NEW FOOTBALL MATCH SEASON TO START ON MARCH 17 IN ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan
M arch 16, 2009
YEREVAN, MARCH 16, NOYAN TAPAN. New football match season will start on
March 17 in Armenia. Eight teams with quarter final games will start
competing in Armenian Cup Tournament. Pyunik will receive Kilikia,
Ulis will receive Gandzasar. The other pairs will play on March 18,
Banants-Ararat, Mika-Shirak. The return games are scheduled for April
7 and 8.
PanARMENIAN.Net
Eastern Partnership important for Karabakh conflict resolution
14.03.2009 13:13 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
has always supported the OSCE Minsk Groupâ??s endeavors for
resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the OSCE PA President
said.
â??Political dialogue is the only way to resolve the Nagorno
Karaabkh conflict,â?? Joao Soares said during a visit to
Minsk.
He reminded that the OSCE PA has organized a number of meetings
between the parliamentary delegations of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
He also said that the Eastern Partnership initiative can be useful for
resolution of the Karabakh conflict and reconciliation of
nations. â??This opportunity should be seized,â??
Mr. Soares said.
EurasiaNet, NY
March 11 2009
OMBUDSMAN SLAMS ARMENIA’S HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD
3/11/09
Armenian Ombudsman Armen Harutyunian has called for changes in
Armenia’s system of government, which he described as "oligarchic,"
"repressive," and a holdover from the Soviet Union.
Presenting a scathing report on Armenia’s human rights record,
Harutyunian said at a March 10 news conference that his office
received up to 5,800 complaints in 2008, but that officials had acted
on only 429 of them, the PanArmenian Network and Regnum news services
reported.
Harutyunian said that public trust in the courts has eroded during the
last three years. "It is essential to strictly separate business and
authorities," Harutyunian was quoted by Regnum as saying. Calling on
both the governing Republican Party of Armenia and the opposition "to
establish an atmosphere of tolerance," he advocated the abolition of
what he termed a "repressive system of governance" that rests on the
General Prosecutor’s Office and the Special Investigation Service.
Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan receives World Bank Regional
Director for South Caucasus Asad Alam
2009-03-06 20:23:00
ArmInfo. Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan received World Bank
Regional Director for the South Caucasus Asad Alam. Head of WB Office
in Armenia Aristomene Varoudakis also took part in the meeting. The
meeting participants discussed programs for the next 4 years being
implemented in Armenia with the WB support.
The Armenian prime minister expressed content with the level of
Armenia-WB cooperation and pointed out that Armenia is interested in
continuation of cooperation in all programs, including the spheres of
agriculture, governing system, improvement of irrigation systems, etc.
despite the fact that the government will have to give up a number of
high-risk projects due to the financial and economic crisis. Tigran
Sargsyan stressed the significance of implementation of social
programs.
Asad Alam pointed out the importance of effective spending of $525 mln
provided to Armenia by WB, particularly, the elaboration of a distinct
action plan. He added that according to the results of
assessment of 2-year implementation of programs, possible further
financing by WB will be considered.
Asad Alam said that the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility program
in Armenia was declared the best at the WB competition "Improvement of
life in Europe and Central Asia" and awarded a commemorative prize to
Tigran Sargsyan.
PanARMENIAN.Net
Afghanistan reconciles NATO with Russia
Karine Ter-Sahakyan
Russia has offered to transit through her territory civil goods to the
military forces under NATO supervision in Afghanistan, which is
becoming extremely important with the situation being awfully unstable
on the supply routes passing through Pakistan.
05.03.2009 GMT+04:00
The NATO FM summit in Brussels ended with recommencement of relations
between NATO and the RF, which was quite expected. NATO’s operation in
Afghanistan would be destined to a final collapse without Moscow, or,
to be more exact, without transit of goods through the RF. Seeking to
reassure the newer members of NATO, such as the former Soviet Republic
of Lithuania, that the move was not "a bit premature", U.S. Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton called for a fresh start in bilateral
relations between Russia and the military alliance. "We can and must
find ways to work constructively with Russia where we share areas of
common interest, including helping the people of Afghanistan," she
said.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "The United States and its allies must find ways to
manage differences with Russia but stand up for its principles when
security or other interests are at stake. NATO should never recognize
the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. We should continue to
open NATO’s door to European countries such as Georgia and Ukraine and
help them meet NATO standards," declared U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton.
In his turn, Russia’s Envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin noted in Brussels
that "for 99 per cent there will be taken a decision in favour of
Russia. In the person of Russia the West sees a partner on which she
cannot wipe her feet," he said. Rogozin believes that both sides have
grown stronger after the crisis following the August war. The crisis
has done everyone good."
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer spoke for the
normalization of bilateral relations too. Before the summit Scheffer
announced that relations between Russia and NATO have improved enough
to reestablish official contacts. "We have obvious common interests
with Russia: Afghanistan, counter-terrorism, the fight against
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and others," he said. He
also expressed hope that next meeting between Russia and NATO would
take place in the near future.
The Russia-NATO relations broke off after the August war between
Georgia and South Ossetia. However, the Alliance calculated that
pleasing Mikhail Saakashvili in his exorbitant ambitions had a
negative impact on the highly arduous mission in Afghanistan, so there
was made a decision to sacrifice Georgia, especially since the August
war was mainly the fault of the Georgian President. It’s quite another
matter that Russia perhaps overused force, but it should not be
forgotten that «great powers» always overdo everything. In the 80s
the USA sent divisions of marines to the tiny State of Grenada, but
everyone in the USA has already all forgotten about it. In the same
way everyone will forget about the «compulsion to peace». Presently
NATO has to solve most important problems concerning provision of
contingent in Kabul. And if we also take into account that the air
base `Manas’ may really be closed by the end of the current year,
Russian transit becomes necessary as the breath of life.
Russia has offered to transit through her territory civil goods to the
military forces under NATO supervision in Afghanistan, which is
becoming extremely important with the situation being awfully unstable
on the supply routes passing through Pakistan.
As for Ukraine and Georgia’s membership in the alliance, in the words
of ex-President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, cooperation with NATO will
be favourable both for the Ukraine and for Georgia, however the talks
on these countries’ accession to the Alliance have no future. `My
position concerning this issue is unchanged ` I stand for active
cooperation with the Alliance. But Kiev had better give up this idea
now. It is quite obvious and natural that after the latest occurrences
in the Caucasus, NATO treats Ukraine and Georgia differently,’ noted
Kuchma. He also advised Tbilisi not to use the August events in
seeking intimacy with NATO.
GEOPROMINING COMPANY TO START FULL-SCALE EXPLOITATION OF AGARAK PLANT
ArmInfo
2009-03-05 12:11:00
ArmInfo. GeoProMining company is going to start the full-scale
exploitation of the Agarak cooper and molybdenum plant in the second
half of 2009. The plant was forced to reduce production volumes much
because of the world financial crisis, public relations department
of GeoProMining told ArmInfo correspondent.
At present restucturization process is taking place at the plant to
prepare it to the new conditions. The leadership of the company has
a task of drawing out an anti-crisis programme by May 2009, which
envisages preparation of the producing and managing structures of the
plant necessary for its full launching, and holding of measures to cut
expenses and maximal reduction of losses. The company will provide 900
job places to fulfill these tasks and enter full productive capacity.
Since the beginning of the crisis shareholders of the company invested
more than 12 mln US dollars which were spent to fulfill the company
duties against its workers and purchasers of the cooper and molybdenum
concentrate.
Over the forced idle period of the plant the leadership of the company
gave an opportunity to a part of the staff to use the accumulated
paid vocations.
To recall, GeoProMining group is an international private company
with diversified resource base of metals, founded in 2001.
EXCHANGE RATE IS 378 DRAMS
A1+
[06:50 pm] 04 March, 2009
On March 4 "NASDAK OEMEX ARMENIA" OJSC conducted a trade of $7 390 000
at the rate of 372. 98 drams for a dollar, reports the Central Bank of
Armenia. Yerevan’s currency exchange points sell a dollar at 378 drams.
372.98,000 dollars was done on March 3 at the. The closing rate
was 372.49.
ARMENIAN FOOTBALL NEW CONTEST SEASON TO START ON MARCH 17
Noyan Tapan
M arch 4, 2009
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian Football Cup Tournament
will start on March 17 with the participation of only 8 teams of the
higher league. According to the tradition, the final is fixed for
May 9.
And Armenian higher league championship will start on March 21. It
will be held in 4 rounds. Pyunik and Banants will host their rivals
at Nairi sports ground, Mika and Ulis at Mika, Ararat at Abovian town
sports ground, Kilikia at Hrazdan playing field and Shirak at Gyumri
town playing field.
TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER HAS GIVEN NO OFFICIAL REPLY YET TO THE PROPOSAL TO PARTICIPATE IN BSEC SUMMIT IN YEREVAN
ArmInfo
2009-03-03 08:52:00
ArmInfo. Turkish Prime Minister Ali Babacan has given no official
reply yet to the proposal to participate in the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation Organization’s summit in Yerevan, Head of Media Relations
Department of the Armenian Foreign Ministry Tigran Balayan told
ArmInfo.
According to him, the proposal was sent by Edward Nalbandian,
Foreign Minister of Armenia, the presiding country in BSEC, however,
the Turkish party has given no official reply yet. At the same time,
the Turkish and Azeri mass media published information, according to
which Ali Babacan intends to take part in the BSEC session in Yerevan.
To note, the summit of BSEC member states will take place in Yerevan
on April 16.
WILL STEPAN DEMIRCHYAN BE NOMINATED FOR YEREVAN MAYOR?
Siranush Muradyan
"Radiolur"
02.03.2009 18:04
Will Stepan Demirchyan be the opposition candidate for the Mayor
of Yerevan?
"Discussons are still underway," the leader of the Peoples’ Party of
Armenia told "Radiolur."
What kind of relations will be established with the authorities, if
the opposition wins the elections? "Yesterday we held discussions
within the party. The party did not find it proper to run in the
elections alone. The Political Council was directed to discuss the
issue of participating in the elections with a common list. I mean
the common list of the opposition," Stepan Demirchyan clarified.
The coalition parties do not avoid specifying names. Leader of the
Orinats Yerkir faction Heghine Bisharyan said the party will make
the final decision by tomorrow evening. Heghine Bisharyan did not
exclude that she might head the list.
Discussions within the Prosperous Armenia Party still continue. Press
Secretary of the Party said compiling a list is not easy.
ARF Dashnaktsutyun has not been decided, either. "We are discussing
the issues of participation and the form of participation," head of
the ARF Dashnaktsutyun faction Artyusha Shahbazyan said.