Author: Badalian Vardan

ARMENIAN COGNAC TO TASTE IN VIENNA AND LONDON

18:59, 21 November, 2013

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS. The performance hall of the hotel
“Hotel de France” in Vienna held a tasting ceremony of “Ararat”
cognac. The organizers were the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia
to Austria and “Ararat” cognac factory of Yerevan with the support
of the company of Austrian Wine Brotherhood and Wine Knights.

“Armenpress” was informed from the Department for Mass Media and
Public Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of
Armenia that the Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to Austria Arman
Kirakosyan made an opening speech at the course of the ceremony. The
director of “Ararat” cognac factory of Yerevan Ara Grigoryan welcomed
the participants. The initiation and development history of cognac
production in Armenia, the current variety of products, as well
as some delicacies of tasting were introduced to the guests of the
ceremony. The tasting ceremony was accompanied by live jazz music of
the Lebanes well-known jazz pianist Hovhannes Jibian.

AZERBAIJANI MEDIA COMMEND ARMENIAN PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESMAN

13:36 ~U 20.11.13

Azerbaijani mass media had to provide coverage of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani presidential meeting in Vienna, using Armenian
Presidential Spokesman Arman Saghatelyan’s tweets.

“The Azerbaijani presidential spokesman was silent, as usual,” the
haqqin.az news website reports.

“Arman Saghatelyan left a new Twitter message every minute. President
Serzh Sargsyan’s every step was reported, with overseas media referring
to the information. We had to do the same as well,” the Azerbaijani
journalists writes.

Azerbaijani media also had to quote the RFE/Radio Liberty Russian
service, which, in turn, referred to Arman Saghatelyan.

“What can we call it? Azerbaijan’s failed media coverage of the
Aliyev-Sargsyan meeting?”

Armenian News – Tert.am

THE GERMAN-TURKISH CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE DIASPORA

By MassisPost
Updated: November 19, 2013

By Toros Sarian

The background and the effects of the German financed reconciliation
projects.

The decades of silence regarding the Armenian Genocide during the
Ottoman Empire was instantly broken as Gourgen Yanikian shot the
Turkish General Consul and his Employee in Santa Barbara in January
1973. Turkish hopes that this act of Genocide would remain forgotten
was transformed into an illusory wish. An elderly Armenian, living
in distant California, proved that the descendants of this Turkish
atrocity had not forgotten. In Santa Barbara the campaign had begun for
the international recognition of this Genocide. During the campaign
Armenians have informed the world public and have increased world
awareness of these atrocities committed within the Ottoman Empire. Many
Parliaments have passed resolutions recognizing the historical fact
of the Armenian genocide. Turkey has declared the Armenian Diaspora
to be a national enemy and took all possible measures to combat the
“Armenian Lobby” and to prevent the International recognition of the
Armenian Genocide.

It is widely accepted that Germany carries a joint responsibility for
the Genocide against the Armenians during the Ottoman Empire period.

This is clearly documented in the archive papers of the German Foreign
Ministry which were published by the German journalist and publisher
Wolfgang Gust in 2005. He persistently pointed out that only the
German Government could have prevented Turkey from carrying out the
Governments criminal plan of “solving the Armenian problem”. The
German government under Emperor Wilhelm II failed to do so as their
Alliance with the Turkish Regime was more important than the lives
of the Christian Armenians.

The Berlin Government had been extremely silent regarding these
atrocities, whilst at the same time proclaiming their exemplary
conduct in addressing the atrocities committed against the European
Jews during the Second World War, even suggesting that Turkey should
take to heart their example. But when Germany is so courageous and
open to working out the crimes of their past why had the German
government remained silent till 2005 before beginning to evaluate
their part in the Armenian Genocide? Only at the start of 2005
did the present Chancellor, Angela Merkel, forward a motion to
parliament to commemorate the victims of the atrocities committed
against Armenians throughout the Ottoman Empire. In April a debate
took place on this theme in the German Parliament and in June an
all party formulated resolution was passed. This resolution read as
follows: “The German Bundestag honors and commemorates the victims of
violence, murder and expulsion among the Armenian people before and
during the First World War. The Bundestag deplores the deeds of the
Young Turkish government in the Ottoman Empire which have resulted
in the almost total annihilation of the Armenians in Anatolia. It
also deplores the inglorious role played by the German Reich which,
in spite of a wealth of information on the organized expulsion and
annihilation of Armenians, has made no attempt to intervene and stop
these atrocities.” (Full text: )

Although in the Resolution there was no explicit mention of an Armenian
genocide many Armenians outside Germany interpreted the Resolution as
being a recognition by the German Government of the Genocide against
the Armenians. On the website of the ~DArmenian National Institute”
it was stated that Germany was one of the nations which had recognized
the Genocide. However, the Organization of Armenians in Germany has
never viewed this Resolution from the German Parliament as recognition
of the Genocide.

