Month: June 2005

STRONG WINDS FRUSTRATE APRICOT GROWERS
Armenpress
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS: Apricot growing farmers in Armenian
province of Ararat have given up the bulk of their hopes to make
ultimate gains from an unprecedented yield of the fruit this year after
bursts of strong wind a couple of days ago landed apricots on ground ,
forcing them to sell their crops to a local cannery at lower prices.
Sergo Karapetian, the director of Artashat cannery, however, assured
the farmers the plant could procure as many as 100 metric tons of
apricot daily.
The plant pays half of the money for procured apricot on the spot and
the rest within ten days, but farmers say the hot weather is spoiling
quickly the fruit.
Armenia expects this year a significantly bigger crop due to unusually
favorable weather conditions- nearly 400,000 tons of grapes, apples
and other fruit, 54 per cent more than last year. Apricots estimated
to total 80,000t this year.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CENTRAL BANK LAW AIMS TO STRENGTHEN ARMENIAN DRAM
Armenpress
YEREVAN, JUNE 29, ARMENPRESS: A Central-Bank developed law on Hard
Currency Regulation and Hard Currency Supervision enacted on July
28, seeks to strengthen the position and significance of Armenia’s
national currency-dram.
Under the new law all prices for all types of goods and services
must be fixed in Armenian dram. It also demands that commercial
banks and lending organizations which have the right to carry out
hard currency transactions fix the prices of their services for
clientele exclusively in drams. The law extends to all physical and
juridical persons, regardless of whether they are citizens of Armenia
or not. Failure to observe the law will be punished by administrative
sanctions and penalties.

YEREVAN SCHOOL OF POLITICS TO BE OPENED ON JUNE 29 IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, June 28. /ARKA/. Yerevan school of politics will be opened
on June 29 in Armenia. According to the Council of Europe Information
Office in Armenia, the school will be opened with the support of
the CE and will become the 12th analytical structure of the Council
of Europe. The school is called to foster adoption of the European
values in the sphere of political culture, human rights, democracy
and supremacy of law, as well as to train young leaders. During the
official ceremony of opening the school, the Director of the Main
Department of Political Affairs of the Secretariat of the Council
of Europe Clause Shuman and Head of RA Constitutional Court Gagik
Harutyunyan will speak. A.H.–0–

ARMENIA WANTS TURKEY TO BECOME EU MEMBER
Armenpress
YEREVAN, JUNE 28, ARMENPRESS: A senior Armenian diplomat rebuked
today the government of neighboring Turkey for keeping its border
with Armenia closed for more than a decade saying the closed border
is a major obstacle to promoting regional integration.
Addressing a round table discussion on what Armenia could expect from
Turkey in a new geo-political situation, deputy foreign minister
Gegham Gharibjanian said the Armenian-Turkish border is not only a
border separating two nations, but a border with a NATO member country
and possibly may become a border with a European Union member nation.
Gharibjanian said Turkey’s borders with Georgia and Azerbaijan are not
enough for adequate response to ongoing geo-political developments. He
said Armenia expects Turkey to open the border and establish diplomatic
relations without any precondition.” A nation that has been striving
for decades to join the European Union must open its border with
all neighboring countries,” he said, emphasizing Armenia’s policy of
“open doors” for all and its willingness to build friendly relations
with all its neighbors.
Gharibjanian also welcomed indications of positive shifts within the
Turkish society, particularly, the removal of a taboo on Armenian
genocide, the intensified contacts between representatives of the
two countries, exchange of journalists, cultural events and so on,
which he said should become a precondition for normalization of
Turkish-Armenian relationships.
Gharibjanian said Armenia wants Turkey to become an EU member, but
” a Turkey that deserves it, a Turkey which respects the European
system of values.”

US EMBASSY OPENS SECOND AMERICAN CORNER IN ARMENIA
Armenpress
GYUMRI, JUNE 28, ARMENPRESS; US embassy public affairs officer,
Kimberly Hargan officially opened today the second “American Corner”
in Armenia’s second largest town of Gyumri at the local branch of
the Armenian Scientific-Technological Center.
American Corners are small, American-style libraries created to
help increase mutual understanding between Armenia and the United
States by making a wealth of information about America available in
different formats.
This American Corner features a diverse collection of English language
books, reference materials about the United States, computers with
Internet and access to online databases, cd-roms, videos, and much
more.
The Embassy provided a grant to refurbish a room for the American
Corner, installed three computers, and supplied the library with
over 300 books, journals and current periodicals. American Corner
librarians, trained and supported by the U.S. Embassy, are always
on hand to assist visitors. The Embassy is committed to growing the
American Corner’s collection and keeping it up to date.
The American Corner in Gyumri is open to the general public, free of
charge. In addition to a being full multi-media reference resource,
the American Corner will also host regular programming, including
lectures and workshops, video series, and other activities focused on
telling the story of the United States. In the coming years the Embassy
plans to create a network of American Corners throughout Armenia

