Armenian News - NEWS.am presents a daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 18.11.2019:
· Armenian President Armen Sarkissian has arrived in Qatar on an official visit. He visited the Qatar Foundation on Monday. The President was briefed on the main directions and structure of this foundation's activities and plans. After a tour of the foundation, President Sarkissian met Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson and co-founder of the Qatar Foundation.
The sides agreed to set up a working group to clarify the directions of cooperation.
Armen Sarkissian also visited Qatar National Library during his official trip to the State of Qatar. During the visit, an agreement was reached to study opportunities of cooperation with Matenadaran Institute of Ancient Manuscripts.
· A woman and her four grandchildren died in a tragic incident in Armenia’s Kotayk province.
Thy were found by police in an apartment in the town of Nor Hachn on Saturday afternoon, reportedly died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Two bodies were found in the bathroom and three in the bedroom.
According to MFA, the father of the four kids, Armenian citizen Arman Margaryan will be in Armenia tomorrow morning.
· Arayik Sargsyan, 31, an inmate of Nubarashen Penitentiary in Yerevan who was undergoing medical treatment at Yerevan hospital, has escaped from there on November 18. Sargsyan, who had previously been convicted seven times, had been sentenced to 6 years and 6 months in prison.
· By the decision of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Movses Hakobyan has been relieved of the post of Chief Military Inspector.
Movses Hakobyan is the former commander of the Karabakh Defense Army.
· Armenian Facebook users from LA have posted an announcement on social media reporting the killing of an Armenian taxi driver by a man in Muslim attire.
LA police later reported the arrest of a suspect.
Oganes Papazyan, 68, of Burbank was stabbed to death in the parking lot. Police soon identified 32-year-old Victor Daniel Torres as a suspect in Papazyan’s killing.
Bail for Torres was set at $2 million pending his initial court appearance, scheduled Tuesday in LA County Superior Court.
· Yerevan is hosting the conference on “Digital Solutions for Cross-Border Cooperation and Trade Facilitation” on November 18-19. The event is part of an EU-funded program to support migration and border control.
According to the head of the EU delegation in Armenia Andrea Wiktorin, Armenia implements the digital agenda within the Eurasian Economic Union, and the same agenda is in the Armenian-EU deal, which aims to develop the country and indicates the possibility of multi-vector cooperation.
WSO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya, in his turn, touched upon the customs service issue.
According to him, the customs service is criticized in case of any difficulties at the border, however, this is often due to infrastructure problems, and some of them can be solved through the introduction of digital technologies and a single-window system, in which Armenia has succeeded.
· A document on technical requirements of preliminary electronic information system has been signed between the Armenian State Revenue Committee and the Iranian Customs Service.
Another protocol has been signed between the Armenian SRC and the Georgian Finance Ministry on the exchange of preliminary electronic information on the international movement of vehicles and goods.
In addition, a memorandum has been signed between the State Revenue Service of the Georgian Finance Ministry and Armenian SRC on the readiness to introduce an electronic seal of loaded vehicles.
· The municipality of the Greek city of Kalamata responded to the request of the local Armenian community to install a monument dedicated to the Armenian Genocide victims.
The monument was unveiled on November 17 in the presence of Archbishop Gegham Khacherian, Prelate of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Greece.
“It’s a great honor for me. I think children are protected in Armenia, but I have recently seen some statistical reports, according to which 14% of children under-five are overweight, while 9% are malnourished. This is a serious problem. First of all kids have to eat right. I will help children together with UNICEF,” he said.
