Month: September 2013

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION PROCESS IS CLOSE TO INTERNATIONAL FINISH LINE: ARMENIA’S DEFENSE MINISTER

17:54, 19 September, 2013

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS: Defense Minister of the Republic of
Armenia Seyran Ohanyan hosted participants of panArmenian conference
of Armenian problems awareness bodies’ representatives. “Armenpress”
reports that at the meeting was present Minister of Diaspora Hranush
Hakobyan and representatives of Armenian organizations from various
countries.

Defense minister of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan welcoming all the attendees
congratulated on occasion of coming Independence Day and expressed
hope to discuss issues relating to Armenia’s future.

“It will be good for all of us to discuss issues relating to
our future, however the destiny of our nation is so that we must
reverberate to our past, our history to make lessons and assume joint
obligation to create our future,” said Seyran Ohanyan highlighting
that Armenian genocide recognition process is close to international
finish line.

“Armenian genocide recognition idea is significant by the fact that
first of all we bring forward moral issues for the country which
implemented Armenian genocide. No matter what kind of compensation
it will be we must reverberate to our roots,” mentioned the minister.

“Because of Non-recognition of Armenian genocide and absence of its
condemnation genocides of other nations took place. It is the reason
we had such tragic events in our history like in Baku and Sumgait as
well as the war which was imposed to Armenian nation,” said Seyran
Ohanyan stressing the importance of giving proper response by unity
and our victory.

Seyran Ohanyan mentioned that the recognition of Armenian genocide by
several countries is a result of hard work of a number of Armenian
organizations and expressed gratitude to those organizations and
their representatives.

LAURE DELCOUR: EU WILL REMAIN ENGAGED WITH ARMENIA, ONLY MODALITIES OF THIS ENGAGEMENT WILL CHANGE

19:21 19/09/2013 ” INTERVIEWS

Panorama presents an interview with Dr. Laure Delcour – Senior
Research Fellow at the Institute for International and Strategic
Relations (IRIS), France. Dr. Delcour specializes in the EU policies
in the post-Soviet area, the EU-Russia partnership and the European
Neighbourhood Policy.

– Dr. Delcour, you have written extensively on the European Union’s
policy towards Russia. Could you comment on the current EU policies
as regards to Russia’s neighbourhood and in particular on the recent
developments within countries like Ukraine, Moldova and Armenia?

– These countries are not only part of Russia’s neighbourhood; they
have also been part of the EU’s neighbourhood since 2004 and 2007
enlargements. With the Eastern Partnership the EU has significantly
upgraded its offer to partner countries. It offers association
agreements, deep and comprehensive free-trade areas, the perspective
of visa liberalisation subject to conditions being met, and enhanced
sectoral cooperation. Nevertheless, EU policies require considerable
efforts and costs on the part of partner countries, while they will
be able to reap the benefits only in the long-term. In addition, the
EU has only recently started to take into account the consequences
of Russia-led regional integration initiatives and the effects of
Russian policies (ie. Short-term benefits, but also strong pressure)
on partner countries. The effects of Russian pressure may however turn
out to be counter-productive and push some countries closer to the EU.

So the key point is that this is a dynamic process. Joining regional
integration schemes or initialling association agreement with the EU,
as expected in the case of Moldova and Georgia at the Vilnius summit,
is only the beginning.

– And if this is only the beginning then where are these countries
ultimately heading – to a geopolitical alliance with EU/NATO?

– By saying only the beginning I meant that for these countries there
is still a long way to go to fully implement the commitments that
will be taken under the AA/DCFTA.

– The Republic of Armenia has recently announced about Armenia’s
intention to join the Custom’s Union and few days later the European
Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule
announced that it was no longer possible for Armenia to proceed with
the Association Agreement. Where exactly does this incompatibility
rest? Do you think these processes are incompatible in purely economic
or rather in political (geopolitical) terms?

– The incompatibility is clearly in economic terms. It lies in
deep economic integration that both schemes (the ECU and the Deep
Comprehensive and Free Trade Agreements) propose. For instance, being
a member of the two schemes would entail complying with, and applying
two different external trade tariffs, which is of course impossible.