The Central Committee of Armenians in Germany has made it clear on
many occasions that this parliamentary resolution does not meet the
expectations of the Armenians in Germany.

In a Press release on the 13th March 2010 the organization stated
that “The formal recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Germany
is unavoidable and well overdue”, On the 6th April the organization
demanded again from the German Parliament the formal recognition of
the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Empire in 1915, according the
UN convention concerning Prevention and Punishment of Acts of genocide.

There are clearly different opinions regarding the assessment of
the German parliamentary Resolution of 2005. If the resolution
was such a clear recognition of the genocide, why did the Turkish
Government accept it so calmly and not react as it always did after
such resolutions? Germany has a large Turkish immigrant population
and the Turkish nationalists are well organized, but still there were
no protests or demonstrations. There were no demands for a boycott
of German products. Although the Turkish Government sent a formal
protest against the resolution, it was very mild in contrast to other
occasions when a state recognized the Genocide.

One comes to the conclusion that there must be other reasons why
the Turkish Government and Turkish Nationalists reacted so tamely to
the resolution. After the debate in April 2005 the German Chancellor
Schroder travelled to Turkey. One theme was surely the contents of the
all party formulated resolution. As time passed it was clear that the
German and Turkish Governments had agreed upon a common strategy in
dealing with the Genocide resolution. The old German-Turkish alliance
had made the Genocide in 1915 possible and now the two allies had
to find a way of preventing the demands of the Armenians for the
recognition of the genocide from being pushed into the political arena.

The key to answering this question lies in essence in the title
of the resolution Thus: “Germany must make her contribution to the
reconciliation between Turks and Armenians”

At first glance the demand for reconciliation seems something which
cannot be rejected or criticized. Reading from statements issued by
the German government since 2005, it is clear that the policy is not
reconciliation between Armenians and Turks, but between the Republic
of Armenia and Turkey. If the German government views the Genocide
question as an issue to be solved by the two states then it is clear
that the Armenian Diaspora has no role to play, according to the
German government. The descendants of the survivors of the genocide,
who have settled all over the world, would be accordingly ignored.

Although over the decades it has been these people who have campaigned
for the recognition of the atrocities. Demands of the German Parliament
for a Turkish-Armenian reconciliation have aroused no opposition from
the Turkish government: It is willing for reconciliation, but is not
prepared to recognize the atrocities of 1915 as genocide.

The Armenian Diaspora is viewed by the Turkish Government as an
“enemy”, which they have not so far been able to muzzle. The only
possible way available for the Turkish Government to bypass the
“irreconcilable Armenian Diaspora” is to turn the Genocide Question
into a theme to be dealt with the Republic of Armenia. The Genocide
will become a question for negotiation between the two states, thus
the Diaspora will have no right or chance to engage in the process.

The weakened State of Armenia, already isolated by Turkey and
Azerbaijan can alone be put under even more pressure not only by Turkey
but also her allies, especially Germany. By putting the reconciliation
of the two nations, onto the political Agenda, the German Government
has done the Turkish government an immense favor.

