15:26,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has congratulated the new French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on his appointment.

“I cordially congratulate you on your election as Prime Minister of the French Republic, and I wish you success in your high mission,” PM Pashinyan said in a letter to PM Attal. “Citing the Armenian-French age-old friendship and special relations, I am sure that during your tenure our governments will cooperate with new vigor to further deepen the multi-sectoral partnership between Armenia and France. Certainly, the 2021-2026 Armenian-French Economic Cooperation Roadmap is an effective instrument for that goal, and I am hopeful that we will utilize all existing opportunities to secure its successful implementation. I’d like to underscore that Armenia highly appreciates France’s important, consistent efforts in the process of resolving the geopolitical challenges that our country is withstanding and establishment of lasting peace and stability in the region. I am deeply grateful for your constant attention towards Armenia-related issues and your warm, friendly attitude towards the Armenian people. I’d be happy to host you in Armenia on an official visit, which will intensify our highest-level commitment to enhance our bilateral cooperation. I once again congratulate you on assuming the office of the Prime Minister of the French Republic and I wish you good luck in your initiatives. Please accept, honorable Prime Minister, the assurance of my highest consideration.”

 16:16,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. Iran has always supported Armenia’s territorial integrity, Iranian Ambassador to Armenia Mehdi Sobhani has said.

“We’ve always supported the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia,” he told reporters. “Whatever would constitute a violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Armenia would be unacceptable for us,” Sobhani said.

 16:22,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has praised the police and emergency services for their work which has contributed to the country being ranked 7th safest country in the world in terms of crime rate and safety by Numbeo analytical platform. 

According to the Crime Rate and Safety Index by Country report by Numbeo in 2023, Armenia ranks 7 out of 142 countries. Yerevan city has been ranked 20th safest city out of 416, which is the highest score in the region.

The figures were reported to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the Ministry of Internal Affairs on Thursday.

The Prime Minister was pleased to hear the results and said, “Of course this data is very good, we are very happy at this stage, but I hope that we have set more serious objectives before ourselves in terms of the international image. If today we are unfortunately seventh, according to the organization, in terms of domestic safety, this means that we have to set an objective to advance further, and our objective must be to become the safest country. And the same goes for the capital city Yerevan. Tourism agencies pay a lot of attention to such things while developing their packages. We must keep the finger on the pulse all the time, and wherever we see regress or don’t see progress we ought to study and understand the reasons. Of course, first of all this process relates to the work of the police and the rescue service, meaning, this is the most important thing. Every year we must have this guideline while evaluating the work of our rescue service and police.”

 16:28,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has called on law enforcement agencies to develop a strategy to deal with drug trafficking. 

“We have an increase in the cases concerning drug trafficking, but which also means an increase in the number of [drug busts],” Pahsinyan told law enforcement officials during a meeting at the Ministry of Internal Affairs regarding the 2023 report.

“Of course, the function of the police and investigative bodies is to reveal [the crime], but we must first of all have a strategy on how to deal with this problem of crime and relations using new technologies in the cyberspace,” Pashinyan said, referring to the notorious practice of drug dealers selling narcotics through social media channels, particularly Telegram, which is difficult to trace.

“Second of all, an interdepartmental task force dealing with the issue must be created, in order for them to have a team responsibility in some sense. Next, I attach a lot of importance to the development of the K-9 units in this regard. And we must urgently move forward with this complex approach,” he added.

 17:07,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. The former Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Vahe Gevorgyan has been appointed Ambassador of Armenia to China.

The appointment was made by President Vahagn Khachaturyan at the advice of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday. 

Gevorgyan was Deputy FM from 2021 to .

 17:08,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. The new Ambassador of Japan Yutaka Aoki has presented his credentials to President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan.

“I am sure that the friendship between Armenia and Japan will become stronger with your personal activities and efforts,” the Armenian President said, congratulating Ambassador Aoki on taking office.

“Our diplomatic relations, ever since they were established, have become special, they’ve been sincere, truly friendly, and we’ve had productive partnership in all directions, such as political, economic and cultural. All programs that were implemented in Armenia with support of the Japanese government have been important for our economic development, and I am sure that the programs will have their continuation. We also value the role that Japan has in the world and in our region, which is aimed at strengthening peace and democratic values,” President Khachaturyan said.

Ambassador Aoki thanked for the warm reception and said, “Prior to arriving in Armenia, and also already here, I noticed that many people want the relations of our countries to further develop. Everyone says that we have commonalities and many common values. I won’t spare efforts to strengthen the friendship and cooperation between our countries.”

Issues concerning the development of cooperation in various directions were discussed.

The sides underscored the big potential for cooperation in high technologies and IT and the importance to utilize it.

The President and the Ambassador also discussed the opportunities to intensify political dialogue between the two countries, and the need to intensify high-level mutual visits and parliamentary diplomacy was highlighted.

President Khachaturyan said that political mutual visits, as well as diplomatic and cultural contacts contribute to the two people getting to know one another better, and partnership between the two countries becoming stronger.

The Japanese Ambassador, speaking about the continuous strengthening of Armenian-Japanese ties, said that people in Japan have become more interested about Armenia in the recent years, particularly because of its path of democracy and democratic reforms. In this context, the importance of democratic reforms and development of democratic institutions and their role in the development of the country was highlighted.

 17:35,

YEREVAN, 11 JANUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 11 January, USD exchange rate down by 0.47 drams to 405.01 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 0.25 drams to 444.21 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.02 drams to 4.56 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 0.26 drams to 516.27 drams.

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

Gold price down by 136.22 drams to 26391.72 drams. Silver price down by 2.43 drams to 299.04 drams.

 18:16,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. A state of emergency has been declared in Papua New Guinea's capital after at least 15 people were killed in rioting.

More than 1,000 troops are on standby "to step in wherever necessary", Prime Minister James Marape said on Thursday, reports BBC.

Shops and cars were torched and supermarkets looted after police went on strike on Wednesday over a pay cut the authorities say was a mistake.

 The unrest was triggered after police and other public servants staged a protest strike outside parliament on Wednesday, after discovering that their wages had been reduced by up to 50% in their latest pay cheques.

According to the source, in response, Mr Marape said the pay cut was an error due to a computer glitch – which had deducted up to $100 (£78) from the pay cheques of public servants. He said the administrative error would be corrected in next month's payments.

But this answer was not accepted by many protesters.

 18:57,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. The number of countries one can take direct flights to from Russia increased by 25% in comparison with 2022, reaching 40 by the end of 2023, Tass reports, citing the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR).

"The number of countries with which Russia has direct flights increased by a quarter as of the end of 2023 in comparison with December 2022. Russian and foreign airlines plan to operate direct flights from the Russian Federation to 40 countries in 2024. A year earlier, there were only 32 countries on this list," the statement says.

In particular, Russians can travel direct to Azerbaijan, Algeria, Armenia, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Belarus, Venezuela, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Georgia, Egypt, Israel, India, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Kazakhstan, Qatar, China, Cuba, to Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritius, the Maldives, Morocco, Mongolia, Myanmar, the UAE, Oman, the Seychelles, Serbia, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia, ATOR reports.

 20:10,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. Armenia's Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan has reached an agreement with India's Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal  to develop commercial and industrial relations between the two countries, Kerobyan said on social media.

 Within the framework of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan met with the Minister of Commerce  and Industry of India Piyush Goyal. They have reached an agreement on the development of trade and industrial relations between India and Armenia. The sides also discussed concrete steps for realizing  the agreement.