CoE ESTABLISHED YEREVAN SCHOOL OF POLITICAL STUDIES
Pan Armenian News
29.06.2005 04:04
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Yerevan School of Political Studies established
under the auspices of the Council of Europe launched its activities. As
Mr. Klaus Schumann, Director General of the Council of Europe~Rs
Directorate General of Political Affairs among similar institutions
of the Council of Europe noted, the Yerevan School is the twelfth
one and is called to promote the strengthening of European values in
the fields of democratic political culture, human rights, democracy,
and rule of law and preparation of young leaders. Chairman of the
Armenian Constitutional Court Gagik Harutyunian highly appreciated the
idea of establishing the School and expressed readiness to render the
essential assistance for its formation. He noted that the propaganda
of democracy and rule of law should be spread among the

ARDSHININVESTBANK CJSC PLANS TO HOLD CONTESTS REGULARLY AMONG THE
STAFF OF THE BANK FOR THE TITLE OF THE “BEST SPECIALIST” IN THE
SPHERE OF PROVIDING BANK SERVICES
YEREVAN, June 29. /ARKA/. Ardshininvestbank CJSC plans to hold
contests regularly among the staff of the bank for the title of the
“best specialist” in the sphere of providing bank services. According
to the Press Service of the Chairman of Ardshininvestbank’s Board,
a day before a contest for “the best operator “MoneyGram” in the
system of Ardshininvestbank” was held. The best operators providing
“MoneyGram” international remittances services to clients, were
encouraged. After resuming the results, 8 operators from 5 branches
of Ardshininvestbank, 3 of which are located in the capital, namely
“Yerevan”, “Avangard” and “Arabkir”, and two of them functioning in
Gyumri and Vanadsor, became the winners of the contest. The Chairman
of Ardshininvestbank’s Board A. Andreasyan, the Deputy Chairman
of the bank’s Board G. Harutyunyan and the Head of International
Management A. Manukyan conferred diplomas on and gave presents to
the operators-winners on June 28, 2005. One of the days such presents
and diplomas will be granted to the winners from Gyumri and Vanadsor.
“The Board of the bank is sure that such contests not only contribute
to increasing the professional level of specialists of various
specialties, but also positively affect on their behavior during
their work with clients”, according to the press-release.
Ardshininvestbank CJSC was set up on May 25, 2003 and received its
license (#83) on Feb 27, 2003. The founder of Ardshininvestbank is
International Business Centre Russian financial industrial group.
100% of the bank’s shares are owned by two enterprises involved in
the group.
The banks’ total capital made AMD 5,7 bln. as of March 31, 2005,
its authorized stock capital- AMD 3 bln., the assets-AMD 42,6 bln.,
the net profit for Q 1, 2005 -AMD 352,6 mln., balance profit -AMD
2545,3 mln. ($1 -AMD 442,85). A.H. –0-

RA FOREIGN MINISTER ATTACHES IMPORTANCE TO MEMBERSHIP OF ARMENIA IN
INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION
YEREVAN, June 28. /ARKA/. RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian attaches
importance to membership of Armenia in International Labor Organization
(ILO). As the Information and Press Department of RA Foreign Ministry
told ARKA News Agency, Oskanian stated that during his meeting with
Friedrich Buttler, Director of the ILO Regional Office for Europe and
Central Asia. Oskanian noted that the integration into ILO would help
not only to solve the social issues in the country, but would have a
considerable impact on the economic development and increase of the
international rating of the country.
The Minister also welcomed the decision of the organization to create
the post of “national correspondent” in Armenia in order to regulate
the relations with ILO more efficiently.
At the same time, Buttler presented the activities of ILO in Armenia
and mentioned the directions of activities – investments in poverty
reduction program, assistance for creation of new job vacancies,
improvements in legislation of the sphere, assistance for integration
of Armenia in global processes. L.V.–0–

ARMENIAN FM DOES NOT EXPECT NEW PROPOSALS FOR NAGORNO-KARABAKH SETTLEMENT
YEREVAN, June 28. /ARKA/. RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan does
not expect any new proposals for the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement
from the OSCe Minsk Group during their visit to the region scheduled
for June 11-16. At his news conference the Minister stated that he
does not have any expectations of a meeting between the Armenian and
Azerbaijani Presidents in August. Oskanyan also stressed that no new
proposals for the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement are needed now. “All
issues related to the settlement are currently on the negotiating
table, and if an agreement is reached on one of them, it will be easy
to commit to paper,” Oskanyan said. P.T. -0–

ARMENIAN, RUSSIAN CCIs TO HOLD JOIN MEETING IN YEREVAN
YEREVAN, June 28. /ARKA/. A joint meeting the Armenian and Russian
Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CCI), as well as an Armenian-Russian
business forum, are to be held in Yerevan on October-December
2005. According to the list of major arrangements of the Russian CCI
for the latter half of 2005, the join meeting and the business forum
are aimed at the development of cooperation and direct ties between
the two countries’ business communities. The business meeting will be
held as part of Year of Russia in Armenia. The meeting and business
forum have been organized by the Foreign Relations Department, RF CCI,
and the RA CCI. P.T. -0–