Author: Andres-Papazian

IRRIGATION WATER TARIFF TO REMAIN UNCHANGED

ARMENPRESS
MARCH 10, 2011
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS: The tariff for the irrigation water
will not change in the near future. Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan
said at the cabinet sitting today approving the process of state
financial support to the water using companies for 2012-2016.

The head of the government said not changing the irrigation water
tariff may inspire additional trust to the water using companies.

Tigran Sargsyan also reminded that the state subsidizes the expenditure
of the irrigation system annually amounting to more than 4 billion AMD.

From: A. Papazian

TIGRAN BALAYAN: ARMENIA WELCOMES THE INITIATIVE OF THE MINSK GROUP

ARMENPRESS
MARCH 10, 2011
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS: “We welcome the initiative of the
OSCE Minsk Group,” spokesman for the Armenian foreign minister Tigran
Balayan said, commenting on the call of the co-chairs to immediately
conduct a monitoring on the Azerbaijani-Karabakhi line of contact
connected with the recent incidents.

“Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh has many times positively responded
to the calls of the Minsk Group co-chairs, UN Secretary General on
withdrawing the snipers from the line of contact which will allow
to prevent such incidents and create favorable atmosphere for the
settlement of the issue,” the spokesman said.

From: A. Papazian

ANALYST: OSCE MUST HAVE OFFICE IN NK

ARMENPRESS
MARCH 10, 2011
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS: The document signed during the
meeting of the Presidents of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan once
again proved that it is high time the OSCE opens its representation
in Nagorno Karabakh, head of the “European Integration” organization,
political analyst Karen Bekaryan said, expressing conviction that
the OSCE cannot be an organization responsible for the NK conflict
not having its own office in the conflict zone.

Referring to the statement, he noted that it is rather difficult to
bring to life any document under which there is no signature of NK.

“Negatively assessing the absence of the signature of the NK president,
I do not mean only the interests of the Armenian party. It is equally
negative for Azerbaijan. NK is the real conflicting party but, in fact,
it does not assume any responsibility in any respect,” Bekaryan said.

He said the issue of trust in the region is prior today and
particularly regarding to NK but the store of trust toward the
Azerbaijani authorities has been exhausted long ago.

“To trust in case when before the meeting of presidents we are having
a victim is not difficult, it is impossible. The most important in
international relations is that publics must not have issue of fear
or a surprise. I would like the next statement refer to the change
of rhetoric and monitoring of that change,” Bekaryan said.

From: A. Papazian

RA PRESIDENT’S TWO-DAY VISIT TO LATVIA OVER

ARMENPRESS
MARCH 10, 2011
YEREVAN

President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, who is on an official visit to the
Republic of Latvia, had a working breakfast with today Prime Minister
of Latvia Valdis Dombrovskis. The presidential press service told
Armenpress that President Serzh Sargsyan and Prime Minister Valdis
Dombrovskis discussed the opportunities of development of economic
ties between Armenia and Latvia and mentioned that it is necessary
to use the existing potential and prerequisites.

The sides said the cooperation in tourism, metallurgy, industry
and other spheres is prospective. They emphasized the necessity of
establishment of an Armenian-Latvian intergovernmental committee.

President Serzh Sargsyan and Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis spoke
on frequent mutual visits, active contacts and strengthening of
the business ties of the two states. They mentioned that business
conferences promote this in a best way. In this context the
implementation of Yerevan-Riga regular flight was emphasized.

President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan visited today an Armenian church
in Riga and met there with representatives of the Armenian community.

During the meeting the president said: “I have set myself a modest
objective to convey greetings and wishes from our nation, our Homeland
and state once again that no matter where Armenians live – in Riga,
Vilnius, Paris, Los Angeles, Yerevan or in Vanadzor – we are one
nation and our strength is in our unity”. President Serzh Sargsyan
said he is happy that the Armenian community representatives, being
a part of the Latvian society, did not forget their homeland, their
mother tongue and religion.

The president touched upon regional issues as well and spoke
specifically on the current stage of regulation of the Nagorno Karabakh
issue. President Serzh Sargsyan’s visit to the Republic of Latvia is
over. The president arrived today in Yerevan.

From: A. Papazian

Samvel Martirosyan
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THE WEB TURNS INTO THE MAIN SOURCE OF INFORMATION

10.03.2011

The Internet wins position on the information field in the world with
an incredible pace. Printed media lose their grounds as a source
of information and now television follows their example of losing
the role of the main informer. At the same time, in recent years
and months, the Internet occupies leading positions among the most
socially active part of the population – the youth.

General growth of the number of the users of the Internet, increase
of the computer literacy rate, reduction of price of communication
and hardware all over the world in general, as well as such factors
as development of mobile technologies, easing of publication of the
information on the Internet, unification of the users in global social
networks, development of the civil web journalism and etc. boost the
increase of the significance of the Internet. At the same time it
is already rather difficult to call this source of information the
Internet in its traditional sense, because today combined network is
formed. Merging of network, computer and mobile technologies is taking
place; combined clusters of information dissemination are formed.

