Author: Chakrian Hovsep

NASDAQ OMX Armenia ready assist companies with IPO

YEREVAN, March 11. /ARKA/. NASDAQ OMX Armenia is ready to assist
companies in entering the initial public offering (IPO) market.

`We have great expectations of the first company’s entry of the IPO.
Also, the stock exchange will assist any company, any issuer with this
process,’ said Armen Melikyan, Director General of NASDAQ OMX Armenia.

The Armenbroke Company, underwriter for the Artsakh Hydro OJSC,
announced the maiden initial public offering of the energy-generating
company’s shares to the amount of 3.45bln AMD (over $9.5mln). A total
of 3,285,715 shares (1,050 AMD each) are being placed.

`This is the first experience and we have to render assistance because
it will be the first step for other companies to enter the IPO market,’
Melikyan said.

He stressed the fact that, in the case of shares, it is not dividends,
but free circulation of securities on the stock exchange without any
restrictions, that plays a decisive role. If the information on prices
is available to the public, the market price will be real.

`This means that the cost of shares will be increasing, which is of
importance for market formation,’ Melikyan said. He added that the
Government is interested in the development of capital market, evidence
thereof being the issue of shares of one of the best enterprises.

Melikyan pointed out that, if the company fails to float the entire
issue and attract the necessary funds from the first attempt, further
issues will enable it to do that.

As regards the Nagorno-Karabakh company’s entry to the Armenian stock
market, Melikyan said that stock exchanges are not involved in
politics. `We are only interested in business and contribute to the
development of business environment and capital market,’ Melikyan said.

The representative of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), Issue
Executive Karen Hakobyan pointed out that the CBA and the stock
exchange are implementing joint measures to develop the capital market,
with the most important role assigned to the creation of new attractive
instruments for the Armenian market.

He said that 11 bond issues were floated last year, with no IPO
registers.

The initiative of the Artsakh Hydro Company has no precedents, not only
because this is the first large-scale IPO in Armenia, but also because
an attempt was made to attract as many foreign investors as possible,’
Hakobyan said.

He pointed out that companies’ transparent activities are the only
important condition for their entering the IPO market.

Ad of March 9, over 200 people subscribed to the shares of the Artsakh
Hydro CJSC worth a total of 150mln.

Armenbroke estimates the return on the capital invested in Artsakh
Hydro CJSC shares at 14%, with all the further flows considered. P.T.

Armenia’s premier, newly-appointed ebrd yerevan office head discuss
cooperation prospects

YEREVAN, March 11. /ARKA/. Armenia’s Prime Minster Tigran Sargsyan met
today with newly-appointed Head of the EBRD Yerevan Office Valery
Razlogov to discuss prospects for cooperation, the RA Government’s
press service reports.

EBRD Director for the South Caucasus Michael Davey and Michael
Weinstein, former head of the EBRD Yerevan Office, were also present at
the meeting.

The focus of the discussions was further cooperation between Armenia
and EBRD.

Touching upon Armenia’s effective collaboration with the bank, Sargsyan
stressed the importance of the joint efforts to boost small and
medium-scale businesses, as well as Armenia’s private sector and
infrastructures amid the global recession.

Congratulating Razlogov on his new appointment, the Armenian premier
expressed a hope he would contribute to Armenia-EBRD cooperation.

Sargsyan also thanked Weinstein for his great contribution to
Armenia-EBRD partnership.

Armenia joined the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on
December 7, 1992 with ?¬10mln equity participation. EBRD has invested
?¬202mln for 52 programs in Armenia.

In 2009, the bank plans to assign ?¬80mln for Armenia (compared to
?¬63mln in 2008).

This year, the bank plans to allocate ?¬7bln for its partners around the
world, exceeding the planned ?¬5.5bln.=2
0`0–

PanARMENIAN.Net

Turkey seeks Iran’s assistance in combating terrorism
11.03.2009 20:28 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Terrorism is a decisive factor in Turkey’s foreign
policy, and she will spare no effort and means to fight against it,
said Abdullah Gyull, Turkey’s president in Tehran at the Forum held by
the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) member-states. He appealed
to ECO members, Iran first of all to play a more active role in
fighting against terrorism in the region.

