Author: Badalian Vardan

ARMENIAN NUTMEG CAKE

Canberra Times (Australia)
September 12, 2012 Wednesday
Final Edition

Armenian nutmeg cake Photos: Jeffrey Chan 2 cups brown sugar 2 cups
self-raising flour, sifted 125g butter 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1 cup
milk 1 free-range egg, lightly beaten 2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg cup
chopped walnuts (optional) Line and grease a 23-centimetre cake tin.

Set oven temperature at 160C fan-forced, or 180C conventional.

Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the milk.

Mix the brown sugar, flour and butter together in the food processor
or with the fingers.

Sprinkle half the mixture evenly over the bottom of the prepared
cake tin.

Add the egg, milk and nutmeg to the remaining mixture and combine.

Then tip into the tin over the crumb-base. Scatter the walnuts on
top if you like. Bake in the centre of the oven for 50 to 60 minutes
until firm to the touch in the middle. Allow to stand in the tin for 15
minutes before turning out to cool. Serve the cake as it is or drizzle
with lemon icing made by mixing lemon juice and icing sugar together.

Variations Mix quarter of a cup of rinsed sultanas through the
cake batter.

Try pistachio nuts instead of walnuts.

REBELS SLAY 18 SYRIAN SOLDIERS – FIGHTING RAGES IN THE COUNTRY’S COMMERCIAL CAPITAL

Kuwait Times
Sept 12 2012

ALEPPO: Syrian rebels killed at least 18 soldiers in a car bomb and
ground attack on a military position in Idlib province yesterday,
as fighting also raged in the country’s commercial capital, Aleppo.

Four Armenian Syrians were killed and 13 wounded on the road home
from the airport after a trip to Yerevan. “There were 70 to 100
soldiers there when the attack occurred” in the town of Saraqeb,
Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
said. “Twenty soldiers escaped, and clashes are still going on,”
he added. Abdel Rahman said the details of the incident were still
sketchy, and that he could not say whether the car bombing was
a suicide attack. Outside Aleppo, fighting erupted at dawn in the
Nayrab area, around five kilometers from the city’s airport, which
remained fully operational, the Observatory said.

Over the past several weeks, rebels have taken to attacking military
airfields in an attempt to prevent them from being used for launching
air strikes, while commercial facilities have been left alone.

However, this is not the first time there has been fighting around
Aleppo airport, which serves the country’s commercial capital. A friend
of the Syrian Armenians said: “It’s not obvious who opened fire, but
the result is that five cars were attacked and four Armenians were
killed and 13 or 14 others were wounded.” “Some say it was the FSA
(Free Syrian Army), but it’s not clear. We don’t have proof and we
should wait and see.

I don’t think the FSA would attack random cars in the street.” He said
one of those killed “had left his family behind in Armenia, his wife
and kids. He had gone back to take care of some things in Aleppo and
then return.” Meanwhile, the army shelled a string of neighborhoods
in central Aleppo, including Suleiman Al-Halabi, Sheikh Khodr and
Qadi Askar, the Britain-based Observatory said. Helicopter gunships
also strafed the rebel district of Bustan Al-Basha, a witness said,
and the Observatory reported that rebels used rocket-propelled grenades
to attack a security branch in the adjacent Midan neighborhood. Rebels
had been trying for four days to enter Midan. Elsewhere, a boy and a
girl were killed and dozens of civilians wounded when the army shelled
the rebel village of Latamneh in Hama province, said the Observatory,
which gathers its information from a wide network of activists. Also
in Hama, the Observatory reported that eight bodies had been found
in farmlands in Halfaya village, following an assault by government
forces. It said the number of dead was expected to rise as many people
were reported missing.

