A little while ago, the session of the RPA Executive Body, chaired by the Chairman of the RPA, the third President of RA, Serzh Sargsyan, ended. This was reported by the office of the Republican Party. The process of the election of delegates to the 17th congress of the party, the draft documents to be submitted to the congress, the expansion of the party's international partnership, as well as current issues were discussed. The RPA Executive Body urges the congress delegates to show maximum responsibility for their own and others' health in the conditions of the ongoing pandemic. All anti-epidemic rules will be observed at the venue of the congress, including provision of personal protection and hygiene items. The invitation to cover the congress and the conditions for journalists' accreditation will be published on December 13.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Turkey to Azerbaijan Jahit Bagji, as well as military attaché of the embassy, ​​brigadier general Zakaria Yalchen, visited the joint Russian-Turkish monitoring center in Artsakh, which came under the control of Baku as a result of the 44-day war. The ambassador wrote about this on Twitter. The activities of the Center were presented to the Turkish officials. The operation of the Russian-Turkish joint center in the territory of Nagorno Karabakh, which passed to the Azerbaijani side, started on January 30, 2021.

Today, at the regular session, the government approved the project to make changes in the Civil Code and a number of related laws, the purpose of which is to provide the most effective legal mechanisms in the fight against arbitrary construction. Thus, the developed projects will exclude the possibility of legalization of voluntary structures built after the law comes into force, which will ensure the construction of any building exclusively on the basis of the permission of the competent authority, as well as the architectural design task, design and other documents required by the legislation. Regarding the issue, Nikol Pashinyan mentioned that the Cadastre Committee is carrying out aerial photography of Armenian settlements at a good pace, and we will have information about all the buildings in Armenia as of X date by a certain date. "We cannot say that the existing illegal buildings will be demolished from today, because, of course, it is necessary to leave a certain time lag," he said. The head of the cadastre committee, Suren Tovmasyan, said that all the field work has been completed and the data are being processed. As for the dates after which they will not carry out illegal construction, Nikol Pashinyan said that they should be very clear here and not give such a time frame that there would be large-scale illegal constructions. "Now, with this discussion, we are giving an incentive for everyone to leave everything, to do illegal construction, how can such a thing be done, such a thing cannot be done. We are allegedly fighting now, but I guarantee that during the three months you mentioned, an unprecedentedly large volume of illegal construction will begin," he said.

Tigran Markosyan and Shushan Sargsyan, members of the Competition Protection Commission, today hosted Nelson Emery, intellectual property advisor of the French Embassy in the Russian Federation, and François-Henri Cloarec, economic affairs attaché of the French embassies in Georgia and Armenia, reports the Competition Protection Commission. During the meeting, issues related to the protection of intellectual property, particularly trademarks, were discussed. The representatives of MSU presented the legal regulations of the manifestations of unfair competition by causing confusion to the business entity and its activities through the use of trademarks. The interlocutors also exchanged thoughts on the challenges of protection of economic competition in Armenia and the opportunities for development of cooperation in their direction.

US Ambassador Lynn Tracy participated today with Yerevan State University Acting Rector Hovhannes Hovhannisyan at the opening of the Center for American Studies and the official launch of the first master's educational program "American Studies" at Yerevan State University, the press service of the US Embassy informs. In 2019, after receiving a grant from the Public Diplomacy Office of the US Embassy, ​​YSU began the work of forming the Center for American Studies and the "American Studies" master's educational program. Arizona University was YSU's partner in the implementation of this project. The Center for American Studies will serve as an important structure for research and analysis of US socio-political realities. And with the master's educational program, the first admission for the 2021-22 year has already been made. "This master's education program gives Armenian students here in Armenia the opportunity to study the foreign policy, diplomacy, economy, and society of the United States, and as a result, they acquire skills that allow them to better imagine and clarify the American socio-political realities to the Armenian society," Ambassador Tracy said.

By the decision of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Romanos Petrosyan was appointed the head of the State Control Service. "Guided by Article 9, Part 5 of the Law on Public Service, Romanos Petrosyan was appointed head of the State Control Service," the decision states. Let's remind that he was dismissed from the position of Minister of Environment. Earlier, Tigran Ulikhanyan was dismissed from the position of the head of the State Control Service.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan participated in the opening of the "For Democracy" forum, which was held online. The conference was organized by the initiative of US President Joe Biden. Leaders and representatives of more than a hundred countries are participating in the two-day event. The prime minister's staff informs about this. Joe Biden made a speech at the opening of the conference, after which the panel discussions started. Representatives of non-governmental organizations and the private sector also participate in the conference. On the agenda of the two-day discussions are issues related to confronting threats against democracy, the fight against corruption and the protection of human rights. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's speech at the "For Democracy" conference is scheduled for December 10.

On December 9, the first joint session of the Armenian-French economic cooperation working group was held in Paris. The Armenian delegation at the event was headed by RA Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan, and the French by Jean-Baptiste Lemoine, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. This is reported by the RA MFA. The Armenian delegation also included the Deputy Ministers of the Ministries of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, Economy, Finance, High-tech Industry, Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan's advisor and other officials. In his speech, Minister Mirzoyan thanked Secretary of State Lemoine for his warm hospitality and helping to organize effective discussions, emphasizing that the holding of the joint session is the result of bilateral consistent work lasting about a year and the efforts invested at the level of the leaders of the two countries and the agreements reached. Ararat Mirzoyan emphasized that it is necessary to carry out purposeful work to implement the agreements of the top management of the two countries in the direction of intensive activation of economic relations, which will correspond to the level of privileged relations between Armenia and France. During the discussions, the diversification of the Armenian-French trade and economic relations, the need to enrich the cooperation with new economic programs and the revitalization of mutual investments were emphasized on both sides. The interlocutors also noted the need to intensify contacts between the business circles of France and Armenia, particularly through the organization of mutual visits of delegations and economic events. The current activity of the French Development Agency in Armenia was also emphasized and the implementation of new programs was emphasized.