Armenia to get €34 million grant from the European Union in 2015
Public Radio of Armenia, 30 October 2014, https://www.armradio.am/en/
Armenia will get a €34 million grant from the European Union in 2015, despite the fact that it’s joining the Eurasian Economic Union, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said at the budget considerations at the joint sitting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committees on European Integration and Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs. “The European Union remains an important partner of Armenia,” he added.
“In the near future we plan to hold discussions on the trade-economic component of our cooperation with the EU. This will be followed by political consultations between Armenia and the EU with a view of forming a new framework of cooperation,” the Deputy Foreign Minister said. “The Republic of Armenia is interested in deepening the cooperation with the EU, taking into consideration our commitments in the Eurasian Economic Union to exclude any contradiction between the two,” he said.
General News on Armenia
Armenia’s legislative process should be more flexible: ODIHR
PanArmenian, 30 October 2014, https://www.panarmenian.net/
The legislative process in the Republic of Armenia should be more flexible and participatory, said an assessment report presented by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Yerevan on Oct 30. The presentation, co-organized with the OSCE Office in Yerevan, was held for representatives from the Armenian National Assembly, the government, state institutions, and international and civil society organizations.
Armenian, Russian MPs to talk about harmonizing laws within EEU
ARKA, 30 October 2014, https://arka.am/en/news/
Armenian and Russian lawmakers will discuss issues related to harmonization of laws within the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), co-chairman of inter-parliamentary commission for cooperation, member of Federation Council of Russia’s State Duma Nikolay Rizhkov said at the 25th meeting of the committee in Yerevan. The commission is planning to consider first of all development of Russia-Armenia cooperation within the Customs Union and the EEU as it is its first meeting after Armenia signed the EEU treaty on October 10, he said, as cited by Novosti-Armenia.
Eurasian Development Bank to find new ways of funding Armenia in EEU's staff
Armenpress, 31 October 2014, https://armenpress.am/eng/news/
The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) will continue working with Armenian commercial banks and is interested in funding of development projects on mining industry, energy, transportation infrastructures, EDB Armenia Office Director Sergey Ignatov said in an interview with Armenpress.
“There will also be a commercial funding provided by Armenia’s affiliation to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Wide prospects are opening for Armenia, because the EEU market is quite big.”
Scandalous Situation? Armenia drafted 2015 state budget without estimations related to EEU membership
Armenia Now, 31 October 2014, https://armenianow.com/
A scandalous situation is emerging in Armenia after it has turned out that despite planning to join the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) next year the country has not even estimated the possible economic benefits and risks.
This transpired during the discussions of the draft budget for 2015. As it turned out, the budget does not even have a mention of accession to the EEU from January 1, 2015. Deputy Finance Minister Pavel Safaryan acknowledged that there are still no calculations on the impact of EEU membership on the budget indicators and that specialists are preparing such calculations only now. He explained it by the fact that the budget was drafted and submitted for approval to the government before October 10 when Armenia signed in Minsk the treaty on its accession to the EEU.
Mamikon Gharibyan of Armenia Named Europe’s Under-10 Chess Champion
Asbarez, 30 October 2014, https://asbarez.com/128384/
10-year-old Armenian chess player Mamikon Gharibyan became the 2014 European Under-10 Champion in the continental championship held in Batumi, Georgia, the Chess Federation of Armenia reports. Gharibyan won on tie-break against two other players: Uzumcu Ahmet of Turkey, who placed in second, and Nikoloz Kachavara of Georgia, placing in third.
General News on Nagorno-Karabakh
Russian Politician Says Artsakh Can’t Join EEU
Asbarez, 30 October 2014, https://asbarez.com/128399/
The Russian Co-Chairman of the Armenian-Russian Interparliamentary Commission, Nikolay Ryzhkov, said he isn’t inclined to draw any parallels between Artsakh and Crimea in terms of accession to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). (…) “I understand that Nagorno-Karabakh is a very sensitive matter for Armenia, but unlike Karabakh, Crimea took a decision to join Russia by means of a referendum. We couldn’t forbid Crimean people to do that. (…)As regards Karabakh, I think it is necessary first of all to clearly determine its status and then to discuss the issue you have raised,” Ryzhkov said to the journalists.
USAID: Karabakh will be completely cleared of mines by 2016
News.am, 30 October 2014, https://news.am/eng/news/
The project of clearing the mines, which are left from the Nagorno-Karabakh War, is still in progress with funding by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In a film, entitled “Karabakh: Peaceful Life near the Ghosts of War,” USAID/Armenia Mission Director Karen Hilliard informed that with their support since 2000, demining operations were performed in 251 fields, owing to which it became possible to carry out agricultural work in a 27,000-hectare area. “According to estimations, solely 5 percent of the total mined areas remain non-cleared.”
Azerbaijan moderates stance at Paris Karabakh Talks
Radio Free Europe, 30 October 2014, https://www.rferl.org/content/
The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliyev, met in Paris on October 27 for a further round of talks (…). Few observers seriously believed that the Paris talks would yield significant progress, let alone a breakthrough, in resolving the conflict. But by the same token, neither was it widely expected that Azerbaijan would soften its negotiating position, as it did with regard to confidence-building measures.
That shift in the Azerbaijani rhetoric was, moreover, just one of several reasons why the meeting between the two presidents -- their third within the past three months -- may herald a new phase in the ongoing international effort to mediate a political solution that would at least partially satisfy all three parties to the conflict.
News from Azerbaijani sources
Azerbaijan, EU to set up joint committee
AzerNews, 30 October 2014, https://www.azernews.az/
Works are underway to establish a new joint committee between Azerbaijan and the European Union.
Malena Mard, head of EU Baku office, told Trend Agency that the committee will monitor the implementation of agreements on visa facilitation between Azerbaijan and the EU, which came into force on 1 September.
"We want to make sure that the agreement is beneficial to both parties. I think that this step is important for further advancement," Mard said.
Regarding the prospects of cooperation between the sides, Mard added that the number of twinning-programs between Azerbaijan and the EU are growing.
Azerbaijan, not Armenia, is Israel's true ally
Trend.az, 30 October 2014, https://en.trend.az/azerbaijan/
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and Azerbaijan in 1991, the relationship has improved consistently, said the article titled “Baku to the future: Azerbaijan, not Armenia, is Israel's true ally” by Maxime Gauin and Alexander Murinson. The article has been published in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.
The authors reacted to the earlier Haaretz' op-ed from Yair Auron’s (Israel must not sell arms to Azerbaijan), saying that it is a strange mixture of baseless accusations and absurd parallels.