Arminian News ... A Topalian 7 editorials
BBC News
HARDtalk
Oct 25 2019
Zohrab Mnatsakanyan - Minister of Foreign Affairs, Armenia
Has anything really changed since Armenia's new reformist government was installed last year? Stephen Sackur speaks to Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, Armenia’s foreign minister.
RFE/RL Report
RFE/RL Report
U.S. House Set To Vote On Armenian Genocide Resolution
October 24, 2019
Emil Danielyan
The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote next week on a resolution calling for official U.S. recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey.
The resolution was introduced by several pro-Armenian U.S. lawmakers, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, in April this year and has had 117 co-sponsors since then. It calls on the U.S. government to "commemorate the Armenian Genocide through official recognition and remembrance” and to
“reject” Turkish and other efforts to deny it.
The resolution is included on the House agenda for next week released by Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. It is due to debated right after a House vote on a bipartisan bill that would sanction Turkey for its military offensive in northern Syria.
“We're going to have a Turkey sanctions bill and we're going to have an Armenian genocide bill,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel told National Public Radio earlier this week. “Both of which I'm sure the government of Turkey is not happy with, but then again we're not happy with the government of Turkey.”
In a joint statement issued on Thursday, Schiff and other leaders of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues said they are “very pleased” that the
resolution “will receive a vote next week by the full House.”
Armenian-American lobby groups also hailed the initiative which is understood to enjoy the backing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“This latest [Turkish] assault on vulnerable ethnic groups demonstrates the need for Congress to unequivocally affirm the Armenian genocide and adopt the resolutions pending in the House and Senate,” said Bryan Ardouny, the executive director of the Armenian Assembly of America.
“We urge all [House] members to support this important human rights measure and send a strong message that the days of genocide denial are over,” Ardouny told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.
The Assembly and the Armenian National Committee of America have for decades been campaigning for the passage of such legislation. Genocide resolutions
drafted by pro-Armenian lawmakers have been repeatedly approved by congressional committees. But they have not reached the House or Senate floor
until now because of opposition from U.S. administrations worried about their impact on U.S.-Turkish relations.
Successive Turkish governments have warned of serious damage to those ties, vehemently denying the slaughter of some 1.5 million Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire. Ankara has not yet reacted to the announcement of the planned House vote.
There was also no immediate reaction from the White House. Like his predecessors, President Donald Trump avoided using the word genocide in his annual statements on the World War One-era mass killings and deportations of Armenians. He has spoken instead of “one of the worst mass atrocities of the
20th century.”
On Wednesday, Trump lifted sanctions imposed by him on Turkey earlier this month, saying that a ceasefire in northern Syria is now permanent.
RFE/RL Report
Armenia Slides In Investment Climate Rankings
October 24, 2019
Robert Zargarian
The World Bank has downgraded Armenia’s position in its annual survey on the ease of doing business around the world despite reporting an improvement in the country’s investment climate.
Armenia ranked 47th, together with Belgium and Moldova, in the latest Doing Business survey which assessed economic conditions in 190 nations with a range of specific indicators. It was 41st in last year’s global rankings.
Armenia scored poorly in two of the ten categories used by the bank for evaluating the ease of engaging in entrepreneurial activity: “Protecting Minority Investors” and “Resolving Insolvency.” Even so, the World Bank said the Armenian authorities have “strengthened minority investor protections” over
the past year. It also found improvements in taxation procedures and construction quality control.
As a result, the country’s overall Doing Business score went up from 73.2 to 74.5. “This means that over the course of last year Armenia has improved its business regulations as captured by the Doing Business indicators in absolute terms,” the head of the World Bank office in Yerevan, Sylvie Bossoutrot, said in a statement issued on Thursday.
This latest edition of the study documents reforms implemented in the 190 economies over a 12-month period ending on May 1, 2019, one year after Prime
Minister Nikol Pashinian and his government took office. Pashinian has repeatedly claimed to have eradicated “systemic corruption” and significantly
improved Armenia’s business environment.
Pashinian discussed the country’s worsened position in the investment climates during a cabinet meeting in Yerevan. Economy Minister Tigran Khachatrian blamed it on what he described as a change in the bank’s methodology of measuring minority shareholder protection. Artur Javadian, the Central Bank governor also present at the meeting, claimed, for his part, that Armenia’s poor score in that category is the result of a “technical error.”
Armenpress.am
25 October, 2019
‘Armenian government implements open-door policy towards foreign investments’ – PM Pashinyan
The Armenian government implements an open-door policy towards foreign investments, providing for full property ownership, PM Nikol Pashinyan told Gulf News in an interview.
