Author: Kanayan Tamar

U.S.-ARMENIA AGREEMENT ON CONTINUED JUSTICE SECTOR ASSISTANCE

armradio.am
07.09.2011 18:08

On September 7, Bruce Donahue, Charge d’affaires, a.i. of the United
States Embassy in Armenia, and Aghvan Hovsepian, Prosecutor General
of the Republic of Armenia, signed an agreement to amend the Letter
of Agreement on Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement between the
Government of the United States of America and the Government of
Armenia. This is the thirteenth amendment to the original Letter
of Agreement signed in 2001, according to which the United States
undertakes to provide Armenia additional justice sector assistance
in the amount of approximately $2.3 million.

The new agreement and commitments taken therein provide yet another
strong example of the enduring, successful partnership between the
United States and Armenia. The assistance provided through the new
agreement will benefit the Armenian people by continuing to help the
Government of Armenia more effectively fight transnational crimes
such as human trafficking, the illicit international drug trade,
and money laundering. It will also enhance Armenia’s rule of law by
augmenting law enforcement capacities and support overall judicial
and legislative reform.

Some of the projects supported by the assistance include support
to victims of human trafficking, improvements to the forensic
laboratory of the National Bureau of Expertise, and the strengthening
of the Central Bank of Armenia’s anti-money laundering capacities. In
addition, the assistance supports the continued presence in Armenia of
a Resident Legal Adviser from the U.S. Department of Justice, a legal
socialization project carried out by the Project Harmony International
NGO, and the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Rule of Law Initiative.

Charge d’affaires Bruce Donahue noted that, “The people of the United
States are proud to work with their Armenian partners to build a
society where every citizen can live in freedom and dignity, free from
the fear of crime and confident of protection under the rule of law.”

Since the signing of the original Letter of Agreement in 2001, the
United States has provided over $16 million justice sector assistance
to Armenia through the U.S. Embassy’s International Narcotics and
Law Enforcement Section.

NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM OF ARMENIA WON THE SLOVAKS AND CONTINUES THE STRUGGLE FOR ENTERING THE FINAL PART OF EURO-2012 CHAMPIONSHIP

ARKA
Sep 7, 2011

YEREVAN, September 7. /ARKA/. National football team of Armenia
yesterday won the Slovak team with a score of 4:0 getting a chance
to enter the final part of Europe championship.

Armenian football-players occupy the third place in the pick group
with 14 scores with one score after Irish team. The sole leaders of
the group with 17 scores are Russians.

The Slovaks have also 14 scores but they are behind the Armenian
football-players by the results of confrontation games.

Macedonian team has 7 scores and occupy the fifth place. Andorra has
lost all its matches and occupy the last place of the competition
table. All the teams had by 8 games. Armenian football-players have
the best difference of kicked and missed goals – 17-7.

After the game, the coach of national football team of Armenia Vardan
Minasyan said that he is proud of his team.

“We demonstrated a fantastic game and I am very proud of my team. We
got prepared to this game in detail, studied the strengths and
weaknesses of the national team of Slovakia”, cited the words of the
coach Internet-resource sportinfo.am.

He avoided to make any forecasts regarding the struggle in the group.

“We don’t look so far. Now we are going to celebrate our victory
and then will start to get prepared to the game with Macedonia”,
said Minasyan.

The coach of national team of Slovakia Vladimir Vayss said after the
defeat that Armenian football-players demonstrated an excellent game
in the second half.

“First of all I would like to congratulate the national team of
Armenia which demonstrated a wonderful game in the second half. We
also played not bad but when we can not kick a goal we have no chances
for success. The competitor was stronger today, especially in the
second half. I am to blame for such a defeat. Probably we lost the
game because I didn’t involve the players in this game who played
with Irish team” cited RIA Novosti the words of the coach.

On October 7 Armenian football-players will have a game with Macedonian
team in Armenia. On October 11 probably the final game between Armenian
and Irish football-players will take place in Ireland.

WHY DOESN’T AZERBAIJAN RETURN REMNANTS OF ARABO KILLED SOLDIERS?

PanARMENIAN.Net
September 7, 2011 – 12:39 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – All soldiers of Arabo detachment who went missing
in summer 1992 are dead, Arabo commander said.

“There are video materials where Azerbaijanis were showing the bodies.

We know where the bodies are and tried to bring them back, but all our
attempts were in vain,” Manvel Yeghiazaryan told a press conference
in Yerevan.

“Under mediation of the Armenian President and Defense Minister, the
Armenian side tried to exchange the dead bodies of the Azerbaijani
soldiers for the remnants of Arabo warriors,” he added.

Yeghiazaryan also informed that a documentary on the incident will
soon be shot.

BRITISH LINKS NGO GIVES A VOICE TO THE PEOPLE MOST AFFECTED BY THE CONFLICT OVER NAGORNO-KARABAKH

ARMINFO
Wednesday, September 7, 12:32

As part of its on-going efforts to promote the peaceful resolution
of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, the British non-governmental
organisation LINKS has over the summer conducted interviews with twenty
key personalities from Nagorno-Karabakh. Ten interviews were conducted
with politicians and civil society activists in Nagorno-Karabakh
itself. A further series of ten interviews were conducted in Baku
with key personalities from the community of those displaced by
the conflict.

The interviews give a vivid, even if sombre picture, of the attitude
of Armenians and Azerbaijanis from Karabakh whose lives have been
deeply affected by the conflict and whose destiny will be at the
heart of any future conflict settlement.

The interviewing team was composed of Josh Bird, Hovhannes Nikoghosyan
and Fuad Hasanov.

The interviews will be published one by one over the next weeks
starting from this week.

A spokesperson for LINKS said “We want to give a voice to the
people that are directly affected by the conflict. Some of their
statements are tough, and we do not always like what they say. But
it is important that the world community listens to these voices
if it wants to understand the conflict. It is hoped the release of
these interviews will contribute to a genuine debate on the future
of Karabakh and on the resolution of the conflict”.

The interviews will be available first on the website
This website was established in June by LINKS,
in partnership with ArmInfo News Agency of Armenia and 1news.az
of Azerbaijan. The website is a forum for all those interested in
Armenian-Azerbaijani relations and the future of the Caucasus region.

LA CONSTRUCTION D’UNE NOUVELLE DIGUE D’ACCÈS EST EN COURS SUR LE LAC DE VAN
[email protected]

armenews.com
mercredi 7 septembre 2011

Vercihan Ziflioglu, Istanbul – Hurriyet Daily News

Le bureau du gouverneur de Van participe aux preparatifs de la seconde
divine liturgie dans l’eglise Sainte-Croix de l’île d’Aghtamar,
par la construction d’une digue d’accès qui permettra une meilleure
gestion des visiteurs attendus en nombre. D’autres amenagements sont
egalement en cours pour faciliter l’accès des invites qui assisteront
a la ceremonie du 11 septembre qui coïncide avec les fetes de la
Sainte-Croix de l’Eglise Apostolique Armenienne.

La construction d’une nouvelle digue d’accès est en cours sur le
Lac de Van pour la seconde divine liturgie qui aura lieu en l’eglise
Sainte-Croix.

Le bureau du gouverneur de Van a entrepris un ensemble de travaux de
preparation, dont fait partie la construction d’une nouvelle digue
d’accès dans le Lac de Van, pour la seconde liturgie qui se deroulera
le 11 septembre en l’Eglise Sainte-Croix de l’île d’Aghtamar. ”
Le bureau du gouverneur a entrepris la construction d’une grande
digue de la capacite qui convient [pour le nombre des visiteurs] en
remplacement de l’ancienne digue. En outre, des amenagements sont en
cours pour un meilleur service aux invites qui viendront sur l’île pour
assister a la divine liturgie”, a declare recemment Munir Karaloglu,
gouverneur de Van, a Hurriyet Daily News.

L’an passe, plus de 7 000 personnes ont assiste a la ceremonie, a
dit Karaloglu, ajoutant qu’on espère aussi pour la divine liturgie
de cette annee, un grand nombre de personnes.

“Cette annee, nous attendons egalement des Armeniens d’Iran. On
constate generalement en tous cas une augmentation [du nombre] des
touristes qui arrivent a Van depuis le mois d’août”, a dit Karaloglu.

“Bien sûr, ce ne sont pas seulement des Armeniens ; ils arrivent a
Van venus des quatre coins du monde. Par comparaison avec le record
[du nombre de touristes] de l’an passe, le nombre de visiteurs au
cours des six premiers mois de cette annee est plus eleve”, a-t-il dit.

Le Patriarche Suppleant Archeveque Aram Atesyan, qui presidera la
divine liturgie de cette annee, a dit dans un communique de presse
qu’aucune invitation officielle ne sera emise”, a dit Karaloglu,
ajoutant qu’une commission mixte avait ete creee avec le Patriarche
et que des preparatifs etaient en cours pour la divine liturgie.

La divine liturgie a Aghtamar se deroulera le 11 septembre, date
qui coïncide avec la celebration des fetes de la Sainte-Croix par
l’Eglise Apostolique Armenienne. Atesian sera charge de presider la
divine liturgie a la place du Patriarche Mesrop II, dont l’etat de
sante ne lui permet pas de remplir ses fonctions.

Lorsqu’on lui a demande si cette annee encore, les visiteurs seraient
loges dans des residences privees de Van, Karaloglu a repondu : “si le
besoin s’en manifeste, nous pourrons lancer une telle campagne. Mais
il n’y a cette annee aucune demande en ce sens.”

Evoquant la controverse de l’an passe autour de l’absence de croix au
sommet du toit, le gouverneur a dit : ” La diaspora disait qu’une autre
divine liturgie ne serait pas autorisee [en l’eglise Sainte-Croix]. Les
critiques etaient alimentees par le fait qu’on n’avait mis aucune
croix [sur l’eglise]. La croix etait mise en place après la divine
liturgie, comme vous pouvez le voir, et une divine liturgie a ete
autorisee pour la seconde fois”. Les debats de l’an passe au sujet
de la croix n’avaient pas lieu d’etre, a-t-il ajoute.

Le Monastère de Carpanak [en armenien, Kdutz] prochain sur la liste

Le gouverneur a aussi dit qu’un dossier avait ete depose auprès des
organisations internationales et que des fonds ont ete recus pour
restaurer plusieurs eglises et monastères situes a l’interieur des
limites de la province de l’est.

Les travaux de restauration du Monastère de Carpanak sur l’île du
meme nom commenceront dans quelques mois a dit le gouverneur, ajoutant
que le nom original du monastère armenien, qui date du 15ème siècle,
etait “Gduzs”.

“Lorsque la restauration sera terminee, Kdutz sera aussi ouvert aux
visiteurs comme musee,” a-t-il ajoute.

Traduction Gilbert Beguian

YEREVAN STATE UNIVERSITY LEADS IN THE REGION

news.am
Sept 6 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN. – The results published by Webometrics Ranking of World
Universities shows that according to the international ranking Yerevan
State University (YSU) is the leading university in the region.

Webometrics is one of the best raters in the world, it rates nearly
20,000 universities worldwide, including 5,000 European, 6,000 Asian,
and 7,000 American universities.

Four main criteria is taken into account: the number of official
website mentions in the Google, Yahoo, and MSN search engines; external
links to the universities website; the number of Adobe Acrobat (pdf),
Adobe PostScript (ps), Microsoft Power point (ppt) format files;
and links to the works of the university professors).

“The first three points describe the official website of the
university, and the forth one shows the real potential of the
professors, that is, how visible are their work on the website”
says the YSU Academic Affairs Vice-Rector Alexander Grigoryan.

A year ago YSU occupied 4,392th place, in the beginning of this year
it was on 4,651th place, however, in the summer it reached to the
2,856th place, and later YSU becomes the leader in the region.

Presently YSU occupies the 1,051th place among 20,000 universities.

Azerbaijan’s highest-rated “Khazar University” occupies the 6,211th
place, Baku’s state university the 11,736th place, and Georgia’s
leading “Ilia State University” has appeared on the 5,915th place. It
should be mentioned that the national universities of the neighboring
countries are significantly lower in their ranking than the private
ones.

AGRO DEAL INKED WITH ARMENIA

Zawya.com
Sept 6 2011

A memorandum of understanding on agricultural cooperation between
Iran and Armenia was signed on Monday.

