2021 November 3

Daily news wrap-up

News - Nov/3/2021: Armenian scientists will work in Cleanroom; materials to conceal soldiers from drones __ 2022 infrastructure: reservoirs & roads __ COVID: 12% vaccinated; more liquid oxygen __ 2022 budget: defense, HRO, govt's branches, salaries __ More wine more good? __ Geopolitics __ other
by ar_david_hh

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Your 11-minute Wednesday briefing in 2756 words.

Armenia imported liquid oxygen stations to increase production to meet COVID demand / "clean room" for scientific research

The demand has never been this high, said the director of Physics Institute (National Science Laboratory) Ani Aprahamyan. On July 13 we learned that the NSL planned to import cryogenic equipment to produce liquid oxygen.

Ani Aprahamyan in July: the NSL was producing oxygen to the best of its abilities. Last year, at one point, we were supplying 95% of oxygen in Yerevan hospitals. The issue is with the center being 65 years old. Things would break often.

Our U.S.-based diasporan doctors and orgs helped modernize the station. It should work another 50 years. The new center will launch its operations on August 13 and will supply oxygen to all of Armenia.

We had to import the liquid oxygen from Georgia during the war. The new station will make us more self-sufficient. Besides that, the quality of the new oxygen is much better. It's good enough for scientific use. //

Aprahamian gave an update during an interview today. "The demand for oxygen has never been this high." Several facilities produce oxygen today.

Aprahamian: as of last December, NSL was producing 48% of Armenia's liquid oxygen. Other stations can also produce the gas. Hospitals produce 35-100L/hour. Ours produces 2,600L/day.

Liquid production is the most efficient with its high density, if you have the gasificator to turn it into gas. Last week the demand was 4x our production; we try to utilize the old station whenever possible so we hired new operators.

The new oxygen station was purchased recently from a Russian company Gleimash (?). They sent experts to retrain our workers.

Healthcare Ministry recently contacted us and wanted to take over the distribution process. Previously, hospitals would contact us directly for oxygen and pick it up. Now we give it to Ministry so they can distribute it where necessary.

This liquid oxygen and its gas can also be used for scientific purposes because it's 99.9% pure. You can use it in chemistry, the army, etc. Non-pure oxygen is sufficient for healthcare only. //

Armenia is working on a Cleanroom lab / Ability to produce materials to help soldiers hide from enemy drones

National Science Laboratory director Ani Aprahamyan revealed on July 13 about plans to build [the first-ever?] Class 1000 Cleanroom in Armenia.

Q: can you tell us the progress so far?

Aprahamian: it'll allow us to produce materials that aren't visible under infrared light. If our soldiers had these materials in 2020, it would help them become invisible to drones.

But this wasn't the only reason we needed the cleanroom. We need it for other materials, too. While in the normal lab there are 100,000 dust units, cleanrooms have 1,000. We contacted diasporans for help. It should be ready for use by the end of this November.

13 companies have already contacted us to use the Cleanroom to produce these infrared materials. It can also be related to graphene used around the world. One group wants to use the lab to manufacture components for small satellites.

Recently the High-Tech Ministry showed interest but didn't disclose why they need the room. There are currently no contracts with the defense industry. //

Full (start at 22:00): https://youtu.be/BFNRVmeur1o?t=881 https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067185.html

Tags: #labshit #Cleanroom

defense budget is set to increase in 2022

As we learned earlier, the MOD budget is set to increase by 11%, to ֏345B ($720M). These aren't the only funds that will be spent on defense, however. For example, NSS's Border Guards are also tasked with protecting the borders. Their role will gradually increase as Armenia switches to a professional army. The latter will be stationed away from borders and train 24/7, while the border guards will defend the borders.

NSS's budget will increase by 23%, to ֏43B ($90M). There are also plans to increase contractor salaries from ֏160k to ֏220k to make the job more attractive.

MOD Arshak Karapetyan had earlier announced about purchases of new weapons from Russia but the details are being kept secret.

Read November 1 report about ongoing efforts to develop Armenia's own military industry.

https://factor.am/436918.html

COVID stats

13.2k tested. 2k infected. 1.3k healed. 50 deaths. 31.3k active.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067160.html

Armenian prisons record the first COVID death

Safety measures and lockdowns were introduced in prisons last year to prevent infections. Today a prison recorded the first death. Justice Ministry is discussing 2020-style movement restrictions.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067176.html

international study: school shutdown during the pandemic led to students falling behind by more than a semester

Education Ministry: according to an international World Bank study, the pandemic had a significant impact on deficiency and functional illiteracy.

In low and middle-income countries, among 10-year-olds, the share of those who cannot read and comprehend text has reached 70%. This is a result of school shutdowns that lasted 200-250 days, with some still being closed.

At the beginning of the year, it was predicted that the increase in functional illiteracy would be 10% but research puts it at 17%.

In Armenia, schools shut down for a significantly shorter period: 12 weeks. Our students fell behind by a semester, compared to 1.5 years elsewhere. One semester is still too much

Pandemic isn't just a health problem. Let's protect our children by [getting vaccinated]. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067153.html

12% of the adult population has been fully vaccinated

817k vaccinations. 562k first (28%) and 254k second (12%) dose.

Healthcare Minister Avanesyan: We have seen a sharp increase in vaccination rates over the past month. The system is prepared to handle 30,000 shots per day.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067164.html

Armenia imported another 400,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067186.html

what other infrastructure projects are planned for 2022?

Infrastructure Minister Sanosyan: the ministry will receive ֏335.3B next year for 140 programs. ֏209.6B will be for capital expenditures.

֏117B relating to transport.

Rebuild Talin-Lanjik-Gyumri road sections and ensure two-way traffic.

֏1.3B to continue the construction of the new bridge in Bagratashen.

Construction on Vanadzor-Alaverdi-Georgia road section.

֏45B relating to water.

185km of repaired and 15km of new irrigation pipes.

Build 17 new reservoirs in Syunik with the help of the EU. Repair 4.

֏49B relating to energy.

10 energy programs. The largest one is about the Caucasus power transmission network (Armenia-Georgia).

https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/224454

ex-Deputy Premier Tigran Avinyan could represent the government in the Zangezur copper plant after the partial nationalization

Premier's office is discussing his possible appointment as a board member.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067173.html

IMF representative: we will continue to support the reform agenda initiated by the Armenian gov't

Pashinyan met IMF's South Caucasus rep. Nathan Porter today.

Pashinyan: Partnership with the IMF and the targeted programs, especially in the post-war period, demonstrated their effectiveness and contributed to maintaining macroeconomic stability in Armenia. We are ready to continue the cooperation in the same spirit.

Porter: we will continue to help your policies and efforts towards improving monetary and fiscal policies, private-public investment system, infrastructure, etc.

Pashinyan: I'd like to emphasize the need for education reforms in Armenia. Ambitious programs are being implemented in this field about education content, physical infrastructure, and the training of professionals. In the next five years, we plan to build/rebuild 300 schools and 500 kindergartens. //

Full: https://factor.am/436790.html

update: Meghri municipality will be led by pro-Europe party and General Samvel Babayan's party

Municipal elections were held in 6 cities. The ruling QP will govern in four, another remains under Kocharyan control.

The last one was Meghri. The winner "Republic Party", which is a pro-Europe and Pashinyan-friendly party, failed to reach an agreement with the ruling QP, and will form a coalition with General Samvel Babayan's Azatakan Party instead.

They agreed to split the 5-year term in half. Republic will lead in the first half, followed by Azatakan.

General Samvel Babayan had earlier listed irrigation and construction of a dam as some of the priorities in the event of victory.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067230.html

2022 budget for Premier/Parliament/President revealed

Finance Minister Khachatryan: Premier's budget will reduce by 34% (֏20B), while President's (֏1.6B) and Parliament's (֏6B) budgets will stay the same.

The drop in Premier's budget is partly because some of the projects will be implemented by other agencies.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067152.html

which parties & alliances will receive funding from the budget?

There are stricter requirements for alliances. Parties must win 2% while alliances 7% in order to qualify for state funding, the size of which depends on various things. That means some parties that didn't cross the Parliamentary threshold for representation can still receive funds.