– How would you assess the future prospects of cooperation between
the EU and Armenia after the recent developments?

– The situation is unprecedented and paradoxical. On the one hand,
Armenia has already achieved considerable progress in adopting
EU policy templates and approximating its legal framework with EU
acquis in a number of sectors. This was indeed a EU pre-condition
for launching DCFTA negotiations. On the other hand, given the
incompatibility between ECU and DCFTAs, the EU will not initial the
Association Agreement (of which DCFTA forms an integral part) with
Armenia at the Vilnius Eastern Partnership summit. However, no doubt
that the EU will remain engaged with Armenia, only the modalities
and probably the scale of this engagement will change.

– How would you characterise the prospects of Russia-led Customs
Union and the creation of the Eurasian Union?

Clearly, the Russia-led Customs Union differs from previous regional
integration projects in the former Soviet space. The ECU is more
ambitious. It is premised on a strong institutional framework
including a supranational body and deep economic integration through
regulatory convergence. However, there are several question marks as
to the cohesion of this initiative. First, the extent to which member
countries (currently Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan’s interests are
actually compatible. For instance, Kazakhstan had to increase its
customs tariffs as a result of ECU membership. And second, ECU’s
actual ability to attract new members. Armenia has just decided to
join the ECU and Kyrgyzstan expressed an interest as well. However,
the question is whether this interest in ECU membership is genuine
or whether it results from external pressures.

– Dr. Rainer Lindner, Executive Director of the Committee on Eastern
European Economic Relations, in his latest interview has expressed an
opinion that the solution to the dilemma between the Custom’s Union
and the EU can lie in the dialogue between Russia and the EU. How
would you assess the prospects of such a dialogue?

– The dialogue between Russia and the EU is indeed critical to
promoting security and democracy in the neighbourhood. The Roadmap
on external security that was agreed upon in Saint-Petersbourg and
launched in Moscow in 2005 provided for the strengthening of EU-Russia
dialogue, and possibly joint initiatives, on crisis management and the
settlement of regional conflicts, inter alia in those regions adjacent
to the EU’s and Russia’s borders. Nonetheless, the EU-Russia dialogue
on the common neighbourhood has been limited, to say the least. Now
that Russia has launched the Customs Union, this dialogue is even
more unlikely to develop. This is because Russia hopes to initiate
an inter-regional, or inter-block, dialogue with the EU once the
Eurasian Union is in place.

– Dr. Delcour, thank you for your comments.

Source: Panorama.am

BAREV YEREVAN NOT TO PARTICIPATE IN WORK OF COMMISSION ON REVIEW OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT FARE

17:51 19/09/2013 ” SOCIETY

Barev Yerevan faction of Yerevan City Council will not participate in
the work of the Yerevan Municipality commission on review of public
transport fare, the faction said in a statement.

The decisions on transport fare hikes are illegal and were made with
violation of a number of laws, the faction said.

The issue should be discussed by an ad hoc commission within the City
Council framework, the faction added.

Source: Panorama.am

From: A. Papazian

FIRST OMBUDSWOMAN: ARMENIA TO TAKE NO ADVANTAGES OF INTEGRATION PROCESSES, IF COUNTRY RUN IMPROPERLY

YEREVAN, September 19. /ARKA/. Larisa Alaverdyan, a former ombudswoman
of the country, commenting today Armenia’s decision to join the Customs
Union, said not a single integration process will give benefit to
Armenia, if the country is run improperly.

Armenian and Russian presidents, Serzh Sargsyan and Vladimir Putin,
made a joint statement on September 3, after they met in Moscow. It
has become known from the statement that Armenia has decided to join
the Customs Union and it intends to take part in formation of Eurasian
Economic Union in the future. The announcement came as Armenia was
poised to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union.

European officials find combination of membership in both unions
impossible.

“Independence is a hard burden of responsibility, which our political
elite doesn’t stand,” Alaverdyan said. “Mismanagement and disability
of our country’s leadership use all the advantages of a sovereign
state will leave us without any benefit.”

