Month: August 2008

PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE ON INQUIRY INTO EVENTS OF MARCH 1-2 FINDS IT EXPEDIENT TO BE PRESENT AT INVESTIGATION ACTIONS

Noyan Tapan

Au g 5, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 5, NOYAN TAPAN. On August 5 Samvel Nikoyan, chairman
of the Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee on Inquiry into the Events of
March 1-2, secretary of Repulican Party of Armenia (RPA) faction,
met with the RA Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepian. Announcing this
at the regular sitting of the Committee, S. Nikoyan noted that it
would be necessary, important and more efficient if the members of
the Committee were present at the investigation actions on the case
in order to form a comprehensive notion about the criminal case. The
chairman of the Committee mentioned that henceforth it should be
one of the directions of their work. S. Nikoyan also informed the
Prosecutor General about the Committee’s concern about NA deputy
Miasnik Malkhasian’s health condition and asked to undertake necessary
measures to settle the problem.

It was stated at the sitting of the Committee that two meetings
took place with two arrested people in penitentiaries: with
former RA Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Arzoumanian and Armen
Sirounian. Arzoumanian expressed no complaint connected with the
conditions and his health, and his main complaint concerned "quite
a long and passive process", so he wishes that the preliminary
investigation would be completed soon and the case would be sent
to court. The former Foreign Affairs Minister thinks that he is
wrongfully accused and he consequently finds that he does not need
an amnesty but only an acquittal. A. Arzoumanian insisted that he
and the Armenian National Movement board chairman Ararat Zourabian
did not take part in the actions of early March 1, and they were at
the French embassy in Yerevan at 10pm, while his speeches were very
careful and moderate ones which can in no way be used against him.

Armen Sirounian is charged by the first part of 38-308 of the
Criminal Code: acting as an accomplice to the abuse of official
position. According to the accusation, during the period of rallies,
there was an information leakage from the National Security Service
which was passed to the leaders of rallies. Sirounian expressed no
complaint concerning the investigation actions and the conditions
but he mentioned that his feet ached. A. Sirounian does not accept
the accusation, and inspector of the NSS investigation group Mikael
Hambardzoumian, together with the members of the Committee have
presented the evidence which, according to him, formed the basis of
an accusation against Sirounian and keeping him under arrest. The
investigation body finds that at the moment it is not expedient to
change Sirounian’s precautionary measure.

SETTLEMENT EXCHANGE RATE OF ARMENIAN DRAM AGAINST DOLLAR DECLINES BY 10.6% IN ONE YEAR

Noyan Tapan

Au g 5, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 5, NOYAN TAPAN. 4.5% growth of consumer prices in
Armenia in July 2008 as compared with December 2007 was accompanied
by a 0.5% fall in the settlement exchange rate of the Armenian dram
aganst the U.S. dollar. A similar tendency was registered in the same
period of last year: a 7.2% fall in the settlement exchange rate of the
dram was registered in parallel with a 0.6% growth of consumer prices.

According to the RA National Statsitical Service, there was a 2.2%
fall of prices and 0.9% fall in the settlement exchange rate of the
Armenian dram in July on June 2008.

The average settlement exchange rate of the Armenian dram against
the US dollar made 302.47 drams in July 2008, which is by 10.6%
lower than the index of July 2007 (338.38 drams).

FOOD PRICES RISE BY 2.2% IN ARMENIA SINCE EARLY 2008

Noyan Tapan

Au g 5, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 5, NOYAN TAPAN. 2.2% growth of food prices was
registered in Armenia in July 2008 on December 2007. Food prices
fell by 4.8% in July on June 2008. 0.2-31.2% fall of prices was
registered in 8 out of 13 food commodity groups under observation in
July on June 2008, while there was 0.1-1.3% inflation in the 5 other
commodity groups.

According to the RA National Statistical Service, potato and vegetable
prices fell by 31.2% in Armenia in July on June 2008 and by 17.2%
in July 2008 on July 2007. There was a fall in prices of green beans
(66.8%), tomato (64.7%), green pepper (59.5%), egg-plant (52.8%),
cabbage (43.4%), cucumber (35.4%), herbs (30.9%), potato (23.9%), beet
(17.8%), carrot (15%) and garlic (2.4%). In the fruit commodity group,
the price fall made 20.4% in July on June 2008 and 17.8% in July 2008
on July 2007. There was a fall in prices of apricot (62.2%), cherry
(41.3%), plum (30.5%), pear (225), apple (17%), watermelon (59.2%)
and melon (48.5%) in July on June 2008.

Prices fell by 20.1% in the commodity group of fish products in July
on June 2008, which was mainly due to a 23.9% fall in the price of
fresh white fish.

The average republican price of eggs fell by 4.2% in July on June 2008.

The average republican price of granulated sugar fell by 1.9% in the
indicated period and by 7.9% in July 2008 on July 2007.

Prices grew by 6.4% in the commodity group of meat products in July
2008 on July 2007 and fell by 0.3% in July on June 2008. Beef and
mutton prices fell by 1.3% and 0.3% respectively in July on June 2008,
pork price grew by 3.2%.

Prices of butter and vegetable oil fell by 0.6% and 0.2% respectively
in July on June 2008. Bread prices fell by 0.2% (due to 1.2-1.9%
fall in prices of some sorts of flour).

Prices of alcoholic drinks rose by 0.4% in July on June 2008,
mainly due to 3.9-4.5% growth in prices of some brands of beer. The
inflation in the commodity groups of milk products, soft drinks,
confectionery, coffee, tea, cocoa, and other products made 0.1-1.3%
in July on June 2008.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BEELINE ALREADY INVESTED 130 MILLION DOLLARS IN ARMENIA’S COMMUNICATION SECTOR

Noyan Tapan

Au g 5, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The ArmenTel Staff Training Center has
been granted status of a Beeline university.The head of VimpelCom’s
Staff Service for CIS Countries Galina Voranetskaya said that ArmenTel
will become the first of the companies acquired by VimpelCom to
have a university of corporate teaching. The university will also
be the first of this kind in Armenia. The task of the university
is to assist with the concept of the company’s development and its
strategic goals. The employees to be trained in Armenia will be used
in all other branches of the company.

In the words of Yelena Kovalchuk, ArmenTel’s Director for
Organizational Development Issues, the whole staff of the company is
now being tested. All those to pass the test successfully will have
the opportunity to undergo training. In the last six months, 4,000
employees were trained, while the remaining 1,890 employees will be
trained in the next six months. Y. Kovalchuk stated that all those
who have a desire and opportunity to be trained will continue to work
in the company – regardless of their age. In her words, the company
will have to dismiss those employees who are unable or unwilling to
undergo training.

According to Director General of ArmenTel Neycho Velichkov, the
university should help raise the quality of services provided by
the company, which will eventually result in a growth of ArmenTel’s
incomes. He said that all the employees of the company have to undergo
training and receive a qualification, but he did not announce the date,
starting from which the proper level of services will be ensured.

N. Velichkov said that with the aim of improving IDSL service, the
company plans to install new equipment and increase the speed of the
Internet connection.

According to ArmenTel’s director, Beeline has already invested more
than 130 million USD (80 million USD in 2007, 40 million USD in
the first half of 2008) for development of ArmenTel. In addition to
fulfiling its licence obligations, the company is also implementing
new development programs. The degree of fixed phone connection
digitalization currently makes 58% in the country and will make about
80% by late 2008. ArmenTel envisages to reach 100% digitalization.

TITLE OF ACADEMICIAN CONFERRED ON DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF WAC AND UAR VLADIMIR AGHAYAN

Noyan Tapan

Au g 5, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The All-Armenian Academy of National
Security Problems has conferred the title of academician on the
deputy chairman of the World Armenian Congress (WAC) and the Union
of Armenians in Russia (UAR) Vladimir Aghayan. NT correspondent was
informed by spokeswoman for WAC Armenian branch Aghavni Harutyunian
that the Honorary President of the Academy Fadey Sargsian handed the
diploma with a signature of the Academy President Lavrenti Barseghian
to Vladimir Aghayan on July 30.

Besides, V. Aghayan was awarded a Fridtjof Nansen gold medal for
his activities on establishment of social-political, humanitarian
principles and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide.

AVETIS AWARDED THREE GOLD MEDALS AND ANNOUNCED WINNER IN 5th CHOIR CONTEST

Noyan Tapan

Au g 5, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 5, NOYAN TAPAN. In the 5th World Choir Contest held
in Austria on July 9-19, Armenia’s Avetis choir was awarded 3 gold
medals in spiritual, mixed and modern music nominations and was
announced the winner.

As the choir director Levon Partagchian noted at the press conference
on August 5, more than 400 choirs from 90 countries took part in
the contest.

According to him, the mission of Avetis is to restore the traditions
of Armenian song art, to preserve it from the influence of foreign
music, as well as to introduce to the world the best samples of
Armenian song art.

Avetis choir was founded in 2004. The song list of the choir mainly
consists of the works of Armenian composers: Komitas, Makar Yekmalian,
Edgar Hovhannisian, Tigran Mansourian and others. According to
L. Partagchian, the choir also supports young composers trying to
smooth their way to international scene.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE NECESSITY OF FORMING A NEW POLITICAL ARENA
Rouben Darbinyan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on Aug 05, 2008
Armenia

As shown by the recent attempts, the consistent efforts towards
exacerbating the internal political situation come to confirm the
fact that the radical opposition has constructed its tactics of fight
against the authorities without considering the moods of their own
people but rather, based upon the objective of receiving support from
abroad, more specifically, having the PACE intervene in the internal
affairs of our country.

Having suffered a defeat during the "spring and summer campaigns", the
radical camp has recorded only one "achievement" for the time being. It
includes the well-known Resolutions passed by the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe and the threats of applying sanctions
against Armenia. In fact, the prospect of exacerbating the country’s
situation is viewed as a condition ensuring the on-going nature of
the struggle.

And to achieve that, it is necessary to collect as many "materials" as
possible in order to prove that the requirements of the Parliamentary
Assembly are being ignored by the leadership of Armenia. In this case,
there may be guarantees that the PACE will pass negative conclusions.

What we have as a result is the authorities’ mitigated attitude towards
the participants of the March 1-2 mass disorders on the one hand and
0D the radicals’ ardent desire to hold the successive unauthorized
demonstration or march at any price on the other.

In what other country does the opposition construct its tactics
based upon the logic of acting against its own state with the help
of Strasburg?

Separate negative phenomena characteristic to the internal political
struggle in Armenia exist in all the post-Soviet countries, but none
of them suffers from the "Strasburg disease" which so characteristic
to our native opposition.

It is gradually developing into a specific kind of syndrome of
worshiping alien values – an ailment that has been characteristic
to our nation since the dawn of times, the only difference being the
fact that all this happens in the specific circumstances peculiar to
the 21st century.

The attempts aiming to exacerbate the country’s situation artificially,
by way of furnishing Strasburg with materials, are nothing more than
a process of forming new and new levers required for influencing
our country.

Therefore, such practice has nothing to do with the level of democracy
in Armenia and the issue of overcoming the concrete flaws, errors
and gaps well-known to all of us.

If the goal, i.e. the democratization of the country, has changed
into a tool of foreign intervention aiming to achieve a shift of
government in the country, it means that we are dealing with unknown
groups of people acting beyond the framework of the i nstitutes of
an independent statehood, and their activities create new and new
threats for the whole country.

In conditions of the continuous increase of such threats, we don’t
think that either the implementation of some PACE Resolution or,
for instance, the policy of going to Strasburg and giving relevant
explanations will be enough.

It is necessary from now on to think about the formation of such a
political arena on which both the pro-government and the pro-opposition
poles will, regardless their convictions and the sharpness of the
struggle between each other, really consider Armenia a sovereign state.

Among them, there may certainly be some forces and activists each of
which will try to work with certain foreign forces to the benefit and
glory of his own country. However, their foreign preferences should
never become superior to the interests of the country and its people.

The pro-Levon activists have started to gradually detach themselves
from the political arena. It remains for all this to mark the beginning
of a more in-depth process aimed at curing the political arena.

And to achieve that it is necessary to demonstrate a will to neutralize
the vicious closed circle which is in the process of formation and
to kill the metastases of the "Strasburg disease".

AMERICA CHANGES ITS ATTITUDES
Gevorg Haroutyunyan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on Aug 05, 2008
Armenia

Interview with KIRO MANOYAN, person in charge of the ‘Hay Dat’ and
Political Affairs Office of the ARFD Bureau

"Finally, Maria Jovanovich has been confirmed as the new US Ambassador
to Armenia. What are your comments in this regard?"

"The approval of the new Ambassador’s candidacy by the Senate is
itself an interesting fact, as this is the consequence of an important
event. The thing is that there were senators who, till the last moment,
were ready to impede or freeze the approval of this candidacy as well.

Their posture changed after the State Secretariat addressed two written
statements to the Head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Senate.

Turkey is just beginning to touch upon these declarations, because
they slipped the their attention then.

