MARCH 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Pollution and poor irrigation management have killed off much of the fish in Lake Sevan in Armenia, media quoted experts as saying. Lake Sevan is one of the world’s biggest fresh water lakes and one of Armenia’s main tourist attractions.
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(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)
MARCH 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — In an attempt to boost its technology sector, Armenia’s government approved a law that will offer IT start-up companies a tax break. Under the package IT companies with less than 15 people will not be taxed on profit for three years. Earlier this year Armenia unveiled its version of the iPad — an Armtab.
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(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)
MARCH 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Between 2009 and 2013 Azerbaijan increased by nearly four times the amount of arms it imported, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported. Azerbaijan has been spending profits from energy sales on re-arming. It is still officially at war with Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
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(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)
MARCH 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia’s transport minister, Maxim Sokolov, visited Yerevan and pledged an extra $50m investment in various joint-ventures, a sort of pre-Customs Union entry sweetener for Armenia. Pushing aside the EU’s advances, Armenia has agreed to join the Russia-led Customs Union later this year.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)
MARCH 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Looking to boost tourism, and with its own political agenda in mind, Armenia has hired New York-based GK Brand and Toronto-based Cundari Group to re-brand its sovereign image.
The Armenian government wants to launch a new logo and business plan next year that will help draw in both businesses and tourists.
For Armenia, 2015 is an historically important year as it marks the 100th anniversary of what it has described as a genocide perpetrated against it by Turkish forces.
It says that 1.5m Armenians died when Ottoman Turks attacked them and drove them out of their homes in eastern Turkey in 1915. Turkey denies a genocide but has said that many were killed in partisan fighting.
Armenia is placing an emphasis on its culture, its churches and monasteries for its re-brand but there will also be plenty of political intent.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)
MARCH 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia has relaxed it visa regime for Iraq, less than a month after opening a consulate in the Kurdish part of the country, media reported. On bad terms with its neighbours Azerbaijan and Turkey, Armenia has been strengthening economic and civil relations with Iran and Iraq.
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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The IMF has approved a 38 month loan roughly equal to about $127m to support economic development in Armenia, media reported. Announcing the deal, media quoted Nemat Shafik, deputy managing director of the IMF, as saying that inflation and a large current account deficit were still a worry for Armenia.
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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Predictions on how Armenia will perform economically over the next year don’t make pretty reading.
First, deputy economy minister Vahram Avanesyan was blunt about the impact of a downturn in the Russian economy on Armenia.
In particular he said that the drop by 10% of Russia’s rouble currency would affect the value of remittances to Armenia and also exports from Armenia.
“The first potential security risk is decline in real value of private transfers, the second is lower revenues of Armenian exporters to Russia,” media quoted Mr Avanesyan as saying.
The economies of Central Asia and the South Caucasus are closely linked to the fortunes of Russia. Remittance flows are particularly strong from Russia out to these peripheries of the former Soviet Union.
Armenia, though, is probably more vulnerable than most. Russian companies are bank rolling most of the country’s commerce and Russia’s state-owned companies are large investors.
Shortly after Mr Avanesyan’s assessment the IMF released its forecasts for the Armenian economy.
It said that growth would hit 4.3% in 2014 but that inflation would rise to 5%.
In line with other currencies in the region, Armenia’s dram also weakened earlier this month with the rouble. On March 3, it dropped from 350 drams to the dollar to 400 drams.
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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
FEB. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia’s parliament has pass a bill to tighten military ties with Armenia, local media reported. The bill is likely to mean an increase of military kit for Armenia from Russia. It is important for Armenia as it underlines Russia as one of its main backers.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
MARCH 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia will join the Russia-led Customs Union by mid-April, local media quoted deputy foreign minister Shavarsh Kocharyan as saying.
His statement was a show of support from the Armenian government to Russia in its row with the West over Ukraine. Armenia has previously said it would not be ready to join the Customs Union — a loose economic bloc including Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan — until June.
The decision last year by Ukraine’s government to turn its back on the European Union in favour of closer ties with Russia, triggered demonstrations which culminated in his month’s revolution.
Armenia, though, has never wavered in its support for Russia. Its move towards the Customs Union and away from the European Union has broad public support.
Russian companies are one of the biggest investors in Armenia. Earlier this year Russian gas monopoly Gazprom completed the purchase of the Armenia gas network and oil company Rosneft has also pledged to invest $500m into a rubber plant outside Yerevan.
The Russian military also maintains one of its biggest overseas bases in Armenia which the public sees as a bulwark against potential Azerbaijani aggression. Also on March 1, one of the main opposition leaders in Armenia, former president Levon Ter-Petrosyan told his supporters at a rally in Yerevan that joining the Customs Union was the right move for Armenia.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
