Author: Badalian Vardan

ITALIANS TO STAGE PLAY ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN YEREVAN

Tert.am
24.10.11

As part of the Toscana Week events, which kicked off in Yerevan on
Monday, Italian directors are going to stage a performance dedicated
to the Armenian Genocide.

Ararat, a spectacle by the cultural center Gobetti Venti Lucenti. will
reportedly mark the culmination of the cultural events.

According to Italian director Bruno Scapini, the choice of Toscana
is not accidental as the province has greatly assisted in the
implementation of several projects in Shiak region.

A big delegation from Italy is now in Armenia. The cultural program
also envisages a photo contest, an exhibition of historical costumes
and a workshop devoted to the restoration art.

Earlier, Yerevan had hosted events dedicated to the Italian cuisine
and language.

TURKEY FEARS VOLCANO ERUPTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
October 24, 2011 – 11:28 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Turkish seismologists fear that the earthquakes
that hit the province of Van on October 23 can cause eruption of
Nemrut volcano located northwards of Lake Van.

Mt. Nemrut is near Tatvan, a small town in the eastern Anatolian
province of Bitlis. The mountain rises from the southwestern shore
of Lake Van, and enters the district of Ahlat to the north.

At least 217 were killed and more than 1,000 people injured when a
powerful earthquake struck Turkey, collapsing dozens of buildings and
pulling down phone and power lines in the southeast of the country,
officials and witnesses said. More than 1,000 people are feared killed
in the earthquake.

Another magnitude 6.1 earthquake, which was the second to rock the
country in the past 24 hours, was registered about 20 km (12 miles)
from the city of Van at the depth of some 10 km (6.2 miles).

MEDVEDEV IN ‘STRATEGIC’ TALKS WITH ARMENIA’S SARGSYAN
Dmitri Astakhov

RIA Novosti
24/10/2011
MOSCOW, October 24

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is meeting with his Armenian
counterpart Serzh Sargsyan in the Kremlin on Monday to discuss
economic, military and security cooperation.

Medvedev said Sargsyan’s visit symbolizes the “strategic partnership”
that exists between the two countries.

Sargsyan said he was pleased with “the existing level of political
dialog.”

The two presidents are expected to discuss a broad scope of matters
and a package of agreements is to be signed.

The meeting will be followed by a joint news conference.

Sargsyan is also expected to meet with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin, the speakers of both houses of the Russian parliament and the
mayor of Moscow.

TURKEY DECLINES ASSISTANCE OFFER FROM ISRAEL AFTER QUAKE

PanARMENIAN.Net
October 24, 2011 – 09:31 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Turkey declined an offer of aid from its former
strategic ally Israel Sunday, October 23, after a powerful earthquake
struck southeast Turkey, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said.

“I am under the impression the Turks do not want our help,” Barak
told Channel 2 News. “Right now (their answer) is negative but if
they see they need more aid and don’t have it, or if they rethink it,
we have made the offer and remain prepared (to help),” he said.

According to Reuters, a Turkish foreign ministry official said later
that Turkey had received offers of help from dozens of countries after
the magnitude 7.2 quake, and had so far declined assistance from all
of them.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had told all branches
of government to offer whatever help they could to the people of
Turkey. “I think this is what neighbors should be doing with one
another,” he told reporters.

Israeli President Shimon Peres spoke with his Turkish counterpart
Abdullah Gul earlier Sunday in what was believed to be their first
conversation since the envoy was expelled.

“At this difficult time Israel is willing to provide any aid required
anywhere in Turkey and at any time,” Peres told Gul, according to a
statement issued by Peres’s office.

Gul told Peres that Turkey was still assessing the damage from the
earthquake and that he hoped Turkish rescue teams could handle the
disaster, the Israeli statement said.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Israel was willing
to provide “anything from food, medicine, medical staff and equipment
to search-and-rescue teams.”

