Author: Hovhannisian John

180 MASS MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES ACCREDITED FOR COVERING PROCEEDINGS OF AUTUMN SESSION OF RA NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Noyan Tapan
Sep 7, 2007

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 7, NOYAN TAPAN. The autumn session of
the National Assembly of the fourth convocation will start on
September 10. According to the information provided to a Noyan Tapan
correspondent by Anahit Adamian, the head of the Public Relations
Department of the National Assembly, 180 mass media representatives
have been accredited for the purpose of covering the proceedings of
the session.

REPUBLICANS THINK THERE IS NO HISTORICAL NECESSITY

Largir
Sept 5 2007
Armenia

Armenia is a democratic country and it is quite normal when a candidate
is named or another or their political team names a candidate. It
is normal, for Levon Ter-Petrosyan as for any other candidate. The
author of these sentences is the press secretary of the Republican
Party which tried to express the stance of the Republican Party
on the nomination of Levon Ter-Petrosyan on September 5 at the
Friday Club. "My subjective opinion is today the discourse about the
historical necessity for the nomination of Levon Ter-Petrosyan as an
individual and a political figure is pointless.

Why? Because as a historian I should note that historical necessity
occurs when the country faces a crisis. Armenia is going through the
second stage of its development, reforms," Edward Sharmazanov says.

According to him, Ter-Petrosyan’s nomination will not make the
Republican Party change its election strategy but a change in tactics
is possible.

By the way, Edward Sharmazanov says because Armenia is not in crisis,
and there is no need to save the country, the Republican Party will
not join the meetings of opposition leaders initiated by Paruir
Hairikyan, even if they are invited. By the way, Artsahes Geghamyan
had proposed inviting the Republican Party during the second meeting of
the leaders. According to the press secretary of the Republican Party,
the opposition is considering ways of saving the country, meanwhile,
the Republican Party cannot see a situation from which the country
needs to be saved. As to the likelihood of the Republican Party to
accept the principles of the program of the opposition which would
give opposition’s support to Serge Sargsyan, the press secretary
of the Republican Party says "the Republican Party has a clear-cut
political program which underlies the government program, shared by
their other political partners."

"If we get a normal proposal, a normal program proposal, which could
be included in the election program, we may consider it.

Nevertheless, talks about the candidates, including our candidate,
will be more objective and timely when they will have already been
declared as candidates," Edward Sharmazanov says.

DINK FAMILY LAWYER TO STAND TRIAL

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.09.2007 14:15 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Legal proceedings were launched in Turkey against
Tuncel Sayman, the lawyer of killed Agos editor Hrant Dink. The
action followed Sayman’s statement that lawyer Kemal Kerincis is "a
disrespectful man". The statement was made during the court session
on Arat and Hrant Dink cases in May 2006.

Mr Sayman said his words were not addressed to anyone in the
session. However, Turkish deputy prosecutor general Beyoglu Hayreddin
Uysal demands a two-year sentence for Tuncel Sayman, who is accused of
"outrage," Radical newspaper reports.

The Istanbul prosecutor’s office wants a 3-year imprisonment for
Hrant Dink’s son Arat Dink and his fellow Sargis Serobyan, who are
charged of "insulting Turkishness. They were accused because of the
repeated publication of Hrant Dink’s interview where he spoke of the
Armenian Genocide recognition.

In case Arat Dink is found guilty, he can face deprivation of liberty
from 6 months up to 3 years.

ARMENIA READY FOR PROMOTION OF NAM OBJECTIVE

Islamic Republic News Agency
Sept 4 2007
Iran

Armenian Foreign Minister Garen A. Nazarian said here Tuesday that
Armenia is ready and willing to contribute to NAM goal which is
elimination of all human rights violations in all parts of the world.

Nazarian said at the NAM Ministerial Meeting for Human Rights and
Cultural Diversity that Yerevan believes that promotion of cultural
diversity is the best way of protecting human rights and fundamental
freedoms.

He said, "We are convinced that our beneficial cooperation will
result in full achievement of the common goal: elimination of all
human rights violations in all parts of the world."

He added that his country is convinced that the protection and
promotion of human liberty should be central undertaking of the
international community.

CAR INDUSTRY IS NOT SAUSAGE MAKING

Lragir
Sept 4 2007
Armenia

We need effective governance, new technologies in economy to make
Armenia competitive in the region, said the leader of the National
Democratic Party Shavarsh Kocharyan on September 4 at the Hayeli
Club. He said Armenia is behind of all the countries of the region by
the rate of development and competitiveness. Shavarsh Kocharyan says
if Armenia does not have natural resources, oil, gas, etc, it does
not mean it has no resource to go ahead and become competitive. The
leader of the National Democratic Union says democracy is this
resource. "Armenia has significant opportunities. These opportunities
depend on the state of the political sphere, movement towards
democracy," Shavarsh Kocharyan says.

Hrant Bagratyan who was also hosted by the Hayeli Club agrees that
Armenia is behind of its regional neighbors by all the main indices.

