Author: Kalashian Nyrie

RA PRESIDENT CONSIDERS THAT NAGORNO KARABAKH PROBLEM’S SETTLEMENT IS IMPOSSIBLE BEFORE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Noyan Tapan
Oct 31, 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 31, NOYAN TAPAN. RA President Robert Kocharian
considers that the Nagorno Karabakh problem cannot be settled before
the presidential elections. He said this during his October 31
interview to journalists. "I do not share the optimism the mediators
are expressing today," he said, probably meaning the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-chairs’ statements made lately. R. Kocharian confessed that
there is certain progress in the negotiations process, but "I am
not so optimistic to suppose that we can achieve concrete results
before the presidential elections." He stated that the settlement
process is going on, there are positive and negative sides in it:
"When we look at the draft being discussed, it seems to us that we
have passed some way," the President said but added that on the other
hand, the bellicose statements and approaches of the Azeri leadership
make the impression that "these two processes just have nothing in
common with each other, therefore the grounds for optimism are not
big today, there are threats, and we should also take these threats
into consideration in our policy."

COMMUNISTS ARE AGAINST TER-PETROSYAN

Lragir
Oct 31 2007
Armenia

The leader of the Armenian Communist Party Ruben Tovmasyan criticized
the past and the present governments of Armenia on October 31,
and with regard to Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s political activity and
aspiration to presidency he said the first president lacks dignity
and self-respect not to appeal to the society which removed him ten
years ago. Ruben Tovmasyan says Ter-Petrosyan did not think about the
starting points which he can rely on to say to return. "I don’t know
what the results of the meetings are, but I often visit Yeghegnadzor,
Vaik. I always ask the question to people I meet. I don’t want to
repeat their statements, their opinion. In fact, similar opinions
are voiced about the acting government as well," Ruben Tovmasyan says.

According to him, the state of people is so bad that they have not
forgotten anything. The leader of the Communist Party thinks Levon
Ter-Petrosyan did not tell a new thing in his address on October 26.

"Did he tell a new thing? What you gave you have left behind, and you
are now enjoying," Ruben Tovmasyan says. He stated that the Communist
Party will not be turning to any other political force and will not
go to any other camp because he has his own ideology, which does not
coincide with anyone’s activity. However, Ruben Tovmasyan says the
Communist Party will utter its stance on the presidential election
in the conference of the party in November. For the time being, he
cannot express his personal opinion. Ruben Tovmasyan only says he
believes that socialism is our future.

KOCHARIAN DOES NOT SHARE PEACE BROKERS’ OPTIMISM OVER KARABAKH CONFLICT

ARMENPRESS
Oct 31, 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 31, ARMENPRESS: Presidnet Robert Kocharian said today
finding a final solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict before
next year’s presidential election in Armenia was unlikely. He said
he did not either share the optimism of international peace brokers
from the OSCE Minsk Group.

Nevertheless, Kocharian admitted that some progress has been made
in the negotiation process, but added that he was not as optimistic
as to believe that some sort of a final framework agreement could be
signed before the elections.

"The negotiation process continues and it has both positive and
negative sides," Kocharian told journalists today after inauguration
a shooting ground in a Yerevan outskirt.

Kocharian’s remarks come after the US cochairman, Mathew Bryza, was
quoted by Azerbaijani newspapers as saying last week that Azerbaijan
and Armenia could sign a framework agreement next year to resolve
their dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.

"There is a possibility that prior to presidential elections in
Armenia, which will take place in the spring of next year, some
kind of a framework ‘gentlemanly" agreement on the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict could be signed by the heads of Azerbaijan and Armenia,"
Matthew Bryza, who is also a deputy assistant U.S. secretary of state,
was quoted as saying.

Kocharian blamed today Azerbaijani leadership and their war rhetoric
for the failure to forge ahead, saying this is why he was not
optimistic. "There are threats and we have to take them into account
when designing our policies," he said.

1000 BIGGEST TAXPAYERS OF ARMENIA INJECT AMD 262.6 BILLION TO STATE BUDGET IN JAN-SEPT 2007

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 30 2007

YEREVAN, October 30. /ARKA/. One thousand biggest taxpayers of
Armenia injected AMD 262.6 billion to the state budget in Jan-Sept
2007 against 215.4 billion at the same period of the previous year.

According to the report placed on the government-affiliated tax
agency’s site, tax receipts totaled AMD 144.5 billion and customs
AMD 118 billion.

The list of Armenia’s biggest taxpayers is topped by Zangezur Copper
Molybdenum Combine, which has paid AMD 20.1 billion to the state
budget over the mentioned period of 2007 against 22.7 billion at the
same period of the previous year.

ArmRosgasprom is the second largest taxpayer with AMD 16.5 billion sent
to the state budget over the period between January and September 2007
against 8.4 billon paid at the same period a year earlier. ArmenTel
Telecommunication Company, with its AMD 14.2 billion against 13
billion follows Arm Rosgasprom.

K-Telecom (VivaCell trademark) mobile operator, who transferred AMD
10.1 billion to the state budget in Jan-Sept 2007, ranked fourth,
and Flash oil-trader with its 7 billion is placed fifth in the list.

Sugar importer Salex Group (AMD 5.6 billion), Armenian
Electric Networks (3.9bln), International Masis Tabac (2.8bln),
Armenian-Canadian Grand Tobacco (2.6bln) and Coca Cola Hellenic
Bottles Company (1.4bln) are reckoned among 100 biggest taxpayers.

($1 = AMD 324.78).

THE UNITED STATES PLAYS A CRUCIAL ROLE MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER IN SEEKING WORKABLE SOLUTION TO KARABAKH CONFLICT

arminfo
2007-10-30 16:14:00

ArmInfo. "The United States plays a crucial role more important
than ever in seeking workable solution to the protracted conflicts
over South Ossetia, Nagorno Karabakh and Transdniestria ", OSCE
Chairman-in-Office, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos,
said after talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in
Washington.

As the OSCE Headquarters told ArmInfo, M.A. Moratinos also noted the
important role the US plays in the future status of Kosovo, the ways
to aid Afghanistan and supporting the work of OSCE on economic and
human aspects of security. "I am convinced the United States will play,
as usual, a constructive, high-level part at next month’s Ministerial
Council in Madrid", said the Chairman-in-Office.

SPIRIT, VODKA AND FLOUR PRODUCTION WITHOUT OPERATION LICENCE REVEALED IN GAVAR

Noyan Tapan
Oct 29 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, NOYAN TAPAN. Employees of the State Tax Service
(STS) recently revealed the large-scale production of spirit, vodka
and flour without operation licences in the city of Gavar. NT was
informed by the STS that the vodka workshop and the flour mill belong
to Hatsov Arat LLC, whose licences were cancelled in April 2007,
and the company presented zero reports on its operation to tax bodies.

28 thousand litres of spirit, ovr 1,000 bottles of finshed products,
26 tons of yeast, 16 thousand empty containers, labels and covers,
as well as vodka in the process of production were found in the
workshop located in Hatsarat district of Gavar.

The damage done to the state as a result of illegal operation of
the indicated workshops makes more than 15 million drams (about 45
thousand USD) in terms of the absence of licences. The amount of
unpaid tax liabilities will be calculated after the end of check-ups.

"ARMENIA HAS MAINLY FULFILED OBLIGATIONS ASSUMED IN FRONT OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT," CHAIRMAN OF PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE ON EUROPEAN INTEGRATION ISSUES SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Oct 26, 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 26, NOYAN TAPAN. The Standing Committee on European
Integration Issues of the RA National Assembly envisages to hold
parliamentary hearings in 2008 dedicated to the European Union New
Neighbourhood Policy. This information was provided by Avet Adonts,
the Chairman of the above-mentioned Committee and a member of the
faction Bargavatch Hayastan (Prosperous Armenia) party, during the
October 26 press briefing.

As a result of the constitutional amendments, the spheres of the
activities of the committee formed in the newly-elected National
Assembly are the relations between the European Union and the
Council of Europe, as well as the RA laws’ keeping with the European
legislation.

In the opinion of Avet Adonts, "at present, it is wrong to
unequivocally make conditions that all the laws should be in conformity
with the European standards, since it is a long-term process." He
mentioned at the same time that "Armenia has mainly fulfiled the
obligations assumed in front of the European Parliament, except the
adoption of a few laws. The law on "Yerevan" is among the latters,
the draft of which will be submitted to the National Assembly by
the government.