BEGINNING OF TALKS WITH PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA SERZH SARGSYAN

Office of the President

Russia
Oct 24 2011

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Mr President,

I wish you a warm welcome to the Kremlin. This visit has the status of
state visit and therefore is a special occasion. It also symbolises
of course the strategic partnership that binds Russia and Armenia
and showcases the recent achievements we consider most important.

As this is a state visit, one expects to see all of the ceremony
and fine surroundings that traditionally go with such events, but
at the same time, there is also a purely working side to this visit,
as we will hold wide-ranging talks today, one on one, and in expanded
format, on all of the various aspects of our bilateral cooperation,
interregional cooperation, our economic and military-technical ties,
and our diverse relations in general. We will also examine the
priorities for our work together in regional forums, including the
alliances we take part in, such as the CSTO. We will discuss other
matters too.

I am very pleased that you are making this big, full-fledged visit.

Today, you have already given a lecture, and you will have many other
opportunities to meet and discuss matters with your government and
parliamentary colleagues here.

Once again, I welcome you to Moscow. This is a particularly important
year in the history of our relations because it has been marked by
a number of major decisions for the multifaceted ties and alliance
between our countries.

I welcome you once more and wish you successful work and a good stay
here in Moscow.

PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA SERZH SARGSYAN: First of all, thank you very
much, Mr President, for the invitation to make this state visit to
Russia. I agree with you that it reflects the special nature of our
relations. This is the first such visit in our two countries’ history,
and I am grateful for this opportunity of course.

We are happy with the current level of political dialogue. Whether
at the presidential, government, or ministerial level, we have an
atmosphere in which we can discuss any questions, and I think this
is the most important thing in relations between friends.

Our economic relations are showing quite good development. Our
bilateral trade and investment are growing from year to year despite
the crisis, and I can’t tell you just how important this is for
Armenia, which is still in a semi-blockaded situation.

I am pleased that we are to sign today a major agreement on
humanitarian cooperation, because this is also a very important
sector. We place great importance indeed on this, and so I have come
with a good mood.

Thank you for the warm reception and for all the attention you have
given us.

DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Thank you, Mr President. Let’s begin work.

MEDVEDEV, SARGSYAN SIGN BILATERAL AGREEMENTS

Vestnik Kavkaza
Oct 24 2011

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan is on a visit to Russia where he
signed a set of bilateral deals on October 23-25, News.am reports.

The documents concern the humanitarian sphere. Russia and Armenia
will provide each other land for diplomatic missions. A protocol
on amendments to the double taxation deal on income and property
of December 28, 1996, was signed. The Russian Ministry for Sports,
Tourism and Youth Policy and the Armenian Ministry for Sports and
Youth Affairs signed a deal on cooperation. The Federal Service for
Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Welfare of Russia and
the Armenian Healthcare Ministry signed a cooperation memorandum for
infections. The Foreign Ministry signed a cooperation memorandum and
a consultation plan for2012-2013.

ARMENIA’S 2012 BUDGET ALLOCATES 7% MORE FUNDS FOR SCIENCE

Tert.am
24.10.11

Armenia’s 2012 budget allocates 1.1 billion (approx $2.9 million)
more drams for science to a total of 10.3 billion, Chairman of the
State Committee of Armenia’s Ministry of Education and Science has aid.

Speaking to reporters Samvel Harutyunyan said that the amount of the
added funs make 7% increase compared to the 9.4 billion dram spent
on science last year.

According to him, this will bring about a 7% increase in payments in
the sector, adding that a portion of the funds will be used to boost
international programs, assuming that each dollar spent will have a
$3 return.

Harutyunyan attached importance to the cooperation of private sector
with science, noting that it has become what he called “more mannerly
and realizes the profits it can have through cooperation with science”.

Further, he said that in developed countries state investments in the
sphere of science do not usually exceed 15-20% and the rest is financed
by private sector which contributes the development of science.

He also pointed to the fact that Armenia is the first in CIS countries
with the quantity of highly-qualified scientific works and the number
of their citations, exceeding Russia by around 10-15%.

