Author: Kalantarian Kevo

BILL TO ELIMINATE UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS PROVOKES OPPOSITION’S CRITICISM IN ARMENIA

22:06 ~U 24.10.13

The proposal for eliminating the unemployment benefits has spurred
criticisms by the opposition despite the promises that it will help
make considerable savings in the public sector.

Under the bill that passed the National Assembly’s first reading on
Wednesday, the monthly payments of 18,000 Drams ($44) will no longer
be paid to the unemployed, increasing the government’s annual savings
to 1,990,656,000 Drams ($4,909,01).

The estimates were made based upon findings by the State Employment
Agency. The available data suggest that of the 66,990 unemployed
people in Armenia, 9,216 qualified for the benefit as of October 1.

The mechanisms of eliminating benefits and involving beneficiaries
in active social programs are known widely to be from the series of
measures aimed at “teaching to fish”.

But Vahagn Khachatryan of the opposition Armenian National Congress
approaches the thesis very critically, giving it another definition.

“The fish stinks from the head,” he said, commenting on the bill.

The opposition MP thinks the proposed amendments to the Law “On
Employment” will deteriorate poverty statistics Armenia. “Instead
of boosting competitiveness, fighting corruption and eradicating
unemployment, they choose the easiest way. People who are in extreme
social conditions, hardly managing to cover minimal costs with [the
unemployment benefits], are simply deprived of that,” he told Tert.am.

Khachatryan, who is an economist by profession, said the bill will
boost the migration from Armenia, increasing the poverty rate from
30 to 45-50 percent.

Armen Martirosyan, the deputy leader of the opposition Heritage party,
thinks adherence to the former policies would be the best and the
only way of “teaching to fish”.

“It is inhumane to cut people facing social hardships from such
benefits. Even our Constitution says Armenia is a social state, which
means the state has to fulfill certain objectives to offer social
guarantees. And the unemployment benefit is one of them,” he explained.

Martirosyan noted that their party’s earlier proposal for reducing the
shadow and liberalizing the economy and the governance system did not
meet any approval by the authorities. “Instead of doing all that, they
are wasting the country’s resources, and the situation we are facing
now shows a decline in even the trade turnover volumes,” he said.

After the Wednesday parliament debate that saw the bill pass the first
reading Nikol Pashinyan of the opposition Armenian National Congress
criticized the measure, saying that it was being adopted against the
backdrop of proposals for raising the salaries of the president and
the National Assembly speaker by 203% and 218%, respectively.

Naira Zohrabyan, the secretary of the Prosperous Armenia faction in
parliament, described the move as a change in the nation’s psychology.

Armenian News – Tert.am

SERZH SARGSYAN ARRIVES IN BELARUS FOR SUMMITS

Belarusian Telegraph Agency
Oct 24 2013

24.10.2013 12:57

MINSK, 24 October (BelTA) – Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan has
arrived in Belarus to take part in the summits, BelTA has learnt.

Serzh Sargsyan was invited to attend the session of the Supreme
Eurasian Economic Council on the level of the heads of state that
will take place on 24 October. He will also take part in the session
of the CIS Council of Heads of State on 25 October.

Belarus is an important trading partner of Armenia and its third
biggest trading partner among the CIS member states.

In 2012 the bilateral trade made up $46 million (up by 40.3%).

Belarus’ export to Armenia expanded by 44.2% up to $38.7 million. The
import stood at $7.4 million, up by 22.9%. Belarus had a positive
trade surplus of $31.3 million. Belarus’ major exports to Armenia
are tires, trucks, tractors, oil products, paper and butter.

Armenian-Belarusian Trading House Ar-Be was set up in Armenia. It
offers over 11,000 names of Belarusian products. A joint venture to
bottle Armenian cognac opened in Belarus in July 2012.

A 100GW NPP IS NEEDED TO ENSURE THE ENERGY SECURITY OF THE SOUTH CAUCASUS, TURKEY AND IRAN

by Arthur Yernjakyan

ARMINFO
Thursday, October 24, 17:58

A 100GW NPP and a 10bln c m underground gas storage facility are needed
to ensure the energy security of the South Caucasus, Turkey and Iran,
Vice President of the Georgian Academy of Natural Sciences Alexander
Tvalchrelidze told ArmInfo on Thursday.

He said that the International Energy Agency and the U.S. Department
of Energy forecast a steady growth in global energy consumption till
2040. “In order to keep pace, Armenia and Georgia should increase
their generating capacities by respective 0.6% and 1% annually,”
Tvalchrelidze said.

He said that the 1,060MW NPP Armenia is going to build will be enough
for this country only but not for the whole region. “It should be
a European-type NPP, like those in France, and should be built in
Northern Turkey, Northern Iran or Armenia,” Tvalchrelidze said.

He also recommends building a large underground gas storage facility.

“The Abovyan facility in Armenia can hold no more than 180mln c m.

This will hardly do for more than 30 days, while the new facility
should hold as much as 10bln c m – a quantity that will meet the
whole region’s needs for as long as 3-4 months,” Tvalchrelidze said,
adding that the new facility may be built in Georgia.

“In order to synchronize our energy systems, we need no less than 500KV
lines. The existing ones allow Armenia to synchronize its system with
Iran and Georgia but not with Turkey and Azerbaijan – for political
reasons. In its turn, Georgia’s system is synchronized with Armenia
and Azerbaijan but not with Russia, Iran and Turkey. There must not be
politics in the energy sector. Israel and the Gaza Strip effectively
cooperate in this field despite their political problems.

The same is true for Turkey and Cyprus. So, we should come together
and form a joint wholesale energy market involving not only the South
Caucasus but also Turkey and Iran,” Tvalchrelidze said.

CRUEL CUT: PARLIAMENT PASSES BILL TO ANNUL UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

SOCIETY | 24.10.13 | 16:00

Photolure

By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

The National Assembly has passed a bill by first hearing annulling
the unemployment benefit system, which implies that since January
1 the government will no longer pay the monthly 18,000 drams’ ($45)
unemployment benefits.

Introducing the law on Employment, Republican Hakob Hakobyan, chairing
the committee on social welfare, said it is “immoral to give 18,000
drams’ benefit to citizens”.

“Rather than giving money and saying goodbye, we have given you your
money, now go away, but we have to offer real help with education,
direct funding, direct advice, direct employment chances,” he said.

Prosperous Armenia Party member Naira Zohrabyan takes as an offense
the claim that people give up work when they get unemployment benefits.

“There are no workplaces, no jobs, and to say ‘let us cut the
unemployment benefit and direct that to training people’ is not
serious. We have wonderful professionals, scholars, scientists who
are today, sorry to say this, in retail business, working as street
or market vendors. The inflated budget draft that’s been submitted
is a balloon, a myth that can never be brought to life, hence they
are simply trying to cut that expenditure,” says Zohrabyan.

Official statistics show more than 70,000 unemployed registered in
the country, 10,000 among whom receive 18,000 drams’ benefit.

Heritage’ s Zaruhi Postanjyan says the budget has its last means left,
more than a million people in the country are famished.

“This is the consequence of this criminal policy we have been unable
to get rid of for years now,” she said.

Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun MP Artsvik Minasyan
,terming the bill as strictly unsatisfactory, says depriving people
of unemployment benefits breaches the European Social Charter. The
government is eliminating several programs, not offering anything to
its unemployed citizens. He says he believes the state is playing a
trick to show international structures another official statistics
by which Armenia will have five percent unemployment, when in reality
it will be twenty percent.

“How can we benefit from it? Together we have to think how to reduce
the emigration rates by offering employment opportunities. We cannot
stop emigration if things remain as they are. We talk about the
demographic crisis, while families with children have to be first of
all engaged in employment projects. “This program suggests nothing
of the kind. They [the authorities] can claim now that they’ll do it
later, but I do not believe. I don’t trust the feasibility of anything
that’s to be left for the government to implement,” said Minasyan.

He says the draft law has to suggest economic, tax and financial
solutions, which the submitted document lacks, meaning that no progress
can be ensured in the sphere.

“The government has submitted a program on creating a hundred thousand
workplaces, consequently we can now predict the directions in which
those jobs will be created, and how that issue will be solved. Rather
than ceasing to exist, like now they are trying to deprive the
unemployed of their benefits by this bill, employment projects have
to develop active plans, and a lot of them, to gradually replace the
passive, ineffective ones,” says Minasyan.

Parallel to the draft law cancelling the unemployment benefit,
the parliament discussed another bill by which the RA president’s,
parliament speaker’s and prime-minister’s salaries should be raised.

Comparing the two bills, Armenian National Congress MP Nikol Pashinyan
said: “We were discussing the employment law and there were eleven
law-makers present in the session hall. As soon as we got to the salary
bill, the hall suddenly got crowded. We have adopted the disgrace of
a bill on cancelling the 18,000 drams benefit, and now with serious
faces are discussing the issue of raising the president’s and the
premier’s salaries.”

MATERNAL MORTALITY, INFANT ILLNESS RATES DOWN IN ARMENIA

14:28 24/10/2013 ” HEALTH

A WHO seminar on “Improvement of the Quality of Antenatal and Postnatal
Aid and Redirection System” is taking place in Yerevan.

Representatives of 11 countries of WHO European Region as well as
Russia and development partner organizations participate in the
seminar.

At a press briefing before the seminar, Head of the WHO Country
Office in Armenia Tatul Hakobyan said that maternal mortality and
infant illness rates have decreased in Armenia in the past years.

“Of course we should work to achieve further reduction of those rates,
but undoubtedly we have positive trends,” he said.

Asked what he can say about the comparison of maternal mortality and
infant illness rates of Armenia with those of our neighboring counties,
Mr Hakobyan said that in this respect, Armenia is in a more favorable
condition compared to its neighbors.

Source: Panorama.am

Zvartnots airport’s old terminal cannot be demolished without expertise study – Union of Architects of Armenia

October 24, 2013 | 00:45

YEREVAN. – The old terminal of capital city Yerevan’s Zvartnots
International Airport cannot be torn down without an expert conclusion.

Mkrtich Minasyan, Head of the Union of Architects of Armenia, told
the aforesaid to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

He stressed that the buildings of importance in Armenia cannot be
demolished solely by the wish of the proprietor, or the managing
company.

“Expert opinion is required to tear down such buildings,” Minasyan
stressed.

In his words, it is apparent from the very first study that there is
no need to demolish the old terminal it; but it needs to be renovated
and its armatures need to be strengthened.

“If the building will have to be torn down just for that, with such
reasoning, 80 percent of the city’s [i.e., Yerevan] high-rises can
be demolished,” Mkrtich Minasyan concluded.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

IRAN HANDS MINISTER’S SON OVER TO ARMENIA – NEWSPAPER

October 24, 2013 | 08:17

YEREVAN. – Interesting facts are emerging in connection with the recent
arrest of Armenian Sport and Youth Affairs Minister Yuri Vardanyan’s
son, Zhoghovurd daily reports.

“Zhoghovurd’s well-informed sources claim that the Islamic Republic
of Iran law enforcement detained him on the Armenian-Iranian border on
suspicion of transporting drugs. But verifying that he is an Armenian
citizen, [and] the son of a senior official, they immediately sent
him back to Armenia to avoid unnecessary uproar. At the same time,
they informed the Armenian border guards of what transpired, and
asked them to detain Davit Vardanyan.

“The Iranians acted in this way because in their country they
sentence people to death for possession of drugs. And so that an
Armenian citizen would not be sentenced to death, they preferred to
‘hand him over’ to his local law enforcement.

“[But] Zhoghovurd was unable to verify this news from Yuri Vardanyan,”
Zhoghovurd writes.

HRANT DINK MURDER SUSPECT CAUGHT

, Turkey
Oct 23 2013

The main suspect behind the murder of the Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink in Istanbul in 2007 has been caught.

The main suspect behind the murder of the Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink in Istanbul in 2007 has been caught. Dink, the editor-in-chief
of Armenian-Turkish newspaper Agos, was shot dead in in Istanbul on
19 January 2007.

Erhan Tuncel, the main suspect behind the murder of Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink, has been caught in Istanbul’s Kumburgaz
district. He is said to have been hiding in a villa.

This development comes after he spent 38 days on the run from the
Turkish authorities. Tuncel had previously said he would surrender
in 15 days, in an interview that was released by the Star newspaper
on Wednesday.

He was an informant in the north-eastern city of Trabzon before
Dink’s murder.

MKHITARYAN HAILS ‘MAGNIFICENT’ LEWANDOWSKI AFTER VICTORY OVER ARSENAL

Yahoo Sports
Oct 23 2013

By Henry Jackson

Borussia Dortmund playmaker Henrikh Mkhitaryan has heaped praise
on Robert Lewandowski after his goal sealed a 2-1 win over Arsenal
on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old Pole scored a clinical late winner in London to give
BVB a priceless 2-1 Champions League victory, and the Armenia star
believes his team-mate is one of the finest strikers on the planet.

“Lewandowski is simply magnificent,” the former Shakhtar Donetsk man
told the Bundesliga’s official website.

“He was the best against Arsenal. How he ran, fought and coolly
finished for 2-1 was indescribable. For me, he is one of the best
strikers in the world.”

Mkhitaryan opened the scoring for Dortmund, who were made to withstand
heavy second-half pressure before Lewandowski’s breakaway winner in
the last 10 minutes.

“It was a really tough and important game for us. Playing away against
such a strong side wasn’t easy, but we dug in as a team and delivered
a great performance,” he said.

“Of course, the result is really good for us. I collected [Robert]
Lewandowski’s short pass. Then I noticed I had lots of space on the
edge of the box. I controlled the ball and had a pop at goal.

“It’s not important for me to be able to celebrate my goal come
the final whistle. What’s important is that I put in a reasonable
performance on the pitch. My aim is to get better with every game
because I still haven’t hit top gear.

“I think the group will be decided on the final matchday. We have to
raise our game for the next three matches and play better football. We
have to hope we’ll pick up a couple more points.”

NAZARBAYEV AWAITED IN ARMENIA

Tengrinews, Kazakhstan
Oct 23 2013

President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev is awaited in Armenia
with an official visit, Tengrinews reports.

“On behalf of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan I would like to once
again confirm the invitation for Kazakhstan President Nursultan
Nazarbayev to arrive in Armenia with an official visit,” Armenian
Ambassador to Kazakhstan Ara Sahakyan told the journalists after the
ceremony of presentation of credential to Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The ambassador pointed out that Armenia viewed Kazakhstan as a
friendly country and expects it to be balanced in its approach to
the Nagorno-Karabakh problem.

“We have a highly charged and sensitive matter: the problem of
Nagorno-Karabakh. The OSCE Minsk Group has been working on resolving
this conflict for over 20 years already. The group is co-chaired by
Russia, France and the United States. We believe that the format is
efficient, and that the resources and capacities of the Mink Group have
not been exhausted. Since that negotiations are taking a long time and
no final solution has been achieved so far, we are expecting all the
states, especially the friendly countries, including Kazakhstan, to
take a balanced approach to the issue,” the Armenian ambassador said.

The Minsk Group spearheads the OSCE’s efforts to find a political
solution to the conflict in and around Nagorno-Karabakh involving
Armenia and Azerbaijan. It encourages a peaceful, negotiated resolution
to the conflict.

He also added that Armenia would vote for the Kazakhstan representative
during election of the UN Security Council permanent member. Besides,
Armenia will participate in the EXPO-2017 that is going to be held
in Astana.

The documents of Armenia’s joining the Customs Union will be ready
by May, 2014.

By Renat Tashkinbayev