Month: June 2009

ARMENIAN CB BOARD APPROVES AMENDMENTS TO NORMATIVE DOCUMENTS

ARKA
June 3, 2009

YEREVAN, June 3. /ARKA/. At its sitting presided by CBA Chairman Artur
Javadyan, the Board of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) approved
Regulation #8/20 "Calculation of annual interests on bank deposits".

The CBA Board also approved Regulation #8/30 "Publication of
information by banks, credit institutions, insurance companies,
insurance brokers, investment companies, Central Depository, and money
transfer organizations". The CBA Board approved Regulation #3/10
"Minimum requirements to supervisory system of insurance company"
as well as the CBA program of commemorative coins for 2010-2011.

The CBA amended Regulation #3 "Banks’ reports, presentation and
publication", Regulation #15 "Reports of insurance companies,
presentation and publication".

The CBA Board also amended Regulation #3/09 "Classification of assets
of insurance companies, formation and use of possible loss reserve"
and Regulation #3/04 "Forms of reports of insurance companies and
information contained in reports".

8MLN CUBIC METERS OF GAS SUPPLIED TO ARMENIA THROUGH IRAN-ARMENIA GAS MAIN IN MAY

ARKA
June 3, 2009

YEREVAN, June 3. /ARKA/. This May Armenia received around 8mln cubic
meters of Iranian gas through the Iran-Armenia gas main, RA Minister
of Energy and Natural Resources Armen Movsisyan told reporters during
his visit to the Yerevan heat and power plant.

"At present the line pressure meets the capacity of the Armenian gas
system," the Minister said.

Iran started supplying gas to the Iran-Armenia gas main on May 15,
2009.

Under a preliminary agreement, the Gas for Electric Power program is
being implemented. The Iranian gas will be converted into electric
energy for the export to Iran – 3kwh against one cubic meter.

In 2004, the Armenian Government initiated the construction of an
Iran-Armenia gas main.

Armenia had been importing natural gas from Russia through Georgia.

The ArmRosgazprom CJSC is exclusive distributor of the Russian gas
in Armenia. The company was founded in 1997 by the Gazprom OJSC (80%)
and the RA Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (20%).

ARMENIAN CB REISSUES NONLIFE INSURANCE LICENSE TO LONDON-YEREVAN COMPANY

ARKA
June 3, 2009

YEREVAN, June 3. /ARKA/. The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) decided
to reissue a nonlife insurance license to the London-Yerevan Co Ltd.

The CBA Public Relations Department reports that the point "Legal
and production expenses insurance" was withdrawn from the license.

OSCE MG ONLY INTERNATIONAL AGENCY FULLY INFORMED OF KARABAKH PROBLEM

ARKA
June 4, 2009

YEREVAN, June 4. /ARKA/. The OSCE Minsk Group is the only international
agency fully informed of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, RA Deputy
Foreign Minister Shavarash Kocharyan told Novosti-Armenia.

"At present it is the only international agency fully informed of the
problem and its genesis and is in touch with the task group monitoring
the cease-fire regime," Sh. Kocharyan said.

He said that the Minsk Group is the format progress can be associated
with, considering such "leading players" as Russia, the USA, France
and the European Union (EU).

"This is a competent authority through it sometimes plays up to
Azerbaijan. Bu I have the impression that the OSCE MG Co-Chairs
have come to realize that playing up dopes not at all contribute to
progress. On the contrary, it makes Azerbaijan take on a harder line,
which is a way to a breakdown of talks," Sh. Kocharyan said.

AZERBAIJAN CASHING IN ON OIC RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS

ARKA
June 4, 2009

YEREVAN, July 4. /ARKA/. Azerbaijan is cashing in on the religious
sentiments of the member-countries of the Organization of the Islamic
Conference (OIC), RA Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said,
commenting an anti-Armenian resolution adopted by the 36th conference
of the OIC Foreign Ministers in Damascus.

"Resolutions like that have hardly been adopted over the last
year except for this one," Kocharyan said in his interview to
Novosti-Armenia. He said that "Azerbaijan’s rhetoric proved effective"
at one time because "not everyone knows and remembers".

"It is no coincidence that Azerbaijan has made repeated statements on
the ineffectiveness of the OSCE Minsk Group and pronounced for going
beyond its format. The reason is that the OSCE Minsk Group is well
informed of the genesis of the conflict, all the details unknown to
many international organizations," Sh. Kocharyan said.

He said that, making successive attempts to pervert the truth about
the conflict and about its aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh, Baku
is trying to present it as a territorial dispute between Armenia
and Azerbaijan.

"They have succeeded to a certain extent, but this is the limit,"
Sh. Kocharyan said.

According to him, OIC is the only organization where Azerbaijan
recently managed to railroad the traditional resolution. "We dee
ply regret the fact that Azerbaijan is cashing in on the religious
sentiments of the IOC member-states to push resolutions like this
through it," he said.

