Author: Hunanian Jack

"PROSPEROUS ARMENIA" TRYING TO BUY SEATS FROM "HERITAGE"?

A1+
09:00 pm | March 31, 2009

Politics

"Heritage" party representative Zoya Tadevosyan told "A1+" today that
one of the coalition parties is making offers to purchase the seats of
"Heritage" in the electoral commissions. According to her information,
the prices range.

"They have offered to pay nearly 10,000 dollars for polling stations
18 and 19. The prices and conditions range. The members of the 13th
electoral commission told me that they had received an offer."

Tadevosyan is certain that it will be possible to prevent the strategy
of one of the coalition parties technically, through loyalty and
people who expect nothing in return.

"As a rule, the member of the electoral commission at the precinct
forms the list of members of the polling station commission. I am
in charge of that and to make sure our list makes it there, Hovsep
Khurshudyan and I will submit it together," said Tadevosyan.

Tadevosyan says that "Heritage" needs 430 honest and uncorrupt people
to win in the Yerevan city council elections.

"There are nearly 430 polling station commissions in Yerevan. We
are going to engage people for whom the elections are an honor,"
said Zoya Tadevosyan. She doesn’t exclude including ANC members in
the commissions.

Zoya Tadevosyan refused to inform "A1+" which coalition party is
trying to buy the seats of "Heritage" and hoped that this would stop
after her statement.

She believes that the attempts to buy the seats from "Heritage" go
to show that the pro-government parties are working in favor of more
than one candidate, but she is sure that the government parties will
later unite around the one Republican candidate. Although Tadevosyan
decided not to announce the name, but there are rumors flying around
about "Prosperous Armenia" party.

"The "Prosperous Armenia" party has never applied such techniques. We
don’t work that way and I deny all the rumors," told "A1+" "Prosperous
Armenia" member Naira Zohrabyan.

She also denied the rumors that there will come a point when the
coalition parties will work together and will unite around the one
Republican candidate.

"We are working in favor of our candidate, our proportional list
and only for our platform." Zohrabyan believes that the "Prosperous
Armenia" candidate has very high chances of winning in the elections.

MINOTIRNG CONDUCTED IN TAVUSH REGION

Panorama.am
17:55 31/03/2009

The OSCE monitoring mission chaired by the special representative of
the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk conducted a monitoring
in the border line near Berqaber village, Tavush region, announced
Seyran Shahsuvaryan, the press secretary of the Defense Ministry.

Note that no extraordinary accidents broke the monitoring process.

BSEC MINISTERS OF TRANSPORT DISCUSSING COOPERATION IN ARMENIA

ARKA
March 27, 2009

YEREVAN, March 27. /ARKA/. The Ministers of Transport of the Black
Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC) are holding a meeting
in Yerevan to discuss further cooperation.

Opening the meeting, RA Minister of Transport and Communication Gurgen
Sargsyan stated that Armenia considers it a great honor to chair the
meeting being held in Yerevan.

"We plan to hold the most effective meeting to determine and declare
our further priority tasks," the Minister said.

He pointed out the BSEC steering committees’ efficient activities in
consistent execution of the previous joint declarations by the BSEC
Ministers of Transport, as well as the resolutions and recommendations
by the Foreign Ministers’ Council.

"This is the first meeting since the Memorandum of Understanding
facilitating the motor-traction in the in the BSEC, Memorandum of
Understanding coordinating the development of the Black Sea ring road
and the Memorandum on the development of sea routes in the Black Sea
region came into effect," Minister Sargsyan said.

Now that the three documents are in effect, specific measures to
accomplish the tasks set must be taken.

In this context Minister Sargsyan welcomed the formation of a Joint
Permanent Technical Secretariat for the Black Sea ring road. The
Secretariat has launched its activities and prepared a questionnaire
for the member-s tates.

"The answers will serve as a basis for a map, minimal technical
requirements and other specific features of the ring road," the
Minister said.

G. Sargsyan also pointed out the importance of a survey conducted by
the NEA research center. The survey results served as a basis for
three principal options of gradual liberalization of transit and
two-way motor-traction between the BSEC member-states.

Minister Sargsyan also stressed the importance of focusing attention
on developing cooperation to develop stable, effective and integrated
transport systems and infrastructures in the Black Sea region,
liberalize the transport procedures, develop multimodal traffic,
remove tangible and intangible barriers in the region.

"With this end in view, we must continue the previously launched
projects and elaborate new ones to accomplish the tasks set by the
relevant memorandums, as well as intensify the execution of all
the resolutions approved by the BSEC Foreign Ministers," Minister
Sargsyan said.

Armenia took over the BSEC Chairmanship last November and is to chair
the organization until April 30, 2009.

PUBLIC FORUM ON ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS TO BE HELD IN GLENDALE

PanARMENIAN.Net
26.03.2009 21:25 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Hunchakian Party "Arsen Gidour" Glendale chapter
will host a public discussion on the subject of "Armenian-Turkish
Relations" on Friday, April 3 at 8 p.m., at the Glendale Central
Library, 222 East Harvard Street.

Panelists in the discussion will include scholars and leaders in the
Armenian-American community who are highly involved in geopolitical
affairs involving Armenia and the Diaspora. The panelists are
Mr. Harout Sasounian, Editor of the California Courier newspaper,
Mr. Zaven Khanjian author of the book "Is This Home Yours or Mine?:
Pilgrimage to Western Armenia" and Dr. Hampig Sarafian , Chairman of
SDHP Western US Executive Committee.

Moderating the event is journalist and political analyst Dr. Artin
Sagherian.

The discussion has been planned during the month of April to coincide
with the 94th commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.

The event is free and open to all members of the public. The
discussion will be both in Armenian and English. A question and
answer session will follow, Hunchakian Party Press Service reported
to PanARMENIAN.Net.

CATHOLICOS MET WITH THE AGBU PRESIDENT

15:15:44 – 25/03/2009
Lragir.am

On March 24, the Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II received the
president of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) Perj
Sedrakyan.

The Armenian Catholicos expressed his satisfaction with the AGBU
activities. Perj Sedrakyan and Garegin II dwelt on the cooperation of
the Armenian Apostolic Church and the AGBU as well as discussed the
common educational and social programs.

Attaching great importance to the role of the Armenian Apostolic
Church in the religious life of the Armenian Nation, the AGBU
president assured that the Armenian General Benevolent Union will
continue assisting the Armenian Church, noting that the AGBU and the
Armenian Church have always implemented their mission in the life of
the nation, the press office of the Holy See St. Echmiadzin reports.

CHINA CALLS FOR DOLLAR REPLACEMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
24.03.2009 12:53 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ China’s central bank on Monday proposed replacing
the US dollar as the international reserve currency with a new global
system controlled by the International Monetary Fund.

In an essay posted on the People’s Bank of China’s website, Zhou
Xiaochuan, the central bank’s governor, said the goal would be to
create a reserve currency "that is disconnected from individual
nations and is able to remain stable in the long run, thus removing
the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national
currencies".

Analysts said the proposal was an indication of Beijing’s fears that
actions being taken to save the domestic US economy would have a
negative impact on China.

"This is a clear sign that China, as the largest holder of US dollar
financial assets, is concerned about the potential inflationary
risk of the US Federal Reserve printing money," said Qu Hongbin,
chief China economist for HSBC.

Although Mr Zhou did not mention the US dollar, the essay gave a
pointed critique of the current dollar-dominated monetary system.

"The outbreak of the [current] crisis and its spillover to the entire
world reflected the inherent vulnerabilities and systemic risks in
the existing international monetary system," Mr Zhou wrote.

China has little choice but to hold the bulk of its $2,000bn of
foreign exchange reserves in US dollars, and this is unlikely to
change in the near future.

To replace the current system, Mr Zhou suggested expanding the role
of special drawing rights, which were introduced by the IMF in 1969
to support the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate regime but became
less relevant once that collapsed in the 1970s.

Today, the value of SDRs is based on a basket of four currencies –
the US dollar, yen, euro and sterling – and they are used largely as a
unit of account by the IMF and some other international organizations.

China’s proposal would expand the basket of currencies forming the
basis of SDR valuation to all major economies and set up a settlement
system between SDRs and other currencies so they could be used in
international trade and financial transactions.

Countries would entrust a portion of their SDR reserves to the IMF to
manage collectively on their behalf and SDRs would gradually replace
existing reserve currencies.

Mr Zhou said the proposal would require "extraordinary political
vision and courage" and acknowledged a debt to John Maynard Keynes,
who made a similar suggestion in the 1940s, FT reports.

JAN POULSEN PUBLISHES ARMENIAN NATIONAL TEAM COMPOSITION

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.03.2009 17:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian national football team coach Jan Poulsen
published Monday the list of footballers to come out against Estonia
on March 28 in the Republican stadium, Yerevan, for a World Cup
2010 qualifier.

Khimki goalkeeper Roman Berezovsky is not included in the list.

