Armenia Archives

Boeing to Assist Armenia Develop its Aviation Industry

August 13, 2015 By administrator

Zvartnots International Airport (Source: Zvartnots. aero)

YEREVAN (ARKA)—Boeing has pledged to assist Armenia in developing its aviation capabilities, according to the Armenian government’s press office after a meeting between Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan and Boeing representatives Mher Papyan and Maks Nilov.

During their meeting, Papyan and Nilov noted that the Armenian government’s open sky policy creates a favorable business environment for Armenia’s aviation industry.

Also discussed during their meeting were proposals aimed at the enhancement of Armenia’s competitiveness in aviation and the establishment of local air companies, as well as issues related to prices.

In October 2013, the Armenian government introduced its open sky policy, which ensures competitive conditions for air services providers in the Armenian market. The program is based on the results of a joint study by McKinsey & Company and the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia.

The Huffington Post: Reviving Armenia’s “Switzerland” Resort Town of Dilijan

August 13, 2015 By administrator

Driving about 90 kilometers northeast of Armenia’s vibrant capital city of Yerevan, the highway narrows into mountainous roads as you enter the Tavush region famous for its resort town of Dilijan. The unusual hot and humid summer has vacationers flocking to “Armenia’s Switzerland” not only from Armenia, but also bordering Georgia, Russia and Iran, as well as from various parts of Europe, Jackie Abramian, PR & Social Media strategist, writes in The Huffington Post

“Although today’s Dilijan is desolate and worn-out, newly opened B&Bs, restaurants, boutique hotels and even large hotel chains like Best Western dot the landscape in preparation for what many hope will be the town’s upcoming internationalization boom, promising to inject a much-needed vivacity into Dilijan. Among those descending upon the resort town are entrepreneurs and philanthropists with grand economic redevelopment plans for resuscitating Dilijan into an educational, cultural, recreational and financial hub for the entire region,” she writes.

According to the author, traces of the emerging boom are already evident in the striking glass and white concrete building of the Central Bank of Armenia’s training and research center on top of a hill overlooking the town. But more importantly, she writes, massive cultural and economic redevelopment plans are underway headed by Initiatives for Development of Armenia (IDeA) Charitable Foundation and Dilijan Development Foundation established by philanthropists Ruben Vardanyan and Veronika Zonabend.

“With foresight, vision and deep conviction of such individuals, organizations and philanthropists perhaps today’s Dilijan will regain its reputation and surpass expectations. It is most certainly worth the wait!” the author stresses.

Iran and Armenia Agree to Construct $117M Power Transmission Line

August 11, 2015 By administrator

Iran and Armenia have agreed to construct a new $117 million power transmission line

TEHRAN (Energy Business Review)—The Export Development Bank of Iran (EDBI) has signed a contract with Armenia’s High Voltage Electricity Network (HVEN) for the development of a $117 million power transmission line to facilitate more electricity trade between the two countries.

Under the contract, EDBI will provide $91 million in financing to support the construction of the third Iran-Armenia power transmission line.

Armenia will own 20% of the project, which is planned to be completed in 18 months and be commissioned in 2018.

EDBI managing director Ali Salehabadi was quoted by Fars News agency as saying: “Besides their bilateral trade ties, establishment of this transmission power line will bolster Tehran-Yerevan overall relations and even guarantee Iran’s economic ties with Georgia since the power line will also connect Iran to the national power grids in Georgia, Russia and Turkey.”

Salehabadi said that the current transmission lines between the countries have 300MW capacity and the new line would bring the total transmission capacity to 1,000MW.

Armenian officials have said that the third power transmission line is likely to be connected to the national power grids of Armenia, Georgia, Russia and Turkey.

Turkey prosecutor flees to Armenia?

August 11, 2015 By administrator

A controversial prosecutor, who led probes into alleged coup attempts, has fled to Armenia with a colleague after an arrest warrant was issued regarding both judicial figures, the governor of Turkey’s Artvin Province has announced, reported Hürriyet Daily News of Turkey.

According to the daily, the Bakırköy Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul issued an arrest warrant on former prosecutors Zekeriya Öz, Celal Kara and Mehmet Yüzgeç, accusing them of attempting to overthrow the government forcefully and forming a criminal organization.

Öz was dismissed as the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor on May 12 this year after being rotated to a minor judiciary position, following his launch of the country’s biggest corruption investigation on December 17, 2013, in which government figures and their relatives, as well as several prominent businessmen, were implicated.

The Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), Turkey’s top judicial body, had fired all three prosecutors on May 12, as well as prosecutor Muammer Akkaş and judge Süleyman Karaçöl, who also took part in the corruption investigation.

Öz left Turkey together with Kara early Monday, hours before arrest warrants were issued.

Daily Hürriyet has learned that Ankara contacted authorities in Georgia, where Öz and Kara initially entered, to seek their extradition.

But Tuesday’s announcement by Kemal Cirit, the governor of Turkey’s northeastern Artvin Province, revealed that Öz and Kara had crossed the border into Armenia, reported Hürriyet Daily News.

The National Security Service of Armenia, however, told Armenian News-NEWS.am that they have no such information.

source: news-am

Serbian Party leader: Real genocide was committed by Turks against Armenians

August 11, 2015 By administrator

Real genocide was committed by Turks against Armenians, president of the Serbian radical party Vojislav Šešelj wrote on his Twitter page. “Turkey’s PM Davutoglu claims that what happened in Srebrenica was a genocide. That’s tragicomic! Real genocide was committed by Turks against Armenians,” Šešelj wrote.

Šešelj has been tried by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) since 2003. He was discharged on parole only in 2014 for health concerns. Actually none of the Serbian extermination participants, regardless of whether from Croatian, Bosnian or Albanian side, has been put on trial. Šešelj continues to deny the murder of the civilians in Srebrenica and claims that those killed there were military criminals who were responsible for the killings of the peaceful Serbs.

Tourism in Armenia Grows Substantially This Year, Says Head of Tour Agency

August 10, 2015 By administrator

The Garni Temple complex, one of Armenia’s many popular tourist destinations

YEREVAN (ARKA)—The number of tourists traveling to Armenia has grown considerably due to new efforts to popularize the country, head of the Armenia Travel +M tour agency, Marina Kprelyan, told journalists at a press conference on Thursday.

According to reports and expert estimates, 256,917 tourists visited in Armenia in the second quarter of this year, a 1.8% increase compared to the same period in 2014.

A wide variety of events, including exhibitions, festivals, Armenian Genocide centennial commemoration events, and the current Pan-Armenian Games have led to the unprecedented growth, according to Kprelyan.

The head of the travel agency did not provided concrete data, but said that the alleged 1 million tourists that Armenia receives each year is not exact number and includes the total number of people who visit Armenia. Not everyone arriving in Armenia is a tourist, she said, and that the calculation should be based on records from airports, hotels, and banks.

Kprelyan also said that Europe, including Germany, Austria, England and France, and Israel, accounted for the highest share of tourist arrivals in Armenia this year. The number of tourists from Japan and the US has also increased, but is still curbed by lack of direct flights, she said.

According to Kprelyan, Armenian tourists most frequently visit the Republic of Georgia, largely due to its geographic proximity to Armenia and low costs. Greece, Spain, and Italy are also popular travel destinations for Armenians, Kprelyan said.

Kprelyan noted that because Armenia is not well known on the world stage, more proactive efforts will be needed to popularize the country.

According to the Republic of Georgia’s Foreign Ministry, 180,099 Armenians traveled to Georgia in July, an 11.9% increase from 2014.

Yerevan: 4,000 young participants in the 6th pan-Armenian Games visited the genocide memorial in Yerevan

August 9, 2015 By administrator

4000 young Armenians to the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan

Taking advantage of the Saturday, August 8th where competitions took a break, the participants of the 6th pan-Armenian Games visited Dzidzernagapert at the genocide memorial in Yerevan to pray before the eternal flame in memory of the 1.5 million Armenian victims of the 1915 Genocide perpetrated by Turkey.

Nearly 4,000 members of the delegations of the Armenian youth who participated in the 6th pan-Armenian Games visited Saturday morning at the memorial of the Armenian Genocide. The 6th pan-Armenian Games are under the sign of remembrance of the victims on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. At the head of delegations, the president of the pan-Armenian Games Organising Committee, Ichkhan Zakarian. He told the press “Dzidzernagapert and place of pilgrimage for Armenians. I do not think anyone who comes in Yerevan, can not get to the genocide memorial. The pan-Armenian Games symbolize the defense of Armenianness with a strong axis uniting Armenia, Diaspora and Artsakh. We must not forget that this youth that honors the victims of the genocide in Dzidzernagapert are the children of a people who have been victims of genocide. “ Then delegations visited Echmiadzin, Khor Virab, Sardarabad, Garni and Keghart.

