Author: Kalantarian Kevo

ARMENIAN AND GEORGIAN PRIME MINISTERS DISCUSSED ISSUES OF MUTUAL INTEREST

Office of the Prime Minister

Nov 21 2011
Armenia

Today Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan arrived in Georgia with a
two-day working visit. The Head of the Government was greeted by
Prime Minister of Georgia Nika Gilauri at the airport in Batumi, after
which the official bilateral meeting between the two Prime Ministers
took place. Welcoming Tigran Sargsyan, the Prime Minister of Georgia
noted that the sitting of the Armenian-Georgian intergovernmental
commission will be held tomorrow, and expressed hope that it will be
held in a productive atmosphere.

Tigran Sargsyan, expressing gratitude for the warm welcome, said that
opportunities for expanding the cooperation between the two countries
have been created. The Heads discusses a number of issues of mutual
interest. After the meeting, Tigran Sargsyan and Nika Gilauri walked
around Batumi.

The sitting of the Armenian-Georgian intergovernmental economic
commission will be held on November 19, after which the Prime Minister
will also have a meeting with the Armenian community of Adjara.

ARMENIAN-GEORGIAN INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMISSION SITTING TOOK PLACE TODAY, HEADED BY TIGRAN SARGSYAN AND NIKA GILAURI

Office of the Prime Minister

Nov 21 2011
Armenia

Armenian-Georgian Intergovernmental Commission Sitting Took Place
Today, Headed by Tigran Sargsyan and Nika Gilauri The sitting of
the Armenian-Georgian intergovernmental commission was held today in
Batumi, headed by the Prime Ministers of Armenia and Georgia Tigran
Sargsyan and Nika Gilauri. The sides discussed a wide range of issues
related to economy, culture, tourism and other areas of cooperation.

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan thanked the Georgian side for the
warm welcome showed towards the Armenian delegation. “The goal of
the intergovernmental commission is to expand and diversify the
Armenian-Georgian relations. We are interested in the development
and deepening of our relations and we are sure that it is in the best
interest of our people,” said Tigran Sargsyan.

He noted that the projects implemented in cooperation with EU
contribute to the introduction of joint economic policy between Armenia
and Georgia, which, in its turn, will allow to significantly increase
the bilateral trade-circulation level. “The many issues included
on our agenda are evidence of our relations becoming more diverse
year by year,” said the Prime Minister. Tigran Sargsyan passed warm
greetings to the president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili on behalf
of the president of Armenia Serj Sargsyan.

Nika Gilauri, welcoming the Armenian government delegation, stressed
the importance of the fact that very good economic relations have
formed between Armenia and Georgia. “It is gratifying that those
relations are becoming deeper and stronger year by year. It is
welcoming that this year, compared to last year’s results, the trade
turnover increased by 42%,” said the Prime Minister of Georgia. He
noted that there are many Armenian-Georgian joint projects related
to the maintenance of customs points, wiring construction, etc. “We
should definitely continue the negotiations on the full implementation
of the joint projects. Currently, Georgia and Armenia are undergoing
reforms in various sectors, which will be the main basis for the
implementation of joint projects,” said Nika Gilauri and thanked Tigran
Sargsyan and the Armenian delegation for the good cooperative work.

The sides signed the protocol of the Armenian-Georgian
intergovernmental economic commission during the sitting.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT GLOBAL OUTREACH PARTNERS WITH IAB CENTRE TO EMPOWER WOMEN IN ARMENIA WITH ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS

Utah Pulse

Nov 21 2011

Partnership between New U.S. Non-Profit and Established Armenian
Training Organization Provides Custom, Targeted to the Needs of the
Participants and the Business Context of Armenia

Collaboration with IAB Centre Is the First of a Series of Planned
Ventures for Women Empowerment Global Outreach (WEGO)

Ongoing Entrepreneurial Training Will Be Provided by IAB Centre,
with As-Needed Support from WEGO

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, U.S. and YEREVAN, ARMENIA (November 21,
2011)-The Women Empowerment Global Outreach (WEGO) and IAB Centre
of Yerevan, Armenia today announced that the two organizations
have entered a strategic partnership to provide rigorous training
focused on empowering women in Armenia with relevant entrepreneurial
training attuned to needs and emphases in the Armenian business and
social context.

“We are honored to partner with IAB Centre, a credible and respected
career and workforce development organization in Armenia, to provide
the expertise, tools, habits and confidence many promising women
here will need to establish successful entrepreneurial careers,”
said Tamee Roberts, co-founder and executive director of WEGO. “This
partnership is a bulls-eye for our mission of empowering women in
developing countries to build entrepreneurial careers and regional
economic development, and is fully in line with our guiding principal
of local-driven leadership.”

The inaugural WEGO/IAB Centre course will teach a cohort of 20 women
from the Yerevan area. The intensive initial training will run five
days, from November 21-25, at the offices of IAB Centre in Yerevan,
Armenia. The curriculum, developed under the direction of IAB Centre,
will include:

Entrepreneurship training adapted from the innovative Foundry model
developed at the University of Utah by Professor Rob Wuebker, which
focuses on the rapid acquisition and utilization of skills, developed
by moving through the iterative learning process of trial and error
as quickly and completely as possible.

Professional poise and presentation skills, including etiquette,
professional makeup, hygiene, dress and grooming provided by
professional speaker and Glamour Connections CEO Leta Greene,
a recognized expert in the positive role of physical appearance
in building confidence and credibility within the individual and
from others.

Instruction from WEGO executive director Tamee Roberts on making
meaningful choices: confronting challenges and embracing opportunities,
success and failure; learning to envision future possibilities;
being honest with oneself and others in order to establish strong
relationships of trust; and tapping into one’s greatest potential.

The IAB Centre collaboration is the first venture for the newly
established non-profit organization WEGO, which has its headquarters
in Salt Lake City, Utah. WEGO brings together a novel combination of
entrepreneurial perspectives and resources designed to provide women in
developing economies with a useful entrepreneurial toolkit that they
can immediately implement in the marketplace. In every engagement,
WEGO will collaborate with a qualified partner in the host nation to
ensure that the content of the entrepreneurial curriculum is relevant
and effective. WEGO has been invited to provide a corresponding target
program in Gambia, and is exploring other partnerships throughout
the developing world.

For additional information on the Women Empowerment Global
Outreach, visit , or on Facebook at

For more information about IAB Centre, visit , or
on Facebook at

###

Press Contact: Kimball Thomson Synaptic Strategy Group (for WEGO)
801.918.3637 [email protected]

MOODY’S LOWERS ARMENIA’S OUTLOOK TO NEGATIVE ON WEAK GROWTH IN EUROPE, RUSSIA

Wall Street Journal

Nov 21 2011

Moody’s Investors Service lowered its outlook on Armenia’s
junk-territory sovereign ratings to negative from stable, pointing to
risks to the country’s growth given the anticipated economic slowdown
in Europe and Russia.

The ratings firm, which sees Armenia’s government foreign and local
currency issuer ratings two notches into junk territory at Ba2, noted
Europe and Russia account for 58% of Armenia’s export market. In
particular, Armenia’s reliance on exports to Russia poses risks to
the country’s external position.

Moody’s also said potentially lower commodity prices could further
impact the Armenian economy, as exports are concentrated in its mining
and metals industries. The outlook downgrade also reflects concerns
on the risk to Armenia’s shock-absorption capacity as it enters
another economically challenging period with weakened debt metrics
and a more vulnerable external position. The firm noted Armenia is
now faced with a large current account deficit and has seen its total
debt burden more than double in the last three years.

However, Moody’s noted the government is committed to fiscal
consolidation, with measures in a draft 2012 budget that are aimed at
reducing the general government deficit to 3.1% of GDP next year, as
well as efforts to improve the efficiency of tax collection. The impact
of such measures will remain unclear for some time and implementation
risks to the fiscal consolidation plan are significant, Moody’s added.

-By Nathalie Tadena, Dow Jones Newswires

ITU DEPUTY SEC. GEN.: ARMENIA WILL SURPASS AZERBAIJAN IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
November 21, 2011 – 15:03 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – On November 21, Armenian Minister of Transport and
Communication Manuk Vardanyan met with Deputy Secretary General of
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Houlin Zhao, ministerial
press service reported.

During the meeting Minister Vardanyan dwelled on solution of problems
related to cyber security and provision of appropriate equipment for
video conferencing through ITU.

ITU Deputy Secretary General, in turn, noted major progress in
telecommunications sector of Armenia compared with other CIS
countries. According to Houlin Zhao, Armenia is likely to surpass
Azerbaijan, China and Thailand in the field this year.

Further cooperation prospects were also discussed at the meeting.

At the initiative of ITU and RA Ministry of Transport and Communication
computer center for the blind and visually impaired was opened.