Armenian organizations in Europe have neither been very attentive in
following the political developments since 2005. Nor have they been
able to recognize the ramification of the German contribution to the
Reconciliation process, let alone the political motives behind this
policy. However on evaluation of the information currently available
it becomes increasingly clear. Ulla Jelpke, Parliamentary member for
the Links Party (The Left Party) put forward a short written question
to the German government in August this year. Her aim was to ascertain
which academic projects were being financed by the German state with
the aim of critically evaluating the Genocide Question. The Foreign
Office Secretary of State, Cornelia Piper responded giving details
of great interest to Armenians. The detailed statement included
the following: “On the basis of the cited Resolution of the German
Parliament from June 2005, mentioned in your question, the German
Government´s representative at the Department for Culture and Media
has granted a sum of 410,000 euros to the Lepsius House in Potsdam,
for equipment and cultural development programs, to establish the
House as a center for German-Turkish Research and Cultural Place of
Exchange. The German Government is accompanying the Turkish-Armenian
reconciliation process with support for cross-border activities of
NGO´s and German Political Foundations. In this spirit, the German
Foreign Office has provided funds to a total of 1,4 million between
2009 and 2013 to the reconciliation project established by the
Institute for International Cooperation of the German Adult Education
Association, (dvv international), under the title “Speaking to One
Another”. The content of this project involves Student and scholar
exchanges between Armenia and Turkey, common critical historical
evaluation of the past events in the form of seminars, publications
and exhibitions.” Apart from these two large sums 410,000 and 1,
4 million, the German Government has funded smaller activities to
the sum of 50,000 euros. In total, the sum of 1, 9 million has been
provided to support projects involved in the Reconciliation Process
between Armenia and Turkey.

The financial support by Lepsius House in the city of Potsdam is
widely known, and the work of Lepsius House is also known also by many
Armenians in Germany. But, the work carried out by “dvv international”
is largely unknown. On their website the organization’s areas of
activity are described as follows: “The dvv supports a European and
worldwide exchange of information and expertise regarding adult
education and development, aids the establishment and expansion
of structures for youth and adult education in developing and
transformation countries and offers training consultation and medium
provision for global intellectual euro political learning.” (For more
information see: )

This institution which has been active in the Republic of Armenia since
2002 and according to their Website is “one of the most important
players in the field of Adult Education and LifeLong Learning”, has
certainly established good contacts with the Government. The German
Foreign Office and the dvv-international, and the Armenian ministries
have presumably cooperated in organizing the Reconciliation projects
in Armenia. A similar close cooperation will have taken place with the
Turkish Government as the “dvv international” is also active in Turkey.

The Sarkisian government gladly embraced their role, thought out by
Germany, in the Reconciliation process and, not purely for political
reasons. They should have made it unmistakably clear right from the
start, that the Genocide Question was certainly not an issue solely
between Republic of Armenia and Turkey, but an issue which also
involved the Armenian Diaspora. The position of Yerevan on this issue
shows again that there is no clear agreement between the Sarkisian
Government and the Diaspora regarding the Genocide Question.

One of the Turkish government’s policies is to drive a wedge
between the Diaspora and the Republic of Armenia. The signing of the
Turkish-Armenian Protocols in Zurich is in this connection was a great
success for this Turkish political strategy, even though the Protocols
were not ratified in the end. It may appear to be coincidental that the
dvv-international began their reconciliation projects in the same year,
2009, as the Turkish-Armenian Protocol was being signed in Zurich
and it is not known when the ~DSecret-Diplomacy” began, which led
to the Zurich protocols. If the Turkish-Armenian negotiations began
after 2005 it could be an indication that the negotiations had been
initiated by the German government. Due to Germany’s involvement in
the Genocide, Germany had an interest in ensuring that this theme
was at last taken off the political Agenda.

As close ally to the Turkish government, Germany also had established
close contacts to the Armenian government. Germany had given
generous aid to the country and German investors are an important
investment factor in the region. Therefore the German government had
enough leverage to “convince” Yerevan as to the benefits of starting
negotiations. Perhaps, this leverage had to be used again to persuade
Yerevan to support their “Reconciliation Projects”. After Germany
had pushed the “Recognition Question” onto the “Reconciliation Track”
the Diaspora was and still is confronted with a new situation.

Should they give up their campaign for the recognition of the Genocide
and instead join the “Reconciliation Process” with Turkey?

The Armenian Diaspora must realize the German Government pursued
Reconciliation Policy serves Turkish political interests. Thanks
to Germany, the Turkish Government can now point out that these
“Reconciliation Projects” are being supported by the Armenian
Government and are prepared to “solve” the Genocide question in
cooperation with them. If the international community follows suit and
also views the Genocide Question as a matter between only the Republic
of Armenia and Turkey then the Armenian Diaspora with their demands
for recognition of the Genocide would find no support, as in the past.