In her opinion, membership in any union implies handover of a part of
the country’s sovereignty to other institutions for a certain period
of time and on particular conditions, Novosti-Armenia reports.

“These conditions are an absolute proportionality and equality of the
parties, and this is doubtful in terms of the Customs Union,” she said.

She said protest sentiments in Armenia and objections to the country
authorities’ decision to join the Customs Union show that people here
have a certain idea of disadvantages of Eurasian integration, but knows
about European integration risks not so much.—-0— – See more at:

CUSTOMS UNION LEADS NOWHERE

Interview with economist Ashot Yeghiazaryan

Mr. Yeghiazaryan, what is the aftermath of the statement of Armenia on
joining the Customs Union and in your opinion what factors influenced
this statement?

The statement made in Moscow gave a surprise to many of us. It
could be described as change of the track of the foreign policy. The
fact is that Armenia thus chooses a dependent path of development,
which supposes recession and an underdeveloped economy. Armenia had
a chance to integrate with the European family which is a union with
the highest level of development and a pole of political and economic
power. In other words, Armenia had a chance to climb to a higher step
of the world economy and international political relations. It stood
a chance to be a subject of international relations at a new level
and in a new capacity. Armenia had a chance to upgrade its security.

This decision is not in line with the interests of the Armenian people
and Armenia, it leads nowhere, and there may be further surprises. The
model of integration of post-Soviet states initiated by Russia is not
a classic model of integration. It cannot compare to the EU because it
is initially artificial and lacks all the formal and informal elements
of integration. It resembles the European colonial empire, the Roman
Empire. Russia is trying to extend its political and economic influence
over a space and is driven by its own interests. In this case, the
level of exploitation of Armenia neither decreased, nor increased.

It is possible that the authorities were lobbied by big companies. I
don’t think that the Russian energy companies did not have a role in
this Eurasian integration model. Naturally, they are trying to expand
their markets in countries where they can have influence.

What awaits Armenia?

In fact, we could not predict what would happen on September 3.

Armenia will face big economic, political and security problems and
failures. Armenia will not do better in the nearest period. Armenia
will have a lot of issues because the country is deprived of the
possibility to make decisions. Others are going to make decisions for
us. It is not compatible with independence, besides it is dangerous,
full of uncertainty and risks. A lot will depend on the ongoing
processes in the region, as well as the U.S. stance, the stance
of European officials which may also be determined by global and
regional processes.

They say this step strengthens our security. In reality, Russia tried
to strengthen its security at the expense of Armenia, thus reducing
the level of security of Armenia.

What will the membership to the Customs Union bring and what would
DCFTA bring to Armenia?

The advocates of the Eurasian project say that their countries expand
their markets and boost the number of consumers. On the other hand,
there are studies. One of the World Bank surveys concluded that the
Eurasian initiative cannot boost technological development of its
member states. It supposes isolation and prevention of introduction
of modern technology. The economies of those countries will remain
as primitive as they are now. Armenia does not even have enough raw
materials to export. It is a social, political and demographic danger.

The Customs Union cannot promise any economic benefits, considering the
structure of Armenia’s economy and the peculiarities of the Customs
Union member states. Armenia will only suffer losses. The Armenian
economy is more liberal, and foreign trade is also more liberal,
customs duties are lower. Armenia will be cut from the world market
and appear in the space of Russian influence. It will ruin the budget
revenues. Technical costs will increase because Armenia does not have
a shared border with these countries. In other words, Armenia will
be deprived of the small income which it gets due to integration with
the global economy.

Integration is first of all based on machinery industry. Russia
tried to give a boost to its machinery industry, signed bilateral
agreements with Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia
and Georgia, hoping to revive its machinery industry by means of
industrial cooperation and scientific cooperation but all the attempts
ended in failure. I don’t think that these attempts will succeed,
economy will be revived, jobs will be created.

Instead, integration with the European Union would open up
opportunities for Armenia to enter into industrial cooperation.

