(Saturday, March 28)
In an interview with “Hayots Ashkhar,” Gagik Minasian, the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on economic affairs, emphasizes the economic significance of President Serzh Sarkisian’s visit to China. Echoing Sarkisian’s statements made in Beijing, Minasian says that Armenia could become part of an ambitious Chinese proposal to revive the ancient Silk Road connecting China to Europe. “We are now talking about making a section of the Silk Road pass through Armenia,” he says. This explains Yerevan’s calls for China to help build a railway connecting Armenia to Iran, adds the pro-government lawmaker.
“Zhoghovurd” comments on the “hostile” attitudes of Kazakhstan and Belarus towards Armenia, a fellow member of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). The paper points to Sarkisian’s absence from last week’s meeting of the Russian, Belarusian and Kazakh presidents held in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana. It criticizes Armenia government officials and their political allies for not publicly deploring the three presidents’ failure to invite their Armenian counterpart to the summit. “They have on the contrary unanimously claimed that that is normal, saying that [the Astana meeting] discussed issues irrelevant to us,” it says.
“Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” says that the Armenian authorities have “begun punishing” wealthy entrepreneurs affiliated with the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) with tax audits of their businesses resulting in hefty fines. “The HHK-affiliated businessmen perceive that as punishment and take offense,” says the paper. “For its part, the HHK’s political wing, assuming that there is one, claims that for the authorities business has no partisan affiliation and that everyone is equal before the law. In reality, what is happening was predicted years ago by those who assess the situation in a sober way.” The pro-opposition paper goes on to claim that the tax authorities are cracking down on government-linked businesspeople because “Serzh Sarkisian needs money, lots of money.”
(Tigran Avetisian)