Author: Dabaghian Diana

ELMAR MAMMADYAROV MEETS WITH JORDANIAN COUNTERPART

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 9 2007

Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov visiting Jordan met with
his counterpart Abdel Ilah al-Khatib, Azerbaijani honorary consul to
Lebanon Nazih Gassub, who is accompanying the minister in his visit,
told the APA.

He said that the Ministers discussed the mutual relations, negotiating
process for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
cooperation in the framework of international organizations and
other issues.

Today Mammadyarov will meet with Jordanian Economy Minister and the
mayor of Amman.

TOP COURT BACKS DECISION TO INVESTIGATE KURDISH INVITATION

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
April 9 2007

The First Chamber of the Council of State has rejected an appeal from
Diyarbakýr Mayor Osman Baydemir to overrule permission from Interior
Minister Abdulkadir Aksu to launch an investigation into invitations
that used Kurdish expressions to invite officials to an arts and
culture festival in Diyarbakýr.

An invitation Baydemir sent to Diyarbakýr Chief Public Prosecutor
Huseyin Canan for the opening reception of the sixth Diyarbakýr Culture
and Arts Festival included Turkish and Kurdish letters, a violation of
the law on the Turkish alphabet according to prosecutors. Interior
Minister Aksu had given the green light for an investigation on
Nov. 28, 2006. Baydemir had objected to the minister’s permission
and appealed to the court to overrule the decision to allow an
investigation. In his application for an appeal, Baydemir had
argued that in addition to the sentences in Turkish and Kurdish, the
invitation also included phrases in English and Armenian and asserted
that Kurdish had the same status as a foreign language as English and
Armenian. Baydemir put forward that under international conventions,
the Constitution, the law on municipalities and other provisions
of Turkish legislation the usage of Kurdish expressions next to
Turkish was legally appropriate. The First Chamber of the Council
of State sent the file to the Diyarbakýr Chief Public Prosecutor’s
Office after it rejected Baydemir’s appeal to nullify the interior
minister’s permission to start an investigation.

–Boundary_(ID_VvHbfn+6do8+MN+0Oeh 0kg)–

EUROPEAN COMMISSION EXPERTS TO DECIDE WHETHER ARMENIA IS MARKET ECONOMY OR NOT

ARMENPRESS
Apr 09 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 9, ARMENPRESS: Deputy trade and economic development
minister Tigran Davtian said last week a team of experts from the
European Commission will arrive here on May 8 for a final monitoring
of Armenian economy and relating legislation to decide whether to
grant it the status of market economy or not.

Davtian said the European Commission then will be expected to make
its final conclusion by the end of the year. He said only two former
Soviet republics from the Commonwealth of the Independent States
(CIS) have been granted this status.

The deputy minister said if granted that status Armenia would get
down to work to qualify for the General System of Privileges (GSP),
which envisages that Armenian businessmen would not pay customs duties
when trading with the European Union.

The next move would be to start talks with the EU to pass to free
trade zone as part of Wider Europe, New Neighbors program.

REPORT ON SENSATIONAL DISCOVERY OF ARMENIAN SCIENTIST FROM RUSSIA
PRESENTED AT ANNUAL MEETING OF RA NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

YEREVAN, APRIL 9, NOYAN TAPAN. The results of 2006 activity of
Armenian National Academy of Sciences were summed up at the April 6
annual general meeting of Academy. Chairman of RA National Academy of
Sciences Radik Martirosian was the main reporter. The main
achievements and scientific directions considered by the Academy as
those having prospects were mentioned in the speech of Chairman of RA
National Academy of Sciences.

Yuri Hovhannisian, foreign member of RA National Academy of Sciences,
Academician of Russian Academy of Sciences, made a sensational
scientific report. So-called "stability islets" of superheavy
elements were discovered under his direction at the United Institute
of Nuclear Researches (Russia, Dubna).

