Author: Babajanian Karo

Arthur Baghdasaryan – author of `the most impressive’ betrayal, Nikol
Pashinyan says

tert.am
16:40 – 23.12.12

Armenian National Congress (ANC) MP Nikol Pashinyan has referred in
his official website to the positive words the Rule of Law party
leader, National Security Council secretary Arthur Baghdasaryan said
in his address at the party’s 11th congress yesterday.

`I clearly understand that NSC Secretary has a 20-year-long experience
of making a career through dedicating dithyrambs to different
political figures but this time he has made a strict mistake in his
calculations. During my political activity I have never been guided
and will never be guided by considering those dedicating me dithyrambs
as friends, and those criticizing me as enemies.

And though Arthur Baghdasaryan called me an `honest politician’ I
cannot say anything good about a person who has always acted under the
roof of the authorities who are rigging elections. Arthur Baghdasaryan
is one of those direct responsible for March 1, 2008 and will stay in
Armenia’s history as the author of `the most impressive’ betrayal.

ARMENIE-TOURISME
Inauguration de l’hôtel « Dzarghatsor Marriott » à Dzarghatsor

L’Arménie dispose d’un nouvel hôtel de luxe. Hier, le président
arménien Serge Sarkissian a inauguré le complexe hôtelier «
Dzarghatsor Marriott » à Dzarghatsor. Serge Sarkissian s’est félicité
de la construction de ce nouvel hôtel de luxe en Arménie qui devrait
profiter au développement du tourisme en Arménie. Situé à une
soixantaine de kilomètres d’Erevan, « Dzarghatsor Marriott »
appartient au groupe de la chaîne hôtelière « Marriott ». Dzarghatsor
bénéficiant de pistes de ski ainsi que des pistes pour le tourisme
vert toute l’année s’est ainsi doté d’un hôtel qui devrait attirer de
nombreux clients toute l’année. L’investissement pour ce complexe
hôtelier fut de 32 millions de dollars. Il emploiera 200 salariés dont
près de 70% de Dzarghatsor.

Krikor Amirzayan

dimanche 23 décembre 2012,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

Daily Markets
Dec 21 2012

Armenia Holds Rate Steady, Sees Inflation Around 4 Pct

By CentralBankNews updated December 21, 2012

The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) held its benchmark refinancing
rate steady at 8.0 percent in light of a weak inflationary environment
with the annual inflation rate expected to approach the bank’s 4
percent target and remain around that level over the three-year
forecast horizon.

CBA, which has held its refinancing rate steady since September
2011, said inflation rose by 1.4 percent in November for an annual
increase of 3.6 percent, close to its confidence band. In October the
annual rate was 3.4 percent.

Armenia’s economy has developed largely in line with the central
bank’s policy program which forecasts weak global demand yet a
fundamental tightness in world food markets. This will have a minor
inflationary impact on domestic prices, the CBA said.

`In view of the actual 12-month inflation behavior as well as
persisting weak inflationary environment in the prospect of
developments in external sector and the domestic economy, the board
finds it reasonable to further withhold from changing the refinancing
rate in December,’ the CBA said in a statement following a meeting of
its board on Dec. 11.

In the October-November period, the bank said private spending was
strong, non-commercial transfers by individuals were high while the
impact of fiscal policy on demand was contractionary.

Armenia’s Gross Domestic Product rose by an annual rate of 6.6
percent in the second quarter.

In its monetary policy program, the central bank said there was a
high probability that 2012 economic growth would be 7-7.4 percent,
driven by higher value-added in services, industry and agriculture.

Over the next two years, the bank forecasts growth stabilizing at
5-6 percent annually with 2013 real domestic demand up by 4.8 percent
and public spending up by a real 7.4 percent.

Agence France Presse
December 21, 2012 Friday 4:43 PM GMT

Four countries turn down Eurovision amid crisis

STOCKHOLM, Dec 21 2012

Four countries including debt-burdened Portugal will abstain from next
year’s Eurovision Song Contest, but crisis-hit Greece will be taking
part, the event’s organisers said on Friday.

