Month: July 2007

EXHIBITION OF ARMENIAN MODERN ART OPENS IN LUXEMBOURG PALACE IN PARIS

PARIS, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Armenian Ambassador
Edward Nalbandian, together with Jean-Clod Goden and Jee Fischer, the
Vice-Chairmen of the French Senate, opened the exhibition dedicated to
Armenian Modern Art in the Orangerie of the Luxembourg palace in Paris
on June 26. This information was provided to Noyan Tapan by the Press
and Information Department of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

About 100 pictorial works and sculptures of 23 Armenian modern artists,
who live outside the borders of Armenia, are being exhibited in the
large territory of the Orangerie, which faces the Luxembourg garden.
The exhibition belongs to the Yerevan Modern Art Museum, which was also
exhibited in Nice and Loubes between February and March this year
within the framework of the Armenian year with Henrik Igitian at the
head.

The exhibition was organized due to the sponsorship of Christian
Ponsele, the Chairman of the Senate of France, and the Armenian
Ambassador, Edward Nalbandian.

The exhibition will last until July 15.

MLADENOV MEP: ARMENIAN DIASPORA CAN HELP EU PROMOTE "UNITY IN
DIVERSITY"

Inside Europe
29 June 06

At a conference on the EU and the Armenian Diaspora held in Sofia,
newly elected Bulgarian MEP Nikolai Mladenov emphasized the Armenian
Diaspora’s contribution to Europe.

June 23, 2007. AGBU-Sofia and the Euro-Bulgarian Cultural Center (EBCC)
hosted a round table on the theme of "A Diaspora Inside Europe". The
event was part of a series of round tables co-organized throughout
Europe in partnership by AGBU YP sections, Orer Magazine, Nouvelles
d’Arménie Magazine and Inside Europe. The Sofia conference featured
distinguished speakers and participants that had the opportunity to
share ideas and discuss the implications of EU membership for Armenian
communities in member countries. It attracted all the more interest as
Bulgaria has been a member of the EU for less than 6 months, and first
elected its members of the European Parliament just three weeks before
the event.

The speakers at the round table included Mr. Nikolai Mladenov, recently
elected Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Mr. Nicolas Tavitian,
Director of Inside Europe and Mert Ersin, Director of Euromed
Consulting. Participants included the Ambassador of the Republic of
Armenia, Mr. Sergei Manasserian, the Embassy Counsel Mr. Igor
Mardirossian, Mrs Ahavni Topakbashyan, Head of the Ethnic Identity,
Integration and Demographic Development Department, Mr. Edi Emirian,
Head of the PR Department with the Council of Ministers, Mrs Darina
Kadunkova, Development Coordinator with the European Institute in
Sofia, Mrs Ema Azarian , Repertory Director with the National Palace of
Culture, 15 Young Professionals from the local organization as well as
Mrs Sonia Bedrossian-Avakian, Chair of AGBU-Sofia and Mr. Onnik
Karapchian, EBCC Director.

The three panel discussions focused on the significance of the Armenian
Diaspora and the development of the European Union. Mr. Mladenov’s
thesis was to put to use the ready Armenian Diaspora network that can
help foster unity despite diversity (EU’s motto is "United in
Diversity" or "In Varietate Concordia" in Latin). In an unprecedented
manner he also made a strong reference to the Armenian Question by
raising the need for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The
Sofia conference was the first public event attended by Mr. Mladenov as
a Member of the European Parliament.

Nicolas Tavitian ‘s panel theme was about engaging, educating and
involving the EU institutions in the Armenian Diaspora’s public life.
The discussion gravitated around what it means to be a European citizen
and the different perceptions in the old and new member countries. Mr.
Tavitian also suggested several ways in which a community can
communicate and interact with the institutions and highlighted the
major considerations in applying for and working with EU funds.

The third speaker, Mr. Mert Ersin talked about ways to repair relations
between Turks and Armenians. Mr. Ersin, a European citizen of Turkish
descent, showed profound understanding of the problem and freely talked
about the obstacles to Genocide admission in Turkey and other sensitive
subjects such as state policy and misperceptions and lack of awareness
among the common people. While demonstrating an in-depth understanding
of the barriers Mr. Ersin also shared his vision for reconciliation in
a a European context and in the European spirit.

In conclusion, participants agreed on a follow-up statement to be
issued to EU institutions declaring the willingness of the citizens of
Europe with Armenian and Turkish origin to strengthen the dialogue
between their communities and to support the Europeanization process of
Turkey and Armenia.

The conference was concluded by a small cocktail reception, during
which participants could share thought and impressions and continue
their discussions over a glass of wine.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CHAIRMAN OF "PROTECTION OF CONSUMER RIGHTS" NGO CONFIRMS RUMORS ABOUT
FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN. The chairman of Protection of Consumer
Rights NGO Abgar Yeghoyan confirmed the rumors about foot-and-mouth
disease in Armenia during the June 29 press conference.

According to him, some cows died in a mountainous pasture of Vardenis
region because herdsboys did not call a veterinary in time or inform
the State Food Safety and Veterinary Inspection of the RA Ministry of
Agriculture. In the words of A. Yeghoyan, "we also have foot-and-mouth
disease-related problems in other marzes (NT: provinces)".

To recap, the rumors about cases of foot-and-mouth disease in the
country were denied by the Ministry of Agriculture.

60 ARMENIAN ORGANIZATIONS AND ENTERPRISES TO PARTICIPATE IN ARMTECH
2007

YEREVAN, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN. Representatives of 50 organizations,
including universities preparing IT specialists, will participate in
the first all-Armenian high-tech congress-exhibition "ArmTech 2007" to
be held in Silicon Valley on July 4-7 ().
Hovhannes Avoyan, chairman of the Union of Armenian IT Enterprises,
director general of Sourcio company, told NT correspondent about it.

In his words, during the event another 10 IT enterprises will present
their business plans with the assistance of the USAID’s Competitive
Armenian Private Sector (CAPS) program.

Represetatives of the Armenian government, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, the National Academy of Sciences, the Armenian Development
Agency (ADA), and organizations of the information and high
technologies sector will present the potential of these spheres of
Armenia, its investment environment and educational system. H. Avoyan
will present programs of the Union of Armenian IT Enterprises, the
Enterprise Incubator Foundation and Sourcio company.

It is noteworthy that the principal speakers of ArmTech 2007 plenary
sessions will be the following persons: the Armenian foreign minister
Vardan Oskanian, the chief advisor to the RA president on economic
issues Vahram Nersisiants, the chairman of Synopsys company (having a
subsidiary in Armenia) Chi-Foon Chan, the scientific director of
Berkeley Wireless research center Robert Broders, the European director
of McKinsey & Company Andre Andoyan, the chairman and chief executive
director of Impreva Labs company, managing director of D-Age, chairman
of Viasphere Internatioal company Toni Moroyan.

The organizers of ArmTech 2007 are Viasphere International and the ADA,
while the main sponsors of the event are Vivacell and Synopsys
companies.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CHAIRMAN OF STATE WATER COMMITTEE: STATE OF WATER SUPPLY IN ARMENIA IS
FAR FROM BEING SATISAFACTORY

YEREVAN, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN. Five foreign companies currently operate
Armenia’s drinking water system. They work by 100% self-financing and
are almost fully provided with funds. The chairman of the State
Committee of Water Industry of the RA Ministry of Territorial
Governance Andranik Andreasian said this at the June 29 press
conference, adding that nevertheless, the state of water supply in the
country is far from being satisfactory. According to him, Yerevan Water
company that operates Yerevan’s drinking water system will soon receive
a concessional credit of 30 million euros from the French government.
SAUR company (France), manager of the water system in a number of
Armenian regions, has begun work on improvement of water supply network
in the cities of Tsakhkadzor, Sevan and Gavar.

A. Andreasian said that negotiations on provision of a 30
million-dollar credit started recently with the Asian Development Bank.
It is envisaged to allocate this sum for restoration of the water
supply system in regions.

He said that Japanese experts are now conducting studies in 600
Armenian villages to determine the amount of investments necessary for
restoration of the water supply system.

RA STATE BUDGETARY REVENUES FROM STATE DUTY GROW BY 12.1%, NON-TAX
REVENUES INCREASE 1.3FOLD IN JANUARY-MAY 2007 ON SAME PERIOD OF LAST
YEAR

YEREVAN, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN. In January-May 2007, the RA state
budgetary revenues from state duty made over 7.5 bln drams (about 20.9
mln USD), as a result of which the program for the first half of 2007
and the annual program were fulfilled by 93.2% and 39.2% respectively.

According to the RA Ministry of Finance and Economy, the revenues from
state duty grew by 12.1% or 811.1 mln drams on the same period of 2006,
which was mainly conditioned by an increase in duties from consular
services, provision of juridical documents to natural persons,
licensing services.

Non-tax revenues of the state budget amounted to 21.5 bln drams in
January-May 2007, which ensured the fulfilment of the programmed index
for the first half of 2007 by 213.6%: this index exceeded 1.3fold that
of the same period of 2006. The growth in non-tax revenues was mainly
conditioned by 4,6 bln drams paid under the reconciliation agreement
signed with ArmenTel CJSC, 6.8 bln drams transferred to the state
budget as a result of privatization of the Zangezur Copper and
Molybdenum Enterprise CJSC, and by a growth in interest payments from
placement of available budgetary resources.

WATER SUPPLY AND SEWERAGE SYSTEMS UNDER REPAIR IN LORI AND SHIRAK
REGIONS WITH FINANCING OF GERMAN KfW BANK

YEREVAN, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN. Some work, particularly on drafting the
maps of the main water-pipe and the distribution networks, has already
been done under the program on repairs of the water supply and sewerage
systems of Lori and Shirak regions. NT correspondent was informed from
the State Committee of Water Industry of the RA Ministry of Territorial
Governance that the tenders for a construction company and a water
meter supplying company have been announced.

The Armenian government jointly with German KfW bank has been
implementing the program on improvement of the water supply systems of
the above mentioned regions since 2005. It is envisaged to complete the
first stage of the program in three years. Its cost makes 25.99 million
euros, 23,37 mln euros of which was provided by the German bank (15.5
mln euros as a credit, the rest as a grant), while the Armenian
government’s cofinancing makes 2.62 mln euros.

The water supply and sewerage systems of the city of Vanadzor, the
villages of Lernapat, Darpas and Shahumian (Lori region), as well as of
the cities of Gyumri and Maralik, the villages of Akhurian and Azatan
(Shirak region) will be repaired at the first stage of the program. It
is also envisaged to install water meters in other communities during
the first stage.

STATE BUDGETARY REVENUES FROM CAPITAL OPERATIONS GROW BY 27.1% IN
JANUARY-MAY 2007 ON SAME PERIOD OF LAST YEAR

YEREVAN, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN. In January-May 2007, the RA state
budgetary revenues from capital operations made over 6.8 bln drams
(18.9 mln USD), 6.3 bln drams of which was received from alienation of
lands representing state property and 540.3 mln drams was received from
sale of fixed assets. According to the RA Ministry of Finance and
Economy, the program of revenues from capital operations for the first
half of 2007 was fulfilled by 60.4%. The growth of these revenues on
the same period of last year made 27.1% or about 1.5 bln drams.

In the first five months of this year, official transfers to the state
budget made 496.6 mln drams. Particularly, 280.1 mln drams was
allocated by the UK for financing the programs on regional development
of Tavush and Gegharkunik regions. 211.7 mln drams was received under
the mutual understanding memorandum between the US and the RA on
assistance for poverty reduction in Armenia, and 4.8 mln drams was
transferred to off-budget accounts of state institutions.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IT IS TIME TO THINK ABOUT NEW PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM, IMF MISSION HEAD SAYS

YEREVAN, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian prime minister Serge
Sargsian on June 28 received the head of the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) mission Martha Castelo-Branco and the delegation headed by
her, NT was informed by the RA Government Information and PR
Department.

M. Castelo-Branco appreciated Armenia’s cooperation with the IMF since
1992 when the country joined the IMF. She underlined that in the IMF’s
opinion, Armenia has registered a considerable growth and conducted a
reasonable tax-budgetary and monetary-credit policy. In her words,
Armenia’s currency exchange rate police has been most flexible as
compared with other regional countries.

At the same time M. Castelo-Branco said that there are still some
challenges, and serious efforts should be made to overcome them. In
particular, among such challenges are the difficulty of maintaining the
two-digit economic growth rates registered in recent years, the review
of tax collection ratio (with a tendency to increase it), internal
competition, problems connected to monopolies, improvement of the
business environment, which in its turn includes a number of issues:
accessibilty of credits, improvement of infrastructures.

The IMF mission head attached importance to the identification of
possible risks and the implementation of steps aimed at overcoming of
these risks, around which discussions are being conducted with the RA
minsitry of finance and economy and the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA).

The IMF program in Armenia will be completed in May 2008. According to
M. Castelo-Branco, it is time to think about the next partnership
program. She attached special importance to such directions as
improvement of tax administration, extension of the tax base,
development of the financial market, and fight agains the shadow
economy. She underlined that the IMF is ready to assist with solution
of these problems and will continue to promote the reforms aimed at
stabilizing Armenia’s macroeconomic, particularly, payment and
settlement system.

The Armenian prime minister in his turn said that henceforth the IMF’s
experience and recommendation will also be useful for Armenia.
According to S. Sargsian, all indices, which the Armenian government
will discuss with the IMF, will be fulfilled.

Speaker of the Armenian Parliament confirms that the bill on amending
the law ‘On Television and Radio’ doesn’t concern the Radio Liberty

arminfo
2007-06-29 20:21:00

Today, on June 29, Anthony Godfrey, Charge d’Affaires of the US Embassy
in Armenia, told journalists that Tigran Torossyan, Speaker of the
Armenian Parliament, confirmed that the package of laws adopted in the
first reading on June 29 are not directed against the Radio Liberty.

A.Godfrey noted that the USA has been proud of the Radio Liberty’s work
for a long time. If this bill is directed against the Radio Liberty, in
is incomprehensible how the law will contribute to democratic purposes,
he noted.

A.Godfrey also met Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan who promised
that the Radio Liberty’s broadcast will not be limited. At the same
time, he noted that the US Embassy in Armenia continues
following the development of the situation. To remind, today the
Armenian Parliament adopted a draft law on introducing amendments to
the law "On Television and Radio". Many observers think that the draft
law restricts the broadcast of the Radio Liberty.