Month: June 2009

‘SHEN-CONCERN’ CARRIES OUT FIRST COUPON PAYMENTS OF ITS BONDS

ArmInfo
2009-06-03 13:40:00

ArmInfo. On June 2, ‘Shen Concern’ CJSC carried out the first coupon
payments of its bonds in a volume of 32.9 mln drams of the fourth-issue
corporate bonds, Director General of ‘Capital Assets Management’
Investment Company Tigran Karapetyan told ArmInfo. Along with it,
Financial Director of ‘Shen Concern’ CJSC Armen Balasanyan said the
coupon payments were received by 4 legal entities, in particular,
‘Converse Bank’, ‘INECOBANK’, Armenian PostBank and ‘Capital Assets
Management’.

To note, the coupon payments of ‘Shen Concern’ are carried out once per
half year, and the next payment has been envisaged on December 2, 2009.

To recall, the fourth issue of bonds of ‘Shen Concern’ CJSC in a volume
of 600 mln drams (at par value), with 1095-day repayment period and 11%
coupon yield per year has been itemized in the in the Exchange list
â~@~Zbond since January 19, 2009. According to the data of NASDAQ
OMX Armenia, transactions at the Exchange over the whole period of
circulation of the fourth-issue debt securities of "Shen Concern"
CJSC made up 1.1 bln drams. Total of 35 transactions with the Company
binds have been carried out since January 19, 2009 to June 2 inclusive,
at the average weighted profitability of 10,996% per annum.

To note, ‘Shen Concern’ CJSC has been founded in 1995 and it is an
assignee of the state enterprise ArmResourceImpex. At present, the
company is mainly engaged in production and realization of building
materials.

TRUCK TRIPPED A MINE IN NKR MARTUNI REGION

ArmInfo
2009-06-03 12:46:00

ArmInfo. A truck has tripped an antitank mine in Martuni region of
Nagorno Karabakh.

As ArmInfo special correspondent in Stepanakert reports, the injured
person was immediately carried to Yerevan.

According to the employees of the HALO Trust British non-governmental
organization, specializing in mine clearing of the NKR territory, the
area, where the explosion happened, was surveyed, partially demined
and marked with the relevant signs several years ago. However, the
signs disappeared in the course of time. The HALO Trust demines first
of all the territories close to settlements.

According to some data, Nagorno Karabakh inherited over 100, 000 mines
and different kinds of shells from the war enforced by Azerbaijan.

DEFENSE MINISTER OF ARMENIA TO TAKE PART IN CIS AND CSTO DEFENSE MINISTERS’ MEETINGS

ArmInfo
2009-06-03 12:48:00

ArmInfo. CIS Defense Ministers’ meeting will be held in Moscow today.

The Armenian delegation headed by Defense Minister of Armenia Seyran
Ohanyan left for Moscow on June 2 to take part in the meeting. Armenian
DM will also participate in CSTO Defense Ministers’ meeting to be
also held in Moscow.

CIS Defense Ministers’ meeting will be held under the chairmanship
of Russia’s DM Anatoly Serdyukov. The delegations of Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and
Ukraine will also take part in the meeting. It is also scheduled to
consider over 20 issues on different directions of interaction of
CIS states’ Defense Ministries. The DMs will determine the conceptual
approaches to development of military cooperation of CIS member-states
for a period till 2015 and will approve a Joint Actions Plan for
2010. Special attention will be paid to the issues of creation of
joint military-oriented systems. Different aspects of improvement
of CIS United AAD System and the plans of joint exercises "Combat
Cohesion-2009" will be also discussed.

CSTO states’ defense ministers, among other issues, will discuss
the situation in Afghanistan and joint actions of CSTO states on
counteraction to the existing challenges. The ministers will also
discuss the draft programmes of consultations of their country
representatives for the second half of 2009 and 2010.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

KARABAKH HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER REFUTES REPORTS BY AZERBAIJANI MEDIA ON EXISTENCE OF HOSTAGES IN NKR

ArmInfo
2009-06-03 12:52:00

ArmInfo. Director of the Center of Civil Initiatives, Karabakh
human rights defender, Albert Voskanyan has categorically refuted the
reports by Azerbaijani media that there are still hostages in the NKR,
particularly, children taken hostage during the military actions in
1992-1994. He called this reports anti-propaganda.

‘As Vice Chairman of the NKR State Commission for POWs, Hostages
and the Missing I declare that the last Azerbaijani hostages were
repatriated to Azerbaijan before 1997, mostly as a display of good
will. We immediately verified every report on existence of hostages
in the territory of the NKR and informed the similar commission
in Azerbaijan of the results. As Coordinator of the International
Working Group for Search of the Missing and Exchange of Hostages
in the Karabakh conflict zone, I declare that the search is still
continued and will be continued as long as there is a single Armenian
and Azerbaijani missing person’, Albert Voskanyan told ArmInfo.

He said experts from many states including Azerbaijani human rights
defenders and journalists that visited Nagorny Karabakh made sure that
there are no POWs or hostages in the NKR. ‘In addition, the ICRC Office
in the NKR would be informed if there were any hostages in the NKR’,
he said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SUCCESS IN SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT DOES NO DEPEND ON FREQUENCY OF VISITS BY OSCE MG: LOCAL POLITICAL EXPERT

ArmInfo
2009-06-03 13:24:00

ArmInfo. Success in settlement of the Karabakh conflict does no depend
on frequency of visits by the OSCE MG co-chairs. In addition, frequent
visits by OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs derogate this format, says Stepan
Grigoryan, the head of the Analytical Center for Globalization and
Regional Cooperation told media, Wednesday.

‘Conflict cannot be settled at the given stage since Armenia and
Azerbaijan have no points of coincidence in the Karabakh problem. In
this context, the optimistic statements by the co-chairs seem
inappropriate and discredit them’, he says commenting on the last
optimistic statements by US Co-chair Matthew Bryza.

‘In addition, the co-chairs could not imagine the real situation
around the Karabakh conflict and their statements are just an attempt
to justify the existence of the Minsk Group’, Grigoryan says.

POLITICAL EXPERT: ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN ARE PREPARING TO SIGN PEACE TREATY

ArmInfo
2009-06-03 13:52:00

ArmInfo. Armenia and Azerbaijan are preparing to sign a peace treaty,
director of the Analytical Centre on Globalization and Regional
Cooperation Stepan Grigoryan told journalists today.

‘The necessity of such treaty occurred long ago, as 15 year-old process
within the frames of the Minsk Group has already shown that resolving
of the Karabakh conflict in the near future is impossible. It needs
many years of hard and often ungrateful work. In this context the
parties to the conflict have to forget for some time about the NKR
status problem and reach mutual understanding on the issues which are
more possibly to be resolved. I think that today the work is underway
just in this direction’, – he said.

At the same time he said is over the last four years the Minsk process
has practically stopped and was led to senseless meetings of the
presidents, at present the situation has changed and the negotiating
process has again activated, and if they want they can reach mutual
understanding at least on separate problems.

THERE WILL BE NO ENFORCEMENT TO PEACE: POLITICAL EXPERT

ArmInfo
2009-06-03 13:55:00

ArmInfo. Enforcement to peace in Nagorno Karabakh conflict is almost
impossible, Head of the Globalization and Regional Cooperation Center
Stepan Grigoryan told journalists today.

‘We have already seen use of such scenario with regard to Serbia,
which was forced to withdraw the troops from Bosnia in 1999 through
bombardments. It happened after reaching agreements in Dayton.

However, use of such scenario in Nagorno Karabakh is inexpedient,
as the negotiation format within the frames of the Minsk Group has
not been yet exhausted’, he said.

S. Grigoryan thinks there is one circumstance more which rules out
use of the Dayton model with regard to Nagorno Karabakh, that is,
absence of a common stance by UN Security Council member-states with
respect to Nagorno Karabakh.

‘It is not a secret that if the USA or CE, wishing to achieve peace
in the region, try to solve the Karabakh problem once for all to
assure uninterrupted transit of gas and oil through the region to
the West, Russia does not strive for that. The reason is very simple:
in case of the conflict settlement , Russia will lose the levers of
influence on Armenia and Azerbaijan, so it is profitable for Moscow,
as well as for Armenia to freeze the conflict’, he said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FOREIGN OBSERVES AS CORRUPTED AS ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES: ARMENIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS REP.

ArmInfo
2009-06-03 13:56:00

ArmInfo. Foreign observes are as corrupted as Armenian authorities,
Armenian National Congress representative, the former Mayor of Yerevan
Vahagn Khachatryan said at a press conference, Wednesday.

