Azeri violence won’t harm Armenia’s economic growth: Minister

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia is expected to post over 3% economic growth in 2016, Economy Minister Artsvik Minasyan said Tuesday, April 12, Panorama.am reports.

“Nothing has changed the pre-planned projects; moreover, we make greater efforts,”Minasyan said.

“I assure you that Azerbaijan’s aggression and military actions failed to harm our economic growth. The indicators will further prove my point.”

Asked if the clashes may hinder new investments, Minasyan said that whatever disagreements there might be, everything will soon settle down, as Armenia has always been one of the world’s safest countries.

The parties to the Karabakh conflict agreed on a bilateral cessation of fire along the contact line which came into force at midday, April 5.

Prior to that, on the night of April 1-2, Azerbaijani armed forces initiated overt offensive operations in the southern, southeastern and northeastern directions of the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh.

As many as 64 Armenian solders were killed, 122 more were wounded.

As of April 5, the Azerbaijani side has lost 26 tanks and 4 infantry fighting vehicles, as well as 1 BM-21 Grad multipl e rocket launcher, 1 engineering vehicle, 2 military helicopters and 14 unmanned aerial vehicles. The Azerbaijani side has admitted the loss of 31 fighters, 1 helicopter and 1 unmanned drone, whereas the Armenian side's photo and video materials show dozens of killed Azerbaijani troops, 1 helicopter and 3 UAVs. Opposition media outlets, however, reported on the death of 95 Azerbaijani soldiers, stating that 39 more have been wounded. According to Karabakh authorities, 300 Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in clashes.

14 Karabakh tanks have been neutralized since April 2.