Month: May 2008

YURI KHACHATUROV WILL PARTICIPATE IN NATO SITTING OF THE CHIEFS OF GENERAL STAFFS

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14.05 .08

On May 14, 2008 the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces
of the Republic of Armenia, First Deputy Defense Minister, Colonel
General Yuri Khachaturov will participate in the spring sitting of
the Chiefs of General Staffs of the Armed Forces of NATO member states
and partner countries to be held at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

The sitting will feature Chiefs of Generals Staffs of about 60
countries from NATO member and non-member states, from the Partnership
for Peace and the Mediterranean Dialogue, Ukraine and Russia. The
meetings are aimed at exchanging experience and forming military
opinions on the high level.

Colonel General Yuri Khachaturov will participate also in the sitting
of the Military Committee of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council
and the sitting on Kosovo behind closed doors.

COOPERATIVE LANCER/LONGBOW – 2008 HAS BEEN LAUNCHED

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14. 05.08

On 14 May at the beginning of "Cooperative Lancer/Longbow – 2008"
Exercises Main Planning Conference (MPC) the Deputy Chief of the
General Staff of Armenian Armed Forces, Major General Arshaluys
Paytyan and the Deputy Chief of Staff of Allied Land Component Command
Heidelberg, Brigadier General Claudio Verchellotti have had greeting
and opening speeches for the participants.

Overall 110 militaries of 30 nationalities took part in the conference:
37 from various NATO headquarters, 63 representatives from 21 countries
who will participate in the exercises.

Invitations to participate in "Cooperative Lancer/Longbow – 2008"
exercises were sent to the member states of NATO, Partnership for Peace
(PfP), Mediterranean Dialogue (MD) and (ICI).

The following states have sent their officers to Armenia: 7 from
NATO members (Canada, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, UK and
USA), 13 from PfP programme (Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belarus,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia,
Kazakhstan, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Switzerland and Ukraine)
and 1 from Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (United Arab Emirates).

During the days of the MPC the Exercise plan will further developed,
legal issues will be agreed, training events and manning lists will
be coordinated etc.

* "Cooperative Longbow – 2008" is a NATO/PfP Command Post
Exercise (CPX) with Rapid Crisis Response Operations elements
for a Multinational Brigade (MB) on the planning and management of
peacekeeping operations. It is expected to have approx. 350 officers,
warrant officers, and NCOs as participants.

"Cooperative Lancer – 2008" is a NATO/PfP Field Training Exercise
(FTX) with participation of a Multinational Battalion. The Exercise
will consist of three stages and as a result of the exercise the
involved troops will obtain skills in peacekeeping operations and
develop infantry skills in a realistic operational environment. This
exercise is expected to have 800 officers, warrant officers, NCOs
and privates as participants.

61 CONGRESSMEN CONDEMN DINK’S MURDER

Panorama.am
15:51 15/05/2008

According to the Armenian National Committee of America Congressman
Brad Sherman (Democrat, California) supports article 102 condemning
Hrant Dink’s murder presented by the House of Representatives. The
article supported by the Armenian National Committee of America
presented to Congressman Josef Crowl in 2007 condemns Turkish Armenian
Dink’s murder, glorifies his heritage and calls Turkey to take measures
to protect the freedom of speech by abolishing article 301 from the
Criminal Code of Turkey.

"I am proud of protecting such an important article concerning to
human rights. It is important to make the guilty to stand beyond the
court. We should prove the world that Dink’s death was not in vain,"
said Sherman to the Assembly. After Sherman has joined to the article
the number of its protectors is 61.

Citizen of Turkey, defender of speech and democratic reforms Hrant
Dink was murdered in a daytime near the office of "Akos" newspaper
in Istanbul, Turkey. "Akos" has been established since 1996, it is
the only bilingual newspaper (Armenian and Turkish) published in
Turkey today.

"YEREVAN BRANDY COMPANY" STORES MORE GRAPES

Panorama.am
15:52 15/05/2008

The Minister of Agriculture of Armenia David Lokyan had a meeting
with the director of "Yerevan Brandy Company" CSJC Sedrik Retaio,
said Vahagn Martirosyan, responsible of the press and public relations
department of the ministry to the Panorama.am reporter.