In one of the statements the United States considers Turkey
responsible for what happened in Ottoman Turkey at the beginning of
last century. Up to this moment, it was mentioned in all the cases
that the massacres and annihilations were committed in the territory
of the Ottoman Empire, but it wasn’t clarified who was responsible
for that. Now, it is mentioned that everything was carried out by
the efforts of the soldiers and officials of the Empire.

In the second statement, the State Secretariat also made it clear
that the initiative of setting up a committee with the involvement of
Armenian and Turkish archivists does not anyhow question the facts
but rather, ensures guarantees for maintaining all the archives in
the most proper form.

These two changes in the attitude of the US administrations,
particularly the State Secretariat, led the Senators to approve Maria
Jovanovich’s candidacy."

"Can this change anything in the United States’ attitude towards the
recognition of the Armenian Genocide?"

"I think the posture of the United States has changed essentially. If,
by saying Armenian-Turkish reconciliation, former candidate Hoagland
believed that both parties should put up with their past and have a
dialogue, Maria Jovanovich definitely claims that it is Turkey that
has to put up with its past.

Clearly, these changes are not accounted for by individual
approaches; they result from the change in the attitude of the State
Secretariat. From this point of view, I believe that the day when
the Armenian Genocide will be recognized by the US President is not
far from this moment."

"What about the prospect of President Gyul’s responding to Serge
Sargsyan’s invitation and the two Presidents’ watching the football
match of their national teams?"

"I deem it necessary to affirm one’s again that the invitation
does not imply any changes in Armenia’s policy in the sphere of the
international re cognition of the Armenian Genocide. Both the statement
of the President and the negotiations held in Switzerland between the
Armenian and Turkish delegations are attempts of recording a success
in the two countries’ relations.

Whereas the invitation, as well as the proposal on setting up an
Armenian-Turkish committee created an impression that the fact of
the Genocide is called into question. This too, was refuted by Serge
Sargsyan’s article published in ‘Wall Street Journal’, as well as by
the statements of senior officials.

It became clear that the President made a proposal on setting up
a joint committee for discussing any issue only after opening the
Armenian-Turkish border and establishing diplomatic ties. As to the
committee of historians, it will not only to discuss the fact of the
Genocide but also restore the details of the crime."

GDP GROWTH IN ARMENIA RECORDED AT 10.3 PERCENT

ARKA
Aug 5, 2008

YEREVAN, August 5. /ARKA/. GDP growth in Armenia was recorded at 10.3
percent at the first half of 2008.

This is the third highest result in Commonwealth of Independent States.

The CIS Statistical Committee says that Azerbaijan showed the highest
rate of GDP growth – 16.5% and Tajikistan the lowest rate – 5.8%.

According to the statistical report, CIS economic growth averaged
8 percent.

Belarus with its 10.4 percent follows Azerbaijan. Russia’s economic
growth was recorded at 8.2%.

Kazakhstan’s economy grew 4.4% (on basic kinds of economic activity),
Uzbekistan’s rose 9.3%, Ukraine’s 6.3%, Data on Georgia (9.3%) and
Moldova (4.3%) for the first quarter is available. Data on Turkmenistan
is not available at all.

CENTRAL BANK OF ARMENIA RAISES ANNUAL REFINANCING RATE TO 7.50%

ARKA
Aug 5, 2008

YEREVAN, August 5. /ARKA/. The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) raised the
annual refinancing rate by 0.25% up to 7.50%. The respective decision
was adopted by the CBA Council, the CBA Press Service reported.

The CBA Council confirmed that world price reduction trends were
maintained in the foodstuff market in the last months, but it has
not been reflected in domestic market prices yet.

Despite some reduction in world oil prices recorded in the second
half of July, still expectations for changes in oil prices remain
uncertain. Under these conditions, secondary pressures of inflationary
potential have not weakened, which has been reflected in prices for
non-foodstuffs and services.

Taking into account high inflation rates and importance of mitigation
of inflationary expectations, the CBA Council suggests that the
further adjustment of the refinancing rate will depend on the scale
and speed of response of domestic prices to the mentioned trends on
world markets.

A 2.2% deflation was recorded in Armenia in July as compared with
June with annual inflation being 10.7%. Under the state budget,
inflation was planned to make 4% (±1.5%) by the end of 2008

–Boundary_(ID_Lrd+wI7X0e8vggoyst8a9w)–