Month: October 2008

PREMIER: EXPERIMENTAL PLATFORM ON IT DEVELOPMENT TO BE ESTABLISHED IN ARMENIA

ARKA
Oct 21, 2008

YEREVAN, October 21. /ARKA/. Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan,
speaking at the global education and development innovation forum
held in Yerevan on Tuesday, said that experimental platform on IT
development is planned to be established in Armenia.

"We want to create the experimental platform in the State Engineering
University of Armenia to encourage new mentality in innovation and
advanced technologies area and spur the youth’s interest in it",
he said.

The premier expressed hope that the forum will not only give a new
impetus to students and professors, but will also become a good
example for other universities that prepare IT specialists.

The prime minister views it important to infect other young people
with the new idea.

"The forum gives a chance to our young people to meet their overseas
colleagues and exchange experience and new ideas. This will spur the
IT sector development. That is why we attach great importance to the
forum", Sargsyan said.

He said that IT and telecommunication technologies specialists are
highly demanded not only in Armenia, but also all over the globe.

"You know that companies from developed countries come to Armenia
and employ our specialists, since appreciate their skills", the
premier said. "New jobs are being created in Armenia in this area
. Such specialists are highly demanded in Armenia now, since this is
an intellectual area, and salaries here are far higher than average
salary in Armenia. I think this circumstance gives another impetus
to the youth and spurs their interest in information technologies".

Enterprise Incubator Foundation says the turnover of IT companies in
Armenia exceeded $100 million this year.

120 companies function here. They ensured 15-percent stable growth
of the sector.

6,000 specialists and 8,000 support personnel work in the sector.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MEDVEDEV: RUSSIA IS LEADER AMONG ARMENIA’S ECONOMIC PARTNERS

ARKA
Oct 21, 2008

YEREVAN, October 21. /ARKA/. Russia is the leader among Armenia’s
economic partners, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in Yerevan
on Tuesday.

"Trade turnover between the two countries has grown over eight months
of this year, and we hope that the end of this year will be quite
successful", he said at a joint press conference with his Armenian
counterpart, Serzh Sargsyan.

National Statistical Service of Armenia says trade turnover between
Armenia and Russia grew 19.5% in Jan/Aug 2008 reaching $482.4 million.

Armenia’s export to Russia reached $136.4 million (19.6% of total
export) after growing 9% over the mentioned period, compared with
the same period a year earlier.

Medvedev said that energy sector, industry, transport, banking system
and information technologies are considered as top-priority focuses
in Armenian-Russian cooperation.

"We intend to continue developing industrial cooperation, stimulate
mutual investment and widen inter-regional ties", he said. "That is
the aim of the agreements signed today".

The Russian president pointed out effectiveness of Armenian-Russian
intergovernmental committee’s activity. The committee on economic
cooperation held its 10th session in Yerevan on Monday.

"It was a comprehensive and good job and its results were seen in
today’s negotiations and document signing=E 2, he said.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, in his turn, said that the majority
of agreements signed earlier have already been put in reality.

"The agreement on energy supply to Armenia is among them", he said.

"This will enable us to ensure further stable growth of our economy".

The head of state said that both countries are also interested in
development of ties between economy entities and regions.

Russian-Armenian talks have resulted in signing some
cooperation-related documents, such as the plan of consultations
between Armenian and Russian foreign ministries, agreements on trade,
economic, scientific and cultural cooperation between the authorities
of Russian region of Sverdlov and Armenian Government and between
Russian Yaroslav and Armenian Armavir provinces’ authorities.

ECONOMIC COOPERATION CONSIDERS ALL THE SPHERES
Gevorg Haroutyunyan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
21 Oct 2008
Armenia

Yesterday morning, the Intergovernmental Committee on Economic
Cooperation between Armenia and Russia convened its 10th plenary
session in the conference hall of "Metropol" hotel.

IGOR LEVITIN, RF Minister of Transport and Co-Chair of the
Inter-Governmental Committee, underlined that, "The economic
cooperation between Armenia and Russia develops consistently. Although,
in 2008, the volumes of good circulation will exceed the sum of 1
billion dollars, we continue the progress and envisage more ambitious
programs.

The committee has studied a number of trends requiring an urgent
solution.