TURKEY TURNS ARMENIAN-TURKISH NORMALIZATION PROCESS INTO PERFORMANCE

PanARMENIAN.Net

November 21, 2011 – 19:50 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Turkish MP Mustafa Boskir~Rs statement suggesting
the protocols on normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia
will not be put on Turkish parliament~Rs agenda testify to Turkish
authorities having turned Armenian-Turkish normalization process into
a performance, political analyst Sergey Minasyan said.

In an interview with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, Mr. Minasyan noted
that such statements will not change Armenia~Rs stance on the issue.

Armenian-Turkish normalization process started on RA President Serzh
Sargsyan~Rs initiative in fall 2008. On October 10, 2009 Armenian and
Turkish Foreign Ministers signed protocols expected to be ratified
by parliaments of both states.

In August 2011, the protocols were removed from Turkish parliament~Rs
agenda and were brought back in October.

TURKEY ARRESTS DOZENS ON PKK LINKS SUSPICION

PanARMENIAN.Net
November 22, 2011 – 15:16 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Turkeyâ~@~Ys state-run TRT television says Turkish
police have rounded up dozens of people on November 22 in a nationwide
crackdown on the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK).

KCK is alleged to be the urban wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK)

TRT television says the police detained at least 65 people in
simultaneous raids in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır as well
as in Istanbul, Izmir and Bursa.

It says the suspects have been taken into custody on suspicion of
ties to the PKK, which has escalated its attacks since the summer,
Hurriyet Daily News reported.

ARF ON GENOCIDE RECOGNITION: FRANCE PLAYS A GAME OF DOUBLE STANDARDS

22.11.11 | 12:13

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Central Committee of France
issued a statement calling on President Nicolas Sarkozy to condemn
his foreign minister’s proposal to establish a commission that would
study the Armenian Genocide, Nouvelles Armenie reports.

During his visit to Turkey last week French Foreign Minister Alain
Juppe called the period of the Armenian Genocide hard for both
Armenians and Turks and expressed France’s willingness for the
establishment of a commission to study the Armenian Genocide.

“ARF is furious at the Foreign Minister for his remarks, which
potentially cast doubt on the veracity of the Armenian Genocide. Such
statements are not acceptable and contain hints of policy of denial.

Statements by Alain Juppe significantly minimize the words of
[President] Nicolas Sarkozy, who called on Turkey to recognize the
Armenian Genocide,” reads the statement. “The French government can not
simultaneously call on Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide and
propose a commission of historians which must decide on the reality
of the Armenian Genocide.This is an intolerable contradiction by the
French authorities, who apparently decided to play a game of double
standards of truth and denial.”

HAYASTAN FUND’S 12TH EUROPEAN PHONEATHON ENSURED MORE THAN 1 MILLION 300 THOUSAND EUROS DONATIONS

armradio.am
21.11.2011 13:46

The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s 12th European Phoneathon, taken place
in France, from November 17 to November 20, ensured pledges of more
than 1 million 300 thousand Euros.

Some 700 volunteers from France, Germany, and Switzerland worked the
phones throughout the four-day event, with calls placed 12 hours
a day. Stationed in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, and Toulouse,
the volunteers called close to 60,000 Armenian families, businesses,
and organizations across Europe to request financial support for the
ongoing development of Armenia and Artsakh.

The 1 million 173 thousand Euros, raised by the Hayastan Fund’s French
affiliate, will be dedicated to vital water-infrastructure projects
in close to ten rural communities throughout Artsakh and the Tavush
Region of Armenia. The 24.150 Euro donated by the Swiss Armenians will
be used to renovate the Yerevan Chaikovski musical school, and furnish
its library, and the 81.360 Euros raised by the German affiliate will
be directed to the renovation of the the Gyumri’s orphanage.

Also participating in the Phoneathon was the Armenian community from
Greece. Despite the political state and economic crisis in Greece,
Armenians once again demonstrated their dedication to the Homeland. As
a result of the two-day phonethon launched on 12th November, about
35000 Euros were raised to be directed to the needs of Vanadzor
orphanage.

The Independent (London)
November 19, 2011 Saturday
First Edition

Armenian Rhapsody Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Eduard
Topchjan (Bis) £12.99;
Album of the week

BY: MICHAEL CHURCH

This beautifully performed concert with cellist Alexander Chaushian
includes a new work by Vache Sharafyan and also Monograph, an
exquisite chamber work by Suren Zakarian that begins with an
extraordinary three-minute piece of free-association for cello.
Armenian music was never better served.