ARMENIAN NEWS: BREAKING NEWS 17.05.2018

The new government of Armenia, and led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, on Thursday held the first Cabinet session.

Speaking during the session, PM said as long as monopolies are not surmounted, they cannot speak at all about a qualitative change in Armenia’s economy.

PM Pashinyan also said that the work towards making amendments to the Electoral Code has begun.

The National Assembly of Armenia will debate government program on June 7.

The debates will be preceded by discussions in the standing committees and factions. In this regard, chairman of the Armenian parliament Ara Babloyan offered chairwoman of Russia's Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko to postpone the meeting of Armenia-Russia inter-parliamentary cooperation committee to June 5-8.

European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee MEPs gave their consent to the EU-Armenia comprehensive and enhanced partnership agreement on Wednesday, opening up the possibility for deeper cooperation in different sectors.

The full House will have a final vote on the agreement in Strasbourg in July 2018.

The bill offering to recognize the Armenian Genocide has been endorsed by more than 50 members of Knesset from both coalition and opposition parties, Jewish Press reported.

The bill states that the Knesset will officially recognize the Armenian Genocide and will mark it on a special annual day. Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein also joined the campaign.

Another two key appointments were revealed on Thursday. Armen Grigoryan has been appointed the secretary of the Armenian Security Council. Stepan Mnatsakanyan has been appointed chairman of the Statistical Committee of Armenia.

David Ananyan, who until now has served as Deputy Minister of Finance, has been appointed Chairman of the State Revenue Committee.

The Eurasian Economic Union has signed an interim agreement on a free-trade zone with Iran as well as trade and economic agreement with China.

Armenian officials commented on both deals. PM Nikol Pashinyan assured that national interests of Armenia are fully taken into account in the agreement signed with Iran.

Meanwhile, Deputy PM Tigran Avinyan said that during talks with China's main negotiator, minister Fu Tsing, they discussed matters related to bilateral economic relations, including the North-South road construction, Armenia-EU agreement and the opportunities deriving from it.

The Armenian national squad are still 98th in the FIFA standings—and together with Israel.

The squad’s once 30th ranking, however, was a record-breaking high for the country. Armenia have played no games since the previous standings. Reigning world champions Germany still top the FIFA World Ranking where Brazil are still second, and Belgium—still third.