2021 December 16

Daily news wrap-up

News - Dec/16/2021: Haypost's budget is recovering; New services | Yerevan Council opposition supports removing mayor Marutyan; Financial department accuses mayor of misleading public about projects | Min. pensions & benefits to increase | Armenia-Iran railway details | Digitization | other news
by ar_david_hh

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This is your 13-minute Thursday report in 3284 words.

interview with Haypost director | Red mailboxes? | 1-hour pharmacy deliveries | Unified service centers

Reporter: we noticed red mailboxes on Yerevan streets. Are these only for the capital?

Haypost: you'll soon find them in all tourist areas. It's a tradition when a tourist comes to Armenia and wants to send a postcard to their country. These mailboxes are not cheap so we're focusing on tourist areas.

Reporter: how often will you collect the mail?

Haypost: once a day.

Reporter: the international delivery fees sharply increased earlier this year so you wouldn't operate at a loss. Did that help?

Haypost: the trend became negative in 2017 and continued that way. This year our losses were cut in half compared to 2020 because of the hike. Next year we will have positive ֏300M. When the government took over Haypost in 2020, we were in our worst financial state. We are recovering now.

Reporter: your buildings are in f--ked up condition in provinces. You said it's physically impossible to renovate them in 200 settlements. Do you have the money to rebuild them?

Haypost: we don't have the income yet, so the government has to fund the repairs. We're yet to confirm the 2022 Haypost budget. We would like to receive enough funding to build universal service centers. These centers aren't just post offices, they include five various government/financial/pharmacy services. These are the so-called "government embassies in provinces".

They help save resources. We have them Gyumri and Ijevan, and soon in Vanadzor, before a wider rollout.

Haypost has a new digital platform. Every department is online. A new app, an online pharmacy. You can deliver medicine to any part of the country.

Reporter: will you open more pharmacies?

Haypost: we'll open two more in Yerevan this year. Many villages don't have pharmacies. Provincial residents can visit the new pharmacy or use the mobile app and we will deliver the medication to the province the next day. This is already available in some locations, but we want to make 1-hour deliveries possible in Yerevan by having one such pharmacy in every district. We'll open 7 pharmacies in Yerevan next year.

Reporter: several months ago a large number of Haypost workers were terminated after failing the certification exam. They complained that they were asked questions unrelated to the profession.

Haypost: after we went under state control, we conducted research to learn what the clients' main complaints were. The two major problems were identified as the quality of Haypost service and the quality of employee service. [basically everything]

We have since taken steps to address those. There is a new program that measures customer satisfaction. Good employees earn higher bonuses. Low-rated employees earn fewer bonuses.

We didn't reduce the number of workers. Certification exams are a continuous process. The employees who were terminated filed a complaint with the labor inspectors but the latter didn't find any violations by our decision. We want our employees to have at least minimal standards. We have an employee shortage in provinces. It's not because of wages - the wages increased by 44% after the state took control. //

https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/227521

Pashinyan met Yerevan council members to discuss the appointment of a new mayor

Context in Wednesday post. Mayor Marutyan joined the ruling party in 2018 and was chosen as mayor. He reportedly quit the party after the war and refused to endorse Pashinyan during the June elections against Kocharyan. A pro-govt outlet wrote that Marutyan cozied up to Kocharyan after a meeting with Kocharyan ally Seyran Ohanyan. The ruling party has decided to appoint a new mayor.

Pashinyan returned from Brussels and met the Yerevan council's QP members to discuss the topic. QP's preferred candidate is the First Deputy Mayor Hrachya Sargsyan who has served alongside Marutyan since 2018.

Councilman Kotolyan: Marutyan left the party a year ago. We have been trying to find common ground for about a year, but unfortunately, we have not been able to do so. //

Yerevan council's opposition members announced their support for terminating Marutyan's duties

LUYS Ani Khachatryan: I join the petition to replace the mayor. A mayor represents a political party. If he breaks the ties, he cannot serve anymore. The mayor has to work with the city council.