Turkey’s President also expressed his hopes that ECO will be able to
find ways to settle the Arab and Israeli conflict. Turkish media also
reported that Abdullah Gyull passed US President, Obama’s personal
message on to President Ahmadinezhad. Turkey pretended to play the
role of a mediator in rebuilding American and Iranian
relations. Although the US State Department has already denied the
fact of the `so-called message to Iran’s president through Gyull.’

ECO was formed in 1985 by Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan. Later,
Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and
Kazakhstan joined the organization.

PanARMENIAN.Net

STAR stands for consumer-business-state cooperation
09.03.2009 12:01 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ STAR supermarket network’s strategy envisages
domestic production increase in 2009.

`After establishment of a new supermarket, we will make a pause to
study preferences of our consumers,’ STAR executive director Vahan
Kerobyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter after the opening ceremony.

He said the management is researching the market for development of
STAR brand output.

`Dram devaluation resulted in rise in prices for imported goods. But I
want to emphasize that the prices for STAR brand goods will not go
up,’ Kerobyan said.

`STAR stands for consumer-business-state cooperation. Serving 25
thousand consumers every day, our network can help the state control
the market prices. For their part, the authorities should introduce
amendments in the Internal Revenue Code and let domestic manufacturers
develop,’ he added.

Kerobyan also informed that 2 more supermarkets will open in Yerevan
this year.

Korea Herald, S. Korea
March 8 2009

Check out ‘Karsh-Look’

If you want to be a great photographer, maybe you need the guts to
snatch a lighted cigar from the lips of a prime minister.

Yousuf Karsh, considered one of the world’s greatest photographers,
did. Barely 33 at the time, the Canadian photographer of Armenian
heritage snatched a cigar out of Winston Churchill’s mouth to record
him on the day he had addressed the Canadian Parliament.

"Instinctively, I removed the cigar. At this the Churchillian scowl
deepened, the head was thrust forward belligerently, and the hand
placed on the hip in an attitude of anger," Karsh reminisced in his
book, "Faces of Our Time."

Karsh pressed on the camera shutter. The photo captured Churchill and
Britain of the time perfectly: defiant and indomitable. Naturally, the
British prime minister was furious, but later said to him, "You can
even make a roaring lion stand still to be photographed," allowing
Karsh to take one more photo.

That is how the legendary photograph "The Roaring Lion" was taken. It
was sold to many reputable magazines, and Karsh soon rose to
stardom. Since then and throughout the 60-year career that continued
until his death in 2002, Karsh was referred to as the portrait
photography master.

To commemorate the master’s 100th birthday, about 70 of his
representative works, including the portrait of Churchill are
displayed at the exhibition "Faces of Our Time," at the Hangaram Art
Museum at the Seoul Arts Center in southern Seoul.

The exhibition has three divisions. The first part, "Portraits," is
the main one. Leading figures of the 20th century like Albert
Einstein, Mother Teresa, Audrey Hepburn, Ernest Hemingway, Helen
Keller, Pablo Picasso and Jacqueline Kennedy posed for Karsh.

While most photographers at that time had the guests visit their
studios, Karsh packed up his cameras to visit their homes or
offices. That way, he could adequately arrange the backgrounds using
the subject’s personal belongings or space to better express their
characters.

"He always went through in-depth research about his subjects
beforehand, to create photos that reveal not only the subjects’ looks
but also their occupations and personalities," said exhibition curator
Ahn Sun-young.

What is more amazing is that all his masterpieces took three shots at
the most, many just a single shot.

"The photos are so delicate that it looks like they have been
retouched by Photoshop, which wasn’t even there then. Karsh printed
the original vintage films much more delicately than we handle digital
films now," Ahn said.

Karsh was especially brilliant at using light. He would deliberately
darken one-quarter of the photo to make the subject appear more
dramatic. This unique style is known as the "Karsh-Look," and is still
favored by many photographers today.