Economy could be diversified, structure could be improved. If we
compare the two integration models, in countries with equal levels of
development trade is at the intra-industry level. It is north-south
integration. In this case, exchange will be at the inter-industry
level. Armenia does not have a lot to give to the member states of
the Customs Union so our welfare will be jeopardized.

I think all our approaches need to be reviewed. It turns out that
our business elite is hopeless.

Roza Hovhannisyan 20:50 19/09/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:

ARMENIA TO ISSUE ‘KARDASHIAN’ BOND: KEEP UP

Sep 19, 2013 6:19pm by Luke Smolinski

What’s the yield on that?

What’s the going rate for a Kardashian? A yield of 6.25 per cent,
according to Armenia’s bond issue.

The “Kardashian”, as it has been dubbed by Standard Bank’s head of
emerging markets research Timothy Ash, will be issued in Armenia’s
first international sovereign debt sale. Named after Kim Kardashian,
a US celebrity whose family (see left) is originally from the country,
the dollar bond is the latest exotic asset to have attracted investors’
gaze.

It comes amid a flurry of bond issuances from countries taking
advantage of sustained low yields. At the end of last week, $13.5bn of
sovereign debt had been issued in September, according to JP Morgan,
compared to $2.5bn for the whole of the previous month.

Armenia is one of several countries looking to exploit the Federal
Reserve’s decision on Wednesday to keep the QE machine rolling. The
move reduced borrowing costs and lifted currencies across the emerging
markets. Armenia initially offered investors a yield of 6.375 per
cent yesterday for a seven-year bond, but lowered the yield on the
same day after higher-than-expected demand. Order books for the asset
were approaching $2bn, according to reports.

Is it a good bet? The jury is out, but Armenia is very similar to
the politically stable, low-debt nation of Georgia, according to Ash.

Armenia has a BB- rating from Fitch, the same rating as Georgia’s.

Both have external debt to GDP ratios of about four fifths. Armenia
is projected to have a 2.6 per cent budget deficit this year and has
a public debt to GDP ratio of about 45 per cent – similar low levels
of debt that investors have come to expect for Georgia.

The bond is fairly valued, says David Spegel, an emerging markets
director at ING. The Kardashian moniker ought to be worth a few basis
points, too. There are a swathe of issuances from frontier markets,
so anything to stand out and catch international investors’ attention
isn’t a bad ploy. Kenya is planning a $1.5bn bond debut and Romania
issued [email protected] worth of bonds last week.

A Kardashian or two may prove just as successful. Just don’t call
them cheap.

From: A. Papazian

HOLDING OUT: CIVIL ACTIVISTS PLEDGE CONTINUED STRUGGLE AGAINST PUBLIC TRANSPORT FARE RISE

SOCIETY | 19.09.13 | 20:52

Photolure

By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter

The raise of public transport fare rates is again a heated topic of
discussion, and although Yerevan city authorities do not offer comments
related to the various speculations in this connection and are waiting
for the creation of the respective commission, civil activists keep
holding sit-in strikes in front of the municipality and, if needed,
will form a commission of their own to deal with the issue, they say.

In July Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan suspended the application of his
decision to raise the transport fares after a weeklong civil protest
in the Armenian capital. He also stated that a commission of experts
and concerned citizens would be formed to develop all the mechanisms
that would allow completing the decision on “Reconsideration of the
passenger transportation fares in Yerevan city”.

The municipality reports that invitations have been sent to several
people to join the commission, but it is not clear yet how many
members it will have or when it may start working.

The ‘Hello, Yerevan’ faction in the Yerevan Council of Elders released
a statement on Thursday that their faction would not be part of
the commission.

“The decisions on “Reconsideration of passenger transportation fares
in Yerevan city” are illegal and have been made in violation of a
number of laws – both by application and interpretation, and the
documents serving as its basis have fraudulent elements,” says the
release in part.

