Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

LET ALL PUBLICIZE TRANSACTIONS MADE DURING THESE 10-12 DAYS – PETROS MAKEYAN

17:00 / 24.12.2014

The monopolies are being more reinforced in the economy of our country
with the consequences being noticeable everyday, leader of Democratic
Homeland party Petros Makeyan told the reporters on Wednesday.

According to him, hocus-pocus has played a significant role in the
fluctuation of the currency and during this period a group of people
have earned big money. In the opposite case how come the USD passed
the 600 threshold and fell down below 500 drams the next day? Makeyan
stressed, adding that it was all done artificially.

“If it is not so, let all be so kind to publicize the transactions
made during these 10-12 days. We all know that if you are exchanging
more than $400 you must present your passport, especially in case of
dealing with banks,” Makeyan stressed.

Nyut.am

From: Baghdasarian

BAKO SAHAKYAN’S CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS

December 24, 2014 11:46

On 24 December Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan sent an
address to the participants of the NKR Federation of Trade Unions’ 3rd
congress.

STEPANAKERT, DECEMBER 24, ARTSAKHPRESS:According to the Central
Information Department of Artsakh President’s Office information,
the address runs as follows: “Dear participants of the congress, I
welcome and congratulate you on launching the NKR Federation of Trade
Unions’ 3rd congress and the 10th anniversary of the organization. I
wish all of you successful and productive work.

We are pleased to point out that during all those years the NKR
Federation of Trade Unions has become an established organization and
accomplished extensive work within its field of activities. We are
building a democratic state and civil society with human being, his
and her rights and freedoms as its cornerstones. The NKR Federation
of Trade Unions also has its substantial role to play in this process.

Your activity aimed at protecting the employees’ legitimate interests,
solving their social issues, regulating the relationships with the
employers is significant and demanded. We expect these activities to
be more active and systematic expanding and deepening cooperation with
various organizations both within our state and beyond its borders.

The Artsakh authorities are interested and will do their best to
support your work as the improvement of social conditions of the
population, raising the nation’s living standards, creating new
workplaces are the key issues which we try to solve. Dear friends,
Taking the opportunity I would like to congratulate you on the coming
New Year and Christmas and wish peace, robust health and prosperity
to you, your families and friends.”

From: Baghdasarian

ALMOST 50% OF YEREVAN RESIDENTS CONSIDER PRESERVATION OF OLD HOUSES AS PLEDGE OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

YEREVAN, December 24. /ARKA/. Some 47% of the 1,066 Yerevan residents
surveyed by Gallup International between December 9 and 16 find it
necessary to preserve old houses for attracting tourists.

“Some 30% are convinced that it is necessary to recreate Old Yerevan
for tourism development, 27% pointed out expansion of green spaces,
12% a better street illumination and 5% cleanness,” Aram Navasardyan,
director of Gallup International Association office in Armenia,
said Wednesday at a news conference. -0—–

From: Baghdasarian

HAUSSE DES TAUX D’INTERÊT

Monnaie

Hier, la Banque Centrale d’Armenie (BCA) a releve son taux d’interet de
reference pour la première fois en plus d’un an, invoquant la necessite
de juguler l’inflation, après une depreciation considerable du dram.

Le taux de refinancement a ete fixe a 8,5 %, en hausse de 1,75 points
de pourcentage par rapport a son niveau precedent decide en août et
confirme par le conseil d’administration de la BCA aussi recemment
que le 3 decembre dernier. Le conseil a regulièrement reduit le coût
minimum d’emprunt dans le pays depuis août 2013.

Dans un communique publie après la dernière reunion du conseil
d’administration, la BCA a declare que les pressions inflationnistes
sur l’economie armenienne ont augmente ces dernières semaines en
raison de l’affaiblissement du dram resultant du retrecissement
“des entrees de devises fortes du monde exterieur.”

La Russie, principale source de ces envois de fonds, a vu sa monnaie,
le rouble, se deprecier de près de moitie depuis le debut de cette
annee en raison de la baisse des prix du petrole et des sanctions
economiques occidentales. Le processus s’est accelere le mois dernier
et a atteint son apogee il y a une semaine.

Le dram a fortement baisse aux alentours du 15-16 decembre avant
d’augmenter les jours suivants. Son taux de change a ete relativement
stable cette semaine. Il se negociait a une moyenne de 462 drams pour
un dollar americain hier soir.

