Tag Archives: Armenia

EX-Armenian PM Sargsyan heads Eurasian Union Commission

OCT. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Former Armenian PM Tigran Sargsyan will take over as chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission on Feb. 1, an appointment that highlights Russian President Vladimir Putin’s influence over the group.

The Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) announced Mr Sargsyan’s appointment after a meeting in Astana. Mr Sargsyan succeeds Russian Viktor Khristenko.

According to media, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said of Mr Sargsyan’s appointment: “His candidacy is supported by the Russian President as they worked together some time ago.”

The Eurasian Economic Commission runs the EEU — which also includes Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan as its members — on a day-to-day basis, and Mr Sargsyan’s appointment should, at first sight, give Armenia more influence over the trade bloc.

The reality is different, though. The EEU is a Russian project and Mr Lukashenko’s words show just how influential Mr Putin is over the group. Without his support, Mr Sargsyan could not have been appointed as chairman.

Since April 2014, Mr Sargsyan has been the Armenian ambassador to the United States. He had been PM between 2008-14 but quit abruptly after his government’s reforms to the state pension programme proved unpopular.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Armenia’s foreign trade slows

OCT. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s foreign trade turnover dropped 20% in the first eight months of the year, its national statistics office said. The data is more evidence of the economic slowdown that has hit the South Caucasus over the past year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Armenian genocide denial is a right

OCT. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a landmark ruling that will irritate the Armenian government, the European Court of Human Rights (ECRH) decreed that Dogu Perincek, chairman of Turkey’s Patriotic Party, should never have been convicted in 2007 by a Swiss court for denying an alleged genocide by Ottoman Turks of thousands of Armenians in 1915. The ECRH said the conviction was an infringement of Mr Perincek’s free speech. Armenia has been campaigning for denial of the genocide to be a crime.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct.16 2015)

Armenia to shut down nuclear power

OCT. 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s Metsamor nuclear power plant will shut down in two stages in 2017-2018 as part of a planned modernisation of the plant, the Armenian government said. The ministry of energy had planned one 6- month long closure in 2017, but pressure on electricity prices have forced the government to split the period into two phases.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)

Armenia approves new tax code

OCT. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Armenian government approved a second draft of a new tax code that it hopes will pull in extra revenue and cut its deficit. At its core, media reported that the tax code will target closing tax benefits.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)

Karapetyan now targets Armenia’s power stations

YEREVAN, OCT. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — After buying Armenia’s electricity network last week, the Russia-based Tashir Group is on the brink of buying the Hrazdan thermal power station, one of the country’s biggest and most important electricity generating plants.

The Armenian Public Services Regulatory Commission said it approved a deal for Tashir, which is owned by Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan, to buy Hrazdan from Russia’s Inter RAO. Inter RAO also sold the electricity network to Tashir.

After a summer of popular protests against electricity price increases that Inter RAO had wanted to impose, Tashir Group, which has a large property portfolio, will now dominate the Armenian electricity sector.

Mr Karapetyan, who is based in Moscow and is one of the richest men in Russia, is the brother of Karen, a member of the Armenian parliament.

The Armenian government backed the deals involving Tashir Group, although details have not yet been disclosed.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)

Armenia and Iran to boost electricity-gas swap

OCT. 4 2015, YEREVAN (The Conway Bulletin) — At a meeting in Tehran, the Iranian and Armenian energy ministers said they will increase the volume of their gas-for-electricity swap deal, deepening relations between the two neighbours.

Alireza Kameli, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Export Company, told local media that Iran is ready to supply as much as 2.3b cubic metres of natural gas yearly to Armenia through the existing 140km long pipeline. According to Armenian government figures, Armenia currently imports less than 400m cubic metres of gas every year from Iran. By comparison, Armenia imports roughly five times as much gas from Russia as it does from Iran every year.

“Armenia is currently unable to take full advantage of the capacity of the pipeline because of the lack of necessary infrastructure,” Mr Kameli said alluding to the lack of electricity infrastructure in Armenia.

Still the the two sides are working together on extending Armenia’s electricity transmission network. Armenia is building a third high-voltage transmission line, part-funded by Iran. According to the Armenian ministry of energy, the country currently exports 1.8b kWh of electricity to Iran every year, a volume that can be increased up to 6.9b kWh.

Electricity is one of their biggest exports for Armenia. It’s also become highly political. This year thousands of people protested in Yerevan against proposed price rises. The government eventually agreed to subsidise the price rises.

And this month, the government agreed the sale of the electricity distribution network by Russia’s Inter RAO to an Armenian billionaire.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)

Armenia’s Ucom to be handed to Orange

OCT. 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s Ucom, best known for its fibre optic cable business, said it wanted to hand Orange Armenia to three banks to guarantee its liquidity during the increasingly tough economic climate. The Armenian mobile regulator said it will consider the decision later this week. The loss-making Orange Armenia was owned by French company Orange until Ucom bought it in August.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)

Armenia keeps interest rates high

OCT. 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia will keep its interest rate at 10.25% or higher in the medium term to beat rising inflation and maintain stability, media quoted Nerses Yeritsyan, deputy chairman of Armenia’s Central Bank, as saying. Regional pressures have dented economic growth across the S.Caucasus.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)

Azerbaijan accuses Armenia over N-K violence

SEPT. 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s ministry of defence accused Armenian backed forces in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh of killing three Azerbaijani soldiers. The accusation marks another escalation in tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Armenia accused Azerbaijan of killing civilians last week.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)