Month: September 2006

DEVELOPMENT OF AGRARIAN SECTOR REQUIRES STATE ASSISTANCE, ARMENIAN PM STATES

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 22 2006

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22, NOYAN TAPAN. "After becoming independent,
Armenia adopted a policy of establishing market relations in the
economy, for which purpose liberalization values-based economic
reforms were launched. 15 years later, we can state confidently that
our country has got through the decline period typical of the first
stage of redical changes and now shows a two-digit economic growth."

The Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margarian said this at the
opening ceremony of the second international Armagroforum in Yerevan
on September 22.

According to the prime minister, the land privatization done in Armenia
before the collapse of the Soviet Union not only produced positive
results but also created various problems whose solution takes much
time and effort. However, the diligence and enterprise of Armenian
peasants allow to overcome some of these problems. At the same time,
A. Margarian noted the development of agrarian sector services and
infrastructures is in need of state assistance. He expressed confidence
that the forum participants will specify the assistance program and
identify opportunities for the implementation of new ones.

The prime minister attached importance to the US government’s
Millennium Challenge Armenia Program, which will assist with solution
of rural and agricultural problems.

The Armenian President Robert Kocahrian’s message to forum participants
says that although two years have passed after the first forum,
considerable development has been registered in Armenia’s agrarian
sector during this short period of time. According to the Armenian
president, the reforms and programs in the country’s agrarian sector
have created serious prerequisites for developing rural areas and
agriculture. "However, there are also numerous problems, whose solution
we see in international cooperation and efficient use of Armenia’s
economic potential," the message reads.

The RA Minister of Agriculture Davit Lokian noted that the discussions,
meetings and agreements of the fist forum have had their practical
continuation, as evidenced by the further development of trade and
economic links with many countries, the extended implementation
of programs in Armenia by a number of international organizations,
and the promotion of mutually beneficial relations between foreign
businessmen and local producers. The minister expressed a hope that
the second forum will also create new opportunities for extending
the international cooperation in the agrarian sector.

A number of workers of the agrarian sector were presented with Anania
Shirakatsi medals and gold medals of the RA Ministry of Agriculture.

The US Resident Coordinator, UNDP Resident Representative Consuelo
Vidal and the Director of the World Bank Armenia Office Roger Robinson
addressed the forum participants.

EDUCATIONAL MASTER’S PROGRAM ON MICROELECTRONIC DEVICE DESIGN TO BE PRESENTED TO RUSSIAN PRESIDENT BY SYNOPSYS ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 22 2006

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22, NOYAN TAPAN. The Russian President Vladimir
Putin will visit on September 25 the Microlelectronic Technics
Research Institute in the technopolis Zelenograd near Moscow. A
higer educational master’s program developed by Synopsys Armenia
company will be on display in one of the pavilions. Hovik Musaelian,
Director General of Synopsys Armenia, said that during the September
22 press conference, reminding that the indicated program is operating
at Yerevan State University and the State Engineering University of
Armenia. A total of 230 students of the microelctronic device design
departments use this program in their educational process.

According to H. Musaelian, in terms of its work volume, Synopsys
Armenia is second among subdivisions of Synopsys company (US), a world
leader in the design of microelectronic devices and the manufacture of
design software. It was noted that chips designed by Synopsys Armenia
are used in manufacturing 70% of memory devices of 70% of cell phones
produced worldwide. The company’s chips are also used in aeronautics
and other spheres. As of December 2005, the company had 300 employees.

According to the company’s director general, over the past two
years, Synopsys has installed software of 350 mln USD at two Yerevan
universities where microelectronic device design laboratories were
set up.

PACE MONITORING COMMITTEE RAPPORTEURS TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA ON SEPTEMBER 25

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 22 2006

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22, NOYAN TAPAN. PACE Monitoring Committee
Rapporteurs Mikko Elo, Georges Colombier and Secretary Despina
Chatzivassiliou will be in Armenia on a visit on September 25-29. NT
was informed about this from RA NA Public Relations Department.

On September 25, members of PACE Monitoring Committee will have
meetings with ambassadors of CE member countries represented in Armenia
and representatives of NGOs. The delegation members will be received
by Yerevan Mayor Yervand Zakharian, Territorial Government Minister
Hovik Abrahamian, Constitutional Court Chairman Gagik Haroutiunian,
Ombudsman Armen Haroutiunian. The same day the delegation members will
visit the Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex and will lay a wreath to
the memory of the Genocide victims.

Meetings with RA Minister of Justice Davit Haroutiunian, RA Defence
Minister Serge Sargsian, RA Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepian, RA
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, Chief of RA Police Hayk Haroutiunian,
CEC Chairman Garegin Azarian and commission members, members of RA
National Commission of Radio and Television and Board of Television
and Radio are scheduled on September 27.