In the other two parts of the exhibition, viewers can see the
photographer’s earlier works, featuring nude models and Canada’s
postwar years.

The Karsh exhibition runs through May 8. Tickets are 8,000 won for
adults, 7,000 won for adolescents and 6,000 won for kids. For more
information, call 1544-1682 or visit

By Park Min-young

OSCE: SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESSES MUST BE SUPPORTED IN CRISIS

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.03.2009 21:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ An OSCE-supported conference focusing on Armenian
and Russian perspectives on the global financial crisis took place
in Yerevan today.

The meeting, organized by the Armenian Russian (Slavonic) University
of Armenia and the Russian Academy of Science Institute of Economics
with the support of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, looked at how the
effects of the crisis can be reduced.

The discussion paid particular attention to how the crisis affects
Armenia following the decision on Tuesday by the country’s Central
Bank to return to a floating exchange regime.

The Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, Ambassador Sergey Kapinos,
delivered a speech discussing the challenges facing Armenia because
of the world financial crisis.

"In a crisis situation, it is important to ensure competitiveness
and to support to small and medium-sized business. Such measures
in combination with effective economic policies may be decisive in
overcoming the negative impacts of the crisis," he said.

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan underlined the need to view the crisis
from various perspectives, including as an opportunity.

Several research papers were presented during the meeting.

THE MINSK GROUP BLAMES AZERBAIJAN ON OSCE MONITORING BREAKDOWN

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.03.2009 22:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Charge d’Affaires of the US Mission to the OSCE,
Kyle Scott, issued the following statement in the OSCE’s Permanent
Council today on behalf of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group,
Ambassadors Bernard Fassier of France, Yury Merzlyakov of Russia and
Matthew Bryza of the United States.

"On behalf of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, France, the
Russian Federation and the United States, I have the following
statement to make:

The Minsk Group Co-Chairs condemn the shooting incident near Goradiz
along the Line of Contact on February 26, when shots were fired during
a monitoring mission carried out by the Personal Representative of
the Chair-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.

We call on the parties to adhere scrupulously to the ceasefire and
express our deep regret that over 30 people have died and 50 have
been wounded in 2008 as a result of ceasefire violations.

We condemn in the strongest terms the violation of the ceasefire during
the course of an OSCE monitoring mission, particularly given that local
commanders provided written security guarantees to the OSCE monitoring
mission just prior to their monitoring activities on February 26.

We call for an explanation from the parties for how such an egregious
violation of the ceasefire could have taken place.

We regret that not all of the parties agreed to the recommendation
made by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs at the Ministerial Council meeting
in Helsinki in December 2008 to pull snipers back from the Line
of Contact.

We express full support and admiration for the work of Personal
Representative Kasprzyk and his team, and underline the importance
of monitoring the Line of Contact as a confidence building measure
between the sides."

OSCE MINSK GROUP LOSES ITS PRESTIGE BECAUSE OF THE CO-CHAIRS’ FREQUENT VISITS TO THE SOUTH CAUCASUS
By Nairi Muradian

AZG DAILY
06-03-2009

Karabakh conflict

"Arantsk" analytical center held yesterday discussions on Karabakh
issue at "Noravank" educational foundation.

General Arkadi Ter-Tadevosian, historian Samvel Karapetian and
politician Stepan Grigorian were the quest speakers of the discussion.

OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs’ frequent visits to the South Caucasus
was the subject of the discussion.

Head of Globalization and Regional Cooperation Analytical Center,
politician Stepan Grigorian does not approve similar working style of
the OSCE Minsk Group. According to him, the OSCE Minsk Group loses
its prestige because of the Co-chairs’ frequent visits to the South
Caucasus. The politician doesn’t anticipate any progress in the
negotiation process in the nearest future, and according to him,
one of the reasons of it is that Karabakh does not participate in
the negotiation process.

"The way out of the conflict also depends on Russia-Turkey
relations. The history confirms that Russian-Turkish close relations
never serve the interests of the Armenian people", the politician
underlined.

In this sense, according to him, Armenia should strive to involve more
countries in the process of Karabakh conflict settlement, including
Iran, USA and EU.