Starting the 50-s of 20th century when many heavy elements of
Mendeleyev’s table were discovered, it became known that by increase
of mass of nucleus the elements become more and more unsteady. The
life of heavy metals was measured by microseconds. It was concluded
that there is some limit of material world, beyond which there are no
superheavy metals any longer. And here is a discovery – "stability
islets" exist beyond the well-known limit: the superheavy elements of
these atomic weights live whole seconds. Y. Hovhannisian is sure that
this discovery will play a great role not only in theoretical physics,
but also in its applied directions, for instance, during diagnostics
of malignant diseases.

Academician Hovhannisian stated that he is going to conduct joint
studies in this and other spheres with Armenian scientists.

RA Prime Minister Serge Sargsian, RA NA Speaker Tigran Torosian,
Minister of Education and Science Levon Mkrtchian were present at the
meeting.

INCOME FROM TOURIST ACTIVITY IN ARMENIA IN 2007 MAY GROW TO 2,1% OF GDP: INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS

Arminfo
2007-04-05 18:26:00

By estimations of the "International Tourism Council", the income
from the tourist activity in Armenia in 2007 may increase to 2.1%
in GDP structure that is a sufficient growth over the last 10 years,
ArmInfo was told in the Office of the "Competitive Armenian Private
Sector" Programme (CAPS) under USAID financing. To note, Armenia’s
GDP volume in 2007 is forecasted at a level of 2.922.4 bln drams.

According to the source data, the growth is forecasted for the
following years as well. The specialists of the CAPS Programme,
who carry out a number of investigations in tourism in Armenia, have
come to a conclusion that an adventure tourism is mainly developed
in the republic, which is attested by 63% of respondents, having
been interrogated by the market experts of CAPS during a tourist
exhibition "World Travel Market" in London in November, 2006. The
popularity of this kind of tourism in Armenia is connected with
the country’s mountain topography and availability of cultural and
historical monuments in mountains. In the opinion of CAPS specialists,
the Armenian community of the USA is the most important segment of
Armenia’s internal tourism. The polls have shown that over half of
the Armenians, living in the USA, have a great desire to visit Armenia
within the next five years. The research was carried out in January,
2007, in the USA.

The more detailed information about other research, which are carried
out by CAPS jointly with RA Ministry of Trade and Economic Development
and the Armenian Tourism Development Agency, will be available during
the International Forum titled "Competitiveness of the National
Tourism" to be held in Yerevan on April 11-12.

NO U.S. INVASION TO IRAN TILL END OF MAY

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.04.2007 14:14 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Relations between Iran and the United States have
world meaning and it is not strange the whole world closely watches
it, Director of NAS Institute for Oriental Studies of Armenia doctor
Ruben Safrastian stated to a press conference in Yerevan. He said,
currently no military invasion is being viewed against Iran. "An
informational war is on the way, which manipulates public opinion
towards unavoidable war, there is a diplomatic pressing, but till
the end of May, when the term of UN ultimatum ends, there will be no
U.S. attack against Iran. At the end of May the U.S. 3rd Navy will
arrive in the Persian Gulf, which will, as if replace the one that
is currently stationed there. But Iran’s isolation has not reached
the level that Washington wishes," Safrastian underlined.

At the same time he said Iran has a thousand-year experience in
diplomacy and that’s why the United States should consider it very
seriously. "Iran is not Iraq and Mahmood AhmadiNejad is not Saddam
Hussein – first of all the American administration must realize it,"
the Director of NAS Institute for Oriental Studies underlined.

$1 BILLION NEEDED FOR CONSTRUCTING IRAN-ARMENIA RAILWAY

ArmRadio.am
04.04.2007 16:16

Investments of about $1 billion will be necessary for the construction
of the Iran-Armenia railway. RA Minister of Transport and Communication
Andranik Manukyan told the journalists they are looking for investors
to implement the program. According to the Minister, in the result
of the project Armenia will have direct communication with Iran and
countries of the Middle East, becoming a transit country. Besides, the
new railway will become an alternative to Kars-Akhalkalaki railroad.