Hayk Marutyan works only with himself and almost never communicates with the councils. There are also reports that he has established closed relations with those outside the council.

Marutyan has lost the legal and moral right to be the mayor. The new mayor should be supported by QP, Luys, and BHK fractions. Our candidate is Artak Zeynalyan. //

LUYS member Davit Khazhakyan has not yet decided how he will vote, but he wrote "buying buses is not an achievement when it's done at the expense of not repairing roofs", and accused Marutyan of sharing misleading information about bus purchases.

BHK councilman said they will vote to remove Marutyan. "We've been highlighting the shortcomings since 2019."

Yerevan's Finance Commission chief accuses mayor Marutyan of inflating his role in the bus/elevator purchase process and providing misleading information

Yerevan's Finance Commission chief: the mayor made a misleading claim today about 520 new buses and the elevators. According to British WYG analysis, the capital needs 850-900 new buses.

The city's budget paid for 211 Chinese [Jong Tong] buses. Before that, the city had purchased 100 Gazel microbuses. That means the number of new buses is currently at 211.

The 2022 budget reviewed by the Council mentions another 100 Chinese buses, as well as 100 new modern buses from the federal government with the help of loans.

In other words, the number of buses purchased by the city is 311, which is 35% of what we need, and not 60% as Marutyan misleadingly claims.

Moreover, the funds used by the city to obtain those buses came from not completing other projects. The money came from not making investments in other important areas. Only 65-70% of the planned work is being done.

A word about the elevators. The 100 new elevators mentioned by Marutyan are not enough [3,500 to replace]. We will be forced to review and optimize the budget ourselves to bring the total number to 300 for 2022. //

>[this morning] Հայկ Մարությանը ֆեյսբուքյան էջում տեղեկացրել էր 100 նոր ավտոբուսի և 100 վերելակի գնման հայտերը ստորագրելու մասին և նշել, որ հաջորդ տարի առկա կլինի ընդհանուր 1000 հատ փոխարինված վերելակ, իսկ քաղաքային տրանսպորտի պարկը թարմացված կլինի ավելի քան 60%-ով՝ ունենալով արդեն շուրջ 520 նոր ավտոբուս։

QP party's official statement about replacing Marutyan:

We have initiated a no-confidence motion against the mayor. The My Step alliance had formed a political team in 2018. Marutyan was elected after citizens voted for the My Step alliance after the revolution. Marutyan took part in the elections as a QP member.

In December 2020 he resigned from QP and My Step, and distanced himself from QP during the crucial events of early 2021 [snap elections]. He decided not to share political responsibility with QP.

Marutyan has not fulfilled the obligations of the My Step bloc undertaken before the citizens of Yerevan.

Marutyan has not sufficiently fulfilled the important mission of eliminating systemic corruption from Yerevan Municipality.

The bloc cannot fulfill its obligations in a situation when the mayor has severed ties with the political majority of the Council.

Our nominee is the First Deputy Mayor Hrachya Sargsyan. We'd like to thank Marutyan for the joint work and wish him success. //

Yerevan council has enough votes to replace the mayor. 33 is needed, they have at least 39 as of yesterday.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070976.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070978.html https://factor.am/454560.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070983.html https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/227574 https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/227570 https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/227569 https://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/297393/

Tags: #HaykMarutyan #MayorMarutyan

minimum pensions & disability benefits will increase starting January

Minimum pensions will ֏26.5K -> ֏28.6K.

Minimum pensions for disabled residents or families who lost a relative in army will also increase by ֏3K.

Childcare allowance for kinds under 2yo will increase by ֏2K.

Disabled children's aid will ֏26.5K -> ֏37K

Pashinyan: it ain't much but it's a rather tangible percentage increase. It is our duty to increase these benefits, but on the other hand, we need to develop the economy to make more aid possible. Science salaries will skyrocket soon. We want the investments in tech and science to pave way for better social benefits later. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070907.html https://youtu.be/TIfNoZw8kSU

family members of war participants will continue to receive education tuition subsidies

The government extended the subsidy program that has so far aided 7,000 students with ֏1.463B.

https://factor.am/454670.html

monthly aid program is extended for Syunik's Shurnukh and Vorotan residents who lost property during border changes

A few dozen families had to relocate after the war. They received one-time ֏300K and monthly ֏68K. The monthly payments will continue while new houses are being built.

https://factor.am/454667.html

IRS will reform employee hiring requirements in the digital age

IRS chief Badasyan: we proposed changes to how we hire IRS and customs agents. Today's hiring process is just a ceremony.

Many changes are happening in the system with the introduction of digital utilities. For example, the digital-only customs declarations acceptance process. There will be no agent-business direct contact. We need the employees to be specialized. The changes will roll out in 2022-2024. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070947.html

֏15B investment project is planned in Artsvanist (Gegharkunik)

The government has authorized 69 hectares to be privatized so AK FERMA Ltd can proceed with the construction of ֏15B cattle and dairy farm. It's expected to create up to 400 jobs.

https://factor.am/454689.html

other diplomatic meetings were held after the tripartite AM-EU-AZ meeting in Brussels

Context is here if you missed it. Pashinyan and Aliyev held another meeting with France's Macron. Macron reaffirmed his support for Armenia outside the meeting.

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Security Council chief Armen Grigoryan met Joe Biden's National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan yesterday. Sullivan said military movements near un-demarcated borders are irresponsible and provocative.

Sullivan welcomed the ongoing communication between AM-AZ, and thanked Pashinyan for participating in Biden's The Summit for Democracy.

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Pashinyan met the president of Cyprus in Brussels and discussed political, economic, and humanitarian topics. Cypriot President expresses unconditional support to Armenia and published a tweet in Armenian: "ԵՄ Գերաստիճան Խորհրդաժողովին բարեկամական հանդիպում ունեցայ ՀՀ Վարչապետ Նիկոլ Բաշինեանի հետ փոխանցելով Կիպրոսի անվերապահ զօրակցութիւնը Հայաստանի եւ իր ժողովուրդին։Մեր երկիրները կը վայելեն սերտ յարաբերութիւն մը որուն մէջ անուրանալի է Կիպրահայ գաղութին դերը։"

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070884.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070892.html https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1070895.html

Pashinyan spoke about the planned Armenia-Nakhijevan-Iran-Azerbaijan railway construction

Pashinyan: in Brussels we reaffirmed the Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan agreement on constructing the Yeraskh-Nakhijevan-Meghri-Azerbaijan railway.

I am underscoring that the railway will function in accordance with internationally accepted border and customs regulations on reciprocal principle, under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries.

This will grant Armenia access to Iran and Russia, while Azerbaijan will access to Nakhijevan. If we successfully open the border with Turkey, this railway could become something bigger (Yeraskh-Gyumri-Kars).

We will hold narrow-format consultations in the next few days to further specify our ideas, the timeframes, and the roadmap. Our intention is to have the railway connections ASAP.

Economy Minister: we need to invest very little money to connect Armenia to Iran. It's a matter of a few hundred meters for the Yeraskh-Nakhijevan link.

The second and larger link is in Meghri. That's quite expensive because the old railway was completely dismantled and turned into a highway. We don't know yet how much it will cost to build one. I think we could do it for $200M. [Armenia will likely fund this]

The more expensive link is from Meghri to Horadiz, which will cost over $1B. [Azerbaijan will likely fund this] //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070903.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070904.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070915.html https://youtu.be/m86azjUqy9s

Turkish lira wants to explore how deep Mariana Trench really is

Lira saw the second historic low in under a week - currently at 15.64 per dollar. Erdogan's Central Bank keeps cutting the rates. He believes it'll bring long-term benefits. Meanwhile, Turkish residents are lined up for cheap bread.

The government has decided to increase the minimum wage to 4,250 lira ($270).

https://factor.am/454607.html https://factor.am/454755.html

government extends ban on Turkish imports, but is open to improving relations

The import of some Turkish products was banned after the war. The government recently decided to extend the ban.

Economy Minister: annual import of Turkish products was $270M. Today it's down by 10x. The customs agents are vigilant to prevent Turkish imports labeled under other countries' labels, but it's difficult to control because EAEU imports are not subject to customs examination. It's a "loophole".

We believe that the economic results and the expectations indicate that we are on the right track. In general, we believe the economic relations with Turkey should be well-designed and symmetrical. We do not believe the relations should be one-sided. The relations with Turkey in the context of the blockade should be examined in detail, it should be a bilateral action. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070923.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070939.html

Armenian-Turkish MP Garo Paylan wants to help normalize AM-TR relations

Paylan urged Erdogan, Turkish political parties, and officials in Armenia and Azerbaijan to assist in resolving the issues. Paylan is willing to do his part.

Turkey appoints a special representative to build relations with Armenia

Erdogan ally Serdar Kilic is the special envoy to discuss the normalization of ties with Armenia. He was the former Turkish ambassador to the US, Lebanon, and Japan.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070934.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070940.html

new municipal elections will be held in Vedi

My Powerful Community - 8.6k votes

QP - 7.7k votes

Republic - 3.2k votes

No party won 50%. It appears there will be no coalition, either. Pashinyan's and Aram Sargsyan's parties have withdrawn their mandates to trigger new elections.

Amasia is another settlement where nobody crossed 50%. QP won the most votes in this one but no coalition was formed. The second biggest party (local forces) will form a coalition.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070896.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070928.html https://factor.am/454812.html

Covid stats

7.6k tested. 180 infected. 470 healed. 18 deaths.

government allocates another $16.7M to help businesses during Covid | Agricultural programs & loans

Over 20 aid programs were implemented last year to help businesses and individuals affected by the pandemic. Today the government allocated another ֏8B to finance them.

Economy Minister Kerobyan: the 1st program will receive ֏2.1B. As part of this program, over a thousand businesses have already received ֏87B in loans with favorable terms to purchase raw materials and devices.

֏2.7B was spent to help farmers obtain 456 units of agricultural equipment. Part of the new funds will go towards this.

The agro-food equipment and leasing program was quite interesting. We injected ֏8.6B to help 160 recipients.

Over 22,000 farms have received ֏45B in favorable loans.

700 hectares of intensive gardens with high productivity were financed. We could have done better in agriculture if it wasn't for water problems, but we had record exports of primary agricultural products: 200,000 tons. This year's development in intensive gardens gives us hope that we will have better results in 2022. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070900.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070916.html https://youtu.be/uKIbJqmSbzQ

deputy army chief of general staff is fired after embezzlement charges

Deputy CoGS Stepan Galstyan is among several ranking army officials accused of corruption during weapon purchase processes. Context here. Ex-MOD Davit Tonoyan and a prominent weapon supplier Patron Davo were also arrested.

https://factor.am/423656.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070948.html

army held artillery exercises

https://factor.am/454778.html

second SMART center will open in Armenia

Read earlier post about SMART center and its programs in villages. COAF curriculum emphasizes novel teaching techniques, leveraging both project-based and action-based learning. The SMART model is designed to be replicated throughout Armenia. The SMART center is located in Debet (Lori). High-Tech Minister recently signed a cooperation memorandum.

SMART plans to build the second center in Armavir. They recently collected the largest-ever donation: $8.4M. COAF's founder Karo Armen has donated $1M to the project. The center in Armavir will have a digital design studio.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070943.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1058612.html

World Weightlifting Championship: Simon Martirosyan wins bronze

109kg category.

https://factor.am/454791.html

UEFA Nations League draw: Armenia's opponents are known

Ukraine

Scotchland

Ireland

Armenia

Coach Caparros: it's a tough group. One of them used to be in A-league. The fact that we're playing against strong teams means we have also gotten stronger. We must be competitive. //

The games will be held in June and September.

https://factor.am/454945.html https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070989.html

Armenian Yezidis celebrate Red Sultan holiday

It's one of the most important holidays. Red Sultan Ezdi ascends on Earth to establish peace and unity. Every Yezidi who is in a conflict must reconcile on that day. Those who refuse are no longer considered Yezidi.

The holidays begin on Tuesday after December 13. The actual event is on Friday. They fast on the eve (today).

Yezidi religious leader Sheikh Bro Hasanyan [not a typo, Yezidis have the best names in the world]: first, we congratulate the dead and pay tribute [describes a religious ceremony]. We have quite favorable conditions in Armenia to preserve our cultural heritage and traditions. Armenia has always stood out with its special attitude and is a good example for the rest of the world. I can't say we have zero problems. It would have been nice to have a cultural house in Yerevan to hold performances, display traditional taraz, present scientific achievements, etc. We're working on it. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1070938.html

World Travel Awards: Armenia named World’s Leading Heritage Destination 2021

>Wings of Tatev was recognized as the winner of the 28th World Travel Awards in the “World’s Leading Cable Car Ride 2021” category, and Armenia is the winner in the “World’s Leading Heritage Destination 2021” category.

>Wings of Tatev is the longest (5752 m) reversible aerial cable car in the world, and has served more than 1 million visitors in 11 years

https://en.armradio.am/2021/12/16/world-travel-awards-armenia-named-worlds-leading-heritage-destination-2021/ https://factor.am/454646.html

Armenian scientists discover a new... bacterium?

Anoxybacillus karvacharensis is a novel thermophilic bacterium isolated from the Karvachar geothermal spring in Nagorno-Karabakh, announced scientists from Yerevan's YSU and Norwegian Bergen universities.

https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/227560 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34596507/

ladies and gentlemen, they got him

Scientists believe they have discovered the origins of all life on Earth.

LUCA is the last universal common ancestor of all life on Earth. It is a single-cell microorganism that resembled bacteria, and lived 4 billion years ago.

LUCA came from chemical processes inside Earth's hydrothermal vents (the holes on the ocean floor that release gas). What scientists have long struggled to understand are the biochemical processes that gave the energy to LUCA. Until now.

The key is to understand the "fuel" that allowed for metabolic processes to happen. In the past, scientists speculated that the fuel must have come from external sources like ultraviolet light, radioactive decay, etc.

The energy for LUCA comes from the chemical reactions involved in metabolism itself. During metabolism, each step produces chemical byproducts that power the next phase of metabolism. It's a chain reaction.

To test this hypothesis, researchers studied the deep ocean hydrothermal vents.

What drove LUCA's metabolic reactions forward? Hydrogen, primarily. Hydrogen is the "chemical sunlight" in the deep ocean. Some 402 metabolic reactions would be enough to produce the 3 building blocks essential to life: amino acids, bases, and cofactors (vitamins).

To build those life blocks with metabolic reactions, besides the key element hydrogen, you also need carbon dioxide and ammonia. Hydrogen is the big boss that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds used to store energy in living beings.

The scientists ultimately learned that LUCA's core metabolism has a natural tendency to unfold all by itself from the elements on the early earth with the right catalysts under the right conditions.

The energy needed at the origin of metabolism simply stemmed from within metabolism itself, as opposed to some external source.

LUCA was a water creature. Hats off to grandpa LUCA.

Full: https://www.inverse.com/science/hydrogen-powered-life

end of report

The accused are innocent unless proven guilty in the court of law, even if they "appear" guilty.

News archive: http://www.armeniapedia.org/wiki/Daily_Anti-Corruption_Reports

Donations: soldiers' families, humanitarian aid, US tax-deductible donation.

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Link to original report and comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/rhya12/news_dec162021_hayposts_budget_is_recovering_new/