In eastern Syria, troops shelled several districts of Deir Ezzor city,
and an unspecified number of people were killed in air strikes on
the town of Albu Kamal, the Observatory said. Rebels launched rocket
attacks on a number of army checkpoints in the northwestern city of
Idlib, the Observatory added, with locals reporting powerful explosions
and columns of smoke rising from the targets. On Tuesday, 138 people
– 93 civilians, 19 rebels and 26 soldiers-were killed nationwide,
according to the Observatory. Of these, 13 people died in Aleppo,
mostly civilians in Sakhur, Sukari and Bustan Al-Qasr. More than
27,000 people have been killed since the revolt against President
Bashar Al-Assad broke out in March 2011, according to Observatory
figures. International peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi was in Cairo on
Tuesday to meet exiled opposition leaders ahead of a planned visit
to Damascus.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Brahimi will meet Assad in Damascus
and insisted that “the violence must stop by both sides.” He told
reporters in Bern that he understood the frustration felt by many
in the face of the UN Security Council’s apparent paralysis in
dealing with the spiraling crisis. But “while we may be frustrated
and troubled by not being able to address the situation in Syria,
which has reached intolerable circumstances”, he said, “we should not
be overly pessimistic about the strength and the commitment of the
international community, especially the international organizations.”

“Those countries who might have influence over two parties should
exercise” that influence and work towards “a political resolution
reflecting the genuine aspirations of the Syrian people,” Ban added.

Coupled with the violence is the humanitarian crisis caused by the
large number of people fleeing the country or displaced within its
borders. The UN refugee agency said the number of civilians who have
fled nearly 18 months of violence has reached more than 250,000. And it
says more than 1.2 million civilians, more than half of them children,
have been displaced inside Syria.- AFP

ng-rages-in-the-countrys-commercial-capital/

Former Uk Prisons Minister:” Ramil Safarov’s Extradition To Azerbaijan Was Carried Out In Accordance With The European Convention On Transfer Of Sentenced Persons”

MilAz.info
Sept 12 2012
Azerbaijan

“Press services and some parliamentarians of different countries
Statement misjudged the issue”

Former UK prisons minister, MP Gerry Sutcliffe estimated ON Armenians
aggressive position on Ramil Safarov’s extradition. According to the
information the European Azerbaijan Society gave APA the transfer of
Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijani custody and subsequent pardon has caused
a firestorm amongst the Armenian government, the Armenian Diaspora and
its supporters: “As a result threats have been made against Azerbaijani
diplomats, diplomatic relations with Hungary has been severed, the
Armenian President has upped the war rhetoric and Safarov himself
has been targeted. It is noteworthy that the press and some members
of various European parliaments have also been quick to judge.

It should be pointed out however that the transfer of Safarov was
carried out in accordance with the European Convention on the Transfer
of Sentenced Persons. Moreover, Armenia itself has helped release
and pardoned a number of its citizens convicted of terrorist attacks
over the last 20 years. The background to this case of course is
that not a single Armenian, including the current Armenian President,
has ever been prosecuted for the killing of thousands of Azerbaijani
civilians during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. An ongoing 20 year
stalemate between the two sides continues to this day with Armenia
steadfastly occupying almost 20% of Azerbaijani territory displacing
around 900,000 of its citizens, despite four UN Security Council
resolutions demanding the withdrawal of troops”.

The mp noted that the open sore on Europe’s border cannot be allowed
to fester any longer: “Violence and the threat of violence only breed
more violence. It is a time for cool heads and statesmanship on all
sides. The international community must do its party to finally ending
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict”.

Members of UK House of Lords Ken Maginnis, Lord Laird and Lord
Kilclooney also commented on the aggressive position and threats by
Armenian authorities and terrorist organizations on the extradition of
Ramil Safarov. They considered this extradition as legal and reminded
that Armenia pardoned its terrorists. They also discussed occupation
of Jabrayil region, where Ramil Safarov was born and called on Armenia
to show restraint.

ISRAEL’S PEOPLE APOLOGIZING

Star
Sept 11 2012
Turkey

by Mensur Akgun

According to a public survey carried out by MITVIM (The Israeli
Institute for Regional Foreign Policy) over 23-26 August, a large
proportion of the Israeli people are advocating making peace with
Turkey and an apology to make this happen.

According to figures obtained from asking 500 people with a 4.5 per
cent margin of error, 79 out of every 100 people who expressed an
idea say Israel should start mending fences with Turkey, while 59 per
cent are claiming that the Israel government is not making sufficient
effort here.

Similarly, 54 per cent of those who expressed an opinion think that
Israel should apologize to Turkey, while 60 per cent believe that
if both countries make up then being on good terms with Turkey will
help Israel when it comes to Iran. Some 53 per cent are ready to go
to Turkey if relations are fixed.

It would appear that events in the Middle East have serious affected
the way the Israeli people regard Turkey. Naturally, the support
for an apology and for the normalization of relations is not without
strings. The people who answered the MITVIM survey mentioned law suits
filed in Turkey, events in Syria and Iran’s bid to become nuclear.

However, in order for relations to return to normal there needs to
be a reduction in the number of people harbouring doubts that the
two conditions cited by Turkey will be met. We hope that Israel and
Turkey reach an agreement on an apology and reparations, and that
relations return to normal like they were in the past.

This is because we need Israel at least as much as Israel needs
Turkey. Both countries need to work hard to avoid treading on one
another’s toes in Syria, in Iraq and who knows where else. Neither
Turkey nor Israel should be in competition with one another while
the region’s balances are being redefined.

Furthermore, when looking at things from Turkey’s perspective we
can say that the anti-Israel card in being influential in regional
politics has been played out. At a time when the Muslim Brotherhood
in Egypt have come to power and stepped onto the world’s political
stage, solidarity with HAMAS is not going to gain Turkey much more.

Besides, Turkey does not have to change its position on the Palestinian
issue just because it has made peace with Israel. All that has to be
done is to adopt a foreign policy with more nuances and to defend
universal values, to see that Gaza is also under Egyptian blockade
not just Israeli and to warn and criticize Israel when necessary.

But let us not forget that our inventory of problems is becoming more
inflated with every passing day. Turkey had proposed to the world
the principle of zero problems but it needs to really work at it to
reduce those problems to zero. At the same time, it is hard to deal
with the Israel, Iraq, Syria, refugee and PKK problems together.

When we add the Cyprus problem and relations with Armenia, which
stubbornly refuse to normalize, to all this everything merges. Many
countries are establishing relations we do not like at all amid these
problems. They are making politics on this network of relations.

Turkey has to free itself of the problems that are sapping its strength
and causing it to waste its diplomatic energy. The Israeli people’s
preferences and their ongoing mediation efforts show that we can
write off at least one of these problems.

All we need to do is to believe we can be free of the problems and
show that that we are doing our best. Regardless, “apologizing’
is not an easy political choice to make. We may have to trust the
people who are making the apology and at least show that some of
their expectations will be met.

Are we going to simply forget the Mavi Marmara, you ask? Of course
not. But neither are we going to forget that relations between two
countries are important and they the transformation in the region’s
geopolitics makes normalization necessary.

One more thing we are not going to forget is this: Turkey, or to
be more precise the AKP [Justice and Development Party], enjoyed
good relations with this country until the end of 2008; it hosted
Israel’s President Peres in Parliament; it brokered a solution for
the problems between Israel and Syria; it categorically never made
it policy to be hostile to Israel.

[Translated from Turkish]

REBELS KILL 18 SOLDIERS, CLASH NEAR ALEPPO AIRPORT

The Daily Star
Sept 13 2012
Lebanon

DAMASCUS: International peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is to head to
Damascus Thursday to meet Syria’s President Bashar Assad, an Arab
diplomat in Cairo said, as fresh bloodshed gripped the north of
the country.

In a single incident, rebels killed at least 18 soldiers in a car bomb
and ground attack on a military position in Idlib province of northwest
Syria, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Four Syrian Armenians were also killed and 13 wounded in the
war-battered commercial capital Aleppo on the way home from the
airport after a trip to Yerevan.

Speaking of the assault in Idlib, Observatory head Rami Abdel-Rahman
said, “there were 70 to 100 soldiers there when the attack occurred”
in the town of Saraqeb.

“Twenty soldiers escaped, and clashes are still going on,” he added,
saying details of the incident were still sketchy and that he could
not say whether the car bombing was a suicide attack.

He also said rebels had encircled two other army positions near
Saraqeb and fired rockets on checkpoints elsewhere in the province.

Meanwhile, a friend of the Syrian Armenians who died in Aleppo told
AFP: “It’s not obvious who opened fire, but the result is that five
cars were attacked and four Armenians were killed and 13 or 14 others
were wounded … Some say it was the FSA (Free Syrian Army), but it’s
not clear. We don’t have proof and we should wait and see. I don’t
think the FSA would attack random cars in the street.”

He said that one of those killed “had left his family behind in
Armenia, his wife and kids. He had gone back to take care of some
things in Aleppo and then return.”