Before the commission would even come to existence, speculations are
made in the press and online social networks about the raise of rates,
especially after director of the David Route bus company (operating
around ten bus and minibus routes) Harutyun Arakelyan told media
several days ago that more than 60 bus companies had turned to the
municipality with their calculations and reasons why the transport
fare should be raised to 150-200 drams (around 36-48 cents) from
current 100 (around 25 cents).

Civil activists fighting to prevent the raise say the commission is
going to be fake, and in response they might create a commission of
their own representing the actually concerned parties.

“In any event of an attempted raise of fare rates there will be
a counterstrike. Right at this moment we are trying to predict the
steps the municipality might take to plan our resistance,” activist
Sevak Mamyan told ArmeniaNow, adding that last night a “Zil” truck
hit the vehicles belonging to two of the activists taking part in
the sit-in next to the city hall building, which, he claims, was a
sabotage and a means to make the strikers leave the place.

DEFEATING THE PURPOSE: EXPENSIVE BIO TOILET GETS BROKEN, BECOMES A LAUGHING MATTER IN TATEV

SOCIETY | 19.09.13 | 20:47

NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow

By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

The two biological toilets purchased by the government to spur tourism
development and placed next to Syunik’s most popular, but remote
Tatev monastery and St Gregory the Illuminator church in Yerevan,
have failed to work.

The “Not Working” sign attached to the toilet in Syunik that cost the
taxpayer quite a fortunate – the two were purchased for 124 million
drams ($340,000) – stirs even higher interest among people, who
approach, study and leave thinking “what a pity”. Residents of Tatev
village running their small businesses next to the monastery offer
their explanation of why the toilets worked only two days, then failed.

“A few people entered it together, and the computer system collapsed,”
they mock and laugh.

Tatev village head Murad Simonyan says he is tired of answering
questions about the bio-toilets.

“They say it was ruined by a lightening. Craftsmen came to repair it
some time ago, but it only worked one day. I have no idea why it’s
not working, but would very much like to ask people in charge to come
and take it away, so that I don’t have to answer questions about it
anymore. I cannot answer those,” says Simonyan.

Deputy Minister of Economy Ara Petrosyan told the press that the great
number of visitors at the tourism destinations of Armenia makes it
a necessity to have such toilets.

“For example there are also places, where the flush toilets built of
tile and pumice concrete don’t last a winter. This is culture that
has to be introduced gradually,” he says. “This is a pilot project,
by which we are trying to show its advantages to the private sector,
in particular that one such toilet can be acquired for $170,000 and
then profit. Modern technologies are used to keep them clean.”

Earlier, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan stated that the project is
profitable from business perspective and the state budget would bring
back the money allotted for their purchase via 200-dram charges.

Nonetheless, the Control Chamber looked into the Ministry of Economy
expenses and established that the money spent on the two bio-toilets
was an unjustified expenditure. The one installed in Yerevan functions
only periodically, while the one in Tatev is totally non-functional.

Minister Vahram Avanesyan believes the utilization of the toilets is
out of the ministry supervision and respective repair-related warrants
were given to the National Competitiveness Fund. The fund was, hence,
in charge of installment and utilization. The fund representatives
counter that their responsibility was to utilize, not to repair.

The Tatev village head says the money spent on the toilets was enough
to carry out the community development project, including opening
an agro market, building ‘tonratun’ bakeries (to make Armenian flat
bread and barbecue), by which 16 families would have jobs, while many
leave the 860-resident village for lack of employment opportunities.

President of the Association “For Sustainable Human Development”
Karine Danielyan says she has done internet research and has not
found any bio-toilet that would cost more than $1,500.

“It is unreasonable to spend that kind of money on bio-toilets given
the general situation in the country. They can still be spent on
tourism development by advertising the Armenian culture and history
to the international community,” says Danielyan, adding, “If we want
Armenia to have foreign visitors other than from Diaspora, part of
that money could be spent on cleaning up the roads. I traveled to
almost half the world, but have not seen a country like Armenia,
where nature and historical-cultural monuments come hand in hand.

Regrettably, we are unable to present it to public at its best.”