The Sarkisian Government was heavily criticized for the Zurich
Protocol. But why is the Diaspora remaining silent when Germany
and Turkey together with the Republic of Armenia are cooperating
on reconciliation? The goal of the German financed “Reconciliation
Projects” is not to persuade Turkey to recognize the atrocities of
1915 as Genocide but to bring about reconciliation between Turkey
and the Republic of Armenia. If this policy succeeds, the Diaspora
campaign for Genocide Recognition which began with the shots in Santa
Barbara would be at an abrupt end.

Photo: Enver Pahsa (L) meeting with a German military officer in
Berlin. (photo AA)

STEPANAKERT WANTS FULL PARTICIPATION IN TALKS

Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev
with their respective foreign ministers during Tuesday’s meeting
in Vienna

STEPANAKERT-One day after a meeting between presidents Serzh Sarkisian
and Ilham Aliyev in Vienna, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Foreign
Ministry issued a statement in which it emphasized the importance of
including Karabakh in the negotiation process, reported the respective
press offices.

“The resumption of high level meetings between the Presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan after a long break is important from the
perspective of the intensification of the peaceful settlement process
of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Karabakh and maintaining peace
and stability in the region,” said the statement.

“We believe that the meeting proves that there is no alternative to
the peaceful settlement and serves to ensure its irreversibility,”
added the statement.

“At the same time, we consider it necessary to note that real
progress in the settlement process could only be reached by taking
into consideration the existing realities and with the restoration
of full-format negotiations with direct and immediate participation
of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in all its stages,” said the ministry.

Speaking to students on the eve of the summit, Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic President Bako Sahakian emphasized that he has expressed to
the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen his trepidations about the so-called
Madrid Principles, on which the negotiations are based.

“We have always had reservation regarding the Madrid Principles,
and we have said this on many occasions,” said Sahakian, signaling
that official Stepanakert is anticipating new approaches from the
mediators, without undermining the role of the Minsk Group co-chairmen.

Sahakian also told student about certain agreements reached with the
co-chairmen in 2007, among them an understanding that any meeting
taking place between the co-chairmen and Karabakh authorities must
take place in Stepanakert.

“In 2007 I told the Co-Chairs I refuse to meet with them in Yerevan.

They respect my request and continue to visit Artsakh themselves,”
explained Sahakian.

REPRESENTATIVES OF AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN CIVIL SOCIETIES TO MEET IN STRASBOURG

APA, Azerbaijan
Nov 20 2013

[ 20 November 2013 15:21 ]

French Ambassador: “A new impetus has been given to bring closer the
dialogue between the two countries”

Baku. Viktoria Dementeva – APA. “We regard every meeting of the
presidents as a positive event,” Ambassador of France to Azerbaijan
Pascal Meunier told journalists, APA reports.

Commenting on the Vienna meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian
presidents, Ambassador said he is familiar with the statement issued
by the co-chairs.

“They are planning a new meeting. It means that a new impetus has
been given to bring closer the dialogue between the two countries. Of
course, France supports this,” he said.

The diplomat said France supports the contacts between the conflicting
parties, including the relations between the civil societies. He said
the representatives of the Azerbaijani and Armenian civil societies
will meet in Strasbourg on November 28-29.

Joint declaration will be signed basing on the outcomes of the meeting.

SECOND COMING OF FORBES TO ARMENIA

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Nov 20 2013

20 November 2013 – 11:26am

by David Stepanyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza

In mid-November, Forbes released its first Armenian version. The
magazine is published in 27 countries and distributed throughout 55.

An attempt to publish Forbes magazines was made in Armenia in 2007,
resulting in a total failure. This is why the second coming of the
magazine should be analyzed with account of the first bitter attempt.

The monthly Forbes Armenia is published by a little-known company
Media Partners and the portal. There are plans to
make special releases of Forbes Life and organization of business
conferences. The names of publishers and the editor-in-chief of Forbes
Armenia say nothing. The specifics of the magazine’s work speak for
themselves. The magazine studies and publishes lists of billionaires,
most influential and notable people of the world.

Despite the well-developed rating systems of Forbes, Armenian
publishers will have to consider the peculiarities of the Armenian
media market. One of them is the absolute inseparability of Armenian
business billionaires and millionaires with all branches of the
government and unification of Armenian capital and crime. The best
confirmation of the statement is the latest exposures made by hetq.am.

The agency found some very suspicious offshore accounts of Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan and Archbishop of the Ararat Eparchy Navasard
Kchoyan.

By the way, Sargsyan has recently been highlighted in another
scandalous story. The Zhokhovurd paper, quoting reliable sources,
accused the prime minister of bribing rating agencies. In particular,
the prime minister’s godson, Minister for Finances David Sarkisyan,
spent $217,000 on Fitch Ratings LD and $120,000 on Moody’s Investors
Service for positive ratings which give no reflection of the real
economic situation in Armenia.

Considering this, it is interesting to understand who is really
behind the second coming of the US magazine to Armenia. The answer to
this question would clarify who and how Forbes Armenia will manage
to cover the quite complicated tangle of relations between business
and government. Back to 2007. It is notable that the first release of
Forbes in Armenia listed the names of the richest people starting with
the then President Robert Kocharyan, the unsinkable head of the State
Committee for Income Gagik Khachatryan and some businessmen affiliated
with the government. Then, Editor-in-Chief of the magazine Petros
Kazaryan was called in for a conversation. Rumours say that Bagramyan
characterized his first release of Forbes as a gag. It is still unclear
why an authoritative magazine well-known all around the world made
such a poor joke specially in Armenia, quite far from April 1.

Nonetheless, the Forbes ‘joke’ ended up not as funny as expected,
the magazine was closed down. Although, during the iron reign of the
Kocharyan regime, such ‘impudence’ could not expect any other outcome.

Considering 60 years of Forbes’ experience, the ability of the
magazine to calculate ratings of Armenia’s richest people using its
system provokes doubts. Armenian oligarchic functionaries regularly
register assets as property of wives, distant relatives and even
mothers-in-law. Journalists will have to do a lot of work in their
running after relatives of billionaire functionaries.

Thus, another appearance of Forbes in Armenia is probably a scheme
of very serious people mistakenly viewed as the highest elite in
the republic. In other words, competitors for power. If so, Forbes
Armenia will turn into a powerful weapon to fight mudslinging between
both active and ex-functionaries.

According to another explanation, Armenian discreet
millionaires/billionaires could have become a target of foreign
powers. In this case, everything will seem far from obvious because
materials for mudslinging of foreign counterparts is what the Armenian
government lacks. Anyway, the second coming of Forbes to Armenia
looks promising and will doubtlessly be followed by very interesting
information about national functionaries.

The Forbes Armenia team will fill the rate ranks of Armenian magazines
doing serious journalist work in the light of the increasingly tabloid
press. Tabloid popularity has become a global tendency but releases
of pointless and blank information has become a typical phenomenon in
Armenia. In the context of stupid headlines about love-related and
anatomical peculiarities of US television personality of Armenian
origin Kim Kardashian Armenian mass media are filled with, the
news section has lost all real value. In this background of junky
information space, Armenia feels a lack of reasonable and balanced
comments, not to mention analysis.

Considering that emissions of senseless information are made
purposefully by authorities of oligarch-owned sources of mass media,
appearance of Forbes in Armenia, on condition that it is not under
control of oligarchic functionaries, may become a bright spot on the
junkyard called the Armenian information space.

STATE DEPARTMENT: U.S. CALLS FOR PROMOTING NEGOTIATIONS OVER NAGORNO-KARABAKH ISSUE

Trend, Azerbaijan
Nov 19 2013

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 19

By Elmira Tariverdiyeva – Trend:

The U.S. and Turkey have discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh issue during
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s visit to Washington, U.S.

Secretary of State John Kerry said at a joint press conference today,
the U.S State Department reported.

“We have been trying to work ways that our ambassadors, who are
front and center in this – in these initiatives, are continuing that
process,” Kerry added.

According to him, the U.S is urging that process to move forward,
and the country will continue to be engaged in that.

Kerry talked with both President Aliyev and President Sargsyan about
the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

The President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the President of Armenia
Serzh Sargsyan will meet under the OSCE Minsk Group’s mediation in
Vienna on Nov.19, OSCE reported earlier.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are
currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

RUSSIA AND ARMENIA TO ESTABLISH UNIFIED AIR DEFENSE SYSTEM

APA, Azerbaijan
Nov 19 2013

[ 19 November 2013 17:26 ]

Baku. Anakhanum Idoyatova – APA. Russia intends to strengthen the
unified air defense system with Belarus and begin the formation of
such systems with Armenia and Kazakhstan, said Russian President
Vladimir Putin, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.

Putin said that such cooperation will significantly increase the
defense potential of Russia and its partners and serve on peace and
security in Eurasia.

The Russian President noted that Belarusian-Russian strategic exercises
“West 2013” have been conducted successfully and next thing on the
agenda is the establishment of regional force grouping with the
participation of Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.

“We will expand mutual cooperation with our traditional partners and
allies – member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization,
Shanghai Cooperation Organization and CIS countries,” – said Putin.

AMBASSADOR: ARMENIAN-JAPANESE RELATIONSHIP IS OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH THE AGE-OLD CHICKEN AND EGG DILEMMA

by Emmanuil Lazarian

Monday, November 18, 23:40

The business community of Japan has a rather poor idea of Armenia
in general and of the Armenian economy potential in particular,
Armenian Ambassador to Japan Hrant Poghosyan said in his interview
with ArmInfo. He said that the mutual relationship of Armenia and
Japan is based on mutual respect, however, it is often associated
with the age-old chicken and egg dilemma.

In this light, the Ambassador stressed that the switch from technical
aid to Armenia to implementation of specific investment projects has
numerous difficulties, including the ones connected with creation of
a legal base to protect the mutual investments, and other related
problems. “The proposals to work out such a base to facilitate the
process of further attraction of Japanese investments to Armenian
economy come across misunderstanding due to both the lack of current
business projects and the poor interest”, said the Ambassador.

Nevertheless, he thinks that the process of cooperation development
is moving forward through cultural programs, technological forums,
and publications about Armenia in the Japanese press. “For the moment,
the foreign economic priorities of Japan are the small markets of
Southeast Asia, as well as the global traditional markets. Therefore,
the Japanese investments in the South Caucasus region are restricted
to oil business only”, said the Ambassador. He thinks that Japanese
companies have a big job to do to switch from selling their goods,
especially hi-tech products, to investing. “To be honest, it is a
hard job, and we have not yet succeeded in this dimension”, he said.

Poghosyan pointed out that over the past few years the Armenian Foreign
Ministry has been working at the issue of opening a Japanese diplomatic
mission, which might seriously promote the mutual relationship. He
said that there are several formal but, nevertheless, topical problems
in this way today. First and foremost, it is necessary to resume the
activities of the parliamentary friendship group, which is actually
passive due to the realignment of political forces in Japan. It is also
necessary to set up a committee for business cooperation between the
business associations and unions of Armenia and Japan. “We should start
from these formats and then speed up the attraction of investments”,
the Ambassador stressed.

Poghosyan said that among the other projects are an Armenian-Japanese
IT forum and further technical assistance on Japan’s part for the
programs to reconstruct the Yeghvard reservoir and to fight landslides.

The Ambassador said that Japan has already stopped supporting Armenia
as one of the world’s poorest nations and has refocused to implement
training and consulting programs.

When asked by ArmInfo about possibilities for Japanese investments
in the Armenian economy, Ambassador of Japan to Russia (and also to
Armenia) Tikahito Harada said that this will depend on how attractive
and non-risky Armenia will be for Japanese investors.

“Armenia has to show that it has favorable conditions for investment
programs,” Harada said.

He said that the Japanese authorities will not interfere in the
activities of their private companies and noted that it is early
yet to speak about legislative initiatives as long as there are no
commercial ties.

According to Harada, Japanese companies seek profit and if the
Armenians manage to convince them that they will be able to succeed
in their country, there will be investments.

According to official statistics, there are no direct Japanese
investments in Armenia. In Jan-Sept 2013 as compared with Jan-Sept
2012 the Armenian-Japanese trade turnover dropped by 9.3% to $71.1mln,
with almost all of it being Japanese imports.

DATE AND PLACE OF AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS’ MEETING MADE PUBLIC

APA, Azerbaijan
Nov 18 2013

[ 18 November 2013 14:40 ]

Baku. Anakhanum Hidayatova – APA. The meeting between presidents of
Azerbaijan and Armenia Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan will be held
in Vienna on November 19, said U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group
James Warlick on Twitter, APA reports.

Noting that he is now in Vienna, the diplomat stressed he looks
forward to this meeting.

The co-chairs had visited the region in order to organize this meeting.