Armenian team composition:

Goalkeepers

Gevorg Kasparov-Tractor (Iran) Mayis Azizyan-Ulis

Fullbacks

Sargis Hovseoyan- Pyunik Robert Arzumanyan- Randers (Denmark) Avghan
Lazarian- Mika Karen Khachatryan- Pyunik Hrayr Mkoyan-Ulis Vahagn
Minasyan-Ararat

Halfbacks

Ararat Arakelyan- Metslurg (Ukraine) Arthur Voskanyan- Banants Arthur
Yediganyan-Pyunik Henrikh Mkhitaryan-Pyunik Artak Dashyan-Banants
Artavazd Karamyan- Timishoara (Romania) Levon Pachajyan- Fredrikstad
(Norway)

Forwards

Ara Hakobyan- Mika Gevorg Ghazaryan- Pyunik Edgar Manucharyan- Ajax
(Netherlands) Arman Karamyan- Timishoara(Romania)

RE-OPENING OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH BORDER IMPOSSIBLE IN NEAR FUTURE

ARKA
March 20, 2009

YEREVAN, March 20. /ARKA/. The re-opening of the Armenian-Turkish
border is impossible in the near future, Artyusha Shahbazyan, Secretary
of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) faction told a briefing
in Parliament.

"I do not think that the re-opening of the Armenian-Turkish border
is possible in a short period. However, we should consider this
possibility in a longer-term outlook," Shahbazyan said.

According to him, presenting the situation in the context of possible
resolution of the problem is a maneuver of Turkish propaganda,
which specifically has to do with an attempt to torpedo the possible
recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the USA, which can be done
before April 24.

Shahbazyan pointed out that the party sees numerous other threats to
domestic producers from the possible re-opening of the Armenian-Turkish
border.

"The re-opening of the border will deliver a serious blow to the
Armenian agricultural sector and the small and medium-sized enterprises
working in this sector," Shahbazyan.

He said that the ARF prepared a document dealing with the possible
re-opening of the Armenian-Turkish border in the context of the
benefits and threats. The faction plans to submit the document to
the Government in the near future.

Armenia and Turkey have no diplomatic relations. The Armenian-Turkish
border was closed in 1993 on20official Ankara’s initiative. Turkey sets
a number of preconditions for the establishment of bilateral relations
– Armenia’s abandoning the policy of getting the Armenian Genocide
internationally recognized and recognizing Turkey’s present-day
borders.

The first positive changes in the Armenian-Turkish relations were
registered on September 6, 2008, when Turkish President Abdullah Gul
first arrived in Yerevan at the invitation of his Armenian counterpart
Serzh Sargsyan.

The two Presidents discussed the possibility of establishing bilateral
relations.

PASSENGER TRAFFIC OF ZVARTNOTS AIRPORT DECREASED BY 9,492 TO 160,976 IN JAN-FEB 2009

ARKA
March 18, 2009

YEREVAN, March 18. /ARKA/. According to the report pasted on the
website of Armenia’s General Department of Civil Aviation the passenger
traffic of Armenian Zvartnots airport in Yerevan decreased by 9.492
and came to 160,976 this January-February.

The report says 86,401 departed from Armenia through Zvartnots airport
this Jan-Feb against 95,685 in same period of last year.

At the same time 74,575 arrived at Zvartnots airport in the same
period against 74,783 in January-February of 2008.

Through Zvartnots airport 820tons of goods was transported against
1.056tons in the first two months of previous year.

>From this 635tons were imported to Armenia against 756 in analogue
period of 2008 and 185tons were exported from Armenia against 300tons.

Total number of arrivals and departures in Zvartnots airport was
1,016 against 1,203 in January-February of 2008.

"Zvartnots" airport is operated by "Armenia – International Airports"
closed joint stock company under a 30-year concession agreement signed
with Armenian Government in 2001.

The company belongs to a New-York holding company, the owner of which
is businessman of Armenian origin Eduardo Eurnekian.

BELARUS, ARMENIA TO DISCUSS COOPERATION IN MEETING MODERN-DAY CHALLENGES

Trend
March 17 2009
Azerbaijan

Belarus and Armenia are going to discuss a wide range of issues related
to the development of the bilateral cooperation on major problems of
the international and regional security. These issues will top the
agenda of the negotiations between State Secretary of the Security
Council of Belarus Yuri Zhadobin and Secretary of the Council of the
National Security of Armenia Artur Bagdasarian on March 17, BelTA
learnt from the State Secretariat of the Security Council of Belarus.

Artur Bagdasarian is heading a delegation of the Council of the
National Security of the Republic of Armenia that is in Belarus
on a working visit on March 16-18. The negotiations will cover the
issues of cooperation between security and law enforcement bodies
in responding to modern-day challenges and threats to the security,
international terrorism, organized transboundary crime, drugs and
human trafficking, illegal migration.

Taking into account that Armenia is presiding in the Collective
Security Treaty Organization, the two sides will consider the ways of
developing integration processes within the organization, deepening
the military and political cooperation, strengthening military and
technical cooperation within the CSTO.