As a result, the problematic issues related to the operation of the
institutions, (particularly those which are considered the property of
Russia) dealing with the problems of energy, transport, humanitarian
issues and environmental conservation – problems that aroused heated
debates quite recently, have now found a solution. The Central Banks
of both countries are elaborating long-term effective programs."

At the end of the meeting, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and Igor
Levitin signed the protocol of the 10th session of the Armenian-Russian
Inter-Governmental Committee, and then, during the meeting with the
journalists, summed up the results.

Co-Chair of the Committee TIGRAN SARGSYAN considered it symbolic t hat
the 10th jubilee session of the inter-governmental cooperation had been
convened on the eve of RF President D. Medvedev’s visit to Armenia.

"The session was held in the traditional constructive atmosphere of
the mutual understanding. I am satisfied with the agreements achieved,
and I hope that they all will be successfully implemented in the near
future. I am sure that the high-level warm relations will foster
an equally effective and full cooperation in the private sector as
well. Our principal goal is to ensure a favorable atmosphere for
cooperation in all the possible spheres."

RF Minister of Transport Igor Levitin confirmed that the
inter-governmental committee had, over the past ten years, become
an effective tool assisting and supporting the private business
sector. "All our sessions are necessarily participated by the
representatives of the private business sector. It is due to their
assistance that we managed to consistently solve all the problems
which were difficult to settle on the inter-state level. We have even
managed to overcome the legal-contractual obstacles.

In particular, ‘Mars’ factory will be handed over to ‘Citronix’
company which has submitted a new production business-plan to the RA
Government or a free economic zone will be created.

If the submitted business plan is approved and adopted, the most
up-to-date high technologies will be imported.

As reg ards the prospect of building an oil refinery in Armenia,
I don’t think we are now facing the economic necessity of building
an enterprise with the project power of 5 million tons. First, it is
necessary to find the markets on which the production of this factory
can be realized".

Characterizing the volumes and spheres of the Armenian-Russian economic
cooperation, T. Sargsyan mentioned, "All the spheres of our life and
vital activity are within the frames of bilateral interests. There
is no sphere that slipped our attention. Today, we can state that
all the problems in the sphere of energy have been resolved, and we
now have the opportunity to create a new field of cooperation and
to extend it. We believe that before the end of the current year,
the law prohibiting bilateral taxations will enter into force.

There were also discussions over the Russian side’s participation
in the construction of the Iran-Armenia railway and the new nuclear
power plant.

The final decisions will be made when the expert groups study the
effectiveness of these projects and submit their conclusions."

WE HAVE A SUPREME GOAL
Lilit Poghosyan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
21 Oct 2008
Armenia

To Achieve The Pro-Armenian Settlement Of The Conflict

Does Ter-Petrosyan really intend not to "pressurize" Armenian
authorities in this "fatal" moment for the country, not to make it
vulnerable towards the external impacts? Is this the reason why he
announced during his last meeting about his intention to freeze the
demonstration-based activeness of the opposition or it was pretence
to save his face?

MP, RPA Press Secretary Edward Sharmazanov answers our questions.

"It is not a secret that the demonstration-based activeness was
extinguishing and society is well aware of this fact. I have
already said and I must repeat that the times of demagogy is over
and the opposition would rather shift their struggle from the
demonstration-based to the constructive field.

As regards the announcements made by Ter-Petrosyan naturally I don’t
agree to his assessments and commentaries. We, the Republican Party,
coalition, and me personally, as an MP, have already expressed our
stance regarding Karabakh and by the way from the high tribune of
the Parliament.

And I don’t see any reason for anxiety. Armenia will never agree to
any type of concession, which contradicts our national interests.

But each political force decides its course of action on its own – to
hold meeting s or to freeze their demonstration-based activeness, for
unknown reasons. It is the monopoly of that particular political force.

It is another issue that each political force, be it pro-oppositional
or pro-governmental, must be guided by the principle of the supremacy
of the national interests and if the first President is sincere in
his intentions, we can only welcome his action. If not, if he simply
speculates, national state interests, then I must say that I don’t
consider it moral."

"In your view is Levon Ter-Petrosyan sincere or he simply maneuvers?"

"I don’t want to give assessments. As you know the party, the coalition
has its own project, and by the leadership of the President we are
implementing this project. We and me personally, as a member of RPA
faction, meet with the voters every Saturday-Sunday. We visit the
regions and we are well aware of the people’s problems. Which means
the ruling power is not detached from the people.

