Author: Ekmekjian Janet

MONEY TRANSFERS TO ARMENIA THROUGH COUNTRY’S BANKS GROW 1.2FOLD TO ABOUT 1 BILLION 127.9 MILLION DOLLARS IN 2007 ON 2006

Noyan Tapan
Feb 21, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, NOYAN TAPAN. Remittances of natural
persons without opening a bank account are made in Armenia by the
Armenian commercial banks and the organizations with a licence
for implementation of remittances (granted by the Central Bank of
Armenia (CBA). With the aim of implementing rapidly money transfers of
customers, the Armenian commercial banks have joined 18 international
systems (Western Union, Money Gram, Anelik, Unistream, Contact and
others).

According to the CBA press service, remittances to Armenia through
the banks – participants in these systems amounted to 385 bln 819 mln
drams about 1 bln 127.9 mln USD in 2007 (their numer made 1,527,585),
exceeding 9.8fold the amount of remittances abroad. The net inflow of
money through commercial banks made 346 bln 451 mln drams, growing by
69 bln 495 mln drams as compared with 2006. The amount of remittances
to Armenia grew 1.2fold (by 70 bln 351 mln drams) on 2006. The average
amount of a remittance to Armenia made 253 thousand drams in 2007,
not changing as compared with 2006.

The organizations, which are members of the international money
transfer systems and implement money transfers in the territory of
Armenia, made payments of 3 bln 504 mln drams to their customsers in
Armenia and implemeted transfers of 718 mln drams abroad in 2007. The
average amount of a payment to customers (in remittances to Armenia
made by payment and settlement organizations through a money transfer
system) made 101 thousand drams in 2007, remaining at the level of
the previous year. Money transfer implementing organizations made
money transfers through Armenian commercial banks as well.

Transfers to Armenia through the Swift system amounted to 1 trillion
823 bln drams (declining by 34 bln drams on the previous year), while
their number made 287,786. The average amount of a transfer made 6.3
mln drams, declining by 0.5 mln drams as compared with 2006. Payments
to natural persons (in transfers through the Swift system) grew by
13.7 bln drams to about 203 bln drams, while the average amount of
a payment increased by 62 thousand drams to 2.16 mln drams. At the
same time, the amount of natural persons’ transfers abroad through
the Swift system grew by 22 bln drams to 303 bln drams.

On the whole, the amount of transfers to natural persons through
commercial banks and money transfer implementing organization grew
by 17% as compared with 2006 and made 599 bln drams, while the amount
of transfers abroad grew by 7% to 343 bln drams.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN ARMENIA ADMINISTERED MOSTLY IN THE LINE WITH OSCE AND COUNCIL OF EUROPE COMMITMENTS AND STANDARDS

arminfo
2008-02-20 17:48:00

ArmInfo. Presidential election in Armenia administered mostly in
the line with OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards,
Vice Chairmwoman of OSCE PA Ann-Marie Lizin said at a briefing in
Yerevan, Wednesday when presenting the preliminary conclusions on
the voting results.

She said that the high-State authorities made genuine efforts
to address shortcomings noted in previous presidential elections,
inclduing the legal framework, and repeteadly stated their intention
to conduct democratic elections. However, further improvements and
commesurate political willare required to address remaining challenges
challenges such as: the absence of a clear separation between State and
party functions, the lack of public confidence in the electoral process
and ensuring equal treatment of election contestants. Ann-Marie Lizin
said that the conduct of the count did not contribute to reducing an
exsiting suspicion amongst election stakeholders.

The CEC ensured a high level of transparency, except the consideration
of complains that were for the most part dealt with in informal
sessions.

Although consistent with the election code, this process did not
allow the presence of candidates proxies, observers and media, thus
undermining trust.

The filed of nine candidates offered voters a geniuine choice. Many
candidates campained actively and were able to discuss their
programmes with voters. The authorities made efforts to provide a
permissive campaign environment. The freedom of assembly, association
and expression were generally respected but on several occasions
citizens were obstructed in exercizing their right to attend campaign
events. The Prime Minbister retained his office while campaigning
for president, which awarded him campaign advantages.

The UCLA Daily Bruin, CA
Feb 19 2008

Armenian students host speakers on heritage

a.. Allison Fung (Contact)

b.. Published: Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The Armenian Graduate Students Association held its sixth annual
colloquium on Friday afternoon – an event that featured speakers from
domestic and international universities in panels pertaining to
topics in Armenian studies.

This year, graduate students attended from Armenia, Hungary,
Germany and Turkey; as well as from University of California, Irvine
and California State University, Northridge.

The topics discussed were "art and architecture," "identity
construction in the diaspora," "ritual and cultural performance," and
"narrative and community."

"There is no other event like this in the world," Raffi
Kassabian, executive director of the Armenian Graduate Students
Association said. "This (was) organized by grad students for grad
students."

Panelists presented from thesis papers and PowerPoint
presentations. After the conclusion of each panel, audience members
were invited to ask the panelists questions about their research.

Arpi Siyahian, a member of the association’s organizing
committee, said the themes of the colloquium vary every year.

"We do a call for papers among universities with Armenian
studies," she said.

After the papers are collected, the committee does a "blind
aspect," in which the names of the authors of the papers are removed.
The committee evaluates the material and invites the top 10 graduate
students to UCLA to speak.

Kassabian, a law student as UCLA, said the association is a
mentorship for both undergraduate and graduate students.

He said events like the colloquium add to the dimension of
Armenian studies, which, as shown by the diverse topics and speakers
at the colloquium, is a very interdisciplinary major.

The committee hopes to expand the colloquium, perhaps to a
two-day conference next year, Siyahian said.

Attendees at the colloquium ranged from UCLA professors to
alumni.

"My old Armenian studies professor sent me an e-mail (about the
colloquium)," said David Abrahamian, a UCLA Class of 2007 alumnus.
"There are some unbelievable topics and interesting analysis here."

In panelist Anna Harutyunyan’s paper, "Cultural Diversity and
Belongingness," she specifically focused her analysis on the identity
crisis of Armenian communities in Berlin. She said while Armenians
identify strongly with their culture, they have difficulty naming
Armenia or Germany as their homeland.

She added that she also had this crisis, as she is Armenian but
grew up in Berlin.

An audience member asked if intermarriage between Armenians and
non-Armenians existed in a country where Armenians were the minority
culture.

Harutyunyan replied that while it was not common, intermarriage
did occur.

Abrahamian added that before entering UCLA, he did not speak the
Armenian language well at all.

"Now I love topics like these," he said.

ALEXANDER LEBEDEV: ELECTION PROCEEDS IN LINE WITH RA ELECTORAL LEGISLATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
19.02.2008 18:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President Robert Kocharian met Tuesday
with Alexander Lebedev, the head of the CIS observation mission,
the RA leader’s press office said.

"Our observers attended many polling stations and spoke to commission
chairs and empowered persons. The election proceeds in line with RA
electoral legislation, Mr Lebedev said.

For his part, the RA President said that all essential measures were
taken to hold a worthy election in the republic.

The parties also touched upon the CIS leaders’ informal summit due
in Moscow on February 22.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s campaign agent violated law

2008-02-19 14:17:00

ArmInfo. Two campaign agents of RA presidential contender, first
President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan were at the polling station
5/20 of Arabkir Yerevan community at a time, that is breach of the law,
RPA campaign headquarters reports.

An observer Marine Madatyan, having found a violation, notified
the law enforcement agencies about it and the latters put one of
the campaign agents out. L. Ter-Petrosyan’s campaign agent Sarkis
Tamazyan threatened other members of the commission at the polling
station 69 of Lori region. He said that if someone tries to hinder
him to do what he wants, the end will be bad.

OpEdNews, PA
Feb 18 2008

Always Remember And Don’t Ever Forget

by The Stiletto

French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants all fifth-graders in his
country to be `entrusted with the memory’ of one of the 11,000 Jewish
children who were deported to Auschwitz and other death camps in
eastern Europe during the Nazi occupation of France. Speaking to
French Jews at a dinner in Perigueux, Sarkozy said, `Nothing is more
moving, for a child, than the story of a child his own age, who has
the same games, the same joys and the same hopes as he, but who, in
the dawn of the 1940s, had the bad fortune to be defined as a Jew.’

Since 2002, fifth-graders have studied the Holocaust as a crime
against humanity, watching films, visiting museums and memorials and
taking field trips to concentration camps, The New York Times
reports, and schools that lost students to the Holocaust hang plaques
in their memory.

Some psychiatrists and teachers object to the curriculum change on
the grounds that forcing students to identify with a specific victim
would be psychologically traumatic, and would `unfairly burden
children with the guilt of previous generations,’ reports Reuters.
Counters Sarkozy: `You do not traumatize children by giving them the
gift of the memory of a country.’

Others complain that the proposal doesn’t go far enough, and should
also include Gypsies and other victims of the Nazis. The Stiletto
agrees, and suggests that the proposal also be extended to include
the Armenian Genocide – France has a large population of Armenians in
the Diaspora, and their history of near-extermination is currently
not taught in French schools.

The Armenian Genocide is not taught in Turkish schools – it is a
criminal offense to teach, talk about or write about Ottoman Turkey’s
systematic annihilation of its Christian Armenian population (second
item) – which is why Turks are convinced it never happened (last
item, `The Other Shoe Drops’).

Israeli children do not learn about the Armenian Genocide in school,
according to historian and scholar Yair Auron, author of `The
Banality of Denial: Israel and the Armenian Genocide’ (Transaction
Books, 2003), which is why Israel can enter into a military and
economic alliance with Turkey without too many people asking
inconvenient and uncomfortable questions about what `never again’
should mean to Israelis.

And, except for a handful of school districts in MA and CA that have
a large Armenian population, the Armenian Genocide is no longer
taught in American schools, which is why our elected officials caved
in to Turkish threats and tabled a vote on a symbolic resolution to
acknowledge the 20th century’s first crime against humanity.

"It is ignorance that produces abominable situations. It is not
knowledge," insists Sarkozy.

the_stil_080218_always_remember_and_.htm

Clarin, Argentina
15 de febrero de 2008

La crisis financiera no frenó el crédito para megaoperaciones

Lo aseguran en el Grupo Eurnekian, que encara con financiación la
compra de Esso.

Por: Marcelo Canton

Eduardo Eurnekian, tiene 6.000 millones de dólares para encarar los
proyectos que anunció esta semana? "No hay que tener el dinero, nadie
tiene esa cantidad de dinero", responde Ernesto Gutiérrez, titular de
Corporación América, que reúne los negocios del empresario que saltó
de textil a la TV por cable y que ahora lidera Aeropuertos Argentina
2000.

En la última semana, Eurnekian puso sobre la mesa tres iniciativas:
la compra de todos los activos de Esso en América lati na, la
construcción del Tren Transandino y la participación en una represa
en Ecuador. Todos sumados implican inversiones por más de US$ 6.000
millones.

– Si estos proyectos están basados en financiación de terceros, la
crisis financiera que arrancó en EE.UU., ¿no es una traba?, preguntó
Clarín a Gutiérrez.

-No, porque no es un problema económico de fondo. Se generaron
operaciones que lindan la ilegalidad, y ahora ya el mercado no las
acepta más. Llevará 6 o 10 meses que los bancos asuman el quebranto
que les queda de toda esta crisis. Pero lo van a terminar asumiendo.
Claro que nos quedará una tasa de alrededor de 200 puntos básicos
(2%) más alta que la actual, porque buscarán compensarse hacia
adelante. Pero el dinero está, no faltará.

El negocio del grupo que hoy más se destaca es la intención de
adquirir los activos de Esso en Brasil, Argentina, Chile y Uruguay.
Es una operación que los técnicos valúan en alrededor de 2.000
millones de dólares. Van asociados con la brasileña GP Investimentos.
"Ni los Eskenazi al comprar YPF ni Bill Gates al ofrecer 44.000
millones por Yahoo ponen todo de su bolsillo. Sólo se hacen
desembolsos parciales", dice Gutiérrez.

– ¿A qué tasa de interés?

-Entre 9 y 11 por ciento, depende el momento. Aeropuertos está
colocando en marzo una Obligación Negociable por US$ 400 millones, y
pensamos que esa será la tasa que pagaremos.

La represa que construirán en Ecuador es un negocio que sirve de
ejemplo. Costará unos 1.600 millones de dólares. El emprendimiento es
de una estatal ecuatoriana y la argentina ENARSA. Pero van asociados
los grupos Eurnekian, Cartellone y Pescarmona, además de dos privados
ecuatorianos y, con seguridad, una constructora brasileña, entre
otros. En total, 11 empresas. "Nosotros tenemos gente trabajando hace
un año en la ingeniería, ese costo lo asumimos. Los otros socios,
cada uno en su especialidad, igual. Después habrá que integrar un
capital de 50 o 60 millones de dólares, que aportaremos entre todos.
Y el resto, será financiación internacional, con el aval del estado
ecuatoriano". Así, cada grupo desembolsaría, de su bolsillo, 5 a 10
millones de dólares. Y quedan dentro de un negocio que centuplica ese
capital.

El Tren Trasandino es otro ejemplo similar. Eurnekián está trabajando
hace dos años en la idea, desde que perdió la licitación para ampliar
el Canal de Panamá y siguió buscando algún nicho en el transporte
entre el Pacífico y el Atlántico. "Compramos las empresas que tenían
el proyecto en sus manos, después pusimos US$ 12 millones en la
investigación y ampliación de la iniciativa, y ahora estamos
dedicando otros 14 millones a hacer los pozos en la montaña para ver
si se puede pasar por allí el túnel. En 6 meses, empezaremos a cavar
un túnel de 30 centímetros hasta Chile, para terminar de testear la
viabilidad del proyecto, Eso costará US$ 60 millones. En total, unos
100 millones. Después viene la licitación, y si la ganamos, los 2.870
millones de inversión serán financiación: podemos presentar un flujo
de caja muy atractivo, con una proyección de facturación que llega a
US$ 500 millones anuales".

"Hay que detectar el negocio y hacer la ingeniería: la financiación
se consigue, plata sigue habiendo mucha", concluye Gutiérrez.

COMMISSION STARTS TO EXAMINE CAUSES OF FEBRUARY 14 AVIATION ACCIDENT AT ZVARTNOTS AIRPORT

Noyan Tapan
Feb 15, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 15, NOYAN TAPAN. The commission, which was formed
to examine the causes of the aviation accident at Yerevan’s Zvartnots
Airport on February 14, has started its work. NT correspondent was
informed by Gayane Davtian, spokeswoman for the Main Department of the
RA Civil Aviation, that a group of experts (10 from Belarus, 2 from the
International Aviation Committee and 10 Armenian experts) on February
15 met with the head of the Main Department of the RA Civil Aviation.

G. Davtian said that some Canadian experts will arrive in Armenia
late Febraury 15. To recap, the Belavia airline’s CRG-100 plane that
took fire was made in Canada.

OSCE WARNS AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIA AGAINST FREQUENT VIOLATION OF CEASEFIRE

Trend News Agency
Feb 14 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Barda, 14 February / Trend News corr Sh. Jaliloglu
/ Andrzej Kasprzyk, the OSCE Chairman-in-office’s personal
representative, said that in the recent months, the ceasefire between
Azerbaijan and Armenia has been more frequently broken. "Due to
the permanent violation of ceasefire at the contact line of the
Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, both the sides have been warned,"
he said to journalists on 14 February after the monitoring held at the
troop contact line nearby the Tapgaragoyunlu village in the Goranboy
region of Azerbaijan.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began
in 1988, due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan lost the Nagorno-Karabakh, except of Shusha and Khojaly, in
December 1991. In 1992-93, the Armenian Armed Forces occupied Shusha,
Khojaly and Nagorno-Karabakh’s seven neighbouring regions. In 1994,
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement which ended the
active hostilities. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia,
France, and the US) are currently holding the peaceful, but fruitless
negotiations. OSCE periodically monitors the troop contact line.

The OSCE will increase the number of the monitoring exercises in order
to prevent the intensive violation of the ceasefire. The violation of
the ceasefire negatively affects the day-to-day life of the nearby
villages’ residents and impedes their agricultural activities,
Kasprzyk said.

Azerbaijan has been always maintaining the ceasefire, the Spokesman
for the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry Eldar Sabiroglu said to Trend
on 14 February. " Azerbaijan has been urging OSCE to take necessary
measures against Armenia, which has been intensively violating the
ceasefire," he said.

Today, Azerbaijan
Feb 14 2008

Anjey Kaspshik: "Ceasefire violation has intensified recently on the
contact front line"

14 February 2008 [18:24] – Today.Az

OSCE will continue monitoring on the contact front line.

The due information has been provided by Anjey Kaspshik, personal
representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office, attending today’s
monitoring on the contact front line, APA reports.

He said Azerbaijan and Armenia have been notified of the established
state, voising hope that the situation will start to improve.

"Residents of the regions, locating near the contact line, suffer
more than others. Peasants working on the lands, risk their lives. I
must have a special mandate to hold a secret monitoring, while in
this case I am obliged to inform the sides about the monitoring".
Anjey Kaspshik noted.

/APA/

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