QP (Pashinyan) ֏145M

BHK (Tsarukyan) ֏50M

Republic (Aram Sargsyan) ֏39M

HD (Kocharyan-ARF) ֏17M

PU (Serj-Vanetsyan) ֏0M because they captured under 7%

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067179.html

2022 budget for Supreme Court

It'll increase from ֏12.1B to ֏14.3B, but when you remove the budget for one-time programs, there is a ֏612M reduction.

To alleviate the burden in the court system, in which judges are assigned to thousands of cases, 30 new judges were hired recently, with 29 to be hired soon.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067170.html https://factor.am/436701.html

update: Armenia will shut down two notorious prisons on January 1, and likely build a modern one

In two months, Kosh and Hrazdan prisons will close their doors, amid a significant drop in the prison population in recent years. Those two facilities were notorious for poor living conditions. Europe will help the gov't to build a new prison with modern standards.

The money saved from the two closures will be partially redirected to probation services, which needs more staff. Armenia recently adopted legal reforms that will give more importance to probation, house arrest, and rehabilitation, as an alternative to imprisoning suspects.

Probation Services will have a ֏676M budget. ֏110M will be spent on purchasing electronic monitoring devices.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067172.html https://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/296514/

families of several missing soldiers closed a road with a hope to expedite the search & repatriation process

The police officers opened the Tigran Mets road and organized a meeting between the parents and the deputy police chief Ara Fidanyan. Parents agreed to meet Pashinyan within 1-2 weeks.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067206.html

funding will increase for Human Rights Ombudsman staff

HRO's staff budget is set to increase by 2% next year, from ֏532M to ֏542M.

The Constitution requires HRO's budget to either stay the same or reduce. Earlier this year the gov't drafted an amendment to allow for reduction of funding, amid the financial hardship that Armenia was facing especially in the period after the war.

Now it appears HRO's budget will increase next year. The aforementioned law is still being discussed.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067202.html

HR Ombudsman criticized the law that exempts members of Judiciary, Executive, and Legislative offices from the PCR/vaccine requirement

Armenian workers are required to submit a PCR test every two weeks if they don't get vaccinated.

HRO called the law discriminatory and noted that almost everyone in the aforementioned branches has been vaccinated anyway. HRO office is also exempted from the PCR test. [AFAIK the justification was "the constitution doesn't allow" enforcement against some officials.]

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067209.html

HR Ombudsman about improving the safety in border settlements:

The creation of a security belt is necessary on borders where Armenian citizens live. Azeri soldiers and their flags should be moved further away from settlements.

They do not have the legal right to be that close. International law says border demarcation cannot be considered legal if it doesn't ensure human rights.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067167.html

HR Ombudsman has seen an improvement in the conscription organization process

HRO Tatoyan: Parliament should strengthen oversight on the issue of providing housing and medical care to soldiers. Conscripts should be properly medically examined before the draft.

In this regard, we have seen a significant improvement in recent years. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067211.html

UK wants to seize £15M from the family of Azeri politician linked to Ilham Aliyev

>The United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) is looking to seize 15 million pounds (US$20.5 million) in bank accounts that belong to the wife, son, and nephew of Javanshir Feyziyev, an influential Azerbaijani politician

Full: https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/15402-uk-aims-to-seize-15-million-from-family-of-azeri-politician https://factor.am/437014.html

MFA Mirzoyan: Armenia is ready to normalize relations with Turkey without preconditions

Full interview to Nouvelles d'Arménie:

https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/224537

Moscow: it's time to implement the 3+3 regional cooperation platform

Russian MFA: We think it is time to put the program into practice. Multilateral regional cooperation is in the interests of all its supposed members.

We believe that the launch of "3+3" would help increase confidence in interstate relations, resolve existing conflicts and open the region's transport potential and economy. //

https://factor.am/436942.html

Armenia to increase wine production fivefold: Economy Minister

Minister Kerobyan: next year we intend to increase wine production 5x, up to 60 million liters per year. We are planning big changes in the field of viticulture. The 5-year winemaking program will soon be approved by the Wine & Viticulture Fund.