For the first time in our reality the President addressed the people
from the tribune of the National Assembly and not only did he speak
about our achievements but also the negative phenomena that exist
among society and why not the pyramid of the ruling power. Thus
the President stated over again that he is determined to put into
practice his pre-election program and that his words don’t differ
from his deeds. It is the problem of the opposition whether or not
they will hold demonstrations and what type of announcements they
will make regarding Karabakh issue.

The President clearly introduced his goals from the UN tribune and
in my view Armenia’s stance towards the settlement of Karabakh issue
is not a secret for anyone. Which is – the settlement of the issue
must be based on the principle of supremacy of nations’ right to
self-determination.

Secondly – the stance of the President is based not only on his own
project or that of the Republican Party, but it is clearly enshrined
in Armenia’s national strategy program.

We have a supreme goal to do our best to achieve the pro-Armenian
settlement of the conflict. Of course better if it happens in the
nearest future, but we never intend to take swift actions, because
it can lead to anti-Armenian settlement of the issue.

No one is as interested in the pro-Armenian settlement of the conflict
as Serge Sargsyan, someone who unlike others hasn’t changed his
stance towards the settlement of Karabakh conflict. He has voiced
this stance in 1993 and 1998 opposing Vazgen Sargsyan and Robert
Kocharyan who approved the version of the phazal settlement of the
conflict proposed by Ter-Petrosyan.

COMMITTEE ASKS FOR TIME

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
21 Oct 2008
Armenia

Within the frameworks of its regular four-day session, the National
Assembly yesterday started a discussion over the legislative initiative
on extending the term of the activities of the Interim Committee for
2 months. The legislative initiative was proposed by Samvel Nikoyan,
Artashes Shahbazyan, Artsvik Minasyan and Hovhannes Margaryan.

The authors of the initiative proposed that the deadline of the
activities of the "NA Interim Committee Investigating the March 1-2
Incidents and Their Causes" be extended till the 25th of December,
instead of the 25th of October, as decided previously.

The representatives of "Heritage" faction unanimously voted against
the proposal since they had had distrust in the committee’s impartial
work from the outset. And the reason of their distrust is that
the committee wasn’t set up in accordance with the "prescription"
proposed by faction. Below we present some pros and cons regarding
the subject matter of the discussion.

ARMEN MARTIROSYAN

"Heritage" faction

"Having no doubt as to the honest goals and motives of my colleagues,
I must say that society would have trusted the committee’s work if the
opposition had been represented there as well. But we passed a bill
of such a decision that didn’t give the opposition the opportunity
to have a full participation in those activities.

Second, trust in the committee depends not only upon the activities of
the individuals who are involved in the committe, but also upon those
people who are invited as specialists, experts or eye-witnesses with
the purpose of making certain clarifications. In this respect, what
was the value of the well-known ‘story of piglets’, as represented
by chief forensic doctor Shota Vardanyan"?

The committee does not have enough competences to really disclose
the full picture of what happened both in terms the cause-effect
relationship and the events proper. Neither is it competent enough to
take any measures to prevent their repetition. In such conditions,
Mr. Nokoyan cannot act beyond the framework of the competences
prescribed by the draft decision, no matter how much he may try to
work day and night. It is impossible to obtain the true picture of
the events with such limited competences.

ARTSVIK MINASYAN

ARFD faction

"The bill provides a solution to a very simple problem. That is, to
give the Interim Committee the opportunity to have a more detailed
discussion over the issues and find solutions to them. As well as
enable the radical opposition to participate in the activities of
the fact-finding group and introduce the available information. But
unfortunately, they are either reluctant to do so, or they introduce
that information par t by part.

Some of our colleagues accuse the National Assembly of imposing a
state of emergency. But could we have allowed the death of a couple
of hundreds of more people, so as society would have asked at the
end why the tragedy was not averted in time. Was this what was
necessary to do? Certainly not. After all, the people who resorted
to violence should be held accountable, no matter weather those acts
were directed against the police, the citizens or Armen Martirosyan,
our colleague. Whereas no one has so far given a testimony as to who
stabbed Armen Martirosyan with a knife.

MR. TER-PETROSYAN WHY ARE YOU SO ANTI-RUSSIAN?

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
21 Oct 2008
Armenia

On October 17 Ter-Petrosyan over again committed himself to powdering
the brains of Armenian public or as people say beating about the bush.

