Author: Hakobian Adrine

PanARMENIAN.Net

Amendments on granting stabilization loan to Armenia to be introduced
in Russian budget
28.02.2009 14:32 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The bill on granting a $500 million loan to Armenia
will be brought to the Russian Duma floor in the near future, Russia’s
Prime Minister said.

`I hope the procedure will be carried out within shortest terms, since
it demands amendments in the state budget,’ Vladimir Putin said during
a meeting with Armenian PM Tigran Sargsyan.

Thanking his Russian counterpart, PM Sargsyan said that the aid will
mitigate the consequences of the global financial crisis.

`I am confident that these funds will also serve thousands of
enterprises functioning with Russian capital. We will create a
favorable macroeconomic atmosphere for them,’ he said.

Interfax, Russia
February 26, 2009 Thursday 5:40 PM MSK

N.-Karabakh: OSCE team halts monitoring after Azeri fire

STEPANAKERT Feb 26

A team of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was
forced on Thursday to cut short a regular monitoring mission along the
separation line between Azeri and Nagorno-Karabakh armed forces
because of alleged fire toward the inspectors from the Azeri side, the
Nagorno-Karabakh Foreign Ministry said.

"At the very start of the monitoring session, there was the sound of
an individual shot fired from the Azeri side toward the coordinator of
the OSCE office, a field assistant to a personal representative of the
OSCE chairman, and officials of the Foreign Ministry and Defense
Ministry of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh who were conducting a
monitoring mission on the positions of the Defense Army of the
Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh," the ministry told Interfax.

After this came "a burst of assault rifle fire from the Azeri side,"
the ministry said. The bullets "passed to the left of the monitoring
team, after which one more shot was fired toward the mission."

Andrzej Kasprzyk, a personal representative of the OSCE chairman-
in-office who was coordinating the mission from Azeri territory,
ordered the inspection to be ended, the ministry said.

The site of the monitoring was the vicinity of Horadiz, a village in
Fizuli district.

February 26, 2009 Thursday 6:05 PM MSK

N.-Karabakh: OSCE team halts monitoring after Azeri fire (Part 2)

STEPANAKERT Feb 26

A team of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was
forced on Thursday to cut short a regular monitoring mission along the
separation line between Azeri and Nagorno-Karabakh armed forces
because of alleged fire toward the inspectors from the Azeri side, the
Nagorno-Karabakh Foreign Ministry said.

"At the very start of the monitoring session, there was the sound of
an individual shot fired from the Azeri side toward the coordinator of
the OSCE office, a field assistant to a personal representative of the
OSCE chairman, and officials of the Foreign Ministry and Defense
Ministry of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh who were conducting a
monitoring mission on the positions of the Defense Army of the
Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh," the ministry told Interfax.

After this came "a burst of assault rifle fire from the Azeri side,"
the ministry said. The bullets "passed to the left of the monitoring
team, after which one more shot was fired toward the mission."

Andrzej Kasprzyk, a personal representative of the OSCE chairman-
in-office who was coordinating the mission from Azeri territory,
ordered the inspection to be ended, the ministry said.

The site of the monitoring was the vicinity of Horadiz, a village in
Fizuli district.

The Azeri Defense Ministry confirmed there had been outbreaks of fire
during the mission but claimed they had come from the Nagorno-
Karabakh side and said Kasprzyk had ordered an investigation into the
incident.

"There was the sound of two individual shots [from the Nagorno-
Karabakh side] that developed into a burst of fire," the ministry said
in a press release. "Later on, there was the sound of one more
shot. No more assault rifle fire was heard after that."

Kasprzyk ordered the mission to be halted and the incident to be
investigated, the release said.

Interfax, Russia
Feb 26 2009

Former Azeri soldier sentenced to 14 years for high treason

BAKU Feb 26

The Azeri Military Court for Serious Crimes sentenced a former soldier
accused of high treason to a long prison term, the court secretariat
told Interfax.

"The court headed by Judge Nazim Movsumov sentenced former serviceman
Emin Quliyev to 14 years in prison under Article 274 (high treason) of
the Azeri Criminal Code on Wednesday," it said.

Quliyev was captured by Armenian troops in 1993. He was returned to
Azerbaijan through the International Committee of the Red Cross
mediation the same year.

The court found that, while being in captivity, Quliyev passed
information on the location of his military unit, its personnel, and
armaments to Armenia. He also appeared on Armenian television and
cruelly treated Azeri POWs and hostages, the court said.

NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA: ANKARA AWAITING YEREVAN’S PROPOSAL TO JOIN NEW NPP CONSTRUCTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
26.02.2009 20:09 GMT+04:00

Turkish government expects Yerevan’s official proposal to join
construction of a new Nuclear Power Plant in Armenia, Nezavisimaya
Gazeta quoted a Turkish high-ranking official as saying.

"Upon receipt of the document, Turkey will consider the possibility
of its participation in the project and will announce its decision,"
the source said. "If all necessary formalities are observed, the
offer can be accepted."

ARMENIAN GIRL WINS SARATOV PEOPLE’S BEAUTY TITLE

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.02.2009 21:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A beauty contest was held in Saratov Russian city,
reports Yerkramas, the newspaper of Armenians of Russia.

Ethnic Armenian Tatevik Khachatryan wоn the jury with performance
of a national dance and a dish she cooked herself.

Girls from Russian, Ukrainian, Armenian, Georgian, Kurdish, Dagestani,
Azerbaijani, Tatar communities took part in the contest.

TURKEY DEFRAUDS THE MAXIMUM: AND WE?
James Hakobyan

Lragir.am
13:37:39 – 25/02/2009

The Turkish and Azerbaijani authorities keep announcing that Turkey
did not change its stance on the conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh when
establishing the Armenian and Turkish relations. The stance of
Turkey on the conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh is clear to everyone:
Turkey demands the Armenian army’s withdrawal from the region and
considers that the conflict should be settled in the framework of
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan considering it as a ground for
resumption of the Armenian and Turkish relations. Consequently, if
Turkey does not change its stance on the conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh
the establishment of our relations is not to Armenia’s interests. It
might seem that in this case Armenia should reject further development
of our relations with Turkey if Turkey and Azerbaijan do not change
their stance on the conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh.

However, Armenia not only does not reject it but also continues
the Armenian and Turkish meetings and even expresses optimism on
the perspectives of the normalization of the Armenian and Turkish
relations. It turns out, that either the Armenian authorities are
not honest in their public announcements on the Armenian and Turkish
relation or Azerbaijan and Turkey are not honest when announcing no
change of their stance. Of course, for the societies it is difficult
to guess who is honest20or not but it should not be a secret for the
sides. In other words it should be clear to Armenia whether Turkey
has changed it stance continues demanding the withdrawal of the
Armenian army.

On the other hand, in case of invariability of the stance of Turkey the
Armenian and Turkish dialogue must not be considered unnecessary. Maybe
the aim of the Armenian government is just to make Turkey change
its stance through dialogues and to establish relations with Armenia
without a precondition. So, it is not ruled out, that none of the sides
is dishonest: Turkey’s stance is unchangeable but Armenia continues
the negotiations in order to change its stance. From this point of
view, the settlement of the Armenian and Turkish relations which was
launched or activated with the help of so called football diplomacy
may not contradict Armenia’s interests at all.

Perhaps, the problem is that the Armenian and Turkish relations have
two layers: bilateral and geopolitical while the importance of the
second layer maybe bigger. However, it is obvious that the problem
must be examined in this context too. And when it is considered in
this context it becomes clear that if Armenia does not lose almost
anything from bilateral point of view it can even win something if
Armenia is able to persuade Turkey and as for the geopolitical point
of view till Armenia does not persuade Turkey it loses. Armenia loses
because Turkey =0 D under the veil of settlement the Armenian and
Turkish relations liberates itself from international pressure. And
in this case without this pressure afterwards more confident tries
to defraud the maximum for its geopolitical and regional purposes.

The Armenian and Turkish relations are not profitable for Armenia from
geopolitical and regional points of view, as even if the borders are
open it will not enhance Armenia’s geopolitical and regional weight
and its role though. Moreover, it may seem a paradox but Armenia can
be more valuable as a geopolitical factor in case of closed borders.

Consequently, undertaking this process of settlement of the Armenian
and Turkish relations and considering it as a possibility for its
development Armenia should gain a very tangible success through
enhancing its official potential and competitiveness in order to
justify the nutrition of the Turkish success by this process started
by Armenia. No prospect for such a success seems to have been outlined
for Armenia so far which means that Armenia is charging the Turkish
interests unilaterally.

GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY TO GRANT $1,5 MLN TO ARMENIA TO STUDY GEOTHERMAL ENERGY POTENTIAL

ArmInfo
2009-02-25 15:00:00

ArmInfo. On February 24, the Board of Directors of the World Bank
(WB) approved $1,5 mln Global Environment Facility (GEF) grant to
Armenia’s Geothermal Project, which is part of the Regional Energy
Development Programme (GeoFund), Director of WB Armenia Office
Aristomene Varoudakis said at a press- conference on Wednesday.

As he said, GEF funds will be directed to development of geothermal
energy in Armenia for diversification in energy use. According
to him, seismic investigations and geological field works will
be carried out in Sjunik and Gegharkunik regions of Armenia for
revelation of the industrial potential of geothermal energy. "We
hope that successful results of surveys will allow to attract private
investments to this sphere", A. Varoudakis said. To recall, the first
surveys of Armenia’s subsurface resources concerning availability of
thermal energy were carried out even in 1960s of 20th century, and
goal-oriented exploration works started in 1978. The main surveys were
conducted in Hankavan- Zangezur regional belt where young phenomena
of volcanic activity develop. Tsukh- Karkar group of volcanoes are
the most prosperous – they cover "Jermakhpyur" thermal field of at
the height of 2800-3000 m.

WORLD FINANCIAL CRISIS BLIGHTED THE ARMENIAN JOB MARKET

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.02.2009 GMT+04:00

According to analysts’ assessments, demand for specialists in PR,
marketing and graphic design will decrease dramatically.

The impact of the world financial crisis on the Armenian economy and
social state of people has already become perceptible, especially in
the population employment sector. The alarm has already sounded for
a number of employment agencies: employers’ offers are decreasing in
ratio with the increasing labor supply.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ According to the data provided by leading employment
agencies, the number of applications increased 3 times as compared to
the previous year. This is accounted for multiple stuff reductions
as well as the inflow of guest workers who decided to return to
their native country and wait till the crisis is over. Expressed
numerically, if the monthly employment ratio in the beginning 2008
equaled 10-15 potential employees, the figure dropped to 5 by the end
of the year. The demand is high for such specialists as: accountants,
marketing and PR specialists, web- and graphical designers. Yet,
according to recent assessments, the demand for marketing and PR
specialists and graphical designers will register a drop. According
to experts, if the first stage of crisis is characterized by the
employers’ trying to cut down expenses via stuff reductions, the next
economizing attempt will affect the advertising sphere.

According to official data, the job market situation has been changing
since the end of 2008. Yet, if the first quarter of 2008 registered
a decrease in the unemployment rate (6.3% in 2008 as compared to 7%
in 2007), in the 3rd quarter of 2008 the number of unemployed totaled
74 900 in December and increased by 2.5% (73 000) as compared to
the beginning of the year, whereas in 2008 the economically active
population size totaled 1194 600. In the absolute expression, average
monthly nominal wage equaled AMD 91331 in 2008.

Viewed by different characteristics, the Armenian job market shows
an obvious disbalance. Women constitute 70% of total number of
unemployed. This is accounted for by a major emigration of able-bodied
population (basically, men) from Armenia. According to experts’
forecasts, the return of labor immigrants will also influence the
disbalance.

The ratio of unemployed to employed people is highest among those aged
40-50. The unemployment ratio among the youth constitutes 21%. Yet
according to PanARMENIAN.Net-conducted researches, the ratio will
keep dropping: a new tendency is observed among employees: while
previously they used to train their own personnel, the situation
is dramatically changed – they’re now economizing on such projects,
giving preference to specialists with 15-20 years’ working experience.

ISESCO DIRECTOR GENERAL: "I HOPE THE OCCUPIED LANDS WILL HAVE BEEN LIBERATED THE NEXT TIME I VISIT AZERBAIJAN"

APA
Feb 19 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku. Ulkar Gasimova – APA. "Nagorno Karabakh is Azerbaijan’s legal
territory and these lands should be returned," ISESCO Director General
Dr Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri said in Azerbaijan, APA reports. Director
General underlined that the organization always supported Azerbaijan
in this issue.

"It is very bad that the cultural monuments in the Armenian-occupied
Azerbaijani territories have been destroyed. ISESCO condemns this
occupation. I hope the occupied lands will have been liberated the
next time I visit Azerbaijan," he said.

ASSISTANCE OF 125 MILLION DRAMS PROVIDED TO SORSIO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMPANY

Noyan Tapan
Feb 19, 2009

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, NOYAN TAPAN. At the February 19 sitting,
the Armenian government made a decision to provide assistance of
125 million drams (403.8 million USD) to Sorsio company (IT sector)
within the framework of programs aimed at developing the Armenian
economy. The minister of economy Nerses Yeritsian announced that the
investment program submitted by the company has been approved by the
operative staff set up at the government with the aim of discussing
programs on support for the private sector.

The minister said that the company currently has 50 employees, pays
taxes of 39 million drams a year, and its turnover makes 125 million
drams. As a result of the assistance, it is envisaged increasing
the number of jobs to 200, that of customers – from current 1,000
to 80 thousand within 5 years, and the revenues are expected to
grow 120-fold.

The prime minister Tigran Sarsgian underlined that the government
support will allow the company to increase its exports to 60 million
USD. Sorsio’s production is mainly sold abroad so it plans to open a
representative office in Silicon Valley. "Despite the global economic
crisis, this company managed to find its place in the market, and
now we help it emerge as a winner under conditions of the crisis
when many are unable to withstand competition in the IT sector,"
the prime minister said.