Month: November 2009

GARO KHACHIGIAN’S OUR STATE COMEDY STAGED IN AUSTRALIA

Noyan Tapan
Nov 3, 2009

SYDNEY, NOVEMBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN. Hamazkaine Shant Chapter and the
Hagop Baronian Theatre Group brought comedy in three acts to over 600
Armenian-Australians on Sunday night with the Garo Khachigian-written
Our State (Mer Vijage) play. According to the
website, brightened by a youthful cast, the play, directed by and
starring a veteran of the Sydney-Armenian stage, Mr. Avak Egulian,
was a mirror of Armenian organizational life in Australia.

ALLOCATIONS FOR RECREATION, CULTURE AND RELIGION TO AMOUNT TO 15.1 BILLION DRAMS UNDER 2010 DRAFT STATE BUDGET

Noyan Tapan
Nov 3, 2009

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN. Under the 2010 draft state budget
of Armenia, allocations for recreation, culture, and religion will
make 15.1bn drams, which is less by 5.6% than the expected actual
expenditures in 2009, First Deputy Minister of Finance Pavel Safarian
said at the November 3 joint sitting of the National Assembly Standing
Committees.

The decline in expenditures is conditioned by the reduction of
investments in major repairs and construction of cultural facilities,
the completion of some projects, and the decline in subventions for
Yerevan and community budgets. At the same time, electricity, heating,
and sewerage expenses have grown to some extent in connection with
the rise in tariffs.

Allocations of 1.4bn drams are envisaged for recreation and sports
(as compared to 1.5bn drams in 2009) and will be spent on the training
of Armenian sportsmen for domestic and international competitions
and for holding championships in Armenia. The expenditures fell by
101.2m drams or 6.7%.

Allocations for cultural services are envisaged to make 8.88bn drams
against 9.87bn drams in 2009.

Budgetary allocations for libraries will amount to 1.38bn drams
as compared with 1.41bn drams in 2009. Expenditures on museums and
exhibition halls will make 1.5bn drams against 1.7bn drams this year.

The draft state budget envisages allocations for arts in the amount of
4.42bn drams compared to 4.22bn drams in 2009. This sum will be spent
on staging plays, organization of concerts and various cultural events,
honorary payments to the persons awarded honorary titles, subventions
for community budgets, and major repairs of cultural facilities. Like
in 2009, the average monthly salary of 3,542 employees of theatres
and concert organizations will be 45,730 drams in 2010.

Expenditures on the restoration and preservation of monuments and
cultural values are envisaged to make 322.9m drams as compared to
507.7m drams in 2009. Allocations for the broadcasting of radio and
television programs and the provision of publishing services will
amount to 4.3bn drams in 2010 against 4.1bn drams in 2009.

Expenditures of 321.4m drams on youth projects are envisaged by the
2010 draft state budget – as compared to 309.4m drams in 2009. The
growth is due to allocation of 12m drams for the organization of
intellectual games.

The draft budget was calculated based on the settlement exchange rate
of 376 drams per dollar.

4.66 BILLION DRAMS TO BE ALLOCATED TO AGRICULTURE UNDER 2010 DRAFT STATE BUDGET OF ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Nov 3, 2009

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN. Under the 2010 draft state budget of
Armenia, it is envisaged allocating 4.66 billion drams (excluding the
financing received under the target credit programs and the expenses
to maintain the sector’s state machinery) to the agricultural sector –
against 6.96 billion drams actually allocated in 2009, First Deputy
Minister of Finance Pavel Safarian said during the joint sitting of
the NA Standing Committees on November 3.

The indicated sum will be provided to the following expenditure
programs: plant protection – 150m drams, laboratory diagnosis of
livestock diseases and expert examination of materials and raw
materials of animal origin – 185m drams, rural advisory services
– 183.2m drams, state assistance to agricultural land users –
1.1bn drams, maintenance and improvement of agricultural lands and
rehabilitation of engineering structures – 547.1m drams, and grants
to farmers – 345m drams.

Besides, in 2010 it is planned to implement the target credit
projects on the fight against avian influenza, the development of
rural enterprises and small-scale commercial agriculture, and "Market
Opportunity to Farmers" Project with the assistance of the World Bank,
the OPEC’s Fund and the International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD).

A number of projects with grants provided by WB, IFAD, and Denmark
will also be carried out in the indicated fields.

The 2010 allocations for forestry will be spent mainly on forest
preservation (735m drams) and state monitoring of forests (54m drams).

The 2010 draft state budget was calculated based on the settlement
exchange rate of 376 drams per dollar.

2010 DRAFT STATE BUDGET ENVISAGES ALLOCATIONS OF ABOUT ONE BILLION DRAMS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Noyan Tapan
Nov 3, 2009

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN. By the 2010 draft state budget,
it is envisaged allocating about one billion drams (excluding the
financing received under credit and grant programs and the expenses on
maintenance of the sphere’s state staff) for environmental protection
– as compared with the actual expenditures of 1.16 billion drams in
2009, First Deputy Minister of Finance Pavel Safarian announced at the
November 3 joint sitting of the National Assembly Standing Committees.

Among large expenditure programs are the monitoring of the pollution
of water bodies and ambient air of the republic – 112 million drams,
the projects on replenishment of fish stocks – 60 million drams,
and on cleaning the water-covered woodlots near Lake Sevan – 257.5
million drams, and the program on the activities of the specially
protected areas – 440.4 million drams.

530 million drams has been allocated for hydrometeorological services.

The draft budget was calculated based on the settlement exchange rate
of 376 drams per dollar.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MODERNIZATION OF 5TH POWER UNIT OF HRAZDAN THERMAL POWER PLANT UNDER WAY

Noyan Tapan
Nov 3, 2009

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN. Under conditions of the financial
crisis, ArmRusgazprom CJSC is continuing the project on modernization
of 5th power unit of the Hrazdan Thermal Power Plant. The necessary
esquipment is being imported into Armenia and transported to the
building site.

The press service of the company reported that a transformer with
a capacity of 40 thousand kilovars, which was purchased from the
Zaporozhye Plant, has been brought to Hrazdan 5 on October 30. Another
transformer with a capacity of 200 thousand kilovars has reached the
Gyumri railway station and will be delivered soon to Hrazdan 5. The
delivery of other equipment is proceeding by the schedule.

About 376 million USD was invested in 2006-2009 for construction and
modernization of the 5th unit of Hrazdan TPP, including 248.8 million
USD for the purchase of property. Equipment involving unprecedented
technical solutions is being imported and assembled for the plant’s
reconstruction, which will make it unique not only in the region,
but also in the world.

The work at the 5th power unit is scheduled to finish in 2010, after
which ArmRusgazprom plans to export power.

2010 DRAFT STATE BUDGET ENVISAGES EXPENDITURES OF 95.5 BILLION DRAMS ON SPHERE OF EDUCATION

Noyan Tapan
Nov 3, 2009

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN. By the 2010 draft state budget of
Armenia, expenditures on the sphere of education, including expenses
on maintenance of the sphere’s state machinery, will make 95.5 billion
drams – as compared to the actual expenditures of 108 billion drams in
2009. The current principle was used for programming the expenditures:
education expenses must make up 3% of GDP. Of the envisaged sum,
90 billion drams are current expenditures, 472 million drams are
expenses on the maintenance of the state machinery of the sphere, and
about 4 billion drams are capital expenditures. 2 billion out of 95
billion drams are allocations for the continuous credit programs. First
Deputy Minister of Finance Pavel Safarian stated this at the November
2 joint sitting of the National Assembly Standing Committees.

Accoridng to him, 1.6 billion drams allocated for reforms in secondary
education make up an important component of capital expenditures. 439
million drams is envisaged for repairs of educational facilities.

By the 2010 draft state budget, 65.6 billion drams will be spent
on comprehensive education considered a priority in the sphere of
education. These expenditures have been reduced by one billion drams
or 1.5% compared to 2009. Allocations for salaries in comprehensive
education sector amount to 50.13 billion drams, which will enable to
increase the average monthly salary (including additional payments)
of teachers to 116.6 thousand drams. The 2010 expenditures were
calculated based on 380,188 pupils – against 399,673 in 2009. Like
in 2009, the teacher/pupil ratio makes 14.56.

7.52 billion drams is envisaged for higher education, which represents
a decline of 48.1 million drams or 0.6% on 2009. The decline in
expenditures is due to a drop in the number of pupils.