According to him the mission of the meeting was to make some agreements
before the harvest period starts.

"The volume of the Armenian brandy sale has been increased especially
in Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and in some European
countries.

The director of the company arranged to increase the amount of storing
more grapes this year," said V.Martirosyan.

The director of the company recommended to establish wine making
association by the support of specialized French masters who will
treat the problems professionally. He said that they will contribute
to stand the problems.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NEW DIPLOMAT TO LEBANON

Panorama.am
16:14 15/05/2008

In the nearest future the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia sends
a diplomat to Lebanon reported Armen Melqonyan, the head of Near and
Middle East department in a press conference today.

According to him the decision is connected with the critical conditions
in Lebanon. "Lebanon Armenians are not under threat. And there is
no panic there," said Melqonyan. Armenians who have visited Lebanon
recently applied to the Embassy asking to support them to return back,
he said.

"Hundreds of Armenian citizens live in Lebanon and hundreds of
other Armenians live and work there having signed contracts," said
Melqonyan. The foreign inhabitants of Lebanon are not going to leave
the country as the situation is to be smoothened after Arabian League
has taken the initiative to support.

According to the ministry representative Armenia should not interrupt
the inner political life of any country but if Armenians citizens
and not only they are under threat then the peace of the regional
countries is under threat.

RA AUTHORITIES WILL ACCOMPLISH PACE REQUIREMENTS

armradio.am
15.05.2008 17:13

President of the United Labor Party Gurgen Arsenyan is assured that
the Armenian authorities will certainly accomplish the requirements of
the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) resolution
adopted on April 17. Gurgen Arsenyan told a press conference today
that he is confident of it, since he is well familiar with the way
of action of RA authorities.

Besides, according to him, Armenia cannot avoid the commitments it
assumed when joining the Council of Europe.

Turning to the demand of the opposition to hold extraordinary
parliamentary elections, the leader of the United Labor Party declared
that any extraordinary election is unacceptable to them. "Even taking
into consideration that in case of early parliamentary elections we
shall have an opportunity to run for Parliament, we do not welcome
any extraordinary process," Gurgen Arsenyan stated. He noted that not
getting enough votes in the latest parliamentary elections, the United
Labor Party accepted the defeat in accordance with democratic rules.

Gurgen Arsenyan reminded that in the parliamentary elections the
United Labor Party "expressed support" for incumbent President Serzh
Sargsyan’s pre-election platform. He stressed that they made a choice
between platforms, not persons.

MICROSOFT PRESENTS ‘WINDOWS SERVER 2008’, ‘VISUAL STUDIO 2008’, ‘SQL SERVER 2008’ IN ARMENIA

arminfo
2008-05-15 16:59:00

ArmInfo. Microsoft presented the latest MS developments – the software
"Windows Server 2008", "Visual Studio 2008", "SQL Server 2008" in
Armenia, Thursday. The presentation was held within the frames of
the IT Competitiveness and Innovation Conference in Armenia.

As Microsoft Armenian Country Manager Grigor Barseghyan told ArmInfo
correspondent, these products are presented to potential users of
system equipment. According to him, the advantage of the latest MS
developments is that the new and old versions of the products are
fully compatible. "So, today we issue licence not for old products,
but only for the latest versions, which, in its turn, gives clients
the right to use the previous ones as well", he stressed.

At the same time, Barseghyan noted that Microsoft has a number of
obligations to its clients. The company carries out its obligations by
supporting its clients through the phone and internet, making security
updates and drivers updates free of charge. "Microsoft is not engaged
in direct sales of its program products, but it specializes in the work
with users, the matter concerns only the users of licensed products",
he noted.

Barseghyan added that in Armenia MS cooperates with 30 partner
companies having licences, 5 or 6 of them are gold certified
partners. "MS ensures 95% of its business through the partners", he
specified. To note, in particular, the program products "Windows Server
2008", "Visual Studio 2008", "SQL Server 2008" give designers the full
set of tools to design and develop architecture and databases. To
recall, the Armenian office of Microsoft has been operating since
May 2006.

ELABORATION OF BEHAVIOR CODE IN TELECOMMUNICATION MARKET REQUIRES FIRST OF ALL GOOD WILL OF MARKET- PARTICIPANTS

arminfo
2008-05-15 16:28:00

ArmInfo. Elaboration of behavior code in the telecommunication market
requires first of all good will of market-participants. ArmenTel
Director for Operations Alexander Birman made this statement at Forum
of IT Competitiveness and Innovations when commenting on the current
negotiations between ArmenTel and Internet-providers for settlement
of the situation in the telecommunication market of the country and
signing a relevant memorandum. At the request of ArmInfo, A. Birman
explained that the rules must be sanctioned by the market regulatory
agencies since a preventive document is necessary. The most importance
is the good will of the participants, he said. ‘The rules will be
observed only if all the parties approve them’, A. Birman said. ‘The
sooner the remaining provider-companies sign it the sooner it will
be adopted since we have already done everything depending on us’,
he said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

COUNTERFEIT SOFTWARE PRODUCTS IN ARMENIA DECREASED TO 93% IN 2007

arminfo
2008-05-15 17:02:00

ArmInfo. Counterfeit software products in Armenia decreased to 93%
in 2007 (as against 95% in 2006). This is mentioned in the Business
Software Alliance’s report covering the situation in 108 countries
of the world, Microsoft Armenia Country Manager Grigor Barseghyan
told ArmInfo correspondent.

He noted that despite the fall of piracy level, Armenia continues
holding the leading positions in the world by this indicator. According
to Barseghyan, Bangladesh and Azerbaijan follow Armenia with 92%
piracy rate.

The lowest piracy rate is registered in the United States – 20%. "The
decrease in piracy even by 10% will bring 2 bln AMD profit to the
state", Barseghyan said. He added that developers, particularly,
the ones of the Armenian fonts for personal computers, suffer
great losses. "If each of 200 thsd users of Armenian fonts paid 1
US dollar at least the developers, the latters will obviously have
worthy conditions of life and work", Barseghyan stressed. He pointed
out that despite the low price, 50-60% of counterfeit discs contain
harmful codes which destroy the computer system. "It is in the power
bodies’ competence to protect the copyrights, the IT developers can’t
do this themselves", he said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

STAR NET OF SUPERMARKETS DOES NOT ADMIT UNGROUNDED PRICE INCREASE IN FOOD MARKET

arminfo
2008-05-14 23:14:00

ArmInfo. ‘STAR net of supermarkets does not admit the ungrounded
price increase in the food market>, Executive Director of STAR Vahan
Kerobyan told ArmInfo during opening of the tenth supermarket in
Kanaker-Zeytun Yerevan community.

He said that the Company continuously observes the situation in the
world markets. "Rise in prices for foodstuffs from our suppliers
should be strictly grounded and have minimum affect on our clients’
budget", V. Kerobyan said.

Along with it, he said that the Company invested about $600,000 in
the opening of the tenth supermarket in a metro format (300 sq m)
in the STAR’s multi-format concept. "As known, the prime cost of the
rade area in small stores is much higher than in supermarkets of large
format. Therefore, the economy here differs and rests upon the products
with high margin, including hot dishes", V. Kerobyan said. He also said
that the number of the names of goods presented in the supermarket,
totals about 3.5 thsd units. "We do our best for every new supermarket
to be better than the previous ones in all the respects, including the
technological one. From this viewpoint, one may say with confidence
that this supermarket is equipped state-of-the-art, though we keep
on working with our permanent importers", he emphasized and added
that a system of full self-service functions in this supermarket.

Talking of the price policy in the new retail point, V. Kerobyan said
that STAR will keep suggesting the best combination of price and
quality to its clients. "According to its policy, STAR is targeted
mainly at the average population stratum", he emphasized. V. Kerobyan
also said that STAR schedules to open supermarkets in 2008 in Erebuni,
Davidashen and Achapnyak communities as well.