A five-year strategy for the development of brandy will be developed. //

http://arka.am/en/news/business/armenia_to_increase_wine_production_fivefold_minister_says_/

Armenian dram continues to rise against the dollar

It's ֏477 today, similar to early-2020. It had reached ֏533 earlier this year.

https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/224541

☭☭☭ Да здравствует proletariat ☭☭☭: millionaires and billionaires in Parliament might not receive salary premiums in 2022

Parliament is still discussing the 2022 budget.

QP MP Gevorg Papoyan: MPs won't receive premiums next year. The premium fund will be for Parliament's staff. Drivers, experts, sanitation workers, and others will receive a 30% bonus. The draft budget does not provide bonuses for MPs.

HD MP Vardevanyan: dat's important.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067158.html

Symbiotics representative: "I think it’s a good moment to invest in Armenia. We see Armenia as a very good base for us."

>Symbiotics is the leading market access platform for impact investing, dedicated to financing micro-small and medium enterprises and low- and middle-income households in emerging and frontier markets.

Interview with Vincent Lehner, the Head of Markets at Symbiotics. He recently met Armenia's Ameriabank and signed two loan agreements to finance Armenian small and medium businesses.

https://youtu.be/Qcn1J--yzpE https://symbioticsgroup.com/ https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067168.html

Professors Oganessian and Balzani to receive first UNESCO-Russia Mendeleev International Prize in the Basic Sciences

>[Professor Oganessian is] Recognized for his breakthrough discoveries that extend the Periodic Table and for his promotion of the basic sciences at global scale.

>Professor Oganessian’s work played a leading role in the synthesis and study of new chemical elements of the periodic table. He has driven major developments in international scientific cooperation that led, inter alia, to the discovery of superheavy elements like the one with atomic number 118 named after him as Oganesson.

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1067192.html

IRS chief met the Russian ambassador

Badasyan and Kopyrkin discussed the implementation of modern electronic systems to improve cooperation between AM-RU customs and tax agencies.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067178.html

Armenia's ambassador to U.S. visited Congress and met over a dozen lawmakers

Ambassador Makunts thanked them for supporting Armenia and issues concerning the Armenian people. Makunts discussed the ongoing reforms in Armenia, regional security, and POWs.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067150.html

Pashinyan met Artsakh president Arayik Harutyunyan

Harutyunyan thanked Armenia for the financial aid, which is being used to subsidize utility fees, build housing and roads. He praised the close cooperation between the Ministries of Armenia and Artsakh.

Harutyunyan spoke about the construction of 300 new apartments in the capital Stepanakert. Overall, there will be 3,000 new apartments across Artsakh by the end of 2022.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067154.html

authorities uncover large-scale illegal mining operation

NSS reports: the director of a company violated land exploitation laws and conducted illegal mining near Arevik settlement in June. 100,000 m^3 gravel was extracted. The company evaded ֏153M in taxes and fees. A felony case is launched. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067157.html

the new Anti-Corruption Committee is preparing to investigate 2,000 cases next year

ACA chief Sasun Khachatryan: the committee was fully formed last month so the 2022 budget is still being discussed. It's impossible to predict accurately but the number of cases should be approximately 2,000 next year. It won't be only about criminal cases. There will be investigative activities as well. //

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067195.html

World Championship: Armenian boxer declared winner of a match after challenging the results

Hovhannes Bachkov fought against the Thai boxer in the 1/4th round and lost, according to referees. He challenged the results successfully and was declared the winner.

Armenia will have two boxers in the semifinals.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067140.html

U23 Greco-Roman Wrestling Championship

130kg Davit Ovasapyan wins silver.

72kg Shant Khachatryan wins bronze.

63kg Hrachya Poghosyan won bronze yesterday.

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067141.html https://factor.am/437043.html

today in history

1783: London uses hanging as a form of execution for the last time

1906: SOS is adopted as a maritime distress signal

1928: Turkey switches from Arabic to Latin alphabet

https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1067138.html

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/qm1wme/news_nov32021_armenian_scientists_will_work_in/