“Armenia provides an excellent opportunity for investors in areas such as information technology, tourism, agriculture, manufacturing, energy and many others”, he said. “Our government implements an open-door policy towards foreign investments, providing for full property ownership. Foreign investors can have free access to any sector and geographic location within the country with no restrictions on personnel recruitment, free and unlimited repatriation of profits, unlimited currency exchange on market rates, and guarantees against nationalization. The five-year grandfather clause protecting foreign investors against investment-related legislation changes is also a part of our foreign investment framework. With regard to international economic relations, Armenia has bilateral treaties on investment promotion and protection with 43 countries, including the United States. Armenia is a member of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. We have treaties on the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with 46 countries. This means that the investors are granted a number of guarantees – in particular, national treatment, protection from expropriation, free transfer of means and full protection and security”.
Pashinyan noted that the World Bank has ranked Armenia 41st out of 190 countries in its Doing Business report.
“In terms of ease of starting a business, Armenia is 8th in the world, and 14th for registering a property. According to the Index of Economic Freedom, Armenia is the 47th freest economy in the world. We are continuing to carry out deep and comprehensive reforms to improve our business environment. The government is working on legislative reforms to establish a most-favoured-nation regime to define the guarantees provided for foreign investors, as well as to introduce effective dispute settlement mechanisms. We are currently working on expanding opportunities and clearly defining the legal framework for public-private partnerships.
“Armenia is a small, landlocked country” is a description that you may find in many books and articles. Well, I agree, we are a small country. But, we are a nation with a wide and global network, which makes us great. Armenia is located in a place that bridges cultures and economies. Some may claim that Armenia has a small market, but I am here to challenge that view. Armenia is a part of the Eurasian Economic Union market that has over 180 million consumers. Armenian producers also benefit from GSP+ preferential treatment with the European Union, and GSP with the United States and some other countries. Armenia is also deepening cooperation with the European Union through a Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement. This ambitious agreement provides a framework for Armenia and the EU to work together for the benefit of the citizens of Armenia in the areas of strengthening democracy and human rights, creating more jobs and business opportunities, fairer rules, more safety and security, a cleaner environment, as well as better education and opportunities for research”, the Armenian Prime Minister said.
News.am, Armenia
Oct 24 2019
Armenia PM: We tell villagers to insure their land so they get huge compensation when hail comes
At Thursday’s Cabinet session, the government of Armenia approved the State Assistance Program for Implementation of a Pilot Insurance System in Agriculture.
The issue was presented by Minister of Economy Tigran Khachatryan, noting that since early October, insurance policies have been sold in 6 provinces—Ararat, Armavir, Aragatsotn, Kotayk, Vayots Dzor, and Tavush—due to hail, and in two provinces—Ararat and Armavir—due to early spring frost.
"With the support of KfW Bank, we subsidize half of those premiums - 50-60 percent,” he said. “This decision is about how we should transfer this subsidized amount to the insurance companies.”
Referring to the issue, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that until now, if there was a disaster, the hail would damage the crop, the state would compensate for a small part of the loss, but now in case of insurance policies, the state would pay 50-60% of the damage.
"That's why we envision funds in the budget," he added. “In other words, we tell the villagers, ‘Insure your land so that when the hail comes, you will not receive 30,000 drams, but 500,000-600,000 drams.’"
Armenpress.am
24 October, 2019
Armenian Government aims BEYOND sky-high, announces future space program plans and creates new law
The Cabinet has approved the bill on creating a national law on space activities.
Minister of High Tech Industry Hakob Arshakyan said that space research and industry require to regulate space activities and develop it on an economically beneficial level, which in turn will contribute to the development of other branches.
Currently space activities in Armenia are regulated only under international law norms.
“At the same time we plan to include space activities in the list of activities subject to licensing and provide these companies with tax privileges until 2030,” Arshakyan said.
The law is expected to have big significance in terms of creating workplaces and other infrastructures.
“The abovementioned will serve as grounds for a quality generation of specialists (engineers, constructors, mechanics etc.) of space activities to be developed in Armenia in the foreseeable future, which in turn will enable Armenia to carry out its own space programs, including launching Armenian spacecrafts and satellites into the space”, the bill says.
Arshakyan said there are two space companies with whom negotiations are underway and the new law will contribute to their activities in Armenia. The companies are engaged in assembling and testing satellites.
Finance Minister Arom Janjughazyan and PM Nikol Pashinyan noted that the tax privileges must be studied in terms of results.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
Panorama, Armenia
Oct 24 2019
Armenia drops three spots in FIFA ranking
Armenia's national football team has dropped three places to 99th in the latest FIFA World Ranking released on Thursday after drawing with Liechtenstein 1-1 and losing to Finland 0-3 in Euro 2020 qualifiers.
The ranking is still led by Belgium, followed by France and Brazil. England is ranked fourth and Uruguay comes fifth on the list.
Among Armenia’s competitors in the Euro 2020 Group J Italy holds the highest 15th position.
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