On September 28, the Rapporteurs of PACE Monitoring Committee will have
meetings at RA National Assembly. They will meet with RA NA Speaker
Tigran Torosian, members of NA delegation in PACE, chairmen of NA
Standing Committees on State and Legal Issues, National Security and
Internal Affairs, Foreign Relations, heads of NA opposition factions,
coalition, non-opposition factions and groups.

The same day the committee members will be received by RA President
Robert Kocharian and RA Prime Minister Andranik Margarian.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERBAIJANI MUSICIAN REFUSES TO TAKE PART IN CONCERT OF CAUCASIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA HELD AT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT HEADQUARTERS

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 22 2006

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22, NOYAN TAPAN. The first concert of Caucasian
Chamber Orchestra was held on September 19 at the European Parliament
headquarters. Works by Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian composers
were performed at the concert. The orchestra was founded and is headed
by German conductor and pianist Uwe Berkemer.

According to RA Foreign Ministry Press and Information Department,
the initiative was supported by the EU-South Caucasus delegation of
the European Parliament headed by Marie Anne Isler Beguin. It was
planned that the orchestra should consist of Armenian, Georgian,
Azerbaijani musicians and musicians of North Caucasian peoples who
will present music as symbol of peace in the Caucasus.

The concert participants were surprised at the absence of the
Azerbaijani musician who refused to take part in the concert.

Speaking at the end of the concert, Uwe Berkmer pointing to the vacant
chair on the stage noted that it symbolizes Azerbaijan’s absence from
this peaceful initiative and attempt to unite peoples with the help
of culture.

ARMENIAN DELEGATION TAKES PART IN IAEA 50th JUBILEE CONFERENCE

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 22 2006

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22, NOYAN TAPAN. Opening of 50th jubilee conference
of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) took place on September
18 in Vienna. Austrian President Heinz Fischer made a greeting speech
at the opening ceremony.

The Armenian delegation was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Arman
Kirakosian. The agency’s future programs aimed at safe use of nuclear
energy and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons were discussed at
the conference.

In his speech the head of the Armenian delegation said that Armenia is
loyal to its initiatives and is for exclusively peaceful use of nuclear
energy. The Armenian government seriously discusses the prospect of
retaining its membership to the international nuclear community and
parallelly with closing the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant studies the
possibility of building a new nuclear power plant.

It was also mentioned that Armenia actively cooperates with U.S. and
a number of countries in the sphere of nuclear energy.

As Noyan Tapan was informed from RA Foreign Ministry Press and
Information Department, Arman Kirakosian in his speech expressed
gratitude to the agency and all countries with which Armenia has been
cooperating efficiently since relaunching the Metsamor Nuclear Power
Plant in 1995.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

UNITY IS THE SOLUTION OF NATION’S PROBLEMS
Christine Mnatsakanian

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
Sept 22 2006

The third Armenia – Diaspora forum ended on September 20. On the second
day the New Answers to Old Questions: Armenia in the 21st Century
Forum took place, and our compatriots from India, Germany, Argentina
made reports. The forum was followed by the debate on the practical
aspect of the Armenia-Diaspora relations, in which famous businessmen
from Armenia and the Diaspora participated. In this context, they also
touched upon economic migration in an effort to seek possibilities
to battle this negative phenomenon. In answer to our question how
this could be carried out, Avetik Chalabian from Russia emphasized
the importance of this forum itself. He says the forum is unique
in the sense that it is intended to implement a definite project,
namely investments by Diasporan businessmen in the development of
rural communities, remote villages in Armenia. It is clear that this
will enable people to earn their living in their village. However,
everything is not that simple. The talk with Diasporan businessmen
reveals their worries about development of Armenia but they avoid
making big investments, and the reason is clear: in a number of cases
the funds provided by Diasporan benefactors were wasted. It appears,
however, that the formula of tackling this phenomenon was worked out
in the course of the forum.

Member of Parliament Khachatur Sukiassian, for instance, suggests
controlling the funds provided for a project to ensure its targeted
use. In other words, every businessman will attend to a separate
village. The Armenia-Diaspora relations will not be viewed as charity,
and two basic problems will be solved. Besides the targeted spending
of the funds provided by Diasporans, this project will enable
connecting each of the Diasporan communities to separate regions
and separate communities of Armenia and make them full participants
of the processes in different villages of Armenia. For its part,
the third Armenia-Diaspora forum has one purpose – view the program
of overcoming poverty as a project intended to establish mutually
profitable cooperation to replace charity. By bringing into being
this project our compatriots will be helped to overcome the feeling of
being guests in their homeland. The chair of the Union of Armenians of
Russia Ara Abrahamian said the idea of national unity should underlie
the implementation of this project. "Even if separate communities
are strong, and separate organizations of the Diaspora are strong, it
is impossible to guarantee the organizational and political unity of
the Armenians worldwide without the active engagement of the Republic
of Armenia."

NKR TAKES PART IN PANARMENIA EXPO 2006
Norair Hovsepian

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
Sept 22 2006

On September 22-24 Pan Armenia EXPO 2006 will be held in Yerevan in
the framework of the third Armenia-Diaspora forum. The director of the
Development Agency of Artsakh A. Avagian said the agency has rented
and laid out a stand for presenting NKR. "Considering the number
of participants, and the variety of spheres presented, I think it
will be useful for NKR companies to participate in it. Later it will
provide greater possibilities for increasing the market and promoting
business relations with the Diaspora," said A. Avagian.

This expo will involve IT, tourism, health services, food processing,
innovative technologies, building, industries, mining industry,
education and science. The products produced in NKR will also be
presented in Toronto, Canada. In 2005 the members of the Board of
Armenian Businessmen of Canada visited Artsakh. Together with the
Development Agency of Artsakh they visited different companies and
proposed them to take part in the expo Made in Armenia in Toronto,
Canada in early October. The purpose of this event is to present the
economic possibilities of Armenia and Artsakh in a larger environment
to facilitate the outlook for new partners, new investments, and new
markets. We learned from the director of the DAA that the products,
including canned food, natural juice, shoes were sent to Canada.

Alcohol drinks will not be included in the expo. Besides, brochures
with information on traveling and business in Artsakh were sent.

RESOLUTION SHOULD BE SOUGHT FOR IN TALKS
Laura Grigorian

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
Sept 21 2006

On September 18 the PACE reporter on the missing Leo Platvoet and
the secretary of the PACE Committee of Migration, Refugees and
Population, Marc Neville visited the office of the NKR Society of
the Missing Soldiers. The guests first watched the museum of the
missing soldiers, got acquainted with the work of the organization and
afterwards met with the relatives of the missing soldiers. In July,
the representatives of the Council of Europe visited Baku, Yerevan
and Tbilisi, and this time they are visiting Nagorno Karabakh and
Abkhazia. The guests were interested in any information about the
missing soldiers and their place, as well as cooperation between the
society and their Azerbaijani counterparts. The chair of the society
Vera Grigorian, as well as the relatives of the missing soldiers
informed referring to the facts they have at hand that there are
still Armenian prisoners in Baku prisons, but the Baku authorities
deny this. The mothers asked the representatives of the CoE to report
their voice to the international organizations to help find out the
fate of 239 missing people. "The unpalatable truth is better for
us than the reassuring lie," they said. The representatives of the
CoE were also interested to know about the relations of this NGO and
the NKR government, their assistance to the society. Vera Grigorian,
the chair of the society said the families of the missing people are
constantly in the focus of attention of the government. She also
said they met with their Azerbaijani counterparts in Tbilisi and
several cities in Russia but these meetings produced no results. The
representatives of the CoE promised to report the problem to relevant
organizations. "We cannot go and search for the missing. This is not
our objective. We see the settlement of the problem in the talks of
the parties," said Leo Platvoet.

SAKI IS HEAVEN FOR THE DISABLED

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
Sept 21 2006

This summer 14 disabled liberation soldiers, members of Vita NGO, got
a treatment in the resort town of Saki in Ukraine. We talked to Edward
Andrian, disabled liberation soldier, who has recently returned from
Saki. "I’m very satisfied with the trip. Though first we had problems
with renting apartments, we found comfortable rooms and stayed there
in groups," he said. This is Edward’s second treatment in Saki. About
6-7 people were in Saki for the first time.

"We who were there for the second time helped our friends who were
there for the first time to orient. In the beginning it was difficult
for them, but then they got used. The doctors were very careful and
attentive," said Edward. They stayed at the sanatorium until midday.

"Then we walked in the town, in groups or alone, shops, markets,
cafes … We were encouraged by the thought that Saki was built for
disabled people," said Edward. They also visited Sevastopol on July
31. The local Armenian community provided transport and organized a
party for them.

EU TRIO DELEGATION TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA OCTOBER 2

Pablic Radio of Armenia
Sept 23 2006

EU Trio delegation headed by the Foreign Minister of Finland Erkki
Tuomioja will arrive in Armenia on October 2. Acting Press Secretary of
RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Karapetyan told "Armenpress"
that during the visit the EU Presidency and the Armenian side will
declare about the completion of the text of Armenia’s Actions Plan
in the framework of the "Enlarged Europe: New Neighbors" Policy.

The Trio delegation comprises also EU Commissioner for Foreign
Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferero-Waldner,
EU Special Envoy for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby and Ambassadors.