Bosnia-Herzegovina, Portugal, Slovakia and Turkey have all said they
will not be participating in the contest, which is to be held in the
Swedish city of Malmoe from May 14 to 18 next year.

The first three cited “economic reasons” for abstaining, while Turkey
opposed changes to the competition’s rules, according to a statement
by Eurovision, the media content distributor that is operated by the
European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

Armenia will return to the contest after security concerns stopped it
from sending a delegation to neighbouring Azerbaijan in 2012.

Greece’s ERT is among the 39 national broadcasters that have signed up
for next year’s event despite the country suffering acutely from an
economic crisis, which had prompted speculation that budget cuts would
prevent it from coming this year.

The EBU said it was “sensitive to the economic pressures facing its
members” and that contest organisers were constantly “seeking ways to
cut costs for both participating broadcasters as well as the host
broadcaster.”

Interfax, Russia
Dec 21 2012

Armenia counts on CSTO assistance if Karabakh hostilities resume – president

MOSCOW. Dec 21

Yerevan counts on the assistance of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO) in the case of a military solution to the Karabakh
conflict, but still hopes a diplomatic solution can be found, Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan told the Rossiya-24 channel.

“Certainly. It would have been strange if we had not counted (on the
CSTO). Why would we join that organization otherwise? The countries
joined the union to support each other at a difficult moment,”
Sargsyan said.

Azerbaijan is building up its military power, he said. “Azerbaijan
hopes for a military solution. However, we think there is no
alternative to negotiations. Because the only alternative is
hostilities, and we do not want them to resume under any
circumstances,” the Armenian leader said.

Armenia is the guarantor of security for the Karabakh people, he said.
“If the gamble, which has started, develops into military operations,
Armenia will do the utmost to protect people in Karabakh,” he added.

Azerbaijan is not prepared to solve the Karabakh problem so far, Sargsyan said.

te rb

Fars News Agency , Iran
Dec 20 2012

Iranian provincial governor visits Armenia to discuss ties

[Translated from Persian]

The governor-general of Iran’s East Azarbayjan Province is visiting
Armenia at the head of a trade and economic delegation to discuss the
development of mutual ties between the two countries.

The trade and commercial programmes of the visit will officially start
from 21 December. Beygi and his delegation are expected to visit
plants, sheep farms and industrial greenhouses.

On the second day of its visit to Armenia, the delegation will meet
the Armenian deputy prime minister, the minister of territorial
administration and the governor of Armenia’s Armavir Province.

The trade turnover between Iran and Armenia reached 300m dollars last
year and is expected to increase by 40 per cent next year.

Iranian Labour News Agency , Iran
Dec 20 2012

Iran wants to expand ties with Armenia – ambassador

The Iranian ambassador to Armenia, Mohammad Ra’isi, has said that
expanding ties with Armenia due to the common cultural and historical
past is important for the Islamic Republic of Iran, ILNA news agency
has reported.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran was the first country to officially
recognize the independence of the Republic of Armenia,” Ra’isi said
during his visit to Armenia’s Lazaryan Institute for International
Relations.

He mentioned the beginning of the construction of a hydroelectric
power plant on the Iran-Armenia border with the Armenian president and
Iranian officials in attendance and said that there are various
projects that will be launched soon, including the Iran-Armenia
railway and the Iran-Armenia-Georgia highway, ILNA said.

[Translated from Persian]

Ukraine General Newswire
December 20, 2012 Thursday 6:16 PM MSK

Customs Union’s relations with Armenia can develop more actively than
with Ukraine, says EurAsEC head

Moscow December 19

The Customs Union and Armenia will soon prepare a number of joint
documents, Eurasian Economic Commission (EurAsEC) Board Chairman
Viktor Khristenko said.

“We have recently made an agreement with the Armenian government, that
we will prepare a memorandum similar to the Ukrainian one. I think
that the rapprochement with Armenia can be even more active than with
Ukraine,” Khristenko said in an interview with the Vedomosti
Newspaper, published on Wednesday.

