Author: Badalian Vardan

AMERIABANK AND EBRD TO DIRECT 20 MLN USD TO CO-FINANCING OF MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES

ArmInfo
05.03.2010

ArmInfo. Ameriabank and European bank for Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD) have signed an agreement on joint implementation of
the credit project "Medium Sized Co-Financing Facility"(MCFF), under
which each of the parties will allocate 10 mln USD from its own funds.

As a result, the total amount of crediting will make up 20 mln USD.

The specified agreement was signed in Yerevan on Thursday by EBRD
Director of Financial Institutions in Central Asia, Caucasus and
Mongolia Mike Taylor and Chairman of Directorate, Director General
of Ameriabank Artak Hanesyan.

Hanesyan said at a press-conference that under the project the
funds will be spent on financing medium- sized loans provided by
Ameriabank to the local enterprises. "Ameriabank highly appreciates
its participation in the given project. Cooperation with EBRD opens
for us new prospects of credit portfolio diversification, and to a
great extent contributes to development of medium business, which is
the basis of Armenian economy",- he stressed. Under the given project,
the average amount of a loan will be $1-2 mln, and the loans will be
provided in US dollars, which will especially interest export-oriented
companies. He currency risks will be divided between the parties. The
part of the loan financed by EBRD is considered direct financing where
Ameriabank has a status of an agent, and as regards own crediting,
we’ll assume the risks",- said Hanesyan.

For his part, Mike Taylor pointed out that Ameriabank is the 13th
bank EBRD is cooperating with in Armenia. By the given project, EBRD
confirms its willingness to contribute to development of private
sector of Armenia by making the necessary financing more available
for local enterprises, he stressed. According to him, the document
signed today is part of EBRD’s corporate strategy, under which it is
envisaged to work with the best banks in Armenia. He expressed hope
that this is the first step towards further fruitful cooperation with
the dynamically developing Ameriabank.

EBRD says that the given loan is a component of Multi-Bank Framework
Facility II in Armenia aimed at developing financial mediation in
the country by opening mid-term credit lines for local commercial
banks for further commercial crediting. The program was launched in
2006, and within its frames over 118 mln USD were allocated for 12
Armenian banks.

According to the Ranking of the Banking System in Armenia by the
Agency of Rating Marketing Information (ArmInfo), in 2009 Ameriabank
doubled its credit portfolio to 67.8 bln AMD (4th position) or 65,5%
of assets. The net profit of the bank was 1.5 bln AMD (4th position).

The majority shareholder of Ameriabank is TDA Holdings Limited
affiliated with Troika Dialog, the share of participation in the
capital being 99,99%.

EBRD PROVIDES 10 MILLION USD TO AMERIABANK

592978/lang/en
2010-03-04

YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS: European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD) signed today a contract with "Ameriabank" providing
10 million USD loan which will be directed toward co-financing of
medium sum of the loans provided to companies. The own investment of
the "Ameriabank" in this program amounts to 10 million USD.

BOEING’S MCNERNEY OPPOSES CALLING ARMENIAN MASSACRE GENOCIDE

Seattle Post Intelligencer
archives/196432.asp
March 3 2010
WA

Calling the 1915 Turkish massacre of Armenians "genocide" is a bad
idea because it would jeopardize U.S. exports to Turkey, according
to the chief executives of Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, United
Technologies and Northrop Grumman.

"Alienating a significant NATO ally and trading partner would have
negative repercussions for U.S. geopolitical interests and efforts
to boost both exports and employments," the top executives, including
Boeing’s Jim McNerney, said in a joint letter Feb. 26 to the chairman
of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which is considering the
measure, according to Reuters.

The Aerospace Industries Association took a similar view in its own
letter, Reuters reported. The House committee is set to vote on the
measure Thursday

NEW PROSPECTS FOR ARMENIAN-EGYPTIAN COOPERATION

gov.am
March 4 2010
Armenia

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan received a delegation of ARTOK Group,
an Egyptian investment company led by company president Shafik Gabri.

In greeting the guests, the Prime Minister said to be well aware
and highly appreciative of those investment programs carried out by
the company.

Concerning the prospects for deepening bilateral cooperation and
implementing investment programs, the head of government made a point
of developing knowledge-based economy supported by techno-parks. The
parties agreed that technical business parks should be established
to provide the full set of IT- and scientific research-related
information.

The interlocutors next spoke about the possibility of building
a broadband online network. The Prime Minister advised that his
government had already approved the concept of electronic society
implying continuous development of the system of e-governance. The
importance of implementing free economic zone-related projects was
emphasized on either side.

Asked so by the guest, the Prime Minister touched upon the strategy
of Armenia’s economic development and some regional problems. He
also spoke about the local impact of the global crisis and the ways
of coping with it.

In conclusion, Tigran Sargsyan expressed hope that the planned joint
action will be successful and invited the guests back to Armenia in
the month of October to attend the opening of the world’s longest
cable way in Tatev.

TOURISTS FROM MOZAMBIQUE VISITED THE NKR

rism
03:14 pm | March 02, 2010 |

According to the data of the NKR MFA Consular Service, despite the
world financial crisis, the total number of foreign citizens having
visited the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th
quarters of 2009 increased by 10% as compared with the similar period
of 2008.

The geography of foreigners visiting the NKR keeps on expanding. Last
year, tourists from Mozambique, Guyana, Venezuela, and Mauritania
visited the Nagorno Karabakh Republic for the first time. Among the
tourists, citizens of the USA, France, Iran, Great Britain, Holland,
Switzerland, Canada, Italia, Poland, India, and the CIS countries,
especially Russia and Turkmenistan, are prevailing.

These facts testify that the interest in Artsakh by foreign countries
and their citizens continues growing. Trustworthy information about
the Karabakh issue, the history of the country, and the inculcation of
democratic principles in the NKR provided by various international
mass media contributes to this process.

SIS: "PAGE OF MARCH 1 IS NOT CLOSED"

0/03/1/vahagn-harutyunyan
04:19 pm | March 01, 2010 |

"The page of March 1 cannot be considered closed," Vahagn Harutyunyan,
a senior Special Investigation Service (SIS) official heading the
probe into the events of March 1, 2010, told A1+.

"The case of March 1 is not dismissed unless the circumstances of the
ten victims are exposed. The page of March 1 cannot be closed even if
the investigation is declared closed. Some episodes may be disclosed
in 3 or 5 years which may lead to the revelation of the perpetrators,"
he added.

To date, 117 have been sued on different charges in connection with
the March 1st events. The assassins are not detected, though names
of four policemen firing at four victims are known.

Ara Hovhannisyan who reportedly seized a weapon from a policeman
received the toughest sentence – nine years of imprisonment. A
general amnesty was declared a year later, on June 19, 2009, after
the recurrent sitting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe. As a result, 23 out of 32 convicts were granted pardon.

Another nine individuals are currently kept in custody.

The four policemen using Cheriomukha -7" tear gas grenades and killing
at least four demonstrators on March 1 are charged with negligent
handling of weapons (Article 373, RA Criminal Code), not with homicide.

The preliminary investigation into the case of Armenian businessman
Khachatur Sukiasian charged with the March 1 disorder is not completed
either. Vahagn Harutyunyan says the investigation is underway but
doubts to say when it will end.

None of the Armenian Presidents has been called to examination in
connection with the events. Nor did the police examine a number
of key figures, oligarchs and Defense Minister Michael Harutyunyan
who was accused of involving the country’s Armed Forces in the home
political processes.

"We have no facts to invite them to a questioning," said
Mr. Harutyunyan.

EUROPEAN UNION HOPES TO SIGN NEW ASSOCIATIVE AGREEMENT WITH ARMENIAN IN MARCH

ArmInfo
2010-03-02 12:24:00

ArmInfo. In the period of chairmanship in EU, Spain intends to speed-up
the work on issue of a mandate about the beginning of negotiations on
a new associative agreement with Armenia, Foreign Minister of Spain
Miguel Angel Moratinos said at a joint press-conference with Armenian
FM in Yerevan.

As he said, they hope that EU Council will declare this good news
during March. He added that signing of an associative agreement with
Armenia has been conditioned by a new Lisbon agreement. As Moratinos
said, the visit to Yerevan is the first one after adoption of the
Lisbon agreement. According to him, EU plays an important part not
only in the international arena but also in rapprochement with such
countries as Armenia, which strives for intensive involvement in
cooperation with the European Union.

To recall the European delegation, headed by the Spanish foreign
minister, is in Armenia on a regional visit.

15:29 26/02/2010 » Politics
Sumgayit: Genocide committed early in the century by the Turks
reoccurred again at the end of the century

The head of the Migration Agency of the Ministry of Territorial
Administration Gagik Yeganyan had a meeting with reporters today on
`Sumgayit: refugees 22 years later’. Before commencing the conference,
Gagik Yeganyan asked everyone present to commemorate all the victims
of Sumgayit pogroms with a minute of silence.

`It can be called nothing but a massacre when hundreds of Armenians
were killed and tortured, some part burnt alive. The genocide
committed early in the century by the Turks reoccurred again at the
end of the century. Thousands of people were wounded and became
invalids,’ G. Yeganyan recalled the Sumgayit events.

Armenians could not believe that in a huge state where the amity of
peoples was every-day propaganda such a massacre could ever occur,
Yeganyan said.

