“We believe the OSCE office was committed to its mandate, it carried out very useful work, proving how important the OSCE contribution is. We are sure the most important value of the OSCE is to be present on spot, and work on spot. The OSCE office in Yerevan was the best example of this with its specic and practical work, which was done on spot,” he said.
“Once again Armenia is playing an important part, because it is the only Eastern Partnership country which has negotiated with the EU over a new document which is called ‘Prospects of Cooperation,” the Ambassador said.
“Thus, there is no economy, they only solve the issue of occupation. 90% of tax burden is on SMEs, i.e. we have an immense number—65 thousand of householders, however, economically we have a rather weak group of employers.”
Touching upon hidden threats of Azerbaijani apples, the 5th in the list should also be attached attention to—fresh or dried citruses. Around 7 thousand tons of fruits with USD 4.65 million have been imported in 2016.
“OSCE isn’t among the organizations, causing excitation in Russia. Just the contrary, MG today is the only platform, where Russia and the West have mutual understanding. And I don’t consider that Moscow may destroy that opportunity of connection.”
“As for signing the withdrawal application I initially observed it as a technical document and signed it upon by initiative. After conclusion of election results I refused the mandate of MP. However, as a result of meeting with Gagik Tsarukyan prior to the CEC final session, decision was made that I took back the withdrawal application and gained MP mandate.”
“OSCE is losing its influence on the parties to the conflict, of course, the mandate of conflict settlement isn’t conditioned by local offices, of course, that mandate exists, but let’s comprehend, that mandates of local offices were complementary directions of that mandate, which have implemented various programs—from demining to human rights, civil control of armed forces, fight against corruption and others. This is what I call conflict transformation, so that it had solution.”
Touching upon implications of closing OSCE office in Yerevan, he stated the toolset of the West is rather miscellaneous, “I don’t observe any issue, that it may have any fatal after-effects, however, I see an issue, that the West, unfortunately, doesn’t have a trusted partner in Armenia on its way of developing cooperation in an alternative mode.”
State Revenue Committee of Armenia has published the list of largest taxpayers of the first quarter 2017. 1000 largest taxpayers of the Republic altogether have paid taxes and fees amounting around AMD 175 billion in the first quarter of ongoing year.
During the conference the Armenian companies established ties with startup companies and investors from Spain and other countries. The Armenian startups had a unique chance at the event to be involved in the European startup ecosystem.