He explained that they signed two memorandums with Ukraine’s
government: on cooperation in trade and technical regulation.

When asked about the relations between the Customs Union and Ukraine,
Khristenko again said that they were working only on one application
for membership in the Customs Union – the application of Kyrgyzstan.

“Everything else is a product of the media and domestic policies of
the countries. Ukraine, as we see, lives within the debate of whether
to join the EU or the Customs Union,” he added.

“No one, except Ukraine itself will be able to decide for the country.
Nobody can do and should do this. Ukraine is a country-observer in
EurAsEC. Ukraine is one of the key trading partners for the Customs
Union,” Khristenko said.

Minority Challenge: Opposition nearly scuttles government bill by
opting out of parliament vote

Politics | 20.12.12 | 10:38

Photo:

Representatives of four minority groups in the Armenian parliament
nearly succeeded in preventing the adoption of controversial
amendments to the Ethics Committee bill by staging a concerted boycott
of the `second-reading’ vote on Wednesday, making the parliament
majority work hard for the eventual passage.

The bill opposed by the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC),
Dashnaktsutyun, Heritage and the `alternative’ Prosperous Armenia
Party (PAP) implies that the principle of equal representation of all
factions in the parliament panel supposed to look into claims of
unethical behavior of MPs will be replaced by the principle of giving
more weight to the establishment forces in making the decisions.

It had already been passed in the first reading the previous day and
the vote on its final version planned for December 19 looked more like
a pro-forma procedure given the majority enjoyed in the chamber by the
ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and its junior coalition
partner Orinats Yerkir.

It was then, however, that Dashnaktsutyun lawmaker Vahan Hovhannisyan
realized that if all the four minority factions opted out of the vote,
it could not ensure quorum needed for the passage as only 63 members
of the majority factions were actually present in the chamber that day
(at least 66 votes, or more than half of the votes in the 131-seat
body, are needed for the passage of legislation).

The Dashnaktsutyun representative said their faction would not take
part in the vote and urged his colleagues from the ANC, Heritage and
PAP to follow suit.

The RPA parliamentary leader had to call for a break in the session to
`mobilize’ the majority MPs, who eventually adopted the changes in
their final version by a vote of 70 to 6.

Bagratyan for President?: Former PM hints at possible run for top post

Vote 2013 | 20.12.12 | 15:09

Former Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan has acknowledged that a
convention of his small opposition party due early next week will
discuss his possible nomination as a presidential candidate in the
February 18 ballot.

Bagratyan, whose Liberty party (2,700 members) is a member of the main
opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) alliance, shared this
message via Facebook today, announcing that the gathering of party
delegates is scheduled for December 24.

`Our delegates are asking me about the issue on the agenda (as many
will be coming from remote areas). I can say that, yes, there is an
issue of nominating me as a presidential candidate,’ said Bagratyan.

At the same time, the current lawmaker with the opposition bloc
stressed that he would not proceed with the bid if ANC leader Levon
Ter-Petrosyan decided to join the fray.

`I think that the presence of a candidate with liberal views is a must
for the upcoming election. At the same time, I inform you [the
delegates] that I will withdraw from the race if Ter-Petrosyan joins
it as a candidate. Please, consider that I am not being nominated by
the ANC. Moreover, for this period I suspend my active cooperation
with the ANC political council in order not to constrain any of its
members,’ said the 54-year-old politician, who headed the Armenian
government in 1993-96.

Bagratyan’s message gives more weight to the opinion that ex-president
Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who emerged from a decade-long political
obscurity five years ago to unsuccessfully contest the 2008
presidential election, will not run for the top political post this
time around, letting one of his close associates make a bid instead.

The convention of the former ruling Armenian National Movement, which
is a core party in the Ter-Petrosyan coalition, is slated for December
22. It is expected to bring more clarity in the upcoming decisions by
the opposition bloc.