Mobile Internet is doubled Mobile technologies, which transform the
network, have no small part in the shift of the structure of the modern
Internet. According to the State of the Mobile Web1 by Opera Software
Company, the producer of one of the most popular mobile browsers,
the growth of the mobile Internet in 2010 was breaking through. Thus,
the number of the Opera Mini mobile browser users in November 2010 was
about 80 million, and the growth as compared with the November 2009,
constituted 91.8%. The number of the browsed pages on the web for 11
months in 2010 had reached the number of 340 billion; meanwhile the
analogous rate in 2009 was only 129 billion. In fact, for the last
year the mobile Internet has doubled.

Taking into consideration the fact that the number of the users
of smart phones, different pads is growing fast and the price of
the mobile Internet is reducing, one can forecast a qualitative
breakthrough in the sphere of using the Web. However, the breakthrough
can already be observed in the high-tech countries. E.g., according
to Nielson and Forrester Research2, this year in the US the number of
the smart phones and the number of common mobile phones has already
leveled. Currently in the US half of the Facebook users use mobile
access.

Correspondingly, the information field is also being changed; the
Internet users may pass from the background TV watching to the targeted
search of information on the web at any time. The shift towards
the Internet is also boosted by the development of social networks,
blogs and micro blogs, where the exchange of the information among
people who trust each other takes place. Correspondingly, there is no
necessity to monitor the Internet looking for the needed information
– instead of one person the entire network community, which filters
the information field, takes up this function.

Television cedes its positions According to the recent data by Pew
Research Center3, traditional mass media are swiftly loosing their
positions of the news sources for the Americans. Only television is
still challenging the Internet. If for the average American of the
elder generation the Internet has not yet become the main source of
information, for the overwhelming majority of the Americans of 18-29
years old (65%) it has been playing the role of the main source of
news for two years, thus doubling its indices since 2006.

Despite the fact that in the aspect of the maturity of the Internet
the US has essentially outstripped most of the countries, this tendency
is of global character for the rest of the world either and obtaining
such showings is just a matter of time.

Television cedes in Armenia either The decline of the television’s
audience is a global trend and it can be observed not only in
such a developed from the point of view of technologies country as
the US. E.g., in Armenia the explosive growth of the Internet use
is accompanied by the processes of recession of the audience of
the traditional television. According to the data for 2007-2009,
published by AGB Nielsen4, both the number of the TV audience and
the time spent before TV has reduced.

Besides, most of the Armenian TV channels are broadcasting on the
Internet too. In particular, main popular shows and programmes are
placed on YouTube. According to YouTube data, the average downloading
speed in Armenia is 1Mb/s. Despite the fact that it is approximately
for times lower than the world rate, however, this speed allows the
users from Armenia freely watch video on the web. Thus, availability
of popular TV shows on the Internet makes them more attractive than
watching them on TV: the Internet allows watching them at any time;
you can watch separate fragments, show it to your friends and etc. In
this connection, we can suppose that such factors, as, e.g., competent
placing of the TV shows on the web will have an impact on the rating
of the TV channels5.

1

2

3 ,

4

5 E.g. there have been about 3.5 million viewings of different TV
shows of “Shant” TV Company on YouTube for the recent 9 months.

“Globus National Security”, issue 1, 2011

Return
——————————————————————————–
Another materials of author

ALTERNATIVE AND TRADITIONAL MEDIA IN ARMENIA[02.12.2010] ~UCYBER
TROOPS: NECESSITY DICTATED BY TIME [06.09.2010] ~USUPERFLUIDITY OF
INFORMATION IN SOCIAL NETWORKS[01.06.2010] ~UINCREASING OF THE ROLE
OF THE SOCIAL NETWORKS ON THE MEDIA FIELD[19.04.2010] ~UPROPAGANDA
MACHINERY OF AZERBAIJAN: NEW TENDENCIES [08.02.2010]

From: A. Papazian

EP CONCERNED OVER MEDIA CENSORSHIP IN TURKEY

PanARMENIAN.Net
March 10, 2011 – 14:30 AMT 10:30 GMT

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution on the progress of
Turkey with the support of a large majority of MEPs.

The resolution prepared by rapporteur Ria Oomen-Ruijten of the
Netherlands, indicated that arrest of journalists such as Nedim Sener
and Ahmet Sik could lead to lack of confidence in judiciary, adding
that such trials, on the contrary, should strengthen the democracy
in the country.

The European Parliament called on the high representative of the
European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to intensify
the existing dialogue with Turkey on foreign policy issues of mutual
interest since Turkey became a source of inspiration in the Arab
world with its secularism and democracy.

The European Parliament welcomed the adoption of constitutional
amendments as a step in the right direction, and urged their proper
implementation with full observance of the standards of the European
Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

It underlined at the same time, however, the pressing need for
overall constitutional reform transforming Turkey into a fully
fledged pluralistic democracy with the protection of human rights
and fundamental freedoms at its core

The parliament expressed its concerns about the deterioration in
freedom of the press, about certain acts of censorship and about
growing self-censorship within the Turkish media, including on the
internet, and called on the Turkish government to uphold the principles
of press freedom. It also underscored the need for adoption of a new
media law addressing, inter alia, the issues of independence, ownership
and administrative control, the Anatolian News Agency reports.

From: A. Papazian

PACE MONITORING COMMITTEE CO-RAPPORTEURS TO ARRIVE IN YEREVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
March 10, 2011 – 18:38 AMT 14:38 GMT

On March 15, PACE Monitoring Committee co-rapporteurs on Armenia John
Prescott and Axel Fischer will arrive in Yerevan.

Member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, head of the RA NA Committee
on European Integration Affairs Naira Zohrabyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter that the co-rapporteurs are scheduled to meet with the
Armenian leadership, coalition forces, as well as parliamentary and
extra-parliamentary opposition.

“It will be another fact-finding visit. Prescott and Fischer will
arrive to monitor implementation of PACE recommendations by Armenia,”
Zohrabyan said.

It will be the first visit of Fischer, who recently substituted Goran
Lindblad, to Yerevan.

From: A. Papazian

CAFESJIAN CENTER TO HOST OLD SYMBOLS, NEW INTERPRETATION CREATIVITY PROGRAM

PanARMENIAN.Net
March 10, 2011 – 18:57 AMT 14:57 GMT

On March 12-April 10, Cafesjian Center for the Arts will be hosting
Old Symbols, New Interpretation creativity program for teenagers
(ages 12-17).

The program will feature master classes from well-known Armenian
artists and designers, including jewellery designer Nur (Arman
Davitian), ethnographer Sonia Tashchian, designers Lilit Avetyan and
Lilit Stepanyan.

Each of the creativity workshops will seek to generate new ideas and
interpretations for ancient symbols, joining innovation and tradition.

As the head of Cafesjian Center’s marketing & PR department Anna
Simonyan told PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, “the program, featuring themes
of Easter, spring and rebirth, aims to familiarise the teenagers
with ancient Armenian symbols. Program participants will be provided
with necessary materials. Upon completion of master classes, the
participants’ works will be exhibited on the first floor of our
museum.”

From: A. Papazian

UNIBANK CLAIMED LEADERSHIP IN CONSUMER LENDING IN ARMENIA IN 2010

PanARMENIAN.Net
March 10, 2011 – 16:18 AMT 12:18 GMT

According to the 2010 index, Unibank CJSC recorded growth in key
indices, as well as increased the market share in key directions of
its activity.

The assets of Unibank amounted to AMD 115.3bln that makes over 7.3%
of the total assets of the Armenian banking system.

In 2010 Unibank considerably increased the credit portfolio ~V by
11.4% to bring it to AMD 75.5bln. The major part of the bank credit
investments ~V AMD 48.7bln ~V was made in economy. The growth of this
index made over 20% in 2010, the bank press service reported.

By the volume of loans provided to individuals and economy Unibank
is the third and fifth among Armenia~Rs banks respectively.

Loans allocated to individuals totaled 35.5% of the bank credit
investments.

In 2010, the bank became the leader by volume of consumer lending,
bringing the credit investments here to AMD 24bln. The bank was
the second in Armenia~Rs market by the volume of mortgage loans –
AMD 10.2bln.

Besides the bank was the third by the volume of industry lending ~V
AMD 23.8bln.

The number of cards issued by Unibank grew by 66%, totaling 66,000
in 2010. Unibank is the leader by the number of international cards
among ArCa payment system member banks.

Besides, Unibank recorded the biggest annual growth in undistributed
profit in Armenia~Rs banking system. The bank~Rs undistributed profit
grew by 10 times, totaling AMD 1.6bln.

From: A. Papazian

OSCE CHAIRPERSON TO VISIT AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA, ARMENIA

armradio.am
10.03.2011 18:55

The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius
Ažubalis, will travel to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia next week
to meet government leaders and representatives of political parties
to discuss OSCE work in the region and the Lithuanian Chairmanship’s
priorities for 2011.

Ažubalis plans to meet the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Prime
Minister of Georgia, Ministers of Foreign Affairs, political leadership
and civil society representatives of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Progress towards resolution of protracted conflicts in the OSCE region
is a key priority of Lithuania’s OSCE Chairmanship. The Chairperson
will discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process, co-operation
with the OSCE, in particular with its Offices in Yerevan and Baku,
to support reforms, and challenges addressed in the Geneva Discussions.

From: A. Papazian