

The interlocutors exchanged ideas on the deepening of Armenia-Germany, Armenia-European Union cooperation, the activities of the EU civilian mission on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border and other issues.

 16:35,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS.  The President of the Republic of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan has arrived in Iraq on an official visit.

According to the Armenpress correspondent, the Armenian President was welcomed at Baghdad International Airport by the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq, Fuad Hussein.

During his visit, the President of Armenia is scheduled to have meetings with the President of Iraq Abdul Latif Rashid, the Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani.

As part of his visit, Vahagn Khachaturyan will deliver a lecture at Baghdad University. He will also visit Erbil, where he will meet with the Honorary President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, Masoud Barzani, and the President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani.

Additionally, he will hold meetings with representatives of the Armenian communities in Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan.

The Armenian President's delegation includes businessmen who will participate in a business forum to be held in Iraq.

 16:44,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS.  The meeting of the delegations of the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan will take place on February 28-29 in Berlin, in accordance with the agreement reached during the tripartite meeting held in Munich, Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan has said.

 16:46,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS.  Destination Management Organization GoToDili, with the support of the Tourism Committee of the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia, with the participation of AR-trails, has launched a new inclusive project "Accessible Dilijan". It is created for people with hearing impairments, as well as for completely deaf/deaf-mute people.

"Accessible Dilijan" is an AR–tours around the city recorded by sign language interpreters in Armenian, Russian and English. This is the first project in Armenia that helps people with hearing disabilities to complete an excursion or a small hiking route without assistance.

You can use the tour by downloading the AR-Trails app. Three products are available in AR-trails: a city tour, a walking tour of the National Park, and a virtual visit to the tourist information center. After selecting a location, the app provides a route, and virtual sign language interpreters tell users about it.

The city tour will introduce users to the history of Dilijan and its famous landmarks. The hiking tour will lead to a hidden waterfall in the National Park, introducing the flora and fauna along the way. The AR-Trails app also allows you to visit a virtual information center, where the overview information about Dilijan is available. In total, virtual tours cover 15 locations in Dilijan.

"Travel must be accessible to everyone," emphasized Sisian Poghosyan, the Head of Armenia's Tourism Committee.

"Every visitor to Armenia, regardless of physical abilities, should have the opportunity to travel in our country, discover hidden paths, and equally experience all the interesting and unforgettable experiences. In this context, the Tourism Committee welcomes the creation of the 'Accessible Dilijan' tourist product, which is a new opportunity for individuals to discover the wonders of Armenian tourism," she said.

"Inclusive tourism plays an extremely important role for Armenia," said Ani Avanesova, the  head of DMO GoToDili.

"Products designed specifically for people with disabilities will not only significantly improve their standard of living and provide new conditions for exploring the tourist locations of the country, but also favorably promote socialization and bring benefits to the country as a whole, making it more attractive to tourists. The GoToDili team is happy to be one of the pioneers on this important path,'' she said.

 17:25,

YEREVAN, 23 FEBUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 26 February, USD exchange rate up by 0.07 drams to 404.42 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 0.96 drams to 438.63 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.03 drams to 4.38 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 0.13 drams to 512.60 drams.

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

Gold price up by 49.41 drams to 26361.72 drams. Silver price down by 4.56 drams to 295.35 drams.

 17:52,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS. On February 26, the Armenian National Assembly President Alen Simonyan received the delegation led by the Chairwoman of the Committee on Legal Affairs of the FRG Bundestag Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker, the press service of the Armenian National Assembly said in a statement.

The Chair of the National Assembly Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs Vladimir Vardanyan also attended the meeting.

According to the source, welcoming the guests, Alen Simonyan highly appreciated the stable development of friendly relations with Germany, emphasizing the promotion of inter-parliamentary cooperation also in the format of mutual visits.

Alen Simonyan thanked the German colleagues for their continuous support for democratic reforms in Armenia, highlighted the contribution of the Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the process of establishing peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“We greatly appreciate the strong democratic values established in Armenia since 2018 and are ready to support the development of democratic institutions in Armenia, as well as the establishment of peace in the region,” Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker noted.

It is noted that Alen Simonyan presented to his German colleagues the consequences of Azerbaijan's bellicose policy, raised the issue of the return of the Armenian prisoners of war, to which Azerbaijan shows a destructive approach.

The interlocutors exchanged ideas on Armenia-Germany inter-parliamentary relations, the deepening of Armenia-EU cooperation, the establishment of security in the South Caucasus and a number of other issues.

 19:25,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has reiterated that he objects to supplying Kiev  with Taurus cruise missiles, citing concerns that his country could find itself dragged into the conflict.

"We should not be linked with any targets this system may reach in any way," he told a conference organized by the DPA news agency, the AP reports.

"We must make this clear. I am shocked that some don’t care, that they don’t even stop and think that it might come to  being dragged into the war because of what we are doing," he said.

In previous arguments why Germany could not send Taurus missiles, Scholz said he was concerned German personnel would have to be on the ground in Ukraine to help the missile targeting process, which he has ruled out.

 19:59,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS.  Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan will head for Antalya, Turkey on a working visit on March 1 to attend the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, the foreign ministry said.

 20:41,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS.  On February 26, in Geneva, on the sidelines of the high-level session of the UN Human Rights Council, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan had a meeting with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, the foreign ministry said.

The interlocutors discussed a number of issues on cooperation within the framework of the UN Human Rights system.

The steps and achievements taken towards the protection of human rights and strengthening the rule of law in Armenia were touched upon, thanks to which Armenia, according to the indexes of various authoritative international bodies, rose to leading positions in the region.

Touching upon the challenges in protection of human rights in different parts of the world, the importance of effective use of existing tools was emphasized, since the opposite leads to failure in preventing the most serious violations and the repetition of tragic outcomes.

Touching upon the ethnic cleansing carried out by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh, Minister Mirzoyan briefed his counterpart on the steps taken to address the needs and rights of the Armenian population forcibly displaced from their homeland.

During the meeting, Ararat Mirzoyan and Volker Türk also exchanged views on the latest developments in the South Caucasus. Minister Mirzoyan briefed on the approaches of Armenia to key issues in the normalization process of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations, based on unequivocal respect for the principles of territorial integrity, inviolability of borders, and sovereignty. Minister Mirzoyan stressed that with a clear commitment to these principles, as well as refraining from aggressive rhetoric and from steps aimed at escalating the situation on the ground, it will be possible to move forward in the peace process.

 22:01,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS.  On February 26, in Geneva, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan had a meeting with Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, President of the International Committee of Red Cross.

Issues on addressing the needs and rights of forcibly displaced people from Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the military attack and ethnic cleansing carried out by Azerbaijan last September, as well as the scope of cooperation with the ICRC on humanitarian issues were discussed, the foreign ministry said.

It is noted that Minister Mirzoyan particularly emphasized the importance of the repatriation of persons held in Azerbaijan, as well as working on clarification of the fate of missing and forcibly disappeared persons, reiterating the publicly expressed willingness of the Armenian side to cooperate on this issue.

During the meeting, the current security situation in the South Caucasus and the efforts of Armenia towards establishing peace and stability in the region were also touched upon.