ARMENIA’S MEMBERSHIP IN CUSTOMS UNION TO HAVE FAVORABLE IMPACT ON ENERGY RESOURCES PRICES

YEREVAN, September 19. / ARKA /. After joining the Customs Union
Armenia will pay for energy carriers the same price as the other
members of the union pay, Bruno Balvanera, the EBRD Director for
Caucasus Region, Moldova and Belarus, told journalists on Thursday.

He said that Armenia will benefit from this, since Customs Union member
countries receive natural gas at a lower price than other countries,
and this will have a positive impact on the country’s economy and on
inflation, which is under considerable pressure.

Balvanera said that Armenia has only expressed its intention to join
the Customs Union, and it will pass long way of negotiation.

He found it premature to forecast something. He said time is needed
to see what impacts Armenia’s membership in the Customs Union will
have on its imports and exports.

Balvanera also stressed that every country has the right to decide to
join this or that alliance, and the EBRD respects Armenia’s decision.

He remembered that Russia is member of the EBRD, and some 30% of the
EBRD projects are being implemented in Russia. Kazakhstan and Belarus
are the EBRD members as well.

He added that the EBRD has the experience of working with the Customs
Union members and its policy toward Armenia remains unchanged.

Armenian and Russian presidents, Serzh Sargsyan and Vladimir Putin,
made a joint statement on September 3, after they met in Moscow. It
has become known from the statement that Armenia has decided to join
the Customs Union and it intends to take part in formation of Eurasian
Economic Union in the future.

The announcement came as Armenia was poised to sign the
Association Agreement with the European Union. –0– – See more at:

EXPANSION OF U.S. INVESTMENTS IN ARMENIA

The United States is going to increase financial assistance to Armenia
through different projects. It has been stated already that additional
one million dollars will be allocated for an agricultural program. The
mass media reported about possible resumption of Millennium Challenges
in Armenia.

Investments and direct assistance of the United States and European
states have resulted in transformation of thinking of the society in
Armenia. It has diversified essentially people’s thinking where the
pro-Russian sentiment was dominant a few years ago. Serzh Sargsyan’s
decision on joining the Customs Union was perceived in Armenia not
as a logical choice but as a result of violence.

Now, one needs to develop what has been achieved and not a lot of time
will be needed to perceive Putin’s policy as occupation. Moreover,
Russia is not even trying to hide it. The absence of high-ranking
Russian officials at the opening of the Armenian Cathedral was to
highlight that Russia is not ashamed of its violence against Armenia
and is not going to repent.

In the meantime, the opening of the office of Oracle in Armenia
indicates that the United States is likely to launch the second stage
of diversification of Armenia. It is possible that Washington has
understood that the best weapon is the investment expansion. Despite
the risks that investments fear they can lead to change in Armenia,
as in Georgia.

In terms of economy, Armenia survived thanks to the loans of the World
Bank and IMF, as well as assistance. Armenia received as much money
as is needed to perform its minimum social duties to the population.

Money is given for administration and economic reforms but the reforms
obviously do not help achieve a self-sufficient economy in Armenia.

Only big foreign investments and new technologies will help achieve
that, and the United States apparently knows about it. In this context,
it is not ruled out that the U.S. administration will call businessmen,
mostly of Armenian origin, to invest money in Armenia under American
“guarantees”.

Over the past few years the Armenian economy was thrown to the Russian
Diaspora which has altogether ousted the Armenian Americans. Unlike
the Russian government which uses Armenians living in their country as
hostages, a blunt tool for its policy and potential victims of failure,
the U.S. administration does not risk its citizens of Armenian origin
and their capital. However, this attitude may change.

Russia stepped in the battlefield and attacked the first. Now nothing
is holding the United States back from counterattacks.

The expansion of investments by the United States and Europe may
change the arrangement of forces and may even prevent the official
membership of Armenia to the Customs Union. In fact, the U.S.

ambassador and EU officials have already stated that they will not
give up on Armenia, even if it joins the Customs Union.

Naira Hayrumyan 19:20 19/09/2013 Story from Lragir.am News: