Month: March 2007

DEVELOPMENT OF FINANCIAL SECTOR OF ARMENIA NEEDS NEW APPROACH AND IMPLEMENTATION OF HIGH TECHNOLOGIES

Arminfo
2007-03-21 23:05:00

The development of Armenia’s Financial sector needs new approach and
implementation of high technologies, RA President Robert Kocharyan
said at the traditional annual meeting with the bankers. He noted
that, despite the high rates of the banking system development, much
is to be done still in the financial sphere, including the services
spectrum enlargement.

As the RA Presidential press-service told ArmInfo, the issues of
development of the hypothec crediting market, the insurance system,
the pension reformation were considered during the meeting. The bankers
underlined that attraction of the inner republican financial resources
to the banking system is a primary task to increase the investment
banking degree, that requires a maximum increase of trust to the
banks. The bankers also noted the imperfection of laws on taxation
of the pledge assurance and financial operations.

The meeting participants also discussed the activity of the Union of
Banks of Armenia (UBA), the chairman of which Stepan Gishian said that
19 commercial banks are presently the UBA members. According to him,
the UBA has recently become the associated member of the Union of
European Banks that contributes to the deepening of cooperation with
the European banking system and the implementation of new methods in
the Armenian banks.

Robert Kocharyan emphasized that the banks should maintain the
development rates, assure the implementation of high technologies
and use the new approaches in their activities. Having touched
on the insurance system, RA President underlined the necessity of
implementing the compulsory kinds insurance. In his opinion, the
recently adopted laws on insurance and pension reformation will allow
the hypothec market to become more intensive and the insurance market –
to develop dynamically.

ARMENIANS ACHIEVE FIVE GOLD MEDALS AT THE 0TH WORLD UNIFIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

ArmRadio.am
22.03.2007 15:36

Five of the eight Armenian sportsmen – Edmond Muradyan, Araik
Avetisyan, Sos Karapetyan, Narayr Avetisyan and Karlen Minasyan –
achieved gold medals at the 20th World Unifight Championship. Karen
Karapetyan and Vahe Manukyan took silver medals, Tigran Sedrakyan
got a bronze medal.

President of RA Full-Contact Federation Hayk Vardanyan said during a
press conference at Armenpress conference hall that representatives
of 32 countries were participating in the championship. Armenian
sportsmen competed in different weight categories. They celebrated
also a team victory, occupying the 1st place.

In November of the current year the Armenian sportsmen will participate
in the Professional League to be held in Las Vegas.

Ever since 1995 the Federation has participated in different
international tournaments, having world champions and cup holders.

MERCY OF GOVERNMENT OR LAWS?

KarabakhOpen
22-03-2007 12:59:01

When democracy in Karabakh is discussed, we normally recall the
election of mayor of Stepanakert in 2004 when the opposition candidate
Edward Aghabekyan defeated the pro-government candidate. This election
inspired the people of Karabakh, demonstrating them the power of
their vote.

Then the dull routine began. The government decided to make the
public acknowledge the "cost" of electing an opposition mayor. The
legislation was amended, and the City Hall was deprived of a number
of financial levers and its independence was shortened. The powers
of the government and the City Hall were turned into a puzzle. The
mess in legislation and personal accounts let the government "lend
a hand" to the City Hall whenever it was necessary or accuse it of
inactivity. The mayor talked about this but hesitatingly, and the
society did not become involved in a public dialogue.

The controversies appeared to quiet down for a while. However, in
an important political period the "acts" of the mayor were recalled,
and accusations were put forward.

Recently the Office of the Prosecutor General has checked the City
Hall, which Edward Aghabekyan said was "groundless". In response,
the procuracy published a lengthy list of "offenses" committed by the
mayor, which concluded that charges were brought against the mayor and
dismissed during the general pardon. The mayor’s statement followed,
who announced that he had never heard about these charges. Then the
ministry of finance released a statement on considerable sums the
government had provided to the City Hall.

And so on, in the rhythm of ping-pong.

Frankly speaking, the society of Stepanakert does not care who is
to blame that the roofs are not repaired, and there is no running
water in apartments – the mayor or the prime minister. Someone has
pushed the society into empty and lengthy spats to get it forget the
key question: if the mayor is oppositionist, does he have the right
to work? What determines the work of the mayor, the prime minister,
the public official – the mercy of the government or clear-cut laws?

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT ALLOCATES SUM EQUIVALENT TO ABOUT 702 THOUSAND DOLLARS FROM ITS RESERVE FUND TO CENTRAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION

Noyan Tapan
Mar 22 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 22, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian government allocated 322
mln 604.9 thousand drams (800 thousand USD) from its 2007 reserve fund
to the Armavir regional administration – for repairs of Baghramian
Street in the city of Armavir, and 10 mln 625 thousand drams – to the
Lori regional administration- for salaries, compulsory social insurance
payments and purchase of transport means. 160 mln drams was allocated
to the RA Ministry of Justice – for purchase of equipment to ensure
internal security at criminal executory establishments. According
to the RA Government Information and PR Department, the government
approved the bill on establishment and revision of tariffs of provision
of mandatory technical examination services for means of transport
and the bill on making an addition to the RA Law on the Public
Services Regulatory Body. Particularly, it is proposed that the RA
Public Services Regulatory Commision establsih the tariffs of the
above mentioned services. By another decision, the government will
allocate 253 mln 597.659 drams from its 2007 reserve fund to the RA
Central Electoral Commission in the second quarter of 2007.

