Month: December 2008

ANOTHER WAGON SENT FOR RENOVATION TO GEORGIA BROUGHT BACK

ARMENPRESS
Dec 9, 2008

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS: The first wagons of the train
sent to Georgia for reconstruction has been brought recently to
Armenia. Press secretary of "South Caucasian Railways" company Vahe
Davtian said that the fully renovated wagons have developed security
system. Three wagons are in Armenia which will work in Ayrum-Gyumri
and Ayrum-Sadakhlo directions each transporting 1300 tons of cargo.

They will also be used for transportation of passengers. Now with
the aim of renovation 3 trains are in Georgia the one of which
is expected to be brought back in January 2009. "South Caucasian"
railway and Georgia’s machine building company signed an agreement
on capital reconstruction of 23 trains and 1,000 cargo wagons.

ONE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

A1+
[04:02 pm] 09 December, 2008

They didn’t ask us for experts. If they do, we will definitely
investigate," told journalists today U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Mari
Yovanovich regarding the issue of engaging experts in the March 1
fact-finding group.

The Ambassador underscored the willingness of the U.S. and noted that
experts had come to Armenia two months ago for September 11 and they
had consulted with members of the NA commission.

"Their visit was not aimed at participating in the investigation on
the March 1 case, but rather to share experience. The September 11
commission helped Americans recover and move on."

Since journalists had the chance to meet with the Ambassador during
the conference on "Investigation of corruption crimes and effective
means of criminal persecution", "A1+" asked Yovanovich if she knew
about the judicial system of Armenia and justice for that matter.

"I have not been here long enough," said Mrs. Ambassador. She believes
that the justice sphere must always be in action and is proud that
that recently the U.S. managed to put an end to huge corruption crimes
the participants of which were high-ranking officials.

"I believe that each country must start from where it is. Recently,
a group of U.S. officials were persecuted and punished. The fight
against corruption requires a great deal of work and political
will. The U.S. has managed to register progress and that instills
the hope that it is possible in other countries as well."

Of course, the Ambassador also pictures the difficulties of the
fight against corruption and recalls that in 1920, there was only
one prosecutor in Chicago who made a difference.

"One person can make a difference, if he is consistent. One person
can also make a difference in Armenia, if he has the will."

NAREK RESIGNED

A1+
[04:10 pm] 09 December, 2008

Leader of the Social Democratic (Hnchak) Party’s "Sargis Tkhruni"
student-youth union Narek Galstyan resigned and current head of the
student council of the Culture Faculty of the Armenian Pedagogical
University after Khachatur Abovyan Gevorg Perkuperkyan was elected
new leader of the union.

During the party’s administration session, Narek Galstyan was assigned
to temporarily head the press service of the party until the next
assembly.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

LACK OF PUBLIC AWARENESS IN ARMENIA?

A1+
[04:50 pm] 09 December, 2008

The Informational Technologies (IT) sector in Armenia is rather
vulnerable and there is not much room for development.

There are more than 80 IT companies in Armenia and they mainly export
their products. According to head of "Synergy International Systems"
Ashot Hovhannisyan, investments in the IT market are mainly from
abroad and products are generally exported.

Hovhannisyan set aside a couple of current issues in the IT sector
that require solutions and the most important one is the fact that
Armenia is not competitive compared to other countries.

For example, in countries like India the work force is comparably
cheap and that is why the IT sector moves forward. Other issues
connected to Internet connection and the lack of resources.

According to head of the Center for Management Technologies of Yerevan
Khazhak Karayan, several tax privileges and creation of free trade
zones may promote the IT sector. Karayan believes that the IT sector
needs government support, especially in terms of cooperation with
financial institutions. Getting funds from financial institutions
has been rather difficult to date because the evaluation mechanism
in Armenia is underdeveloped.

"That is a major issue today because the evaluations given by the
local financial institutions are an important standard for foreign
investors. I advise the government to allow exclusions for IT companies
when it comes time for project implementation," says Karayan.

Representative of the "X Tech" creative studio Arman Atoyan says that
the IT market in Armenia is underdeveloped due to lack of public
awareness. The latter would cause demand for WEB technologies and
program deals. Atoyan added that the "Armenian Youth Association for
Development of Information Society" has been founded with the purpose
of starting processes that will show people what IT is capable of.

"I think that it is very important to show the world a product that is
"Made in Armenia". Let’s start with the development of that brand,"
said Atoyan

MARCH 1: NOT PART OF INTERNAL CORRUPTION?