“But I do not consider this a serious achievement: we can do more,
especially when the Candle and the nuclear medicine programs are
implemented,” said he.

MONTREAL MAYOR TO VISIT ARMENIA

ARMENPRESS
October 24, 2011
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 24, ARMENPRESS: Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay is
going to visit Armenia. Yerevan Mayor Karen Karapetyan will receive him
October 27. Press service of Yerevan Mayor’s Office told Armenpress
that on the same day the Montreal Mayor will visit Tsitsernakaberd
Memorial Complex and Armenian Genocide Institute-Museum.

FERTILIZER MARKET IN ARMENIA CREATES AN ARTIFICIAL SHORTAGE – HEAD OF THE UNION

/ARKA/
October 24, 2011
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, October 24. /ARKA/. Short-sighted statements of the officials
on reducing the cost of fertilizers in Armenia this year led to an
artificial shortage of fertilizers in the market by 20%, said the
head of Agrarian Association of Armenia Hrach Berberyan.

If the retail price for fertilizer was 7100-7200 drams, in summer
it was 9-10 thousand drams. In the villages the price of nitrogenous
fertilizers was 15 thousand drams.

“The State made an attempt to interfere in business and the price
of fertilizers increased by 30. What happened? Some state officials
decided to take this business in their hands and the importers who
have stabilized the situation in the market after the previous years,
the state implemented the import of fertilizers in the grant funds,
as a result refused to import fertilizers”, said Berberyan..

Now winter crops are in danger as minimum 150 kilogram fertilizers
for 1 ha was calculated but it was not implemented.

The Ministry has already introduced the full package of initiatives,
particularly in importing to the country VAT is withdrawn for all
types of fertilizers. Moreover, the government allocated 50 million
drams for the production of 20 tons of highly effective fertilizer –
“Azoceovit” (10 liters per 1 ha). This amount was distributed to the
poorest communities in debt, so that after the sale of the harvest
they return their cost.

Berberyan said that the Agrarian Union filed a complaint of 20 farms
of the village Dashk of Armavir region which were dissatisfied with
the fertilizers received in the frames of this program.

“I don’t want to doubt about the quality of fertilizers but we have
already requested an explanation from the manufacturer. The fertilizers
may be incorrectly used as they have been distributed out of abundance,
and we sent the samples to the laboratory to Netherlands and expect
an answer”, he said.

Berberyan said that the cost of the fertilizer was 2500 per 1 liter
and for 1 ha 10 liters is needed. ($1 – 377.98 drams).

ARMENIAN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT’S EMPLOYEES TO HAVE THEIR WAGES INCREASED BY 20%

/ARKA/
October 24, 2011
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, October 24. /ARKA/. The Armenian Nuclear Power Plant
administration decided today to raise wages of those workers and
engineers who earlier submitted their resignations, a source from
the plant told ARKA News Agency.

“The plant’s employees has decided to resume working this night,
since negotiations with the plant’s administration and the energy
minister have resulted in 20% wage rise,” the source said.

Lusine Harutyunyan, press secretary of the energy and natural resources
ministry, responding to ARKA News Agency’s request, confirmed this
information adding that official report will be released very soon.

Some 158 workers and engineers unhappy about their salaries submitted
their resignations to the plant’s administration on September 20.

Reports in Armenian media in late September said the re-launch of
the plant was under threat after 158 workers submitted resignation
applications demanding an increase in their wages. The plant is
scheduled to resume operating on October 27 upon completion of a
regular repair.

The Armenian Nuclear Power Plant, the only nuclear power plant in
the South Caucasus, which accounts for about 40 percent of Armenia’s
electricity, is located in Metsamor, some 30 kilometers west of
Yerevan.

The plant was launched in 1997. Now only the second, 107.5-megawatt
unit of the plant operates. It generates about 50% of the country’s
electricity.

The plant’s financial flows have been managed since 2003 by Russian
Inter RAO UES, owned by Russian Rosatom.