Krikor Amirzayan

Armenian tech studio to unveil new games after Apple award winning project

August 8, 2015 By administrator

Triada Studio’s director, who was recently the United States, says the company has plans to launch new, more challenging computer games after the recent project that brought it an international prize. Report Tert.am

“I don’t think it is worth undertaking anything less significant than that. Anyway it will be in the game industry,” Ara Adamyan said in an interview with Tert.am.
He added that the Apple Design Award, which the team won for the game Shadowmatic, brought the company an international recognition, opening more perspective for new interesting initiatives.
Asked about the Armenian IT products’ competitiveness on the world market, Adamyan said he very often finds them to be smart inventions, challenging for any user in any part of the world.
“On the international market, it doesn’t matter at all if the product is Armenian or Chinese. If it is a quality product, it is always praiseworthy. In Singapore, for instance, if someone wishes to sit back and enjoy a game, it is all the same to him or her whether that’s an Armenian or Scottish game. I think that the Armenian [IT] companies manage at times to realize challenging projects, though I would rather we heard more of that success in real life.”
Adamyan said he expects a stronger government attention to the sector to increase the advantages of IT companies, contributing to their further development.
“I would like the government to be more attentive and mitigate the legislation – especially the taxes – for IT companies. That would be part of the efforts to encourage more organizations to come into existence.”
Asked whether he finds the salaries of Armenian IT specialists satisfactory, Adamyan replied, “In developed countries, of course, the salaries are much higher, but being in Armenia, I think that those working in the IT sector earn enough to afford a high quality life. ”

ARMENIA Nothing concrete between Armenia and Iran

August 6, 2015 By administrator

Even before the international decision on the gradual lifting of sanctions against Iran, the Islamic Republic began to actively develop its international political and economic relations, including with Armenia.

Armenia, as one of the northern neighbors of Iran is among the countries with which Iran would like to have closer relations. However, if the various countries of delegation visits Iran to end up in specific agreements, in the case of Armenia, the results are limited to “warm smiles” and “assurances of friendship.”

Thus, on July 29, Iran decided to open visa-free links with Georgia, Turkey, Lebanon, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Egypt and Syria. Armenia is not among those countries, although in May formally offered Tehran to Yerevan to cancel the visa regime.

Moreover, Armenia has experienced more frequent visits of Iranian delegations. Last week, the Iranian energy minister was in Yerevan, and this week the director of the Export Development Bank of Iran paid a visit to Armenia. Nothing is reported about specific agreements with them. But some experts argue that the Iranians leave “empty-handed”.

The delegations of some countries in the Middle East also appears to achieve any concrete results when they visit Armenia. On July 29, Prime Minister of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan received the Minister of Iraqi Kurdistan of Planning Ali Sindi. And again nothing specific was reported on the meeting in addition to “hot insurance” even though the Kurdish minister said his aim was to explore the investment opportunities in Armenia as well as the prospects for cooperation with Armenian colleagues.

Analysts wonder why Armenia rejects the proposals for cooperation with countries in the Middle East, in particular the initiatives in the region clearly come from Turkey, a hostile state in Armenia, to Iran, an ally of Armenia. Some even wonder if the whole issue is about “orders” of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, which does not hide the fact that Iran is becoming a competitor for Moscow.

Iran adheres to a fairly tough stance on the Karabakh issue, which is largely beneficial for the Armenian side. In particular, Iran is opposed to the deployment of third country peacekeepers in the region, over Tehran declares inadmissible as a military solution to the conflict. However, Armenia is unable to take advantage of Iran’s position on the diplomatic front.

It is not known how long Armenia will manage to get by with “smiles and meaningless statements” in its relations with Iran and other countries of the Middle East. Large international companies are gradually leaving Armenia because of the more complicated trade with European countries following the accession of Yerevan to the Eurasian Economic Union led by Russia. Armenia also has serious problems with Georgia, while only its relations with Russia remain “stable”. Some experts in the media suggest that Armenia became “more Russian” Russia itself. Meanwhile, Yerevan contract more foreign debts by asking money from Western institutions.

By Naira Hayrumyan

Statistics shows surge in Armenia’s economic activity – official

August 6, 2015 By administrator

Armenia’s economic activity was on the rise in the first two quarters of 2015, the vice prime minister said today, introducing the official statistics.

Speaking at the cabinet meeting, Vache Gabrielyan noted that the index reveals an estimated 4.2% of economic activity. “That means we have an economic growth which though isn’t a growth indicator (it will be available in September) but nonetheless shows a positive dynamics in all the sectors of economy, particularly in the industrial production (5.1%),” he noted.

“The highest growth is in agriculture. We have developments especially in plant growing. The high harvest is due to not only the favorable weather but also the use of new land lots,” he said.

Gabrielyan added that the statistics also reveals progress in the development sector the growth being 106% after several years’ stalemate.
“One of the reasons was the decline in private development activities which have now grown. At the same time, the average nominal salary has increased to 110.8%. Compared to the inflation rate, which is now 5.1%, it is now above the annual inflation level,” he added.

Source: tert.am