A1+
[06:26 pm] 09 December, 2008

Thirty Armenian prosecutors, ten investigators from the special
investigative service, ten police investigators, two NSS officials,
two officials of the tax service, two customs officials have joined
the representatives of the U.S. corresponding bodies to find out how
they can fight against corruption.

How appropriate and effective is it for Armenian experts to leave
work and participate in the conference held on the U.S. Department of
Justice on "Successful Techniques for the Investigation and Prosecution
of Corruption"? RA Deputy Prosecutor General Armen Danielyan explained
to "A1+".

"I hope that this will be just one of the conferences and that we will
have the opportunity to get acquainted with procedures in the U.S. We
must free ourselves from corruption at the political, governmental
and economic levels in order to create a democratic society."

Danileyan doesn’t believe that Armenians lack the will to fight
against corruption. "As Deputy Prosecutor General, I assure you
that the Prosecutor General is willing to support the fight against
corruption and we will engage journalists in the process."

How do you envision the fight against corruption when many Armenian
citizens distrust prosecutors and complain about prosecutors? In
response to this, Danielyan said:

"We can always say that there are people who lack trust. I believe
that the behavior of a state official may serve as a basis to form
public opinion that there is corruption in government."

Why don’t people trust the Prosecution General? Head of the department
of fight against corruption and organized crimes of the RA Prosecution
General Armen Arshafyan had this to say to that:

"The people lack trust not only in prosecutors, but also many state
structures. We must gradually overcome that barrier with your help."

Today’s conference did not touch upon the events of March 1, even from
the aspects of loss or increase in people’s trust in prosecutors and
the courts.

Since U.S. Prosecutor Steven Kessler believes that the goal of the
conference is to make it easier for citizens to complain to the
police. "A1+" asked Kessler why the conference overlooked the events
of March 1.

"We haven’t touched upon those issues because what we are discussing
refers to the fight against corruption," said Mr. Kessler and added:
"I understand that citizens are not satisfied with the work of the
police and prosecutors, but I hope that Armenian judges and prosecutors
will reach success and will take into account the decisions of the
European Court."

STATE BODIES HELPESS AGAINST AREA APPROPRIATION RAID?

A1+
[07:30 pm] 09 December, 2008

The parliament held hearings on "Urbanization and Transportation Issues
in Yerevan" today with the mayor of Yerevan, Ministers of Communication
and Transport, Urbanization and Environmental Protection. Not one of
the ministers had rejected the invitation.

RA Deputy Minister of Urbanization, RA Chief Architect Narek Sargsyan,
chief architect of Yerevan Samvel Danielyan and Deputy Minister of
Communication and Transport David Yeritsyan made their speeches and
answered questions raised by NGOs and interested parties. The speech
made by David Yeritsyan did not correspond to reality and many deputies
paid no attention, yet it was the issue of utmost importance-road
junctions and transportation in Yerevan.

However, deputies listened attentively to Narek Sargsyan and asked
him most of the questions, despite the fact that the city council is
mainly responsible for issues concerning urbanization.

Architect of Yerevan Samvel Danielyan evaded talking about greeneries
or tree-cutting, permission for construction of multi-story buildings
in inappropriate places and preferred to talk about road junctions
and the newly remodeled streets. Meanwhile, there are a number of
issues concerning architecture.

In her speech, organizer of the hearings, ARF deputy Lilit Galstyan
recalled that by the July 15, 2005 decision of the mayor of Yerevan,
the altitude of buildings constructed near Republic Square must
be limited "so that the buildings surrounding the square would not
cast shadows." Galstyan complained about the high-story buildings
constructed near the square and the situation on Mastots street. Even
state structures are helpless against the area appropriation raid. "The
building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can’t be seen due to the
construction going on near the building."

This and other complaints brought up by other deputies remained
unanswered. Narek Sargsyan is not competent to give answers to the
construction going on in the city today and it wasn’t in the interest
of Samvel Danielyan to recall their questions and give answers.

The allusion made to the construction going on behind the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs referred to Deputy and contractor of the construction
Melik Gasparyan. Galust Sahakyan was present from the Republican
Party because the parliament was going to discuss issues concerning
transportation.

Among participants of the hearings were members of the "Heritage"
party and the ARF

HINDERED, BUT…

A1+
[08:01 pm] 09 December, 2008

Members of the "Miatsum" national initiative left for Ijevan today
to hold a meeting with citizens in the Culture Home of Ijevan. The
members had scheduled the showing of the film by Tigran Khzmalyan on
liberated lands and issues of citizens of Javakhk, which was supposed
to be followed by a discussion with the theme "Armenia’s liberated
lands and the future of Armenian statehood".

However, the mayor of Ijevan refused to submit a written reply to
NA Deputy Zaruhi Postanjyan to use the hall of the Culture Home,
while Ijevan police and National Security Service officials had begun
pressure to prevent the gathering of people in the "Fountains" square.

As members approached the closed doors of the Culture Home, they
organized a meeting on their own in the "Fountains" square with
the locals. With the microphone in their hands, Zaruhi Postanjyan,
Alek Yenigomshyan, Alexander Kananyan and Grizelda Ghazaryan touched
upon the consequences of the administration’s intentions to hand over
liberated lands of Armenia and the impermissibility in strategic terms.

KIRO MANOYAN: FINAL DEAL ON KARABAKH POSSIBLE WITHIN SEVERAL YEARS

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.12.2008 16:06 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ If adopted, the basic principles of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict resolution may be promulgated in Armenia and NKR,
ARF Bureau’s Hay Dat and Political Affairs Office Director said.

"ARF Dashnaktsutyun’s stand on the issue is as follows: the conflict
should be resolved via talks, a peaceful agreement should be signed,
any mutual concessions should be balanced and equal, NKR should
participate in talks as a party to conflict, NKR’s future status
should be determined, Karabakh territories occupied by Azerbaijan
should be returned, the problem of refugees should be resolved,"
Kiro Manoyan told a news conference today.

The Co-chairs are not in a hurry to resolve the conflict, according to
him. "The declaration signed by Foreign Minister of the OSCE member
countries clearly states that an agreement on basic principles will
be concluded within several months. So, No considerable changes are
expected in the Karabakh process unless the final agreement is sealed,"
he said.

Foreign Ministers of France, Russia, and the United States – the
Co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group – issued December 3 a
joint declaration of the on Nagorno Karabakh conflict, which says,

"We, the Foreign Ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group’s Co-Chair countries
– France, Russia, and the United States – call on the parties to the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict to build on the positive momentum established
during the meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in
Moscow on November 2, 2008. The Moscow Declaration signed that same
day opened a new and promising phase in our shared endeavor to expand
peace in the South Caucasus. In that declaration, the Presidents
reaffirm their commitment to advancing a peaceful settlement of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict in the framework of the Basic Principles
developed by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs in collaboration with the
leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on the basis of their proposals
advanced last year in Madrid.

We call on the parties to work with the Co-Chairs to finalize the Basic
Principles in coming months, and then begin drafting a comprehensive
peace settlement as outlined by those agreed principles. In keeping
with the Moscow Declaration, we call on the parties to work with
the Co-Chairs to develop confidence-building measures, beginning
with pulling back snipers from the Line of Contact to save lives of
innocent civilians and soldiers as our mediators already proposed to
the sides at the highest level during the last visit mid November. It
is urgent for the parties to work with each other, the Co-Chairs,
and the Personal Representative of the Chairman in Office to stabilize
the ceasefire through this and other measures. We reiterate our firm
view that there is no military solution to the conflict and call on
the parties to recommit to a peaceful resolution."

UN CONVENTION ON PREVENTION AND PUNISHMENT OF GENOCIDE NEEDS IMPROVEMENTS

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.12.2008 16:28 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment
of the Crime of Genocide of December 9, 1949 is imperfect and needs
improvements, according ARF Dashnaktsutyun Bureau’s Hay Dat and
Political Affairs Office Director.

"The signatories should be punished if fail to fulfill the obligations
envisaged by the Convention," Kiro Manoyan told a news conference
today.

"The UN should have extra authority to interfere up to use of force
to stop the countries perpetrating genocide," he said.

EU GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO EASTERN PARTNERSHIP

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.12.2008 16:56 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ European Union leaders backed plans on Friday to
offer closer ties to the bloc’s eastern neighbors.

The Eastern Partnership plan is to offer new areas of cooperation
to Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and, subject to
domestic reforms, Belarus. But the plan is vague, with details only
to be worked out by March, 2009.

"The European Council (EU governments) agrees on the need to further
promote regional cooperation among the EU’s eastern neighbors and
between the EU and the region," said the leaders’ draft statement,
due to be endorsed at the summit.

Poland and Sweden, authors of the project, hope it will become a
forum of multilateral cooperation with regular meetings of ministers
and leaders. They said it could prepare the countries for eventual
EU membership.

The EU’s eastern neighbors are already linked to Brussels through the
strictly bilateral European Neighborhood Policy, which offers countries
better trade access, economic assistance and visa liberalization as
they adapt to EU standards, Reuters reports.