PROVISIONAL STATUS IN RETURN FOR COMPROMISE IS NONSENSE

KarabakhOpen
22-03-2007 12:58:56

"It is commendable if the international community sets down a status
for Karabakh which leads towards independence. But the problem is
what they demand in return for the status," said Arthur Mosiyan, the
representative of the Central Committee of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun to
Artsakh, in an interview with KarabakhOpen.

"If the status the Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Yuri
Merzlyakov told about presupposes major compromise, it is simply
pointless. As to the current stage of the talks, the principles that
are on the ground are too different from our ideas and approach."

PROGRAM ON DIAGNOSIS OF AGRICULTURAL ANIMAL DISEASES AND ANTI-EPIDEMIC MEASURES TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN ARMENIA THIS YEAR

Noyan Tapan
Mar 22 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 22, NOYAN TAPAN. This year the RA Ministry of
Agriculture will implement the program on diagnosis of diseases of
agricultural animals and anti-epidemic measures in order to create and
ensure a stable state in veterinary and sanitary sector. Hovhannes
Hovhannisian, Head of the Financial Economic Accounting of the
ministry, told NT correspondent that 797 mln 374 thousand drams (about
2.2 mln USD) has been allocated from the state budget for purchase of
vaccines. According to him, the program includes the 10 most dangerous
diseases (brucellosis, tuberculosis, anthrax, foot-and-mouth disease,
etc). Cattle, pigs, horses will be vaccinated, and work on diagnosis
of tuberculosis and brucellosis will be done.

ARMENIAN PARTY LEADER CALLS FOR JOINT OPPOSITION ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Mediamax news agency
21 Mar 07

Yerevan, 21 March: The Democratic Party of Armenia will take part
in the forthcoming 12 May parliamentary election under the slogan
"Let us build a just Armenia".

The leader of the Democratic Party of Armenia, Aram Sarkisyan, today
expressed his concern about "the cases of electoral legislation being
violated by authorities and pro-government forces", the Mediamax news
agency has said. The politician said that "election campaign posters
which have already been posted pro-government parties, and cases of
bribing voters and seizing their passports testify to this."

"These processes are aimed at increasing the atmosphere of fear in
the country," he said and added that he intended to present European
observers with his proposals and remarks in the near future.

Aram Sarkisyan called on the opposition political forces of Armenia
to form a single bloc to ensure free and fair election, recalling
that the National Unity Party also made a similar suggestion.

The leader of the Democratic Party of Armenia also spoke in favour
of holding joint election campaign by the opposition in Armenian
regions. He said that the Orinats Yerkir Party (Law-governed Party),
the Democratic Path Party and the New Times Party welcomed this
proposal.

Aram Sarkisyan called on the voters "to actively participate in the
election and protect their votes".

GASIFYING CONTINUES

KarabakhOpen
22-03-2007 12:58:48

In late 2006 the length of the gas supply network in Karabakh totaled
599.9 km against 471 km at the beginning of 2006. In 2006, 128.9
km of pipeline was operated, including 14.7 km in towns and 114.2
in villages.

4 towns and 53 villages were gasified in 2006. As on January 1, 2007
18 352 households in Karabakh had gas, including 1710 which were
gasified in 2006.

In 2006 the consumers got 19664.5 thousand cu m gas (against 16179.6
thousand cu m in 2005).

Over this period the loss of natural gas totaled 1913.7 thousand km
(against 1441.8 thousand cu m). In 2006 a household used an average
542.9 cu m of gas against 489.6 in 2005.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GLOBAL GOLD MINING CONSIDERS AS POSSIBLE RETURN OF ITS LICENSE DURING EXAMINATION OF INTERNATIONAL COURT

Noyan Tapan
Mar 22 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 22, NOYAN TAPAN. Global Gold Mining company (US)
initiated a arbritration lawsuit against the Armenian government
at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes
(ICSID). King & Spalding juridical company (UK) will represent the
US company’s interests at the trial. Ken Fleuriet, representative of
King & Spalding, told NT that Global Gold Mining accuses the Armenian
government of violation of the bilateral Armenian-US investment
agreement: Global Gold Mining was ahead of time deprived of its license
to do extraction in some Armenian mines. According to the lawyer,
this was the behavior of the RA Ministry of Nature Protection after
the company rejected the minister Vardan Aivazian’s demand to give
a bribe. Ken Fleuriet said that according to their information, at
present the RA Ministry of Nature Protection is conducting negotiations
with another company on the issue of providing Global Gold Mining’s
license to this comapny. He did not mention the name of this company,
just saying that it operates in Georgia. He did not rule out that
court may suspend the Armenian government’s decisions, according to
which Global Gold Mining was deprived of license. However, the court
instance has not been formed yet and the court examination may start
in one-two months.

Ken Fleuriet noted that the examination of the lawsuit may last up
to two years.

ICSID is a special body adjunct to the World Bank. In response to
the question why Global Gold Mining did not dispute the Armenian
government’s decisions in an Armenian court, Ken Fleuriet said that
the agreement violated by the Armenian government falls under the
jurisdiction of the ICSID and not an Armenian body.

GEORGIAN LEADER PAYS ONE-DAY PRIVATE VISIT TO ARMENIA

Arminfo, Yerevan
22 Mar 07

22 March: Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has arrived in
Yerevan on a one-day private visit.

The Georgian head of state arrived in Yerevan today at the invitation
of Armenian President Robert Kocharyan. The two presidents will be
in the resort town of Tsakhkadzor today, Armenian presidential press
secretary Viktor Soghomonyan has told our Arminfo correspondent.