Le dram a retrouve beaucoup de sa valeur perdue, malgre l’absence
d’injections de dollars a grande echelle dans le marche des devises
locales de la BCA. La Banque centrale n’a vendu que 2 millions de
dollars pour les banques commerciales hier. Ses ventes quotidiennes
de dollars en moyenne etaient a 6,000,000 $ au debut du mois.

La depreciation du dram a pousse a la hausse les prix des denrees
alimentaires et d’autres biens essentiels importes en Armenie. Selon
la declaration de la BCA, l’indice des prix a la consommation a
augmente de 1,3 % en novembre, se traduisant par un taux de 2,6 %
d’inflation en glissement sur l’annee.

mercredi 24 decembre 2014, Claire (c)armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian

REVALUATION OF THE ARMENIAN CURRENCY MUST BE REFLECTED ON PRICES – ECONOMIST

11:30 / 24.12.2014

Despite the devaluation of US Dollar the prices for the products
have not reduced. Nyut.am conducted interview with economist, head
of Alternative research center Tatul Manaseryan over the recent
developments in the market.

– Despite the decline of the USD, the prices have not reduced. Why
and what must be undertaken to end this situation?

– The management of currency supposes not only reduction of currency
rate but its reflection on the prices as well. Ensuring it is not just
the function of the Central Bank but more of the State Commission
for Protection of Economic Competition, Finance Ministry’s Tax and
Customs Services.

If this control weakens and the prices were formed self-willingly
the efforts and means applied for stabilizing the currency were in
vain. I mean the reduction of currency rate must have its reflection
on the prices of products. If it does not occur, it means the state
has failed the regulatory and control functions.

– What the Central Bank and the Armenian government were to do not
to allow the speculations in the currency market?

– I do not think that anyone was expecting such blows. I can suppose
that from the first glance it was an issue the government could
overcome, but the experience showed that the forces interested in
the destabilization of the market were more and this resulted in
such blows. The registered in the currency market was not much the
devaluation of the dram but overvaluation of the USD. In general,
during the past three years USD is valuating against other currencies,
reinforces its position slowly, gradually. Now few factors objective
and subjective were added to it.

– Can we tie the recent developments with the valuation of the USD?

During these three years we could not imagine that such things
would happen.

– It shows that we are not conducting pro-active policy, we are more
conducting responding policy. For instance in 2008 first the government
was claiming that the crisis will not affect us, then they stated that
it will, then that it will bypass us, and in the end – it affected
us. We are responding to it, we are fighting against consequences. We
have enough financial resources, USD stores, specialists to make these
processes manageable which were used in the last days. But I think
we would have suffered greater losses if the situation was predicted.

The failure to predict was accompanied with the political conflict
and sanctions against Russia and it was possible to respond to it in
summer and be ready for it.

Nyut.am

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA, TURKMENISTAN MULL THE LAUNCHING OF DIRECT FLIGHTS

17:55, 24 Dec 2014

Political consultations between the Foreign Ministries of Armenia and
Turkmenistan were held in Yerevan.

>From the Armenian side the consultations were chaired by Deputy
Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan. The Turkmen Co-Chair was First
Deputy Minister Vepa Khajiyev.

The parties hailed the current level of bilateral relations. They
attached importance to the implementation of the agreements reached at
the 6th sitting of the Armenian-Turkmen Intergovernmental Commission
on Economic Cooperation held in Yerevan on December 23, and stressed
the need to deepen and develop the cooperation in the fields of
culture, sports, education and science, agriculture, healthcare,
tourism and others.

Reference was made to the perspectives of expansion of the legal
framework between the two countries, the opportunities of launching
direct flights, as well as cooperation within the framework of
international organizations.

Issues on international and regional agenda were also discussed.

From: Baghdasarian

AMD DEVALUATION DID NOT STIMULATE EXPORTS FROM ARMENIA

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Dec 23 2014

23 December 2014 – 6:09pm

The fall of the dram did not become an incentive to increase exports
from Armenia, as claimed by the central bank of the country, on the
contrary: at the end of November and in December, exports fell by
18%, the chairman of the “Union of Armenian Exporters” Raffi Mkhchyan
said today.

According to the expert, exporters of agricultural commodities
initially could not benefit from the devaluation of the dram, as the
national currency also devalued on the main export market in Russia.

Mkhchyan noted the presence of economists predicting such fluctuations,
whose opinions, however, are not heard. He refused to associate
the impairment of the dram with the situation in Russia, noting
that Armenia has a lot of internal problems that have affected the
financial market, Epress.am reports.

The negative picture was also worsened due to speculations of certain
people, “if it continued longer, the speculation could have led to
even greater panic.”

Regarding exports, the chairman of the Union of Armenian Exporters said
that industrial products dominating by up to 65%, the food industry
– 20-25%, and information technology has the rest, which has a lot
of potential.

Food produced in Armenia might not delight abroad, and basically
it is consumed in Germany by Armenians living there, Raffi Mkhchyan
concluded.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA ELECTED VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNESCO COMMITTEE FOR THE PROTECTION OF CULTURAL PROPERTY IN THE EVENT OF ARMED CONFLICT

18:21, 24 Dec 2014

The 9th sitting of the UNESCO Committee for the Protection of Cultural
Property in the Event of Armed Conflict was held in Paris on December
17-18, during which Armenia was elected Vice-President of the Bureau.

The Armenian delegation actively participated in the sitting,
contributing to the process of development of decisions envisaged by
the agenda.

The Committee adopted a statement condemning the targeted destruction
of the cultural heritage in Syria and Iraq.

The Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event
of Armed Conflict was established in 2006 as a body controlling the
implementation of the Second Protocol of the Hague Convention on the
Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.

Armenia joined the Committee in 2013 for the term of four years.

From: Baghdasarian

HEADS OF CSTO MEMBER STATES EMPHASIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF THE KARABAKH CONFLICT

17:06, 23 Dec 2014

The leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organization countries
— Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan —
have adopted 22 documents following the summit meeting in the Kremlin
on Tuesday. The CSTO heads of state approved a joint statement,
19 resolutions and two protocols.

In their joint statement the CSTO heads of state voiced concern
over the growing danger of terrorism and the spread of extremism in
Central Asia, including the Afghan factor, and emphasized the need
for restoring peace in Ukraine and achieving a peace settlement of
the Nagorno-Karabakh problem.

The Heads of State stressed the importance of exceptionally
peaceful resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, underlining
the significance of the soonest settlement of the conflict with the
mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group on the basis of the principles and
norms of international law, the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act,
particularly the principles of territorial integrity, the right of
peoples to self-determination and non-use of force or the threat
of force.

Other documents included the CSTO Council’s decision on checking the
readiness of the CSTO collective rapid reaction force for coping with
their routine tasks and missions, the CSTO Council’s resolutions on
the collective air force, anti-drug strategy and plans for measures
to implement guidelines for collective response to emergencies.

The CSTO Council adopted a resolution on the consultative and
coordinating centre of the CSTO for response to computer incidents.

One of the protocols concerns “resistance to criminal activities in
the information sphere.” There are plans for carrying out the CSTO’s
operation for resistance to crime in the sphere of information.

From: Baghdasarian

NAIRIT : ABRAHAMYAN DECOIT LES TRAVAILLEURS

ARMENIE

Les travailleurs d’une usine de caoutchouc d’Erevan semblaient decus
a nouveau suite a une reunion durant le week-end de leurs dirigeants
avec le Premier ministre Hovik Abrahamian qu’ils avaient espere allait
resoudre leur problème ou obtenir le versement des salaires.

Plus de 1 500 travailleurs de l’entreprise qui sont au chômage
technique depuis plusieurs annees font face a des licenciements en
Fevrier. Avant cela, cependant, ils veulent que l’usine efface ses
arrieres de salaires estimes a un total de 6 milliards de drams
(environ 13 millions de dollars au taux de change actuel).

Des centaines de travailleurs mecontents ont organise des
manifestations a proximite des bureaux de la presidence et du
gouvernement au cours des dernières semaines afin de soulever la
question. Mais lors d’une reunion avec des hauts representants de
Nairit le Premier ministre Abrahamyan a informe que les travailleurs
devraient plutôt chercher des solutions auprès du conseil
d’administration de l’usine.

Le chef du gouvernement a souligne qu’il considerait comme non morale
que le directeur de l’usine et son adjoint recoivent un salaire
mensuel de 2,6 millions de drams (plus de 5600$) et 2,3 millions de
drams respectivement.

>, a declare Abrahamyan.

mardi 23 decembre 2014, Stephane (c)armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian