“Zhoghovurd” claims that the Armenian Defense Ministry’s proposal to practically abolish all remaining draft deferments enjoyed by university students has caused a “big wave of discontent.” The paper too is critical of a relevant bill drafted by the ministry, saying that it was strongly defended in the Armenian parliament on Wednesday by individuals who themselves did not serve in the armed forces. “A considerable number of government members and other officials did not serve in the army either and received deferments for continuing their studies,” it says, adding that their arguments in support of the bill are therefore disingenuous.
“Hayots Ashkhar” takes a different view, criticizing “groundless” claims about military service hampering the development of science in Armenia. The paper says such claims are mainly made by those who have only “superficial knowledge about the real state of affairs in those areas.” “The issue is really serious and important but it does not represent a clash of the interests of the army and the educational-scientific complex,” it says.
“Zhamanak” claims that “everything except investments” was discussed during Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s October 24-25 visit to Yerevan. The paper recalls that when Prime Minister Karen Karapetian visited Moscow in January he discussed with Medvedev the possible creation of a Russian-Armenian investment fund. It says there was “no word” on that idea in public statements made during Medvedev’s trip to Yerevan.
Diogo Pinto, the director of the European Friends of Armenia, a Brussels-based group, tells “168 Zham” that he is optimistic about the upcoming signing of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Armenia and the EU. “If the EU and EU member states are doing their best, then I think that the agreement will be signed either during the [EU’s November 24] summit or in the run-up to it,” he says. “If not, then I am sure that the agreement will be signed right after it. If the agreement is successfully ratified [by the EU member states] we could switch to negotiations on the liberalization of the visa regime. A visa-free regime [for Armenian nationals] would facilitate Armenia-EU relations.”
(Tigran Avetisian)
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