Details on Sumgayit pogroms are available at

Source: Panorama.am

AAA: AZERBAIJANI AGGRESSOR’S BACKBONE MUST BE BROKEN

news.am
Feb 26 2010
Armenia

The Armenian massacre in Sumgait was planned at the state level,
and even the Kremlin was informed, Grigory Aivazyan, Chairman of the
Assembly of Armenians from Azerbaijan (AAA), told a press conference.

He stressed that Azerbaijanis trying to draw the international
community’s attention to the tragic events in Khojali to
"counterbalance" the Armenian pogroms in Sumgait and other cities
of Azerbaijan.

Aivazyan stressed that the Khojali tragedy was nothing but an act
of sabotage against Azerbaijanis themselves, as well as the then
Azerbaijani President Ayaz Mutalibov.

"Later the illegitimate Aliyev regime distorted the facts in its own
favor, played victim and spreads lies worldwide," Aivazyan said.

According to him, Armenians will not live in peace until "the Azeri
aggressor’s backbone is broken," as a threat of Azerbaijan’s aggression
is always present.

KHOJALI TRAGEDY IN THE LIGHT OF ILHAM AIYEV’S POLICY OF LIES
By Ivan Gharibyan

news.am
Feb 26 2010
Armenia

Today is the 18th anniversary of the tragedy in Khojali (Xocali),
which is one of the bloody chapters of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

As a rule, the tragedy has become a subject for political maneuvers by
the Azerbaijani propaganda machinery, which has always been following
the principles of lie and distortion of facts.

The Khojali tragedy has become an instrument for propaganda at the
Aliyev clan’s disposal. Executing the clan’s orders, the Azerbaijani
mass media keep on creating an image of Armenians as "inhuman monsters
that committed genocide in Khojali." For the only purpose of spiting
Armenians, Azerbaijanis have been seeking to play genocide victims
for almost 20 years. However, the Baku propagandists’ overwhelming
desire to exaggerate and lay the blame on the Armenians has made them
so blind that they have got entangled in their own lies by showing
pictures of dead bodies that have nothing in common with the tragic
events on February 26, 1992.

In many respects, the domestic political situation in Azerbaijan
accounted for the tragic events in Khojali, as well as for the pogroms
in Baku and Sumgait. In that case, it was the confrontation between
the then post-Soviet authorities of Azerbaijan led by Ayaz Mutalibov
and the Popular Front of Azerbaijan (PFA), which was seeking power at
any cost. So the nationalist-fascist PFA had no problem in provoking
– immediately or indirectly — a massacre of the Azeri population in
the region. The main aim was overthrowing Mutalibov, was it not?

Azerbaijan’s first President was expelled from the country, his name
is taboo there now or, even if it is mentioned, it is only in the
context of "betrayal of national interests." The reason is clear:
in his interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta on April 2, 1992, the then
Azerbaijani leader refuted the official interpretation of the tragic
events in Khojali.

"The Khojali residents that survived tell that everything was organized
to cause me to resign. A certain force was working to discredit the
President. I do not think that Armenians, who expertly deal with such
situations, could allow Azerbaijanis to get documents exposing their
cruel actions. I suppose that some people were concerned with that in
order to show the pictures at the session of the Supreme Soviet and
have me come into focus. If I state it is the Azerbaijani Opposition
that is to blame, they can say I am slandering them. But the general
context is that the Armenians left a corridor for people to leave
the place. Why on earth should they fire?

Especially near Agdam, where sufficient armed forces were stationed
and could help the people. Or they could have arranged for civilians
to go. That was standard practice." Those are Ayaz Mutalibov’s own
words. Mutalibov, who was then President of Azerbaijan, was much better
informed of the events than the "national leader" Heydar Aliyev,
who had lived in Moscow for years and settled down in Nakhchevan,
Azerbaijan – to say nothing of the "crown price" Ilham.

For almost 17 years the Aliyev clan has been spreading lies and
slander on the events on February 26, 1992.

The very tales about the "Khojali genocide" are most natural in the
context of the Azerbaijani propaganda machinery’s style. Yes, they
had to "counterbalance" the Armenian pogroms in Sumgait, Kirovabad,
Baku, as well as ethnic cleansing throughout Azerbaijan, even the
deportation of all the Armenians from the Shahumyan region.

So the Azerbaijanis killed in Khojali because of the war unleashed by
Azerbaijan, and because of domestic political struggle in that country,
were fated to become the last card to play by the Aliyev clan, which
has beaten all the records for historical falsifications.

The civilians that were killed in Khojhali on February 26, 1992, fell
victim to the war Azerbaijan unleashed, but was doomed to lose. All
attempts to distort facts for the purpose of consolidating the Aliyevs’
"hereditary monarchy" will hardly rest their souls.