According to MoU signed by Iranian Agricultural Jihad Minister Sadeq
Khalilian and Armenian Agriculture Minister Sergo Karapetyan, Iran
will share with Armenia its experience in agricultural insurance,
establishing cooperative units and market and processing farming
products, Mehr News Agency reported.

Iran is also ready for joint investment in sheep breeding and
dispensing desalting technology to Armenia by sending experts to
that country.

Based on the MoU, the two countries are expected to implement joint
research projects and establish agricultural, industrial and livestock
breeding units as well as industrial and semi-industrial greenhouses.

Iran also agreed to transfer its experience in establishing
slaughterhouse to Armenia.

The two countries will also cooperate for manufacturing of anti-hail
machines in West Azarbaijan province.

During a visit to East Azarbaijan Pegah Milk Company on Monday,
Karapetyan expressed satisfaction with the meetings he had with Iranian
officials and the agreements he signed with the head of Iran’s East
Azerbaijan Agricultural Jihad Organization, Masoud Mohammadian.

He hoped that the relations between the two countries will grow and
added that Iran-Armenia ties in the past two years have witnessed a
remarkable growth.

Karapetyan is currently on his three-day visit to Iran and he visited
East Azarbaijan province on Monday.

ARMENIA TRIPLES TRADE EXCHANGES WITH IRAN

Fars News Agency
Sept 6 2011
Iran

TEHRAN (FNA)- Armenian Agriculture Minister Sergo Karapetyan announced
that his country has increased its trade exchanges with Iran by 200
to 300 percent during the last few years.

“During the last two years the volume of exchanges between Iran and
Armenia has doubled or tripled,” Karapetyan said after meeting Iranian
Agricultural Jihad Minister Sadeq Khalilian in Iran earlier this week.

He described his visit to Iran as “fruitful” and “constructive”, and
said during the trip the two sides inked a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) to further expand their mutual cooperation.

Karapetyan said that the Iranian and Armenian officials have also
held negotiations to boost Tehran’s investment in Armenia.

Iran and Armenia have taken major strides to promote their bilateral
relations in the last few years. The bilateral trade volume between
the two states stands at nearly $270 million, a figure that is expected
to rapidly climb in a near future, according to officials.

Iran and Armenia have mainly expanded cooperation in power and gas
swap in recent years.

Iran mainly exports natural gas to Armenia and imports power supplies
from the Caucasian state through two transfer lines with a total
power transfer capacity of 220kw/ph at present.

Iranian Minister of Energy Majid Namjou announced in June that the
two countries would increase swap of electricity once the third power
transmission line is completed.

“The construction phase of the third power transmission line between
the two countries will start in the next two weeks,” Namjou told
reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with Armenian Energy and
Natural Resources Minister Armen Movsisian in June.

He added the new line will bring the volume of power exchange between
the two countries from the current 300mw to 500-800 mw.

The minister said that over $110million of funding is needed for the
construction of the new power transmission line.

ARMENIAN INTENDED TO INCREASE TRADE VOLUME WITH IRAN

Panorama
Sept 6 2011
Armenia

Armenia intends to increase the trade volume with Iran about 2-3 times,
Iranian “IRNA” news agency quotes Armenian Minister of Agriculture
Sergo Karapetyan as saying during his meeting with the governor of
Eastern Azerbaijan Ahmad Alireza Beygi.

Speaking about the trade volume between the countries in the past
five months, Armenian Minister said they formed $160 million.

According to the source Armenia and Iran recorded about $320 million
trade volume in the previous year.

ARMENIA C.BANK CUTS REFI RATE TO 8.0 PCT FROM 8.5 PCT

Reuters
Sept 6 2011

YEREVAN, Sept 6 (Reuters) – Armenia’s central bank on Tuesday cut
its key refinancing rate for the first time in five months to 8.00
percent from 8.50 percent as annual inflation moved to within the
government’s target range.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices fell 0.6 percent in August, the
bank said. Annual inflation in August stood at 4.8 percent, down from
6.3 percent in July and within the government’s target range of 2.5-5.5
percent. (Reporting by Hasmik Lazarian; Editing by Maria Kiselyova)