He gave some indices regarding the correlation of the budget and the
GDP. Hrant Bagratyan says in 1995 the budget of Armenia totaled 19.9
percent of the GDP. "It is the budget, including the grants. Georgia
was 11 percent, Azerbaijan 16.6 percent, Iran 23.1 percent, Turkey
21.7 percent," Hrant Bagratyan compares, showing that over this period
Armenia has developed indeed but our neighbors developed faster.

Hrant Bagratyan disagrees Azerbaijan develops thanks to oil. Hrant
Bagratyan says industries are growing in our neighboring country at
a high rate. "Besides IT, Azerbaijan is developing car industry. Soon
the car factory will be operated. Car industry has 1520 manufacturing
processes, unlike food industry, sausages and ice cream or sweets
which have three manufacturing processes," Hrant Bagratyan says. By
enumerating this difference he it is not a matter of arguing that
it used to be better before than now but that maybe the track the
country had chosen was the right one.

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS TO VISIT REGION ON SEPTEMBER 15-17

Noyan Tapan
Sep 4, 2007

BRUSSELS, SEPTEMBER 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Foreign Minister, Vardan
Oskanian, who is in Brussels, met with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs,
Bernard Fassier and Yuri Merzliakov on September 4. According to the
report provided to Noyan Tapan by the RA Foreign Ministry’s Press
and Information Department, the Personal Representative of the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, also took part in the meeting.

The current process of Nagorno Karabakh settlement, the possibilities
of overcoming the existing disagreements after the last meeting between
the Armenian and Azeri Presidents were discussed during the meeting
held on the Co-chairs’ initiative. The OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs
presented the results of the negotiations held with the Azeri Foreign
Minister, Elmar Mammadiarov, the day before.

During the meeting, they also touched upon the term of the OSCE MG
Co-chairs’ visit to the region. According to the preliminary agreement,
the latters will visit the region on September 15-17.

CHAIRMAN OF ARMENIAN CENTRAL BANK: GROWTH OF TAX REVENUES LAGS BEHIND THE ECONOMY GROWTH IN ARMENIA

arminfo
2007-09-03 18:27:00

ArmInfo. Growth of tax revenues lags behind the economy growth in
Armenia which hampers fulfillment of strategic programme of the
government on poverty alleviation, chairman of the Armenian Central
Bank Tigran Sarkisyan said today over hearing of the government’s
report on fulfillment of the budget 2006.

He also added that last year correlation of the tax revenues to the
GDP was by 0,7% less of the planned indicator. The tax problems cause
anxiety, he said. At the same time he added that in the absolute
expression the tax revenues have grown if compared with the previous
year.

To recall, in 2006 the GDP grew by 13,3% and amounted to 2,657 trillion
drams in an absolute expression. The budget incomes amounted to 441,4
bln drams and were fulfilled by 2,2%. The budget expenditure were
not fulfilled by 8% and amounted to 481,1 bln drams.

RUSSIAN ARMENIANS WILL HAVE THEIR SPECIAL PLACE IN DIASPORA’S LIFE

Yerkir
03.09.2007 12:45

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – ARF Bureau representative Hrant Margarian, visiting
Kuban on August 31- September 2, met with the Armenian community
of Krasnodar, Yerkramas, the paper of the South Russia Armenians,
reported.

Margarian presented the ARF history and the present activities during
the meeting as well as the party’s role in the Armenian political
system and the Diaspora.

Attaching a great importance to the potential of Russia’s Armenian
community, Margarian pointed to the need for the Russian Armenians
to be better involved in the Diaspora life. Margarian said that the
recent agreement between the ARF and the Fair Russia party has played
a great role in the strengthening of the Armenian-Russian relations.

The agreement says that the two parties would contribute to the
partnership relations between Armenian and Russia in political,
social, economic, cultural and other issues. One of the objectives
of the agreement is to protect the rights of Armenian and Russian
communities in Russia and Armenia.

Yuri Navoyan, the head of the Russian-Armenian Cooperation organization
was accompanying Margarian during his tour.

Sault Star (Sault Saint Marie Ontario)Canada
September 1, 2007 Saturday

Retreat to be held in Toronto
CP

The third annual Pan North American ACYO Retreat will be held in late
September at Wesley Acres Retreat Centre in Bloomfield, Ont.

The event, from Sept. 28 to 30, is being hosted by the Armenian
Church of Canada and organized by the Armenian Church Youth
Organization of Canada or ACYOC, according to the website

Senior ACYO members from the Canadian diocese as well as the eastern
and western dioceses of the Armenian Church of America will take part
in the retreat.

The theme of the weekend of fellowship, worship and spiritual
reflection is "The Holy Altar: Gateway to Answers" in relation to
everyday life of young people.

Discussions will focus on topics such as the physical and spiritual
significance of the holy altar, marriage, prayer and fasting, the
holy communion and meditation.

AVERAGE PENSION TO INCREASE IN 2008

armradio.am
31.08.2007 17:29

In accordance with yesterday’s decision of RA Government, stipulating
that retirement pensions were going to increase by 60% to about AMD
20.000 in 2008, today RA Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan has instructed
the Minister of Finance and Economy to find ways for envisaging
additional funds in the 2008 state budget in order to raise the average
level of monthly retirement pensions above the overall poverty line.

The overall poverty line is expected to equal AMD 21.000 in 2008.