Sh. Kocharyan also pointed out it is extremely dangerous because the
future is a dialogue, not a clash, between civilizations. "Even during
the military stage of the conflict the problem of self-determination
was not presented in a religious aspect. Azerbaijan is overstepping
the limits," Kocharyan said.

SAINT PETERSBURG ECONOMIC FORUM KICKS OFF TODAY

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
04.06.2009 10:37 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Saint Petersburg Economic Forum kicked off in
Russia today.

The premier economic event and is set to be attended by a roll-call
of its main economic players, who will focus on global development,
prospects of international financial institutes and banking sector.

Organizers hope signed contracts will surpass last year’s total of
$US 13.5 billion.

The forum’s agenda will include oil price, modern logistic systems,
dialogue between economic agents from the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS) member countries, energy efficiency, social policy,
market and financial projects, investments, as well as the new model
of market economy, in the context of the world economic crisis.

Some 12,000 police officers will ensure security during the event.

Pulkovo International Airport is getting ready to receive around 150
business flights

MALATIA-SEBASTIA COMMUNITY VOTES RE-COUNTING LAUNCHED IN RA PROSECUTOR GENERAL’S OFFICE

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
04.06.2009 12:04 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ RA Prosecutor General’s office has launched
re-counting of votes of 8/01 polling station of Malatia-Sebastia
community of Yerevan. The procedure is held in presence of CEC and
RA Prosecutor General’s office representatives.

No flagrant violations were fixed, a PanARMENIAN.Net correspondent
reported from the site.

There was no seal of the election commission on the batch
¹03030225. The number of ballot papers was inexact. 1480 were
registered instead of 1477. Re-count revealed one extra vote in favor
of Republican Party of Armenia.

However, these violations are technical and can’t affect the outcome
of elections.

MOSCOW TO HOST CONFERENCE ON RUSSIAN HERITAGE PRESERVATION

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
04.06.2009 12:21 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On June 4-5, Moscow twill host a conference on
Russian heritage preservation, with the assistance of Governmental
Commission for Compatriots’ Issues and RF MFA. Around 60 notable
Russians from 44 countries are invited to participate in the event, as
well as representatives of RF federal and regional bodies, scientific
institutions, Russian NGOs.

Conference program will feature plenary meetings, discussions
on possibilities of contribution of business, political, and
intellectual elite of Russian Diaspora in preservation of ethno
cultural originality of Russian communities, protection of compatriots’
rights and interests.

An attorney, international and civil law expert, Russian-Armenian
Modern Humanitarian Academy Pro-rector, Narine Rshtuni will represent
Armenia at the forum.

Her statement will be dedicated to human rights protection issues of
Russians in Armenia.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTION TO BE LAUNCHED

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
04.06.2009 13:01 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Elections to the European Parliament will be held
in 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June
2009. 736 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will be elected
to represent some 500,000,000 Europeans.

The voting will launch on June 4 in Great Britain and Holland (97 MPs),
on June 5- in Ireland and Czechia (12 MPs), June 6 – Cyprus, France,
Italy, Latvia, Malta, Slovakia and Czechia (54 MPs), June 7 – Austria,
Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Spain, Italy,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Finland,
France, Sweden, Estonia (561 MPs).

On the eve of voting, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German
Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Europe citizens to participate in
the voting. In their joint statement, leaders of two major European
states, emphasized that a strong European Parliament will help overcome
financial crisis.

Sarkozy and Merkel are concerned about the fact that only 43% of
Europe citizens will participate in the voting.

30 years ago only two -thirds of Europeans, who had a voting right,
participated in the elections. Currently, upon EU expansion, 375
million are given the right to vote. Still only few of them are
interested in the elections.

According to opinion poll results, only half of France citizens will
participate in the elections. Less than a third of Great Britain and
Poland citizens will vote.

Many Europeans believe Euro parliament to be an expensive and
ineffective institution, useless to common people. Some are annoyed
by MEPs permanents moves between Brussels and Strasburg.

Good attendance should be expected only in two states: Belgium and
Cyprus. The only reason is, perhaps, that voting is obligatory and
fines are being imposed on those who failed to participate.

Ruling right -of -center parties in Germany, France, Italy and Poland
are commanding the lead.

Their leadership will somewhat drop after British conservators leave
the group, to form a new faction along with euroskeptics from Czechia
and Poland, Russian BBC Service reported.

CATALOGUE OF URARTU TIMES EXHIBITS TO BE PUBLISHED IN 2-3 YEARS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
04.06.2009 13:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Erebuni Museum (Yerevan) and Hermitage (Saint
Petersburg) have agreed to issue 2 catalogues of Urartu times exhibits
kept in European museums.

"Works have been held for three months already. Over 1000 photographs
were collected. But there is still much to be done. The catalogues
will be published in 2 or 3 years," Erebuni Museum director Ashot
Piliposyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

He also said the Russian side will cover a part of expenses.