"Besides, the conflict settlement will also depend on how Armenia
and Azerbaijan, as well as Russia and other countries will overcome
the global economic crisis", Mr. Grigorian said.

According to Arkadi Ter-Tadevosian, even the smallest change of the
border will lead to negative results. "We should make no compromise,
as we have already lost a part of Martuni, Shahumian, Getashen and
other territories, our compromise is already in the hands of our
enemy", he said.

According to Arkadi Ter-Tadevosian, we shouldn’t blame Russia and we
should understand that it has its own interests in the region. What
about the solution of Karabakh conflict through military way,
Mr. Ter-Tadevosian considers it as meaningless, mentioning that if
Azerbaijan tries to make an attempt, it will be defeated this time
as well.

Historian Samvel Karapetian said that our mistake is that we don’t
know our motherland well. According to him, motherland is not a
territory to cede.

"We are the owners of these lands. And compromise is out of the
question. What is Azerbaijani territorial integrity? A country that
did not have a name and lands, and stole its name from Azerbaijan
(Iran) today on our lands speaks of territorial integrity", the
historian said.

The historian reminds that we have lost the Northern Artsakh, our
ancient thousand-year-old villages Chardakhlu, Katnaker, Dzagir
(Shamkhor region), Banants, Khachakap (Dashkesan region), about 15
villages, and also Getashen, Shahumian and Artsvashen regions.

ARMENIAN PREMIER: RAISING OF GAS, ELECTRIC POWER AND WATER TARIFFS TO LEAD TO GROWTH OF EXPENDITURE OF POPULATION BY 2 THSD DRAMS AT AN AVERAGE

ArmInfo
2009-03-05 13:04:00

ArmInfo. Raising of gas, electric power and water tariffs will lead
to growth of expenditure of population by 2 thsd drams at an average,
Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisyan said in an interview with
Armenian Public TV.

He also added that when drawing out the draft budget 2009 they were
taking into account the circumstance that beginning from 1 April
tariffs for these services will grow, for this reason pensions
growing by 14% was scheduled. This will make it possible to mellow
consequences of the expected growth of tariffs a little. It is also
important that an arrangement was made with the strategic partner of
Armenia about raising of tariffs beginning from the second quarter
2009. This means to minimize possible negative consequences for the
budget of Armenian families, as the weather will be warm at that period
of time and the volumes of gas usage in April cannot be compared with
the volumes used in January-February. ‘Taking this factor into account
and raising pensions we are trying to neutralize this problem’, –
the premier said and added that financial and economic crisis will
undoubtedly affect socially unprotected layers of population.

Reduction of transfers by 20% in January also promotes this
affect. This means that the policy of the government of the country
should be of the social nature and be directed to resolving of problems
of about 118 thsd socially unprotected families.

CO-CHAIRS: PROBLEM OF REFUGEES ONE OF KEY ISSUES IN NEGOTIATIONS OVER KARABAKH

ARKA
March 3, 2009

YEREVAN, March 3. /ARKA/. Problem of refugees is one of the key
subjects of negotiations over Karabakh, Bernard Fassier, French
co-chair of OSCE Minks Group, said on Tuesday.

American Co-chair Matthew Bryza, in his turn, stressed the importance
of this issue.

He said that the organizations dealing with refugees’ problems have
taken part in negotiations in Stepanakert.

Bryza said that all refugees regardless of their national identity
have the problems waiting for their solutions.

Karabakh conflict broke out in 1988 when Artsakh, mainly populated
by Armenians, declared its independence from Azerbaijan.

On December 10, 1991, a few days after the collapse of the Soviet
Union, a referendum took place in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the majority
of the population (99.89%) voted for secession from Azerbaijan.

Afterwards, large-scale military operations began. As a result,
Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven regions
adjacent to it.

On May 12, 1994 Bishkek cease-fire agreement, put an end to the
military operations.

Since 1992, negotiations over the peaceful settlement of the conflict
have been carried out under the OSCE Minsk Group’s mediation. The
group is co-chaired by USA, Russia and France.