Author: Kalantarian Kevo

ARMENIA IMPROVES ITS POSITION IN ANNUAL ‘PAYING TAXES 2012. THE GLOBAL PICTURE’ REPORT

/ARKA/
November 14, 2011
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, November 14. /ARKA/. Armenia has improved its position in
the annual ‘Paying Taxes 2012. The Global Picture’ report by six
notches rising to 153rd position.

The report released by the World Bank (WB), International Finance
Corporation (IFC) and PriceWaterhouseCooper auditing and consulting
firm covers 183 countries.

It measures tax systems from the point of view of a domestic company
complying with the different tax laws and regulations in each economy.

The case-study company is a small to medium-size manufacturer and
retailer, deliberately chosen to ensure that its business can be
identified with and compared worldwide. The indicator covers the
cost of taxes borne by the case study company and the administrative
burden of tax compliance for the firm “Medium-sized businesses in
Armenia have to make 34 types of tax payments per year, of which 7 are
income tax payments. Tax payment procedures take 500 hours per year,
of which 135 hours for payment of income taxes,” the report says.

According to the report, in terms of the number of paid taxes Armenia’s
rating has been improved by 46 notches to 120th place, in terms of
time required to complete tax documents Armenia has risen by three
notches to 166th place. With regard to the tax rate, Armenia fell by
6 notches to 100th place.

“The process of paying taxes in Armenia has become easier. The number
of taxes on land and property and social insurance payments have
reduced,” the report said.

However, Armenia is far behind other countries of the region. Thus, in
terms of facilitation of tax payments Georgia is ranked 39th (it went
up by 22 notches), Turkey is 75th, Azerbaijan is 77th (it has improved
its position by 26 notches), Iran is on the 125th position. The
ranking is led by the Maldives and at the bottom is Venezuela.

EDUCATION AND CAREER EXPO 2011 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION TO BE HELD NOVEMBER 15 -17 IN YEREVAN

/ARKA/
November 14, 2011
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, November 14, /ARKA /. The 12th International Exhibition
“Education and Career EXPO 2011” will take place from 15 to 17 November
in the cultural and business center “Moscow House” in Yerevan, LOGOS
EXPO Center company reported. It is the organizer of the event.

The event will be attended by more than 55 local and foreign
organizations, companies and associations, including universities,
colleges, training centers and international donor organizations. A
string of seminars, round table discussions about innovations in
education and training, employment are scheduled to take place along
with Employer’s Day and Job Fair.

“The exhibition brings together the most important and applied sectors
of education, thus providing an opportunity to save time and get all
the information by visiting it,” the company said in a press release.

The main thematic sections are university education, post-graduate
education, role of international organizations in education,
innovative projects, virtual textbooks and programs, teaching methods
and techniques, training and developing literature, printing and
equipment for schools.

LOGOS EXPO Center is the first private exhibition company in Armenia
founded in 1999. It is the leader in the field of organization of
industrial, national and international exhibitions and congresses
both in Armenia and abroad. Over the past 13 years it has organized
more than 100 exhibitions.

PARLIAMENTARIAN FROM OPPOSITION: ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROTOCOLS HAVE GIVEN NOTHING TO ARMENIAN DIPLOMACY, EXCEPT NEW THREATS

arminfo
Monday, November 14, 15:53

The Armenian-Turkish Protocols have given nothing to Armenian
diplomacy, except new threats, Stepan Safaryan, MP from the
oppositional Heritage Party, said in parliament on Monday.

In this context, the incumbent authorities of Armenia are constantly
pointing out the reaction of the international community, which insists
on ratification of these documents as soon as possible, he said. He
thinks that it is extremely dangerous to maintain the protocols on
the Armenian Parliament’s agenda. “The Armenian president himself has
repeatedly announced his intention to withdraw the protocols from the
big agenda of Parliament”, Safaryan said. He suggested on behalf of
Heritage that the whole Parliament should apply to Serzh Sargsyan to
withdraw the documents from the National Assembly’s agenda.

For his part, Speaker of Armenian Parliament Hovik Abrahamyan recalled
that the issue of ratification of the Armenian-Turkish protocols is
within cognizance of the Armenian president. It is the president that
has the right to withdraw international agreement or protocols.

On January 12 2010 the Constitutional Court of Armenia recognized
the commitments in the Armenian-Turkish Protocols in compliance with
the Constitution of Armenia. The CC resumed that the commitments
in the Protocols are of mutual interstate interest and cannot apply
to third countries. The Protocols were signed in Zurich on October
10 2009. To come into effect, the protocols are to be ratified by
the two countries’ parliaments. Turkey was delaying the process of
ratification, and on April 22, on the eve of the 95th Anniversary
of Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey, President of Armenia Serzh
Sargsyan signed a decree on suspension of the procedure of ratification
of the Armenian-Turkish protocols. Armenia shall retain its signature
under the Protocols, because of desire to maintain the existing
momentum for normalizing relations, because of desire of peace. In
August 2011 the protocols were removed from the Turkish Parliament’s
agenda, but in October the Turkish prime minister returned them to
the agenda. Turkey and Armenia lack diplomatic relations. The border
between the two countries has been closed since 1993 on the initiative
of official Ankara.

ARTUR CHILINGAROV BECOMES SENATOR OF RUSSIA’S TULA OBLAST

PanARMENIAN.Net
November 14, 2011 – 09:56 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Russian presidential envoy for cooperation in
the Arctic and the Antarctic, ethnic Armenian Artur Chilingarov has
become a senator of the Russian Federation Council in Tula Oblast,
RIA Novosti reported.

Chilingarov, who earlier won a by-election in the Oblast, will replace
Anatolu Vaskov.

THE “OGRE” AMONG US
By: Seyran Hanoyan

yerkir.am
11:47 – 14.11.2011

“There are ogres among us”, once announced the minister of social
security about one of the young members of the department of Labor
and employment who was not present in that meeting.

What had happened? That very young man had posted an open letter to the
president and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia on his own
Facebook page, complaining about that low salary of social workers,
that is around 100 thousand AMD. Hundreds of social workers have
joined his post. That was the reason that the minister lost his temper.

In order to be void of more comments the ministry had cut the internet
connection.

Now some questions rise:

First: who should the social worker complain to, the Pope, Ugo
Chaves, The late Mother Teresa, or to the most handsome hero of
Victor Hugo-Quasimodo?

Second: those who had not complained publicly, you, Mr. Minister,
think that they are pleased with their salary and so are not ogres?

Third: where did that term generate from? Did the young man verbally
abuse anyone in his letter?

Forth: where can we see more ogres? In penitentiaries? Mental
institutions? The opposition? Where? Who is the stereotype of ogre
for you?

Fifth: which sort of ogrness did he reveal writing that open letter,
inner or outer? Is that young man ogre in the outside? If so, what
connection does it have to the letter? If he is ogre in the inside
then why does not that fact make you more apologetic?

Sixth: what gave you the right to verbally abuse that man? Your
personality? Party membership? Being a minister? Or the mirror at
your home wall?

Seventh: what’s the price of not being ogre, as the ministerial seats
are limited?

Eighth: don’t you realize that your salary is lower than the one of
the head of your party? So what made you accept to be a minister with
the intellect that you have, which, by the way, is only enough for
calling someone an ogre?

Ninth: what made you angry in that letter exactly? After that people
are making fun of you and the employee became famous.

Tenth: who were the present people at the meeting in front of whom
you had called that young man an ogre? What do you expect to hear
from them now?

Eleventh: what have you done for that young man before he wrote
that letter?

Twelfth: when verbally abusing someone, don’t you think that
restraining of abuse is what makes a better man and not the opposite?

Thirteenth: what’s the limit of expression for your employee? Can’t he
turn to the one he had elected? In that case, how can you be sure that
your employees are honest with you in discussing an issue of any sort?

OCTOBER POLL – 38.2% SAY LIFE HAS GOTTEN WORSE IN PAST YEAR
Grisha Balasanyan

hetq
14:14, November 12, 2011

According to poll conducted last month by the IPSC (Institute for
Political and Sociological Consulting), only 13.1% of respondents
said their overall socio-economic situation had improved during the
past year.

This is a drop of almost two percentage points from a poll taken last
December when 14.8% responded that their situation had improved during
the preceding year.

In October’s survey, 38.2% of respondents said their living standards
had gotten worse during the past year, a slight drop from the 40.1%
of the previous year’s poll.

The poll, conducted at the behest of the government, questioned 1,618
citizens of Armenia. 569 were from Yerevan.

IRAN PREPARES TO LAUNCH 3 HOMEMADE SATELLITES

PanARMENIAN.Net
November 14, 2011 – 11:49 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Senior Iranian officials announced that the country
plans to orbit three new domestically-manufactured satellites on the
back of three Iran-made carriers in the near future.

“The satellites named Fajr (Dawn), Navid (Promise) and Tolou (Sunrise)
will be launched during the current Iranian year (ending on March
19),” Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi told
a gathering on Iran’s satellite carrier systems.

“Fajr satellite would be carried by Safir-e Fajr carrier and Tolou
by Simorgh (Phoenix) booster. Our country would take the first step
in manufacturing the new generations of Iranian carriers by using
Simorgh rocket,” he added.

The minister did not give details about the function of the satellites,
Fars News Agency reported.

Navid is a research satellite, which was designed by scientists
at the University of Science and Technology in Tehran. It weighs
50 kilograms and can take pictures at low altitudes of about 250
kilometers to 375 kilometers from the Earth.

Iran launched its first domestically-produced satellite Omid ( Hope)
in 2009 and sent small animals into space in 2010. Tehran plans to
send a man into space by 2020.

PEINTURES DE CHARLES ATAMIAN A LA MAISON BILLAUD

Ouest-France
vendredi 11 novembre 2011
laroche Edition

Pour celebrer les 20 ans de l’independance de l’Armenie, l’association
Armenie-Vendee organise une exposition a la maison Billaud qui
accueille des peintures de Charles Atamian. Ce peintre d’origine
armenienne s’est rendu a Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie de facon regulière
entre 1923 et 1939 où il a peint sur le thème de la plage. Charles
Atamian s’est eteint en 1947.

C’est sa petite fille, âgee de 86 ans et vivant a Saint-Gilles, qui
sera presente lors du vernissage de cette exposition. Des images du
photographe Jean-Michel Berts sont aussi exposees. Ce dernier sera
aussi present pour commenter ses photos en noir et blanc intitulees
Lumières d’Armenie. Des ouvrages sur l’Armenie sont presentes dans
le cadre de l’operation Erevan, capitale mondiale du livre en 2012.

Exposition a la maison Billaud vendredi, samedi et dimanche ;
vernissage samedi a 17 h.

TALISH STUDIES CONFERENCE KICKS OFF IN YEREVAN

The 2nd Talish Studies international conference kicked off in Yerevan
nearly an hour ago. The conference is dedicated to the 15th anniversary
of the international scientific journal Iran and the Caucasus (BRILL,
Leiden-Boston).

Talish studies are a component of Iranian studies. The main area of
residency of the ancient Talish people in Iran is the Talish region,
which is linked to the south coast of the Caspian Sea and reaches
the Kopul-chal residence not too far away from Enzel Harbor. As a
result of Russian-Persian wars in the 19th century, the Talish were
split into two parts and currently live in modern-day Iran’s northern
(Gilan) region and the southern region of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

In light of the conference, the Department of Iranian Studies
at Yerevan State University had prepared a monograph entitled
“Introduction to the History and Culture of the Talish” edited by
Professor Garnik Asatryan. The monograph includes ten chapters that
examine the origin and history of the Talish in detail.

The first Talish studies conference was held in Tsakhkadzor in May
2005 and was organized by the Iranian Studies Department at Yerevan
State University and the Caucasus Center for Iranian Studies.

ARMENIAN CHURCH TO HOST CONCERT OF ISTANBUL CHOIR FEST

PanARMENIAN.Net
November 12, 2011 – 10:51 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The fourth edition of the International Istanbul
Choir Days Festival will open with a reception at the Macka campus
of Istanbul Technical University (Ä°TU).

The event, initiated by the Fortuna Organization, first took place
in 2008. This year’s lineup, which promises to be the best yet,
will present 24 choirs from seven countries: Switzerland, Slovenia,
Italy, Greece, Poland, Sweden and Turkey. Running through Nov. 21,
admission to the concerts is free of charge, in an effort by festival
organizers to spread choir culture in Turkey in a way that will be
accessible to all.

The festival is a non-competitive event that focuses on intercultural
musical dialogue and introducing choirs from different countries
to a variety of musical styles and repertories. A range of parallel
activities including seminars, workshops and sightseeing tours will
be hosted along with the concert series.

A total of 10 concerts and four seminars will be held at a range of
historically and culturally important Ä°stanbul venues, including
the Armenian Church of the Three Altars in Beyoglu, the St. Esprit
Church and the Mustafa Kemal Amphitheater, across the four-day period
of the festival, Today’s Zaman reported.