Author: Andres-Papazian

“HERITAGE” READY TO COOPERATE WITH OPPOSITION

ARMENPRESS
JANUARY 27, 2011
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JANUARY 27, ARMENPRESS: The political oppositional forces
have issue of uniting, this opinion belongs to the member of the
“Heritage” faction Armen Martirosyan. According to him, the cooperation
of oppositional forces today is a necessity to ensure more effective
activity.

“From the point of view of uniting, the opposition needs to undertake
steps. “Heritage” said about it previously and in a letter it offered
to the oppositional forces to unite over a round table and work out
agenda of activity,” Martirosyan said. According to him, there are
forces in the political field with which “Heritage” sees cooperation
edges. These forces are the Armenian National Congress, ARF and
“New Times” party.

As to the prediction that in the coming parliamentary elections the
“Heritage” will not be able to overcome the 5% barrier, Martirosyan
noted that they are not concerned with those predictions. “The
time will show what results the “Heritage” will register,”
the parliamentarian said, adding that the issue of the format of
participation in the parliamentary elections the “Heritage” has not
discussed yet.

From: A. Papazian

SERZH SARGSYAN: AZERBAIJAN DOES NOT WANT TO NEGOTIATE WITH NK, BUT IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT KARABAKH IS NOT PARTAKING IN THE NEGOTIATION PROCESS

ARMENPRESS
JANUARY 27, 2011
YEREVAN

Azerbaijan does not wish to conduct negotiations with Nagorno Karabakh
but it does not mean that Nagorno Karabakh is not partaking in the
negotiation process, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said in an
interview to “Echo Moskvi” radio station, pointing out that every time
before and after the negotiations he meets with the NK leadership “as
conducting negotiations without NK, not to offend the Karabakhi people,
would mean to go to engagement ceremony without bride or bridegroom.”

He said that is the reason why there is no secret here and when in
many cases we are not paying attention to this inquiry, afterwards
the response becomes a subject for speculation of Azerbaijan.

“If we ask the Karabakhi people or Armenians, of course no one wants
to return a centimeter of land but on the other hand we must remember
that each decision must bring to long-lasting peace and that is why
the concessions are necessary,” the Armenian president said.

From: A. Papazian

POLICE LIEUTENANT COLONEL AND HIS TWO SONS ARRESTED FOR APPLYING OF VIOLENCE TOWARDS POWER REPRESENTATIVE

ArmInfo
2011-01-27 15:15:00

Arminfo. Lieutenant Colonel of the Armenian Police (Ararat region) R.
Artenyan, and his son – inspector of the Vayk department Lieutenant
S.Artenyan and another son – Sr.Artenyan have been accused by the
article 316 of Armenian Criminal Code for applying of violence towards
power representative.

As Special Investigative Service reported, on 21 January, at 11:50
PM they attacked A.Asatryan, the authorized operative of the Ararat
department of criminal investigation office and R.Sagatelyan and
R.Misakyan, the inspectors of the same department. The culprits were
arrested. The investigation is underway.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN PARTY IS READY FOR FURTHER COOPERATION FOR FULFILLMENT OF ASTRAKHAN ARRANGEMENTS
Mariam Levina

ArmInfo
2011-01-26 06:18:00

Interview of Armen Kaprielyan, Head of the Working Group at the
Armenian Commission on POWs, Hostages and Missing Persons, with
ArmInfo News Agency

Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev,
met in Astrakhan on October 27 2010 through mediation of Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev and made an arrangement to exchange POWs
and hostages, as well as the bodies of the killed. Would you comment
on the current stage of fulfillment of the Astrakhan arrangement?

It should be noted that Armenia had been fulfilling its commitments in
line with the Geneva Conventions even before the above meeting and had
repeatedly displayed good will and repatriated hostages and the bodies
of the killed on a unilateral basis and without preconditions. Thus,
in April 2010 the bodies of the two Azerbaijani subverters killed
during the Azerbaijani recon element’s penetration into the territory
of Armenia as well as the soldier Rafik Hasanov, who voluntarily
went over to the Armenian party and wanted to leave for a third
country, were transferred to the Azerbaijani authorities. Hasanov was
repatriated as soon as he changed his mind and expressed a desire to
return to his motherland.

As regards fulfillment of the Astrakhan arrangements, the only
thing the Azerbaijani authorities did is repatriation of the body of
Armenian hostage Manvel Saribekyan on November 4 2010 and the body of
the NKR citizen Gavrush Arustamyan to the NKR authorities on November
6 2010. The Armenian authorities repatriated a citizen of Azerbaijan
Eldar Tagiyev to Azerbaijan and the NKR authorities repatriated two
members of the Azerbaijani recon element that penetrated into the
territory of NKR.

In the light of the Astrakhan arrangements, I am bewildered at the
statement made by Shahin Sailov, Secretary of the Azerbaijani State
Commission for POWs, Hostages and Missing Citizens, a few days after
the meeting of the presidents saying that the Armenian hostages
in Azerbaijan do not want to return to Armenia. Despite such a
non-constructive approach by the Azerbaijani party, we are ready to
further cooperate for fulfillment of the Astrakhan arrangements.

A criminal case on the fact of Armenian citizen Manvel Saribekyan’s
death in Azerbaijani prison has been instituted. Do you possess any
information about the preliminary results of the investigation and
expert examination?

I consider that public disclosure of the details of the investigation
is not ethical from the professional point of view. The criminal
case is under the jurisdiction of the Investigation Department of
the National Security Service of Armenia. The information about the
investigation results will be properly published by the National
Security Service and the Prosecutor General’s Office. However, I can
say that traces of violence against Manvel Saribekyan were found in
the course of forensic medical examination.

How many officially confirmed captives are there in Armenia,
Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan now?

At present the Azerbaijani authorities have confirmed the presence of
only 6 Armenian military servicemen and 1 civilian in Azerbaijan. At
the same time there are two Azeri military servicemen in Armenia.

In mid November 2010 the Azerbaijani party confessed that Armenian
citizen Artur Badalyan, who had been searched since May 2009, was
in the territory of Azerbaijan. How can this behavior of Azerbaijan
be explained?

And how can one explain the fact that for 4-5 years the Azerbaijani
party has been ignoring all our requests about our compatriots, which,
according to reliable information, are in the Azerbaijani captivity?

How can one explain the fact that Azerbaijanis hide the facts of
captivity of several Armenian prisoners or war and hostages from the
ICRC? There is only one conclusion: in such a way the Azerbaijani
party is trying to receive some dividends in the negotiating process
on repatriation of the captives.

As for Artur Badalyan, you have already mentioned that Azerbaijanis
proved the fact of his captivity only 1.5 years later, on 8 November
2010. After that the Azerbaijani party said it was ready to repatriate
him; however, the negotiations on this matter have been lasting
for three months but no clear response has been received from the
Azerbaijani party so far.

In this context I’d like to stress that that keeping of a civilian
captive for more than 18 months is a fact of violation of the
international humanitarian law and human rights, which cannot be
justified and should be condemned not only by the international
human rights and humanitarian organizations, but also by the whole
world community.

How many names of are there on the lists of missing persons of the
Armenian and the NKR Commissions?

At present the lists of the Armenian Commission on POWs, Hostages and
Missing Persons have over 200 names of missing persons as a result
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. As regards the NKR, there are over
700 names.

Are there real prospects for cooperation with the Azerbaijani State
Commission? Have you received a response to the proposal made through
the mediation of the ICRC?

The prospects exist in the light of the arrangements reached by the
two presidents in Astrakhan in October 2010. The desire or reluctance
to cooperate is another question. We were open for cooperation with
the Azerbaijani State Commission even earlier and have repeatedly
stated that. We are also ready to cooperation with them now.

Unfortunately, the Azerbaijani party is not yet striving to cooperate
with us.

At the initiative of the Armenian party, in summer 2010 Azeris were
offered to hold a meeting of the two Commissions’ Working Groups
in a third country through the ICRC’s mediation. This would allow
discussing a number of practical issues and making an attempt to
establish direct ways of cooperation in order to solve the main
problems in the matter of searching for the missing persons, as well
as the problems of repatriation of the captives and dead bodies. The
Azeri State Commission has not yet given an official response to the
Armenian party’s proposal.

Are the burials of the killed in military actions in Nagorno-Karabakh
still being searched for?

Significant measures were taken in the given dimension in 2008-2009.

We searched not only in the territory of Artsakh, but also in some
borderline regions of Armenia. All the data collected have been
verified and organized and the chairman of the Armenian Commission
for POWs, Hostages and Missing Persons was informed of the results
in due form. We are going to continue the search in the current year
in line with the Working Plan of our Commission.

In this light, I’d like to express my gratitude to the NKR Commission
for POWs, Hostages and the Missing, and particularly, to Chairman
Victor Kocharyan for invaluable assistance to the employees of our
Commission in the search in the territory of the NKR.

Are the captives’ statements about their reluctance to return to
Motherland always true? In this context, how do you assess the
neighboring country’s attempts to use the issue of the captives for
propaganda purposes?

The Armenian party has never hindered the Azerbaijani captives’ will
expression, never made attempts to distort the real facts or influence
the captive Azerbaijanis’ desire expressed during the meetings with
the ICRC delegates.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be stated when the matter concerns
Azerbaijanis’ attitude to the captive Armenians. Armenian military
servicemen and civilians fall prisoners when they lose their way in
conditions of low visibility or due to unawareness of the location.

Over the past two-three years Azerbaijan has been stating all
the captive Armenians’ reluctance to return to Motherland or
their desire to be sent to the third country. Under the threat of
physical intimidation and simple blackmail, the Armenian captives
are forced to make such statements not only during the meetings
with representatives of international humanitarian organizations,
but also before the video cameras. This is nothing but one of the
methods of agitation war against Armenia and Armenian people. One
should not neglect the circumstance that such statements provide an
opportunity to the Azerbaijani authorities to delay the negotiation
process on repatriation of the captives with impunity and practically
without any time limits.

The whole international humanitarian law qualifies the given phenomenon
as rough violation of the Geneva Conventions and infringement of
human rights. We have repeatedly drawn the relevant international
organizations’ attention to similar violations of Azerbaijan in the
past, we are not going to put up with this in the future and we’ll
keep on applying to international instances in each case of the kind.

How many captives have been sent to the third countries over the past
few years and what do you know about these persons?

Over the past few years two such cases were registered. In January
2008 Samir Mamedov was sent to a third country from Armenia, and in
May 2009 Paruyr Simonyan was sent to a third country from Azerbaijan.

Certainly, we possess the information on the further fate of the
persons sent to the third countries, but I am not going to publish
it for certain reasons.

As a rule, the Azerbaijani citizens, who were in Armenian captivity,
are sentenced to long-term imprisonment in Azerbaijan. That is, their
stay in Armenia is actually equaled to treason against the State. How
relevant is such an approach in a civilized state?

It is obvious for me that by these methods the relevant Azeri
authorities are trying to prevent the further attempts of their
citizens to cross the Armenian border. This is like a preventive
measure. It is another question whether this measure meets the concepts
of humanism. Let’s not forget what country the matter concerns,
as Azerbaijan’s behavior when treating both Armenian captives and
hostages and their own citizens taken prisoners in Armenia is, to
put it mildly, far from being the one of a civilized state.

What can you say about incarceration conditions of the captives in
Armenia and Azerbaijan?

The incarceration conditions of captives in Armenia and Azerbaijan
are cardinally different. The Armenian authorities fully observe the
requirements of the Geneva Conventions; all the incarceration standards
are observed, any facts of poor treatment are ruled out. The Armenian
Commission on POWs, Hostages and Missing Persons pays special attention
to this issue. This is not just a statement of the party concerned,
but a fact regularly registered during the ICRC employees’ meetings
with the captive Azeris.

At the same time, Azerbaijan not only constantly violates the
incarceration conditions fixed in the Geneva Conventions, but also
applies methods of physical and mental effect against the captive
Armenians: tortures, bodily blows, intimidation, and blackmail. We have
repeatedly come across bodily injuries, traces of tortures and blows
on the repatriated Armenian captives. During the conversations held
with the former captives upon the repatriation, we learned outrageous
facts of mental effect measures that were applied against the captives
in the Azerbaijani torture chambers. The latest evidence of that was
Manvel Saribekyan’s death in the Azerbaijani captivity.

What stage is the elaboration of the Bill on the Missing Persons at?

Would you dwell on the details?

Drafting of the Bill on the Missing Persons will be completed in the
first half of 2011. We started the process in September 2009.

Afterwards, the project will undergo relevant state procedure and
will be submitted to the parliament. The bill was necessitated by
the reform of the national legislative base related to determination
of the status of the missing persons and their families as well as
a range of organizational issues, financial aspects, etc. The bill
is drafted on the basis of the international experience and numerous
consultations with international and local public organizations and
open debates with various state agencies.

The head of the Commission for POWS, Hostages and the Missing and the
member of the Working Group at the Commission represent the Commission
at the inter-department working group drafting the Bill on the Missing
Persons and coordinated by the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

The Bill is based on the Model Law on the Missing Persons drafted by
the ICRC experts and approved by the Commission for Social Policy and
Human Rights, the CIS Inter-parliamentary Assembly and adopted at the
31st plenary session of the CIS Inter-parliamentary Assembly in 2008.

Regular consultations are held with the head of the ICRC Yerevan
Office and experts of the ICRC Head Office in Geneva. That bill will
become a real breakthrough in our activity and will liquidate almost
all the gaps in the national legislation of Armenia related to the
missing persons. In addition, as far as I know, there is no such a
law yet in the CIS and even in Europe, except Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Working Group will be 5 years old in 2011. How do you assess the
work done?

We are the working body of the Armenian Commission on POWs, Hostages
and Missing Persons, and we are accountable to the Commission. So,
the chairman of the Commission can give assessment to our activity.

However, I can say that our Working Group has been encouraged by
the Commission’s leadership for many times, and some members of the
Working Group have been awarded for specific measures.

From: A. Papazian

EMBARGO FOR RUSSIAN GRAIN WILL BE LIFTED AFTER HARVEST OF 2011
David Stepanyan

ArmInfo
2011-01-26 06:25:00

Interview with Sergey Grinyaev, Director General of the Russian Center
of Strategic Assessment and Forecasts, Doctor of Engineering

Mr. Grinyaev, President of Georgia was on a working visit to Armenia
on January 22-23. What are the problems of prior importance between our
countries and what are the perspectives of development of relations?

Good relations with Georgia are crucial for Armenia as it is really
vital for your country to have one more transport route. But if the
foreign political situation gets worse, Georgia will certainly do
the bidding of its “older brother,” the United States, and will close
this route.

Do you thin that high tariffs of Georgia for the transit of goods to
Armenia are continuation of its negative relations with Russia? Does
Russia still plan to manage the transit railway corridor from Iran to
the Black Sea via the territory of Armenia? Will the Russian Railways
attempt to acquire the Georgian railway?

I do not think that Georgia’s tariff policy on Armenia depends on
its relations with Russia. Simply, just like many other post-Soviet
republics, Georgia is experiencing economic problems.

Georgia just tries to earn money. Simply in the case of Armenia the
policy of earning on high tariffs is very much like the monopolization
of transport routes and Armenia does have a reason to complain.

Do you think that monopolization of the Armenian economy by Russian
companies, first of all, in the energy sector, promotes development
of Armenian-Russian political relations?

This question is more like a suggestion to weight alternative
versions. Nationalization is not favorable for Armenia because today’s
energy infrastructure is surplus for the internal needs.

Second, geopolitical position of Armenia allows using its transit
status with a benefit for the country. In fact, the question of
access of foreign investors to the infrastructure arouses. Out of
all the possible versions I think Russia is the most preferable party
because Russia is the closest neighbor of Armenia and cooperation in
the energy sector allows boosting partnerships also in other spheres.

Is Russia the only country able to fund and build a new nuclear power
unit in Armenia because of some political reasons and in conditions
of external pressure and no interest by foreign investors? What are
the perspectives of that project?

We should refer to the contemporary history, specifically to completion
of a nuclear power plant construction in Busher, Iran. It should be
noted that even in conditions of an unprecedented external pressure
Russia has implemented the given project. In the case with the
Armenian project, problems similar to those with Iran may originate
that will lead to pressure on both the Armenian leadership and the
leadership of the partner-country in the project. I will not dwell
on the problems that may provoke such developments, but I think such
developments possible. In such conditions, the expert believes that
it is necessary to have a clear picture of the country able to assume
such responsibility. The history shows that only Russia is able to
do that in conditions of external pressure.

Earlier on Dec 21 Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan said that the
authorities will exert genuine effort to prevent further rise of
gas tariffs for the population in future. Gazprom announced that in
2011 Armenia will consume natural gas for a market price. Last year
the tariffs had already been increased to 132 drams (37.5%). Will
Armenian economy withstand such “world” tariffs?

The question about the Russian gas tariffs has already become
traditional for many journalists.

Unfortunately, in their items journalists are basing on the relative
figures of the gas price growth, forgetting about the absolute terms.

The situation in the world economy has seriously worsened over the
past year, because of the irresponsive policy of the US Federal
Reserve system, which put about 1,5 trillion dollars on the market,
thanks to which the American currency devaluated much. Incidentally,
this became the reason of the beginning of the so-called “currency
wars” before the G20 summit in Seoul. For this reason, when speaking
about the price growth of this or that product, one should not forget
about inflation – the process of the national currency devaluation.

As for the problem, if the Armenian economy will bear “the world”
prices, Armenia and Russia should more actively draw out and submit
for discussion options of the bilateral cooperation development,
which would promote development of the Armenian economy in general.

Do you expect that the embargo on export of grain from Russia will
be lifted after the harvest of 2011 and how will that predetermine
the grain prices in CIS?

Yes. I think that embargo for the Russian grain will be lifted after
the harvest of 2011. Anyway, there are currently all the prerequisites
for this. Consequently, one may also forecast stabilization of prices
in the grain market, at least in CIS.

If the uranium deposit in the south of Armenia is developed, will it
affect the relations of Armenia and the West considering that uranium
will be processed in Angarsk in Russia?

I see no potential threat of aggravation of Armenia-West relations.

The only problem is that a new supplier may emerge in the international
uranium market (quite closed). For many it will allow diversifying
own purchases of this valuable resource, however, some will not be
quite glad. At the same time, some complications in this unique market
may raise issues of unfair competition. However, I do not think that
the given risk will outweigh the benefit from the beginning of the
deposit development. Moreover, much will depend on the geological
description of the field, which may be specified just after the
beginning of its development.

Inflation in Armenia in 2010 reached its historical maximum over the
last 15 years – 9.4%. After a 14% decline last year economic growth
made up 2.6%, although in due time just low inflation was said to
restrain economic growth. What is the reason of such contradiction?

Unfortunately, Armenia like many other countries, turned out to be
under the influence of consequences of the global financial crisis. At
present, even stronger economies of the world are extremely unstable:
it is just enough to see how the European Union burns with fever
today. As for the specifics of Armenia’s economic indicators, I
think much depends on structural peculiarities of the economy and the
country’s financial system, as well as on how the country earns and
spends its budget. . Over the years of independence, Armenia’s economy
started a process of reconstruction, however it has not yet completed
it. I think the absence of well-defined objectives of mid-term and
long-term development of the country in general, its role and place
in the global division of labor is the main obstacle on this way.

From: A. Papazian

IN 2011 BI LINE IS PLANNING TO FULLY UPDATE THE SERVERS OF ACBA-CREDIT AGRICOLE BANK

ArmInfo
2011-01-27 18:31:00

ArmInfo. One of the biggest IT companies of Armenia, Bi Line, is
planning to fully upgrade the servers of ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank
by the end of the first half of 2011.

Vice President of Bi Line Sargis Karapetyan says that the company
is supposed to create an efficient system for two reserve data
processing-operational centers inside and outside Yerevan.

“This is a big and complex project. We have carried it out for a long
period and are now completing our work,” Karapetyan said noting that
the project has proved to be a success.

He also said that Bi Line has a joint project with Anelik Bank. The
project was launched in 2009 but suspended later because of the
crisis. “It is quite possible that in 2011 we will resume it,”
Karapetyan said.

Bi Line specializes in selling and maintaining computer equipment. It
was set up in 1996 and is among the biggest tax payers of Armenia. Bi
Line cooperates with HP, IBM, Microsoft, APC and Cisco and provides
services to hundreds of local and foreign companies.

From: A. Papazian

FEBRUARY WILL BE SNOWY IN ARMENIA

ArmInfo
2011-01-27 12:55:00

ArmInfo. February will be snowy in Armenia, the head of
the Hydro-meteorology Center Zaruhi Petrosyan said during a
press-conference today.

The snow will start Jan 27 and will last for 5 days.

In February the average temperature in highlands will be -9C, the
average precipitation – 19-57mm, in Ararat valley – -2C and 18-34mm,
in Yerevan – -1C and 21-34mm.

In the second half of February there will be days when in some areas
temperature will go as high as +20C.

In January 2011 the average temperature was 2-3C above norm.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN HEALTH MINISTRY CANNOT ORGANIZE PROVISION OF FREE INSULIN TO HEALTH CENTERS, AN EXPERT THINKS

ArmInfo
2011-01-27 17:23:00

ArmInfo. The Armenian Health Ministry cannot organize provision of
free insulin and other medicaments for diabetics to health centers,
endocrinologist Bamine Baghramyan, Deputy Director of the Yerevan
Medical Center, said at today’s press conference.

She pointed out that the obligations of provision and distribution
of medicaments within the frames of the government order are carried
out by the Armenian Health Ministry. The disorderliness was mostly
displayed in 2010, when 2-3 months of delay were fixed.

“The diabetics can stand in a queue for several hours and then hear
about the lack of the necessary medicaments”, Baghramyan said. She
added that the health centers receive insufficient quantity of
medicaments to provide all the patients with. “1.5 years ago I worked
at a health center, I had 1500 diabetics who needed pills. At the same
time, I received about 60 packages with 60 pills in each”, she said.

She added that the official data of the statistics, according to
which there are about 2 thsd diabetics in Armenia, have nothing to
do with the reality. “About 6 thsd diabetics are registered in the
polyclinic No19 alone”, she said.

A woman, who wished to remain anonymous, told ArmInfo correspondent
that she has been receiving medicaments for her father at one of the
Yerevan polyclinics for many years. “I have to stand in a queue from
7 am, while the doctors’ work starts at 10 am. If everything goes
right, my turn will be at about 11 am. I receive the prescription
from the doctor, go to the chief therapist, who is to put the stamp,
and then go to the chief nurse, who gives me the medicaments. Here
also I have to stand in a queue for hours and receive the medicaments
only by 1 pm”, she said. According to the woman, all the patients
strive to receive the medicaments on the day the polyclinic receives;
otherwise they may remain without any medicaments at all.

She added that the prescribed medicaments are not always available, so
sometimes patients are offered substitutes. “Here the choice is yours:
you can agree or refuse to take the substitutes”, she said and added
that such lawlessness is observed not at all the polyclinics. “For
instance, I know a polyclinic where the primary care physician tells
the patients in advance that the polyclinic has received the necessary
medicaments. At other polyclinics only the prescription is given to the
patients, and the medicaments are provided at the drugstore”, she said.

Unfortunately, it was impossible to receive the official comment of
the Health Ministry, as the Press Secretary of the Ministry Shushan
Hunanyan was at consultations from 3 pm till the end of the work
shift. However, it was already senseless to call at 5:40 pm: no one
replied to the telephone call.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN TOUR OPERATOR: TOURISTS REGISTRATION METHOD USED IN ARMENIA DISTORTS REAL PICTURE

ArmInfo
2011-01-27 13:02:00

ArmInfo. The tourists registration method used in Armenia distorts
the real picture, Chairman of the Union of Inbound Tour Operators of
Armenia Robert Minasyan said during a press-conference today.

According to this method, each person entering Armenia on purposes
other than business is registered as a tourist.

No more than 10-15% of those people are real tourists.

According to official statistics, 585,000 tourists visited Armenia
in 2009 and 457,000 in Jan-Sept 2010 (15% more than in Jan-Sept 2009).

“Our second biggest problem is poor tourist infrastructure in the
regions. And one of the possible ways to solve it is a special tax
regime that would stimulate investors to make long-term investments.

Those who build hotels and those who operate them should pay the
same taxes. In this case investors will be ready to make long-term
investments. The average investment in a hotel pays off in 8-10 years.

The Government might stimulate this process by providing investors with
plots for their construction projects and ensuring their connection
to necessary infrastructure,” Minasyan said.

From: A. Papazian

AMERIABANK OFFERS GOLD METAL ACCOUNTS

ArmInfo
2011-01-27 14:16:00

ArmInfo. Ameribank offers a service of gold metal accounts (999.9
standard fine gold) to private and corporate customers, Ameriabank
press-service told ArmInfo.

The source reports that metal accounts make it possible for customers
to save their funds on non-cash gold accounts. It is an alternative
way to diversify savings and increase them thanks to the growing
gold price in the world market. Gold metal accounts make it possible
reducing the influence of instable market (fluctuations in the current
market). The global economic crisis showed that gold is the leading
financial instrument especially in case of instable financial market.

Gold accounts are not subject to loss or damage and possible fraud
with the gold standard. Non-cash gold ensures high level of liquidity
i.e. a customer can sell it to the bank at any moment and receive
cash calculated by the effective rate of exchange.

A metal account with the bank is opened commission-free. It requires
a minimal account balance. The account size and term is not restricted.

Only the standard and weight of gold is specified when making a deal.

The spot price for gold (AM Gold Fix) in London on January 25 2011
fell by $21.5 or 1.6% to $1,326 versus the previous trading day. Gold
futures on the CME Globex electronic trading platform range between
$1325-1327.4 per ounce. The latest data of the State Treasury of
Precious Metals and Stones, Ministry of Finance of Armenia (for Jan
24-30 2011) say the ex-factory price of gold (bullions) is 16062.29
drams, which is 0.3% lower than in the previous week, but 0.1% higher
than in early 2011.

The majority shareholder of Ameriabank is TDA Holdings Limited
affiliated with Russian Troika Dialog with 99.99%.

From: A. Papazian