PRIME MINISTER SERGE SARGSYAN ENDS HIS VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Armen Tsatouryan

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
Oct 26 2007
Armenia

AMERICAN REVIEW

Concluded with the October 23 meetings held in Washington, Prime
Minister Serge Sargsyan’s one-week visit to the United States
is unprecedented in the 16-year history of the newly-independent
Armenia in terms of its extensive schedule, high level of contacts
as well as the intensiveness of the negotiations and the results
attained. This is the first time in the rich chronology of the
two countries’ relations that the United States held a high-level
reception for a person who, apart from being the Prime Minister of
Armenia, is the chief pretender to the post of the country’s leader
in the upcoming presidential elections. While drafting the agenda of
Serge Sargsyan’s visit, the American authorities envisaged various
meetings and negotiations with almost all the representatives of the
country’s political and economic elite. The Armenian Prime Minister
had the opportunity to communicate not only with the country’s
political leadership, but also with the leaders of the spheres
of defense and security, foreign affairs, economy and finance,
foreign assistance programs and international financial structures,
as well as the representatives of the American influential Mass Media
and American-Armenian communities. This factor more than clearly
demonstrates that none of the responsible representatives of the
US Government and relevant spheres, who scheduled multilateral and
meaningful meetings for Serge Sargsyan and his delegation, previously
had any doubt as to the personality of the Armenian presidential
candidate with whom the American Government is going to work. So,
by having a meeting with Serge Sargsyan, each of them had a goal to
familiarize himself/herself with the approaches of Armenia’s future
leader towards the issues related to the given sphere, with the purpose
of synthesizing them with their own programs. It is also natural that
negotiations emanating from such a starting point were mainly expected
to touch upon the problems related to the future and the prospects,
rather than the past way or the current stage of the Armenian-American
relations. The prospect of the Armenian-American mutual cooperation in
the field of defense and security were discussed with Robert Gates,
the US Secretary of Defense, in a meeting held October 18. The Prime
Minister’s October 18 meeting with John Danilovich, Head of the
"Millennium Challenges" Corporation and the October 23 negotiations
with Ruben Jeffery, US Under-Secretary of State on Economic Affairs
were devoted to the prospects of the Armenian-American economic
cooperation and in that context – the discussion of the issue of the
assistance to be provided to Armenia under the "Millennium Challenges"
program. The foreign policy issues and first of all, the prospects
of the settlement of the Karabakh conflict were discussed during the
meeting with the US State Secretary Condoleezza Rice. These issues, as
well as the process of the democratic reforms taking place in Armenia
had been previously discussed on a higher level, during the October
18 negotiations with the US Vice President Dick Chaney. During the
meeting with the American legislators, especially the two leaders
of the Democratic majority of Congress, the Prime Minister had
the opportunity introduce Armenia’s official attitudes towards the
international recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the future of
the Armenian-Turkish relations. The Prime Minister’s meetings with the
influential activists of the Armenian community and organizations in
Washington and Los Angeles were also eventful. Of special importance
was the meeting with the great benefactor Kyrk Kyrkoryan who expressed
a desire to visit Armenia in the near future. Serge Sargsyan’s
US visit became a proper occasion for taking new steps towards
strengthening Armenia’s ties and cooperation with more influential
international financial organizations which, as we know, have their
central offices in the United States. In this respect, of special
importance were the October 21 meetings with Dominic Straus-Canny,
Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and Grim Willer
and Shiger Kassu, Managing Director and Vice Director of the World
Bank respectively. S. Sargsyan’s visit to America found a response in
the American press and other media as well as inside the influential
Armenian community of the United States. During the interviews and
speeches the Prime Minister introduced himself to the American society
and the American Armenian community as an activist having a profound
knowledge of the external and internal challenges faced by Armenia and
convinced of the implementation of the reforms which are necessary
for our country in the globalizing world of the 21st century. Thus,
the Prime Minister’s one-week visit to the United States became
the specific pre-electoral review of the clarified prospects of
bilateral cooperation. It gave the American side the opportunity to
have a profound and total understanding of the principal goals and
programs of the chief presidential candidate of Armenia, as well as
clarify the United States attitudes towards them. Organizing such a
high-level meeting and attaching importance to the agreements achieved
as a result of the multilateral and meaningful negotiations with the
Prime Minister, the American side definitely clarified its political
preferences with regard to the presidential elections to be held in
Armenia in the near future.

EP RESOLUTION ON TURKEY HAS BEEN CLEARLY DRIVEN BY FEAR OF ANKARA

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.10.2007 15:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 24 October, the European Parliament adopted a
resolution on the EU-Turkey relations.

26 amendments were tabled by various political groups and
parliamentarians, among which 3 by the rapporteur herself, Mrs,
Oomen-Ruijten (EPP, Netherlands).

Eventually, most of these amendments were rejected with the exception
of one proposed by Mrs Oomen-Ruijten "strongly condemning the recent
conviction of Sarkis Seropyan and Arat Dink under article 301"
and others which condition further accession "to the EU integration
capacity, in accordance with the conclusions of the December 2006
European Council" and the Copenhagen Criteria."

Other amendments tabled by French MEPs (Conservatives, Liberals
and Socialists), Greek and Estonian Socialists, Communists and
Souverainists, which clearly mentioned the demand of recognition of
the Armenian Genocide were rejected.

"This resolution has been clearly driven by fear of the Turkish threat
to intrude into Northern Iraq," said Hilda Tchoboian, the chairperson
of the European Armenian Federation.

"The European Parliament aligned on the positions of the European
executive bodies. It just says what is expected by the Commission. It
does not say anymore which can edify and serve as guidelines for the
European Commission and Council. Through this mistake, the European
Parliament sells off the European conscience," she continued.

The Federation thinks that this resolution stems from the aggression
of the pro-Turkish lobby in response to the recognition of the Armenian
Genocide by the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"Our European deputies, who cringe to Turkey in an attempt to avoid
addressing its failures, are using the wrong method. This is a dead-end
route which deprives Turkey of any upwards and which encourages
xenophobic and ultranationalist forces. It does not benefit anyone,"
Mrs. Tchoboian added.

The Federation informs that the very same day of the vote, Turkish
Grey Wolves mobs invaded the streets in Brussels, threatened the
public order in aggressing peaceful merchants and bystanders and
injuring policemen who tried to interpose. "The demission of the
European Parliament in defending the European values encourages these
criminals and their supporters in Turkey to propagate their heinous
and destabilizing ideology in Europe," she concluded.

During the preceding debates which tackled many issues in the EP,
the European Commissioner to Enlargement, Mr. Olli Rehn made some
very hard statements to condemn the "authoritarian regime" in Russia,
violations of human rights and freedom of speech in this country. When
addressing Turkey, he should have worded similar criticisms but he
did not. His statements – unsuitably affable – disclosed once again
the double standard of the Commission on these issues.

MICROSOFT SEEKS TO MAKE COMPUTERS AVAILABLE FOR 6 BILLION PEOPLE OF THE WORLD

ARMENPRESS
Oct 23, 2007

BUDAPEST, OCTOBER 23, ARMENPRESS: From October 17-19 a conference
of Microsoft Unlimited Potential CEE took place in the capital
of Hungary, Budapest with the participation of 85 people from 20
countries including Armenia.

The goal of the conference was to communicate to tier one influentials
and beyond them government elites, that Microsoft is investing in
software, services and support, through Unlimited Potential to provide
relevant, affordable and accessible technology to the millions of
people in the CEE region that do not yet enjoy its benefits, in order
to support sustained economic growth in the region.

Among the spokespeople were Will Poole, corporate vice president,
Unlimited Potential Group, Vahe Torossian, vice president Microsoft
CEE, Goran Radman, chairman Microsoft SEE, Greg Butler, education lead,
EMEA, Andrey Terekhov, DPE lead CEE and others. The event was also
aimed to present to the public the work of the Microsoft Unlimited
Potential directed towards making the technology available to millions
of people.

"More than 30 years after the invention of the personal computer it
is readily available to only 1 billion of the world’s more than 6
billion people," in his statement addressed to the participants of the
conference the Chairman of Microsoft Bill Gates stated that this fact
comes as a surprise to many who rely on PCs and the Internet every
day. "For us, life without these tools is difficult to imagine-ever
more difficult as information technology continues to transform
business, communications, education and entertainment. Microsoft’s
founding vision of "a computer on every desk and in every home"
is a reality for the roughly 1 billion people living near the top
of the global economic pyramid. But the digital revolution has yet
to spread very far in many rural areas, impoverished communities and
developing countries," he said in his statement.

According to him, broadening access can aid development. "Wide
deployment of computers, software and telecommunications helps boost
productivity and reduce transaction costs, spurring economic growth.

Computers, mobile devices and software can help expand the quality and
availability of education, health care and other public services." So,
how can we bring more of the countless benefits of information
technology to the next 5 billion people? For those who work in IT, part
of the challenge is to evolve the industry’s prevailing business model,
which is designed to serve the top of the economic pyramid. Products
and services are generally priced to suit consumers with significant
disposable income, or businesses with the wherewithal to make large
and continuing investments in IT. Customers are usually expected to
pay the full price upfront for PCs and packaged software that they
will use exclusively.

Microsoft has worked to broaden access to information technology
and related skills for more than a decade, collaborating in this
effort with schools, governments, local businesses and communities
in every country where it does business. These initiatives have
brought technology skills training to 2.5 million teachers, more
than 57 million students and 40 million community participants in 101
countries. "We are expanding our technology training and assistance
programs, and we are creating new, low-cost products and services to
improve access to technology. We are taking these and other steps
because we believe that all 6 billion people who share this planet
deserve a chance to realize their full potential," Bill Gates said
in his statement.