Tag Archives: Armenia

Editorial: Armenian genocide

JUNE 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A vote by the German parliament to recognise the killings of thousands of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as a genocide has reverberated around Europe.

Turkey, predictably, was outraged and recalled its ambassador from Berlin. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor who has come under much pressure to reduce the flow of migrants from Syria and beyond to Europe, appealed for calm. She has a vested interest, of course, as she is relying on Turkey to stem much of the migrant flow.

The decision by the German parliament to recognise the genocide, which has always been framed by Turkey as a consequence of the chaos of World War I, actually changes very little, other than affirming a major plank of Armenian foreign policy. It doesn’t change German policy towards Turkey, although it may impact the Turkish view of Germany.

What it definitely does do, though, is remind the world of the dreadful killings over 100 years ago of around 1.5m Armenians – whether you agree that this technically constitutes a genocide or not. And this is important.

ENDS

(Editorial from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

EEU holds meeting in Kazakh capital

MAY 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — At a meeting in Astana, leaders of the Russia-backed Eurasian Economic Union delayed the establishment of a single energy market to 2025. Previously, the EEU’s plan was to roll out a barrier-free single market for oil and gas by 2024. The parties did not comment on the reasons for the delay.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Iran plans jet fuel sales to Armenia and Tajikistan

MAY 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — This year, Iran will increase exports of jet fuel to Armenia and Tajikistan, Iranian officials said. Last year, Iran exported jet fuel to Armenia. Although detailed numbers are not public, volumes amounted to a few thousand tonnes. In 2016, Iran added Tajikistan to the list of buyers, a sign of closer commercial relations with Dushanbe. Central Asia has been quick to try to pull Iran into its economic circle since sanctions were eased in February.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

RusHydro to invest in Armenia

JUNE 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The International Energy Corporation, a subsidiary of Russia’s state- owned electricity company RusHydro, said it would invest 18.9b dram (around $4m) into modernising the Yerevan-1 hydropower plant. Yerevan-1 is part of a seven-hydropower plant complex collectively called Sevan-Hrazdan Cascade. RusHydro owns a 90% stake in the company.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Armenia to receive arms from Russia

MAY 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hovik Abrahamyan, Armenia’s PM, said Russia had started delivering arms as part of a deal worth $200m. The arms deal was announced a few days after Armenian leader Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev met for the first time since fighting broke out between the two neighbours around the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in April.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

Armenian exports grow

MAY 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Trade turnover grew in Armenia during the first four months of 2016, compared to the previous year. Exports grew by 21.7% to $513m and imports grew by 18.4% to $1.2b. Importantly, exports to Russia doubled in the first two months of the year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

Armenian soldier killed in N-K

MAY 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The de-facto government of the Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway region said one soldier of the Armenia-backed NKR Defence Army was killed by Azerbaijani fire. This is the first death in the disputed region since Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan met in Vienna in mid-May to strengthen the ceasefire.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

Armenian C Bank cuts interest rate

MAY 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s Central Bank cut its key interest rate by half a percentage point to 7.75%, its lowest rate since November 2014, as it tried to counter sharply falling prices. Annualised inflation at the end of April measured minus 1.9%, the Central Bank said last week. It has steadily lowered interest rates from a high of 10.5% in July 2015.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)

Tashir opens new mall in Armenian capital

MAY 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian real estate holding Tashir Group opened a new $14m mall in Yerevan. Tashir Group, owned by Moscow-based Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan, has poured cash into several real estate projects in Armenia in the past few years. Last year, it bought the electricity distributor Electric Networks of Armenia from Russian state-owned Inter RAO.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)

Armenia to discuss Chinese drinks market

MAY 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Armenian ministry of agriculture sent a delegation to China to discuss a trade agreement aimed at opening the potentially lucrative Chinese market to alcoholic drinks from Armenia. Armenian wine exports tripled in volume between 2008 and 2014 and Armenian brandy is revered in the FSU. Last year, in a reflection of the current economic downturn, volumes fell by 31.5%.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)