He said foreign observers at the Elections to the City Council were
required to approve the voting results or at least to neglect election
rigging by the authorities. ‘I have reliable information that observers
visited polling stations when it was everything in normal there and
registered "normal voting process"’, he said. He is sure that many
foreign structures and organizations operating in Armenia to help
the country establish and develop democracy are actually bribed by
the authorities. ‘They are here not to help us. They are just resting
here’, Vahagn Khachatryan said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ISSUE OF TEKHUT COPPER AND MOLYBDENUM DEPOSIT’S EXPLOITATION TO BE RAISED AT PACE SUMMER SESSION

ArmInfo
2009-06-03 13:56:00

ArmInfo. Zaruhi Postanjyan, a parliamentarian from Heritage opposition
party, is going to raise the issue of exploitation of Tekhut copper
and molybdenum deposit at PACE Summer Session. The parliamentarian
expressed such an intention at Friday Club, Wednesday.

She fully shares the decision of Armenian ecologists to settle
the problem at the court. ‘Being aware of the imperfect judicial
system in our country, we have hired the best lawyer’, she
said. The parliamentarian believes that negligence of violations
of the legislation may lead to new violations, for instance, in
development of uranium deposits. ‘The government’s approval of Tekhut
project is a display of unserious attitude to Armenia’s future’, she
said. Z. Postanjyan highlighted that the proceeds from exploitation of
the deposit are miserable and will not make up even 1 percent of the
budget. So, the stress put on opening of 1500 jobs is not a convincing
reason for development of Tekhut deposits. There are already 20 tailing
dumps in Armenia and Tekhut deposit will be the largest one. Besides
ecologic risks, this project will require big funds from the state
budget every year, she said. As regards the $280 million credit the
VTB Bank is going to provide to ACP for implementation of the project,
such a step will negatively affect the bank’s reputation, she said.

43% OF POLLED IN ARMENIA GAVE BRIBES LAST YEAR: TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL

ArmInfo
2009-06-03 14:11:00

ArmInfo. 43% of polled in Armenia gave bribes last year. Every 1 out
of 10 polled said that he or his family gave a bribe over the last
12 months, The 2009 Global Corruption Barometer, a global public
opinion survey released today by Transparency International (TI)
says. It found that over half (54%) of those polled believe that
the private sector uses bribes to influence public policy, laws and
regulations or, in other words, captures the state.

As illustrated in Figure 1, this perception is particularly widespread
in the Newly Independent States (NIS) : more than 70% of the surveyed
pointed to the existence of state capture in their countries.

Armenia is the second after Azerbaijan (46%) in the NIS by this
indicator.

Only 2% of the polled in Georgia said they gave bribes. So Georgia
is not the most corrupted country in the NIS. In roughly a fifth
of the countries and territories surveyed, including countries home
to some of the world’s major financial centres, such as Hong Kong,
Luxembourg and Switzerland, respondents identified the private sector
as the most corrupt institution (see Table 1). The Barometer also
showed that half of respondents are willing to actively support clean
business (see Table 2). Armenia is placed in a group of countries,
where 46-64% of the interviewed are ready to pay more to buy from
corruption-free companies.

All the polled indicated the police as an institute demanding
bribes more than others. One of four people having any relations
to police worldwide gave bribes last year. 20% of the polled bribed
representatives of the judicial system.

The poll showed that the governments do not take effective measures
to combat corruption, say 56% of the polled. In Armenia 48% share
this opinion.

Ukraine more than other states in NIS (73%) mistrusts in the fight
against corruption. Then go Azerbaijan (62%), Russia (52%), and Georgia
(21%).

The polled considered the most corrupt institutions the political
parties (68%), parliaments (63%) and civil service (60%). 33% of the
polled in Armenia called the judicial system the most corrupt. 18%
indicated at officials and 13% at mass media.

Only 1 of 4 people who gave bribes last year made an official
complaint.

This shows that few believe in efficiency of anti-corruption measures.

The survey, with more than 73,000 respondents from 69 countries and
territories around the world was conducted by Gallup International
as a part of Voice of the People Survey in 50 countries and by other
polling organizations in 19 countries between October 2008 and February
2009. In Armenia it was carried out by the Georgian Opinion Research
Business International organization for 1,000 respondents in the period
from January 25 till February 5, 2009 through face-to-face interviews.