9 billion drams envisaged for auxiliary services to the educational
sphere will be spent on free textbooks for the pupils of elementary
classes and on payments for textbooks for the children from vulnerable
social groups. 698 million drams of the indicated sum will be allocated
for computers and Internet services, thanks to which 944 out of
approximately 1,400 Armenian schools will have Internet connection.

P. Safarian said the government intends to provide all schools with
Internet connection in 2011.

The draft budget envisages providing 70 million drams and 30 million
drams, respectively, for educational literature and accessory
materials of Diaspora Armenian institutions and for property of
Javakheti schools.

The draft state budget was calculated based on the settlement exchange
rate of 376 drams per dollar.

BY 2010 DRAFT STATE BUDGET OF ARMENIA, EXPENDITURES ON SCIENCE TO AMOUNT TO 8.36 BILLION DRAMS

Noyan Tapan
Nov 3, 2009

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN. By the 2010 draft state budget
of Armenia, the expenditures on science will remain at the level
of 2009 and amount to 8.36 billion drams, First Deputy Minister of
Finance Pavel Safarian said at the November 3 joint sitting of the
RA National Assembly Standing Committees.

Of the total amount of expenditures on science in 2010, 5.21 billion
drams will be provided to the organizations receiving basic financing
(as compared to actual expenditures of 5.22 billion drams expected in
2009), including 4.86 billion drams for basic financing of scientific
and scientific-technical activities.

1.07 billion drams will be allocated for state programmed financing
with the aim of continuing 6 projects launched in 2009, the level of
2009’s allocations will be maintained.

1.55 billion drams will be provided for contractual (thematic)
financing, the 2009 level will be maintained.

By the 2010 draft state budget, a separate program envisages 530
million drams to make additional payments for scientific degrees. The
rates will be the same as now: doctors and candidates of science will
receive 20 thousand drams and 10 thousand drams respectively.

The state budget’s calculations are based on the settlement exchange
rate of 376 drams per dollar.

AMERIABANK TO START CREDITING CONSTRUCTION OF HYDROPOWER PLANTS AND WIND POWER STATIONS

Noyan Tapan
Nov 3, 2009

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN. Ameriabank will implement a program
of crediting construction work in the energy sector, in particular
the construction of hydropower plants and wind power stations. Levon
Arevshatian, Ameriabank’s Director of Services for Corporate Customers,
said during the November 3 presentation of the program that its total
cost is 20 million dollars. The program will start in a month and be
implemented jointly by several international organizations.

He said that the program is unprecedented in Armenia: the loans
will be given in dollars for quite a long period – 8 years, with a
three-year grace period, at an annual interest rate of 11-12%.

In the words of Ameriabank’s Director of Development Tigran Jrbashian,
the energy sector is quite interesting in terms of investment
reliability, risk management, and ensuring incomes. He noted that
the demand currently exceeds the supply, and the bank can meet one
third of the demand. Credits will be provided mainly to the projects
on construction of small hydropower plants.

Deputy Head of the Department of Advisory Services Karen Martirosian
said that in 2005-2006 when the renewable energy development programs
were launched, the bank became actively involved in that process and
has implemented numerous projects based on orders of the World Bank
and various state and private companies of Armenia.

CHESS PLAYERS OF ARMENIA WIN 4 MEDALS IN EUROPEAN TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

Noyan Tapan
Nov 3, 2009

NOVI SAD, NOVEMBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN. Though Armenian men’s and women’s
national teams did not win prizes in the European Team Championship
held in Novi Sad (Serbia), they won 4 medals on separate chessboards.

Gabriel Sargsian (third chessboard) won a gold medal, Tigran L.

Petrosian (fifth chessboard) and Lilit Mkrtchian (second chessboard)
silver medal, and Lilit Galoyan (third chessboard) bronze medal.

ARMENIA-TURKEY RAPPROCHEMENT BENEFITS RUSSIA, INJURES AZERBAIJAN

Tert
Nov 3 2009
Armenia

Recent weeks have seen unprecedented and potentially far reaching
damage to the Turkish-Azerbaijani strategic partnership, reports The
Jamestown Foundation.

Ever since Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)
announced its intension to normalize relations with Azerbaijan’s
arch-rival Armenia, the relationship between Ankara and Baku has
cooled. The Azerbaijani leadership sent a strong message to Ankara
in April, when President Ilham Aliyev refused to accept Turkish
President Abdulah Gul’s invitation to attend the U.N. conference
"Alliance of Civilizations," held in Istanbul.

Yet, it was after the signing of the protocols on the establishment of
diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia that Baku’s outrage
spiraled. Both the Azerbaijani public and its political leadership
openly condemned this one-sided Turkish policy. Indeed, the Azeri
foreign ministry immediately issued a press release in which it said
that the signing of the protocols "directly contradicts the national
interests of Azerbaijan and overshadows the spirit of brotherly
relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey built on deep historical roots"
(, October 12).

That apparent cooling of the bilateral relationship, moved toward a
cold war when Azerbaijani flags were banned during the Turkish-Armenian
soccer match in Bursa on October 14 and Azerbaijani media outlets
broadcast images of the Azerbaijani flag being torn apart and thrown
into trash bins by Turkish police officers. In addition, the Azeri
public was outraged by reports that the Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan, whom Azerbaijanis view as one of the main organizers of the
Khojali massacre in 1992, was warmly embraced by President Gul and
his wife during the soccer match. Gul’s wife, reportedly, even cooked
for Sargsyan and Gul offered his bedroom to his Armenian counterpart.

Such news has caused deep anti-Turkish sentiments to flourish in
Baku. Traditionally an ally, brother and last resort of hope, Turkey
is no longer trusted in the Azerbaijani capital. In an effort to gain
an additional friendly neighbor, Ankara seems to have overstretched
and nearly ruined its strategic relations with Azerbaijan.

The reaction in Baku was swift. Turkish flags, hanging in the
memorial for martyred Turkish soldiers, were lowered. Youth groups
and opposition parties lashed out at the Turkish leadership for the
humiliation and disrespect shown to the Azerbaijani flag in Bursa. And
parliament held heated debates about the "flag incident," during
which Vice-Speaker Ziyafat Asgarov said, "I take the disrespect shown
against the Azerbaijani flag as a personal insult" (AZTV, October 16).

Moreover, on October 16 Aliyev announced during his cabinet meeting
that Azerbaijan would consider alternative options to export its gas,
since Turkish-Azerbaijani talks on gas transit have not produced
concrete results (, October 16). He accused Turkey of
stalling these negotiations by offering unacceptably low prices
for Azerbaijani gas and did not hesitate to mention that until now,
Azerbaijan has been selling natural gas to Turkey at 30 percent of
its value on international markets. Aliyev also mentioned Russia,
Iran and the Black sea as alternatives routes for Azeri gas and
coincidently, in the same week, Gazprom and Azerbaijan’s State Oil
Company SOCAR signed an agreement in Baku for the export of 500 million
cubic meters of Azeri gas to Russia at the price Aliyev described as
"mutually beneficial" (Trend News Agency, October 16).

It is clear that the recent developments in the South Caucasus
and the Turkish-Armenian rapprochement have seriously damaged the
Turkish-Azerbaijani strategic partnership. This partnership has
been the backbone of East-West energy and its future transportation
corridors, security, political and geostrategic balance in the region
as well as the overall Turkish (or Western) entrance into the Caspian
region. Without this strategic partnership, the Turkish, E.U. and
U.S. axis of influence in the South Caucasus and further into the
Central Asian region is at risk. This geopolitical miscalculation
on the part of Turkish, E.U. and U.S. officials, all of whom have
actively pushed for a one-sided normalization of Turkish-Armenian
relations without the consideration of Azerbaijan’s interests and
the resolution of the Karabakh conflict will see a boomerang effect.

Russia may utilize this excellent opportunity to further advance its
political agenda in the region: the isolation of Georgia by cutting
it off from new transit routes; shelving the E.U. and U.S.-backed
Nabucco gas pipeline project by destroying the Azerbaijani-Turkish
strategic partnership and thus forcing Azerbaijan to sell its gas to
Russia; drawing Turkey into its own orbit of influence undermining the
E.U.-U.S.-Turkey axis of influence in the region. Before Washington
realizes, it will be too late to protect the South Caucasus as
a sovereign and independent region. For the first time since the
collapse of the Soviet Union, the U.S. appears to underestimate what
is unfolding in the region. A lack of clear vision on the part of the
U.S. administration clearly plays into Russian hands. It is perhaps no
coincidence that the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov so actively
pushed his Armenian counterpart to sign the protocol with Turkey.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress