Author: Antonian Lara

FRANCO FRATTINI: EASTERN PARTNERSHIP SHOULD NOT BE ANTI-RUSSIAN INITIATIVE

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.03.2009 11:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Italy has called on European Union member states
to invite Russia for the Eastern Partnership Summit due in Prague on
May 7.

"Eastern Partnership should not be an anti-Russian initiative,"
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said upon completion of EU
Foreign Minister’s meeting in Brussels.

At that, he said that Italy’s proposal did not stir up opposition,
RIA Novosti reports.

The European Commission puts forward concrete ideas for enhancing our
relationship with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and
Belarus (the latter depending on the development of its relations with
the EU). This would imply new association agreements including deep
and comprehensive free trade agreements with those countries willing
and able to enter into a deeper engagement, gradual integration in the
EU economy and allow for easier travel to the EU through gradual visa
liberalization, accompanied by measures to tackle illegal immigration.

SOUTH CAUCASUS COUNTRIES ARE LINKED TO GEANT

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.03.2009 23:53 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The European Commission on Tuesday linked researchers
in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to a pan-European ultra-speed
computer network, called GEANT, Xinhua News reports.

The commission switched on a 1.75-million-euro
(2.27-million-U.S. dollar) computer network — Black Sea
Interconnection — that links researchers in the three South Caucasus
countries and connects them to GEANT, which already serves 30 million
researchers both in the European Union (EU) and some other parts of
the world.

The EU provided 1.4 million euros, or 80 percent of the funding,
said the commission.

The high-speed connections (from 34 to 100 Megabits per second)
will enable a far greater level of collaboration between researchers
and scientists in the South Caucasus region. It also promises to
impact daily life in the region by improving access to and quality of
healthcare such as allowing doctors to remotely diagnose conditions
and prescribe treatment to poor and isolated rural communities,
said the commission, the executive body of the EU.

"By investing 1.4 million euros funding in this project, we will
bridge a major digital divide by connecting scientists from the Black
Sea region to the global research community, providing high-speed
internet connections to universities and research centres in the
South Caucasus. I expect better collaboration with GEANT’s 4,000
EU research institutions will lead to better research and better
results in Europe and beyond," said Viviane Reding, EU commissioner
for information society and media.

GEANT, which also links seven Mediterranean countries, five Balkan
countries, five Central Asian countries, 14 Asian countries,12 Latin
American countries, as well as the United States and Canada, allows
researchers to communicate at a speed of 10 Gigabits per second,
said European Commission spokesman Martin Selmayr.

GEANT is a 200-million-euro (260-million-dollar) project, which gets
almost half of the budget from the EU between 2004 and 2009.

FRANCOPHONIE DAYS DUE IN ARMENIA FROM MARCH 13 TO 31

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.03.2009 19:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Francophonie Days (Mar 19-31) will launch in Armenia
under the aegis of RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Francophonie
International Organization. The star of "Notre Dame de Paris", Garu
and famous jazzman Andre Manukyan will become highlights of the event.

Fairytale Festival, featuring French, Belgian, Armenian tales
and children performances will be held on Mar.19-22 in Khnko Aper
Library and Tumanyan Museum. The parents will have a chance to enjoy
St̩phanie Corinna Bille (1912 Р1979) soiree featuring the performance
of Swedish comic actress Valeria Bertolotto.

"Let’s go to France" language contest will launch on Mar 25 in a
number of Yerevan schools and Universities. A Conference entitled
"Philological Mirror of the Universe" is due on Mar. 30-31 in Bryusov
State Linguistic University. A French film week will be presented by
the Armenian Public Television and the "Ararat" TV Channel to screen
French movies and documentals, RA MFA news service reported.

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
PRESS RELEASE
American University of Armenia
300 Lakeside Drive, 4th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
Contact: Gaiane Khachatrian
Email: [email protected]
Web:

YEREVAN, MARCH 9, 2009.

The World Bank Armenia Office and the American University of Armenia
Jointly Set up Knowledge for Development Center

– Today, the World Bank Yerevan Office and the American University of
Armenia (AUA) held the launching ceremony of a partner initiative –
the Knowledge for Development Center. The Memorandum of Agreement has
been signed by Mr. Aristomene Varoudakis, WB Country Manager in
Armenia, and Dr. Haroutune Armenian, President of AUA.

The Agreement outlines the basis for cooperation and joint activities
of the two institutions in knowledge dissemination, learning and
capacity building for the development arena. The WB and AUA jointly
set up the Center within the AUA Papazian Library to provide the
public with free access to information on development and to encourage
knowledge sharing and policy dialogue among the widest audiences
possible.

The World Bank has partnered with the American University of Armenia
Papazian Library to bring the public up-to-date and thorough
information on World Bank-sponsored development projects in Armenia,
as well as research and analytical works on the country and global
development issues through the Knowledge for Development Center. The
Center provides hard copies of recent World Bank publications,
reports, studies, project information, videos, and documentaries and
other materials, as well as on-line access to the World Bank archive
dating back to 1947, with the ability to download and print any
publicly available document in the database.

"We are very pleased with this cooperation with the American
University of Armenia, said Aristomene Varoudakis, the WB Country
manager for Armenia. – The Center also aims to play as a hub for
facilitating dialogue, consultations, and knowledge-sharing sessions
among academia, the media, the government, the Civil Society, and as
well as the private sector in the area."

For Haroutune Armenian, President of the AUA: "This is a great
addition to what will be available to the broader public of
Armenia. In the long term history of nations, wealth of intellectual
products is more consequential and significant than material wealth. A
knowledge society is what most nations are striving for and we as a
University have an important role to play in the development of such a
society. The World Bank has developed so many similar initiatives to
help move the nations of this world in such a direction."

For more information on the World Bank’s activities in Armenia, please
visit: <;

For more information about the American University of Armenia, please
visit:

Iran interested in the development of multifaceted relations with
Armenia

armradio.am
13.03.2009 14:34

On March 13 the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, had a
meeting with the Foreign Minister of Iran, Manouchehr Mottaki.

Greeting the guest, Minister Nalbandian ranked high the friendly and
mutually beneficial cooperation between Armenia and Iran, which is an
important factor for reinforcement of security and stability in the
region.

Thanking for warm reception, Manouchehr Mottaki noted that Iran is
interested in the further development of multifaceted relations with
its neighbor and friend Armenia, and he is visiting Armenia to boost
the development of cooperation in different spheres.

In the context of discussion of issues related to trade-economic
relations between the two countries, Ministers Nalbandian and Mottaki
referred to the results of the 8th sitting of the Armenian-Iranian
Intergovernmental Commission held in Tehran at the end of 2008 and
discussed the process of accomplishment of the agreements reached.

Edward Nalbandian and Manouchehr Mottaki discussed issues related to
ensuring stability and security in the region.

The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Iran referred to the latest
developments in the settlement of the Artsakh issue. The Ministers
stressed that the issues existing in the region should be solved
exceptionally through peaceful negotiations.

Armenian financial ombudsman office receives 18 complaints in February

YEREVAN, March 12. /ARKA/. Over February the office of Armenia’s
Financial Ombudsman received 18 complaints. Ten of them involved
matters beyond the competence of financial ombudsman, as per the
country’s law about ombudsman of the financial system, says the press
release of the Financial Ombudsman office.

Four complaints were within the competence but were not submitted to
the office in a proper manner.

The remaining four complaints were submitted in written, were in
conformity with the legal requirements and are being considered.

Two complaints concerned settlement transactions by plastic cards
through ATMs and withdrawal of large amount from client accounts as a
result.

A complaint concerned violation of initial terms for bank deposit,
another has to do with refusal of an insurance company to compensate
for damage.

The financial system ombudsman started its activities in Armenia on
January 24 2009, under the respective law. N.V. `0–

Armenian prime minister: Armenia should have clear stance and goals
able to lead to overcoming of consequences of global financial and
economic crisis

2009-03-13 18:57:00

ArmInfo. Unfortunately, the events in the world market develop in a
negative zone and Armenia is not an exception, Prime Minister of
Armenia Tigran Sarkisyan told journalists.

According to him, the forecasts on the rates of growth of the Armenian
economy for 2009, made at late 2008, are currently revised per months.
The indicators of the country’s economy state turned out
much worse than it was predicted in summer, 2008, when the country’s
draft budget for 2009 was developed. Today, even the international
experts present more optimistic scenario of development of Armenia’s
economy, and presently it is impossible to make any new forecasts since
the world economy has turned out in a difficult situation. The experts
of the World Bank changed the forecasts regarding the world economy
development indicators four times over the last three months. ‘New
factors appear today in the world economy, which much enhance
uncertainty. It means that we should be ready for several possible
scenarios of the situation development in the world markets’, the prime
minister emphasized. At the same time, T. Sarkisyan said the government
approved a complex programme of development of the Armenian economy for
2009 on December 4, 2008. The programme reflected both the measures and
the persons responsible for the programme implementation.

‘Armenia should have a clear stance and goals able to lead to
overcoming of the consequences of the global financial and economic
crisis’, the PM said. According to him, it is necessary to believe in
possibility of implementing the anti-crisis measures programme, and
this belief should be got over to the public and economic subjects. ‘It
will be impossible to achieve the goals set without belief’, T.
Sarkisyan emphasized and added that the matter concerns not only the
government but also any economic subject, citizen or businessman. At
the same time, the prime minister confessed that just
belief is insufficient for solution of the problem set. ‘Nevertheless,
it is necessary as it impossible to achieve success without belief’, T.
Sarkisyan said.

Prime Minister of Armenia: We should fundamentally reform the system of
tax administration within 2 years

2009-03-13 19:01:00

ArmInfo. Armenian authorities were ready to the processes in the
domestic market that took place on March 3, Armenian Prime Minister
Tigran Sargsyan said at a meeting with a group of journalists Friday.

To recall, on March 3 Armenian dram devaluated by 20%, which resulted
in price hike in the consumer market, in particular the prices of oil,
petrol, sugar and flour hiked. Tigran Sargsyan said such developments
arouse certain mess among citizens. `It is characteristic not only to
Armenia. In all the countries even in developed one, essential
commodities may disappear from the shops within an hour. All this is
expectation of negative consequences’, the premier said. He underlined
that on March 3 relevant agencies were charged to minimize the panic
buying. As a result, within 2-3 days the situation in the consumer
market has been balanced. This panic in the financial market was
overcome even earlier. To prevent similar situations in future it is
time to create an anti-monopoly atmosphere, the premier said. `The
best way to settle the given problem is competitive atmosphere in the
country. To settle this task the government is going to take certain
measure to reform the system of tax administration, to create equal
conditions for management, fully execute laws. Within 2 years the
system of tax administration will be fundamentally changed, which will
allow preventing the problems that originated on March 3. There are
also some subjective reasons for monopolization of certain economic
sectors due to the limited domestic market, underdeveloped
communications including the only road linking Armenia with outside
world via Georgia. There are problems in Georgia with delivery of
cargoes’, the premier said. `Together with our Georgian partners we
have repeatedly raised this issue. It is much cheaper and easier for
Armenian carriers to deliver cargoes to Georgian ports than to further
deliver them from these ports to Armenia. This hinders development of
SMEs in Armenia. This problems can be settle by big business that has
a relative advantage in the domestic market often abusing its
position’, the premier said. He highlighted the importance of
increasing the role of the State Commission for Protection of Economic
Competition in the sphere as stipulated by the governmental
anti-crisis program. `We are ready to discuss any proposal that will
give more powers to the commission to fight this evil’, T. Sargsyan.

APA, Azerbaijan
March 12 2009

Secretary of State Commission: `The Armenian serviceman, who crossed
to Azerbaijan last year, has been sent to the third country’

[ 12 Mar 2009 13:57 ]

Baku. Kamala Guliyeva ` APA. Soldier of Armenian army Paruyr
Stepanian, who crossed to Azerbaijan in May last year, has left
Azerbaijan for the third country, secretary of State Commission on
Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons Shahin Sailov told APA.

He said the reports as to which country the Armenian had left were
confidential.

Sailov said Stepanian himself had chosen the country.

`He said he did not want to return to Armenia. He himself chose the
third country and the UN representation in Azerbaijan solved the
problem. UN representation to Azerbaijan applied to the third
countries to learn which of them might accept Stepanian. He has
already been sent to the third country,’ he said.

Prime minister: In conditions of global crisis Armenian government
should pass to cruelest economy regime

2009-03-12 14:39:00

ArmInfo. In conditions of the global economic crisis and worsening of
the economic situation in the country, the Armenian government should
pass to the cruelest saving of the public funds, Prime Minister of
Armenia Tigran Sarkisyan said at the government Thursday session in
view of the decision on reallocation of the budget revenue and
expenditure, 2009.

The prime minister said the world economy experiences decay, so, the
government should be ready to implement the worse development scenario.
"In the crisis conditions we have to save and make as much expenses as
we can collect taxes", the PM said. In view of worsening of the
economic situation in Armenia, the country’s government made a protocol
decision on Thursday on reallocation of the most risky budget revenue
and expenditure from early to late, 2009, Finance Minister of Armenia
Tigran Davtyan said at the briefing held after the government session.
According to him, as a result of the analysis over the first-two
months, the Finance Ministry has calculated that the State Treasury may
receive less than one is due – 131 bln drams of revenue ($354 mln at
the current average rate). The government decided to reallocate this
revenue from the 1-3 quarters to the 4th quarter. The minister also
said the tax receipts to the country’s budget over January-February
reduced as compared with the similar period, 2008, and made up less
than the scheduled level. So, the tax receipts over January, 2009,
reduced by 5 bln drams against January, 2008, and the receipts over
February – by 10 bln drams. "Development of the global economic
situation does not give rise to an optimism, so, the government
resolved to reallocate the most risky revenue", the minister said.

The budget expenditure for 2009 at the amount 93 bln drams ($251 mln)
will be also redistributed by the end of the year. He means revisiting
of expenditure for business trips, buying of the movable property and
real estate and holding of some state events. The protected articles of
the budget will not change, mainly for defence and social needs, the
minister said. He assured that salary of the budgetary sphere workers
will not change. Davtyan added that this decision of the government
will not touch fulfillment of the big pan-Armenian projects in 2009, in
which the government takes part. He means construction of the new
nuclear power block, Iran-Armenia railway and creation of Pan-Armenian
Bank.

He declined to predict further development of Armenian economy in the
present conditions, but beginning from March the government is
expecting certain growth of the business activity and tax revenues in
the budget. Davtyan also said that the approved credits of the IMF $540
mln and of the WB $525mln for the next four years, as well as the
expected stabilizing credit of Russia $500 mln will help Armenia
overcome consequences of the world crisis. Armenia has a good potential
to resist the crisis because of the low plan on deficit of the budget
2009 in an amount less than 1% GDP and low external state debt, which
does not exceed 14-15% of the GDP.