When I thoroughly familiarized myself with the speech, which he
delivered during the meeting near Matenadaran, the famous speech of
the Great Old Roman Markos Tullios Cicerone "In Defence of Veres"
came to my mind.

The famous orator of all times, during the whole period of Veres’
court procedure, seemed to eagerly defend the latter, enumerating
Veres’ advantages, spicing his speech with certain details that
seemed to be insignificant from the first glance. As a result,
to the great surprise of the plebeians gathered in the square the
court came to the decision to hang Cicerone’s "defender" because the
thorough observation of those details that seemed to be insignificant
demonstrated that they include grave charges.

The same goes with the speech delivered by Ter-Petrosyan, who allegedly
committed himself to the role of the defender of the Russian interests
in the Republic of Armenia. And because our "hero" is far from being
Cicerone and due to Putin Russia has already freed itself from the
continual process of justifying themselves towards the West and
because during his last speech Russian incumbent President Dmitry
Medvedev confirmed that Russia’s current status is unchangeable,
it is evident that LTP’s efforts were directed to the settlement of
quite different issues. And in this regard the only thing left to do
is to be astonished at LTP’s efforts to show himself as a pro-Russian
political figure whereas he always discredits this powerful country.

D. MEDVEDEV PAYS OFFICIAL VISIT TO ARMENIA

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
21 Oct 2008
Armenia

By the invitation of President Serge Sargsyan, RF President D. Medvedev
yesterday arrived in Armenia on a two-day official visit.

At the airport, Mr. Medvedev was met by President Serge Sargsyan,
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan, RA Ambassador to the Russian
Federation Armen Smbatyan, RF Ambassador to Armenia Nikolay Pavlov and
other officials. Among the members of the delegation of the Russian
President were RF Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Transport
Igor Levitin, Minister of Energy Sergey Shmadko as well as Heads of
administrative divisions of the Russian Federation and businessmen,

This is D. Medvedev’s first visit to Armenia in the capacity of the
President of the Russian Federation.

Within the frameworks of the official visit, the Armenian and Russian
Presidents will have a tête-a-tête which will be followed by
negotiations with the participation of more representatives.

After the end of the negotiations, different documents on cooperation
will be signed. Thereafter, Serge Sargsyan and Dmitry Medvedev will
make a statement summing up the results of the talks.

–Boundary_(ID_NoPWka28ynWvStSR7cnq2w)–

ELECTIONS IN ECHMIADSIN

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
21 Oct 2008
Armenia

According to the preliminary results of the elections of the Major
of Echmiadsin ex-Minister of Defense, Chairman of Yerkrapah Union of
Volunteers Manvel Grigoryan’s son, Karen Grigoryan won.

Chairman of the election committee of constituency 19 Movses Kartashyan
informed us that 20 thousand 527 voters or 50,05% of the voters
participated in the elections. According to the preliminary results
12 thousand 208 electors voted for Karen Grigoryan, 6 thousand 994
voters – for his main rival Hakob Hakobyan and the third candidate
Artak Poghosyan obtained 169 votes.

PRESIDENT OF THE NKR SIGNED SEVERAL DECREES

Azat Artsakh Daily
20 Oct 08
Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]

On 20 October President of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic Bako Sahakyan
signed several decrees. According to the decree the terms in office of
the First Instance Court judges Artyusha Madatyan and Volodya Stepanyan
were terminated ahead of schedule upon their own request. According
to another decree the authorities of Artysha Madatyan as a member of
the Council of Judicial Magistracy were terminated ahead of schedule.

ARMENIA-RUSSIA ECONOMIC COOPERATION LEVEL SHOULD BE EQUALED TO POLITICAL

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.10.2008 15:42 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The level of Armenia-Russia economic cooperation
should be equaled to political, the Armenian President said.

"Presently, Russian capital is invested in 1200 Armenian
enterprises. Construction of a new NPP and a railroad is planned. I
think, commodity turnover can reach $1 billion this year," Serzh
Sargsyan told a news conference.

"The main task of the Russian authorities is to minimize the
consequences of the global financial crisis. Dmitry Medvedev said,
for his part. "The crisis has inflicted huge damages. We also suffered
losses. Globalization and open economy did their work and now all
are paying for the mistakes made by some countries, specifically the
U.S. But I think we will find a way out."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress