Author: Basmajian Ani

BELGIAN DELEGATION TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA

News.am
12:48 / 09/30/2009

September 30 evening, the delegation headed by Belgian Senate President
Armand De Decker will arrive in Yerevan. October 1, RA President
Serzh Sargsyan and National Assembly Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan will
host Armand De Decker, RA Foreign Ministry PR Department informed
NEWS.am. Belgian Senate President plans to meet with the leaders of
Parliamentary factions and pay a visit to His Holiness Catholicos of
All Armenians Karekin II in Echmiadzin.

October 2, the RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandyan will receive Belgian delegation. The guests
will attend Armenian University of Economy, Yervand Kochar museum,
Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide complex to lay a wreath on the
memorial of Genocide victims.

October 4 morning, the Belgium delegation will leave for Brussels.

OUTLOOK: ARMENIA’S 2009 ECONOMIC DECLINE TO BE RECORDED AT 15%

ARKA
Sep 28, 2009

YEREVAN, September 28. /ARKA/. Armenia’s 2009 economic decline will
be recorded at 15%, Armenian Finance Minister Tigran Davtyan said at
a governmental meeting on Monday.

The minister expects signs of stabilization that became visible yet
in August will continue, and economic decline will keep slowing down
to 15% by late 2009.

He said Armenia has recorded 18.5% GDP reduction for seven months of
this year.

Davtyan said that the decline is caused by some factors, especially
the global recession.

Armenia’s 2009 GDP is expected to total AMD 3 trillion 116 billion –
15% less than the 2008 GDP.

The minister said that GDP reduction would make tax inflow scanter.

He said that the government will collect AMD 510 to 530 billion taxes
in 2009, while it planned to receive AMD 727 billion.

In the 2010 state budget approved Monday by the government, revenue
is planned at AMD 676.6 billion, expenditure AMD 859.6 billion and
deficit AMD 183 billion.

HAKOB AVETIKIAN: SERZH SARGSYAN’S ONE-WEEK ALL ARMENIAN TRIP STRESSES DIASPORA’S IMPORTANCE

Noyan Tapan
Sep 29, 2009

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 29, NOYAN TAPAN. RA President Serzh Sargsyan’s
one-week all Armenian trip stresses Diaspora’s importance, gives
a signal to everyone on Diaspora’s being a factor. Azg daily’s
editor-in-chief Hakob Avetikian expressed such an opinion at a
September 29 press conference.

It should be mentioned that for hearing Armenian Diaspora’s opinions of
normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations the RA President will visit
Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Beirut, and Rostov-on-Don from October 1.

According to H. Avetikian, more importance was attached to the Diaspora
during S. Sargsyan’s tenure, and the creation of the RA Ministry of
Diaspora is one of its evidence. "All this proves that S. Sargsyan’s
power works with the Diaspora as a whole," he said. In H. Avetikian’s
opinion, President’s all Armenian trip once more stresses the
importance of the issue of recognition of the Armenian Genocide. "It
is a very serious message to the Diaspora and especially to various
countries, including Turkey. Turkey always put forward a condition
that RA should influence and silence the Diaspora, and President’s
this visit stresses Diaspora’s factor and thus, the importance of
the issue of Genocide saying that we cannot make concessions here,"
H. Avetikian mentioned.

In his opinion, though during the trip the RA President will not meet
wide circles of Diaspora, nevertheless it can introduce a change in
Diasporan Armenians’ thinking. According to H. Avetikian, the Diaspora
really needs correct information. Meanwhile he said that the Diaspora
cannot have a common opinion.

US SECRETARY OF STATE: NORMALIZATION OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS SHOULD HAPPEN WITHOUT PRECONDITIONS AND WITHIN A REASONABLE TIME

ArmInfo
2009-09-29 12:10:00

ArmInfo. Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandyan met with US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on September 28. This meeting
of the Armenian and American FM has become the second over the
current year. As Armenian Foreign Ministry press service reports,
Hillary Clinton said during the meeting that the USA is Armenia’s
partner in the issue of both democratic reforms and economic
development. H. Clinton emphasized that the two countries’ relationship
is of comprehensive and deep nature. On behalf of US administration,
the Secretary of State expressed readiness to continue the all-round
cooperation with the Armenian president, government and Foreign
Ministry.

Having touched on the Armenian-Turkish relations, H. Clinton highly
appreciated the Armenian authorities’ efforts on normalization of
relations with Turkey and, once again, she confirmed the US stance,
according to which the relations between the two countries should be
normalized without preconditions and within a reasonable time. In
his turn, E. Nalbandyan expressed satisfaction with the regular
Armenian-American high-level contacts. He also Armenia attaches
importance to more tightening of relations with the USA and it will be
consistent in development and deepening of partnership and extension
of bilateral cooperation. E. Nalbandyan expressed gratitude to the
Secretary of State for US assistance in the Armenian-Turkish process.

The issue of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement was also
discussed during the meeting. E. Nalbandyan attached importance to
the US role as OSCE MG cochairman in this process.

Blockshopper

Scientific review officer sells Olivette 3BD

by Ginny Cox, published Sep. 25, 2009 ShareThis

Dr. Alexander Parsadanian and his wife, Maia, sold a three-bedroom,
two-bath home at 833 Berry Hill Dr. in Olivette to Kit Leung Sang and
Kathryn I. Tung Kun for $280,000 on Sept. 11.

The Parsadanians paid $203,000 for the property in Aug. 2000. The
1,800-square-foot house in the Olivette South neighborhood was built
in 1960.

Dr. Parsadanian is a scientific review officer at the National
Institute of Aging. He began his career as a senior scientist and the
leader of the genetic engineering group at the Institute of
Biochemistry of the Armenian Academy of Sciences. He has also been a
postdoctoral fellow at Max-Planck-Institute for Psychiatry and worked
as a research associate in the department of neurology at the
Washington University School of Medicine.

He received his B.S. and M.S. in biophysics from Yerevan State
University in Armenia and his Ph.D. in molecular biology from the
Institute of Molecular Biology in Moscow.

According to BlockShopper.com, there were 112 sales in Olivette in
2008, with a median sales price of $230,000.

Washington briefing : Pentagon wants anti-Iran radar in the Caucasus
by Emil Sanamyan

9-25-pentagon-wants-anti-iran-radar-in-the-caucasu s
Published: Friday September 25, 2009

Washington – A senior U.S. military official said that an American
early-warning radar (referred to as X-Band radar) aimed at missiles
potentially launched from Iran was "probably more likely to be in the
Caucasus," a region that is adjacent to Iran, rather than in European
countries that are further away.

Vice-chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright made the
comment during a September 17 Pentagon press conference intended to
explain the cancellation of U.S. plans for missile and radar
deployments in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Chief of Russian General Staff Gen. Nikolay Makarov was quick to
respond. He said that Russia would view a U.S. radar in the Caucasus
"negatively" unless Russia and the United States were "to build it
jointly."

The United States first expressed interest in a Caucasus radar in
March 2007, when the director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency at
the time, Gen. Henry Obering, floated the idea of a "mobile
anti-missile radar" in the Caucasus to monitor Iran; a U.S. official
soon after denied there were any deployment plans.

In June 2007, Russian leader Vladimir Putin suggested the United
States could receive information gathered by a Russian early-warning
radar base in Azerbaijan and other Russian facilities there instead of
unilaterally deploying new radars. The Bush administration took
interest in the offer, but U.S. officials argued that data supplied by
Russia could not be a substitute for a U.S.-run missile defense
system.

The United States has placed X-Band radars around the world, including
one in Israel last year, marking the first foreign military deployment
in Israel since its independence.

Of the three Caucasus states, only Georgia publicly welcomed the
potential U.S. radar deployment, Eurasianet.org reported on September
18.

The same day, Azerbaijani deputy foreign minister Araz Azimov said
that U.S. officials did not raise the issue during his Washington
visit last week, Azerbaijani media reported.

Armenian forward Yeghia Yavruyan scored consolation goal in Israel’s
championship
28.09.2009 10:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Yeghia Yavruyan, forward of the Armenian national
football team and Maccabi Tel-Aviv, scored a consolation goal in
Israel’s championship in a match his team was losing to Hapoel Haifa.

Concluding the match 3-1, Yavruyan secured the 5th position (7 points)
for Maccabi Tel-Aviv.

Maccabi Haifa is leading the championship with 12 points.

Yeghia Yavruyan and Shlomi Arbeitmam (Maccabi Haifa) top the list of
Israeli championship goal-scorers.

Edik Baghdasaryan – `Our newspaper will be a good read’
2009/09/25 | 15:14

/
media
Natasha Harutyunyan

`Hetq’ Chief Editor Edik Baghdasaryan announced that the much awaited
new print edition of the online investigative newspaper is now
available at local newsstands.

`Now, we will be working in two directions – on the weekly newspaper
and the daily internet edition of `Hetq’. There will be articles
appearing on-line that will not show up in the newspaper and
vice-versa. We still have to work out the logistics. Articles
appearing in the print edition will show up on-line after a week or
so,’ Mr. Baghdasaryan stated.

He argued that there was a need for the print edition of `Hetq’, even
in these troubled financial times, since there are many people out
there with no access to the internet. `Hetq Online’ has been around
for eight years already and is widely read in Armenia and overseas by
both Armenians and non-Armenians alike.

Editor Baghdasaryan noted that the aim of `Hetq’ remains the same – to
publish quality articles on the issues that matter; to publish only
verified material, to adhere to journalistic ethics; not to use
profanity and allow for reader feedback. He also stressed that `Hetq’
will continue to press government officials to comment on issues
raised within the pages of the paper.

Touching on the financing for the 2,000 print run edition, the
seasoned investigative journalist confessed that subscriptions were
needed to keep the paper going and that the staff is working to get
gift subscriptions from individuals in the diaspora so that the paper
can be sent to people and institutions in remote border communities
and the liberated territories of Kashatagh, etc.

He promised that the paper would differ from the rest of the crowd in
every aspect. `It will focus on the lives and stories of common folk
and present issues from a human perspective.

Mr. Baghdasaryan stressed that the paper had no local backing and that
it would never become a tool for local clans or political forces.

`We write about corruption, judges, criminal cases, and the
environment. We leave no stone unturned. We have a few surprises up
our sleeves that will raise a few eyebrows and kick up some dust. I
believe that the paper will be a welcome addition to what’s already
out there. We will offer a new face to Armenian print journalism,’ he
concluded.

South Caucasus railway announces logotype creation competition

2009-09-25 13:52:00

ArmInfo. ‘South Caucasus Railway’ CJSC announces a competition for
creation of the company’s logotype.

As SCR’s press service told ArmInfo, the competition will be held among
the young designers of Armenia aged under 30, from October 1 to
November 15, 2009. For the details, please visit

ARMENIA WILL FEEL ECONOMIC EFFECT OF OPENING ARMENIAN-TURKISH BORDER NO SOONER THAN IN 3 YEARS, BAGRAT ASATRIAN SAYS

NOYAN TAPAN
SEPTEMBER 24, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 24, NOYAN TAPAN. "Armenia will feel the economic
effect of opening the Armenian-Turkish border no sooner than in three
years. The first effect will be to the benefit of Turkey, whereas
Armenia will suffer losses because after the border’s opening,
Turkish commodities will enter our market more actively and under
better conditions," former Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia
(CBA) Bagrat Asatrian expressed an opinion at the September 24 press
conference.

In his words, the danger is especially great in agriculture where
Turkish farm products whose cost price is lower may replace domestic
ones.

Nevertheless, according to B. Asatrian, this is the only way in the
global sense: the borders should open, even at the cost of losses. "It
is impossible to develop with a closed border," he said.