Outside Aleppo, fighting erupted at dawn in the Nayrab area, around
5 kilometers from the airport, which remained fully operational,
the Observatory said.

Over the past several weeks, rebels have taken to attacking military
air fields in an attempt to prevent them from being used for launching
airstrikes, while commercial facilities have been left unscathed.

Meanwhile, the army shelled a string of neighborhoods in central
Aleppo, including Suleiman al-Halabi, Sheikh Khodr and Qadi Askar,
the Observatory said.

Helicopter gunships also strafed the rebel district of Bustan
al-Basha, a witness said, and the Observatory reported that rebels
used rocket-propelled grenades to attack a security branch in the
adjacent Midan neighborhood.

Elsewhere, a boy and a girl were killed and dozens of civilians
wounded when the army shelled the rebel village of Latamneh in the
central province of Hama, said the Observatory, which gathers its
information from a wide network of activists.

Also in Hama, the Observatory reported Wednesday afternoon that 20
bodies, including those of two children, had been found in farmlands
in Halfaya village over the previous 24 hours, following an assault
by government forces.

In eastern Syria, troops shelled several districts of Deir al-Zor city,
and an unspecified number of people were killed in airstrikes on the
town of Albu Kamal on the border with Iraq, the Observatory said.

Overall, at least 44 people – 22 soldiers, 17 civilians and five
rebels – died in Syria Wednesday, the Observatory said. More than
27,000 people have been killed since the revolt against Assad broke
out in March 2011, according to Observatory figures.

In Cairo, an Arab League diplomat said U.N.-Arab League envoy Brahimi
would head for Damascus Thursday and meet with Assad the following day,
but gave no further details.

The international envoy, replacing former U.N. chief Kofi Annan who
quit in August over U.N. Security Council divisions on the conflict
that has gripped Syria for nearly 18 months, kicked off his peace
mission with talks in Cairo.

On Tuesday, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said Brahimi would meet Assad in
Damascus and insisted that “the violence must stop by both sides.”

He told reporters in Bern that he understood the frustration felt
by many in the face of the Security Council’s apparent paralysis in
dealing with the spiraling crisis.

But “while we may be frustrated and troubled by not being able
to address the situation in Syria, which has reached intolerable
circumstances,” he said, “we should not be overly pessimistic about
the strength and the commitment of the international community,
especially the international organizations.”

“Those countries who might have influence over two parties should
exercise” that influence and work toward “a political resolution
reflecting the genuine aspirations of the Syrian people,” Ban added.

SHAHIN RZAYEV: MURDERING AN ARMENIAN MAKES HIM A HERO IN AZERBAIJAN

Gulf Today

Sept 13 2012
UAE

Hungary’s decision to repatriate an Azerbaijani military officer
convicted of murdering a member of the Armenian military has caused
outrage in Armenia, worried foreign diplomats and baffled analysts.

In 2004, Ramil Safarov killed Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan with
an axe. Both were attending a Nato-run military academy in Hungary
where they were studying English.

Convicted in 2006 by a Hungarian court, Safarov was sentenced to life
imprisonment. On Aug. 31, however, Hungarian officials announced that
he would be repatriated to Azerbaijan where he would serve out the
remainder of his sentence.

Instead, Safarov received the equivalent of a hero’s welcome upon
his return. He was granted a full pardon by President Ilham Aliyev
when he arrived in Baku and promoted to the rank of major by Defence
Minister Safar Abiyev, Not only that, he received about $57,000 from
the military – back pay for the years he had spent in prison.

Armenia’s reaction was explosive. President Serzh Sargsyan immediately
suspended diplomatic ties with Hungary, accusing the country of
betraying justice.

Russia, France and the United States, the three countries that act
as intermediaries in the long-running Armenian-Azerbaijan stand-off
over Nagorny Karabakh, expressed disquiet at the decision, saying it
could endanger the already fragile peace in the region.

“We are expressing our deep concern to Azerbaijan regarding this action
and seeking an explanation. We are also seeking further details from
Hungary regarding the decision to transfer Safarov to Azerbaijan,”
US State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said. “We condemn any
action that fuels regional tensions.”

Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said,
“We believe that these actions by Azerbaijan, as well as those
of the Hungarian authorities, run counter to efforts agreed to at
international level … to reduce tension in the region.”

Azeri officials so far have declined to explain what prompted the
decision to release Safarov. Defence ministry spokesman Eldar Sabiroglu
said only that the release was “victory for justice and Azerbaijani
diplomacy.” But the general public in Baku seemed to approve the move,
whatever its motivation. “I think it’s absolutely right that Safarov
was freed,” said Iskander Atazade, a student attending one of the
numerous celebrations marking the officer’s return.

In Armenia, the reaction was somewhat different. Protesters gathered
outside the Hungarian embassy, hurling tomatoes and shouting insults.

Tom de Waal, a veteran observer of the South Caucasus now at the
Carnegie Endowment in Washington, was baffled as to what might have
prompted Aliyev to take what he called a “deeply provocative” step.

“It is a worrying indication of the quality of advice that President
Ilham Aliyev is receiving from his inner circle,” he wrote in a comment
piece for the BBC. “Over the past few years, the government in Baku has
spent tens of millions of dollars of its new oil revenues promoting
the image of Azerbaijan as a new, modernising, dynamic country. The
effect has been quite successful, with results ranging from Azerbaijan
joining the UN Security Council to Baku hosting feel-good events such
as the Eurovision Song Contest.

“All that PR work now has to contend with a contrary image of the
government welcoming home an axe-murderer.”

Officials in Hungary have also been reluctant to explain what prompted
the prisoner transfer.

But the financially troubled nation has denied allegations that it
was attempting to curry favor with the Baku regime in order to obtain
a sizeable loan on favourable financial terms.

GEOPROMINING INTRODUCES MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES AT ARMENIAN SCHOOLS

arminfo
Wednesday, September 12, 19:34

GeoProMining Gold (is part of the diversified international group
of mining companies GeoProMining – GPM or the Company) has opened
a multimedia classroom in School No.3 of the village of Ararat as
part of the corporate programme supporting educational institutions
in Armenia. Promoting education and supporting local communities
in the regions where the company operates are among the priorities
of the corporate social responsibility programme of GeoProMining
“Resources for Good”.

The Company supports introduction of advanced teaching technologies
in educational institutions in Armenia. The multimedia classroom in
the village of Ararat is the third such project. Earlier, similar
classrooms were opened in the city of Armavir (a joint project with
South-Caucasian Railway) and in the school No. 4 of Vardenis.

Multimedia technologies help to integrate several courses into one
teaching process and expand the information base. The use of visuals
and interaction increase the interest of students to the education
process, and as a result its effectiveness. Rossotrudnichestvo assists
in using these classrooms for interactive lessons of Russian and
English languages.

“GeoProMining pays special attention to the development of education
in the regions of its presence. Our programmes are not limited to
secondary education. Starting this September our company is providing
support to five students in getting professional higher education
at universities in Armenia and Russia. By raising the level of
education we advance the quality of life in local communities where
many residents are employees of our company and their families. We
are pleased to contribute to the sustainable development of the
regions where our company operates”, said GPM Gold General Director
Vladimir Kozlov.

ROBERT KOCHARYAN’S OFFICE AMAZED AT TORRENT OF “CONSPIRATORIAL” THOUGHTS OF ROUBEN HAYRAPETYAN

arminfo
Wednesday, September 12, 20:07

The Office of Robert Kocharyan, the second president of Armenia, has
made a statement in response to oligarch, President of the Football
Federation of Armenia Rouben Hayrapetyan’s interview with Nouvelles
d’Armenie.

To recall, in his interview with Nouvelles d’Armenie, Hayrapetyan
blamed Robert Kocharyan and Levon Ter-Petrosyan for trying to destroy
the country. Actually, Hayrapetyan accused the Prosperous Armenia
Party of organizing the protest actions concerning the death of
medical officer Vahe Avetyan. He called the Vahe Avetyan Movement
activists Garegin Chugaszyan and Hranush Kharatyan puppies of Robert
Kocharyan. “What should they do? They should weaken, defame the people
devoted to Serzh Sargsyan for the Prosperous Armenia Party and Robert
Kocharyan to come to power”, he said.

Kocharyan’s Spokesperson Viktor Soghomonyan expresses his amazement at
“such a big quantity of absurdities in one interview”.

“It seemed that over the past 3-4 days Hayrapetyan himself should
have given the necessary explanations or he should have been brought
to his senses. Unfortunately, this failed to happen. As a result,
only the fellow party members of Hayrapetyan and lazy people do not
“scold” him. Just fancy! As an MP, Hayrapetyan did not utter a single
word in the Parliament over the past 10 years. And all of a sudden,
he has uttered such a torrent of “thoughts” with obvious political and
conspiratorial background. As regards puppies, Robert Kocharyan has
only one dog – a Golden Retriever – Simba by name. The key peculiarity
of this dog is that it never barks if there is nothing to bark at”,
Soghomonyan said.

EU SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE TO DEMAND EXPLANATIONS FROM AZERBAIJANI AUTHORITIES

armradio.am
12.09.2012 17:22

President Serzh Sargsyan received Philippe Lefort, the European Union
Special Representative (EUSR) for the South Caucasus and the crisis
in Georgia.

During the meeting reference was made to the Armenia-EU relations and
the development of cooperation, the current state of settlement of
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the situation created as a result of
the release of Azerbaijani murderer Ramil Safarov and the reaction
of the international community.

Serzh Sargsyan expressed gratitude for the statements of a number
of European countries and international organizations condemning
Azerbaijan’s decision to release killer Safarov. At the same time,
the President said that some so-called “balanced” statements are
unacceptable, labeling them as an “inadequate” reaction to that
appalling dead. According to President Sargsyan, the glorification
of the murderer by the Azerbaijani authorities deserves unequivocal
condemnation by our EU partners.

The EU Special Representative noted that he’s leaving for Baku
after the meeting with the Armenian President, where he will demand
explanations from the Azerbaijani authorities.

Philippe Lefort underlined that the European Union denounces such
a step that causes damage to the trust between the parties to the
Karabakh conflict and added that he supports the OSCE Minsk Group
efforts in the process of settlement of the Karabakh issue.

ARMENIE / MODERNISATION DES POINTS DE PASSAGE DE LA FRONTIERE ET INFRASTRUCTURES DANS LE SECTEUR DE L’EAU
Stephane

armenews.com
mardi 11 septembre 2012

30,3 millions d’EUR pour financer la construction et la modernisation
de trois points de passage du côte armenien de la frontière avec la
Georgie ainsi que les infrastructures connexes ; 6,5 millions d’EUR
pour soutenir la remise en etat des installations d’approvisionnement
en eau, d’assainissement et d’egouts sur tout le territoire armenien.

Le pret de 30,3 millions d’EUR servira a financer l’amenagement des
points de passage de la frontière a Bagratashen, Bavra et Gogavan et
l’amelioration des routes d’accès a proximite des postes frontière
et des infrastructures connexes, avec un nouveau pont a Bagratashen
et la reconstruction de la route principale de 7,4 km menant au poste
de Gogavan.

Il contribuera a la realisation d’une priorite absolue pour les
autorites armeniennes, a savoir favoriser la mise en place d’axes
de transit fiables, qui sont d’une importance capitale pour toute la
region. Dès son entree en service, le projet contribuera a fluidifier
la circulation des personnes, des vehicules et des marchandises entre
l’Armenie et la Georgie.

Le pret de 6,5 millions d’EUR permettra de financer l’amelioration de
l’approvisionnement en eau potable et le traitement des eaux usees
pour quelque 300 000 habitants de 17 petites villes armeniennes. Il
contribuera a rehausser la qualite de vie grce a une offre de
services d’eau repondant aux normes internationales en la matière,
en particulier pour les citoyens aux revenus les plus faibles,
qui vivent dans les zones defavorisees du pays et qui seront les
principaux beneficiaires du projet.

Les deux projets (modernisation des points de passage de la frontière a
Bagratashen, Bavra et Gogavan et services d’eau dans de petites villes
armeniennes) beneficient du cofinancement de la Banque europeenne
pour la reconstruction et le developpement (BERD) ainsi que de la
Facilite d’investissement pour le voisinage (FIV).

La signature de ces prets aura pour effet de quasiment tripler les
prets accordes par la BEI en Armenie, dont le montant sera porte
a quelque 57 millions d’EUR au total. La Banque a deja finance la
remise en etat du metro d’Erevan (5 millions d’EUR) et accorde une
ligne de credit de 15 millions d’EUR destinee aux PME d’Armenie.