IN ULP LEADER’S WORDS, NO POLITICAL FORCE WILL RECEIVE ABSOLUTE MAJORITY OF VOTES AT ELECTIONS

Noyan Tapan
Apr 04 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 4, NOYAN TAPAN. During the consultation that took
place lately at RA President’s office, the United Labor Party (ULP)
parliamentary faction spoke for possible appointment of Acting Defence
Minister Serge Sargsian to the post of the Prime Minister. Gurgen
Arsenian, Chairman of United Labor Party, head of National Assembly
United Labor Party faction, reported at the April 4 press conference.

According to his observation, even under conditions of lack of
political dispute preelectoral processes develop in the political plane
in Armenia. In G. Arsenian’s words, ULP estimates these processes
as satisfactory. Answering the question of one of journalists how
he treats some parties’ strategy of starting the agitation campaign
ahead of the schedule, ULP leader advised to ask this question to
the representatives of these parties. Touching upon ULP’s agitation
campaign, G. Arsenian said that the programs and slogans have been
already worked out and they will be presented to the public no sooner
than April 8, official start of agitation campaign.

G. Arsenian refused to make forecasts on results of parliamentary
elections.

Nevertheless, he excluded that any party will receive absolute majority
of votes. Today, in G. Arsenian’s words, there is no such "monster"
political force having such huge resource in Armenia.

VARDAN OSKANIAN: KARABAGH SETTLEMENT SHOULD NOT DEPEND ON DECISIONS RENDERED ON OTHER CONFLICTS’ SETTLEMENT

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
April 4 2007

Karabagh conflict settlement should not depend on the decisions
rendered on other conflicts’ settlement, RA Acting FM Vardan Oskanian
stated at a press conference held in Yerevan April 3, commenting on
the situation around Kosovo settlement.

According to Vardan Oskanian, any conflict should be considered from
the viewpoint of its specific features. "Sure, precedents are of some
importance in the international relations; however, I think we’ll
consider each conflict in its context. The Nagorno-Karabagh conflict
has its specific nature, the Kosovo conflict has its own specific
features", he noted. Vardan Oskanian underscored the Nagorno-Karabagh
was going along the road of self-determination.

ACRA CREDIT BUREAU STARTS PROVIDING INFORMATION TO BANKS AND CREDIT ORGANIZATIONS

Arminfo
2007-04-02 20:51:00

The national credit bureau ACRA has started providing credit references
to commercial banks and credit organizations, the president of the
Central Bank of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan said during the presentation
of ACRA on Monday.

He said that the information provided by ACRA will allow commercial
banks to score the solvency of their borrowers. Sargsyan expressed
hop that in just a few months the Armenian banks will start crediting
exclusively on the basis of ACRA references.

The Head of the Central Bank stressed the importance of the Bureau
activity as an institutional structure during reformation of the
country’s financial system. According to him, the enterprises and
companies should be interested in the formation of their positive and
successful credit history that will allow them to attract comparatively
cheaper financial resources. This will also become a serious stimulus
for withdrawal of these enterprises from the shadow sector and passing
to an adequate financial accountancy and its transparency.

As the Executive Director of ACRA Arat Arzoyan noted, the Bureau’s
activity is distinguished by a high degree of security, efficiency and
accuracy of the information given. Asked by ArmInfo about the terms
of information gathering from organizations, that render the public
services, A. Arzoyan said that the relevant agreements have already
been signed with the most of them, however, it will possible to give
this information only after passing a Law about Credit Bureaus in
the country in view of the necessity of protecting the relevant civil
rights. According to him, one of the share-holders of the Bureau, a
world-known American Dun and Bradstreet International LTD had played an
great role in assurance of high technical opportunities of ACRA. The
Bureau’s shareholders also include the Central Bank that owns 10%
of shares, the HBM Service CJSC, created by the Union of Banks of
Armenia, the Credential Inc.

Corporation, that had come out with an ACRA creation initiative three
years ago, the Armeconombank, the Conversebank, the First Hypothec
Company, the "Smart Tech" and "Alfa Plus Consulting" Companies.

Presently, starting from 2003, the ACRA’s data bank comprises about
half a million credit histories and 200,000 borrowers registered.