Author: Kanayan Tamar

GORIS DECLARED A TOURISM CENTER

ARMENPRESS
JUNE 10, 2011
YEREVAN

The Armenian government decided at the cabinet sitting today to
declare Goris as a tourism center. During the six months the Ministry
of Culture and will work out and present to the government’s approval
Goris’ historic-cultural grounding project, the historic territory
of the town, reconstruction of separate parts.

The minister said with its climate conditions, historic-cultural
and demographic peculiarities, traditions and already developing
infrastructures has serious prospect for becoming an alternative
tourism center and having its place and role in the world tourism
industry.

“With its geographic location Goris has a peculiar nature which created
favorable conditions for development of adventurous and ecological
tourism”, Poghosyan said.

It is also planned to form a special attitude toward monuments –
create a reserve as well as found house-museums, art centers.

HAYK AVAGYAN TO TEMPORARILY WORK AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF “HAYPOST”

ARMENPRESS
JUNE 10, 2011
YEREVAN

Haypost Trust Management informs that in compliance with the resolution
of the Supervisory Board dated June 3, 2011the responsibilities
of the Chief Executive Officer of “Haypost” CJSC were temporarily
assigned to Deputy General Financial Director Hayk Avagyan, Haypost
Trust Management official reported.

ABRAHAMYAN: ARTSAKH WILL BECOME SUBJECT OF INTERNATIONAL LAW SOONER OR LATER

PanARMENIAN.Net
June 10, 2011 – 13:51 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly Hovik
Abrahamyan said Artsakh will become a subject of the international
law sooner or later.

Armenian parliamentarians always refer to the Karabakh conflict
settlement during international meetings, Abrahamyan said during a
sitting of Armenia-NKR interparliamentary committee.

“I strongly believe that inter-parliamentary cooperation will
eventually contribute to NKR’s international recognition,” he said.

The cooperation between the NKR and Armenian parliaments considerably
contributes to the development of relations between the two states.

IS NAIRIT SOLD TO RUSSIA?

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 14:51:20 – 10/06/2011

The employees of Nairit Chemical Plant, who protested in front of
the office of the president today, were promised that their salaries
for 4 months will be paid within the upcoming 15 days. But more
importantly it was promised to them to re-operate the plant, which
has been standing idle for a long time.

This means that the government has decided to direct the loan pledged
by EurAsEC at the modernization of Nairit. The Eurasian Economic
Community (EurAsEC) fund, which is backed by Russia, has decided to
allot 400 million to Armenia. There is an opinion that the Russians
want to get the plant.

Last year 90% of shares were sold to the British Consortium Rainsville
Property Limited for 40 million, the other 10% is owned by the
government of Armenia. It is not known whether Armenian officials
are shareholders at the British Consortium, but even if they are,
the Armenian government must first denationalize the plant to go on
to boost the public debt through its modernization.

The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Armen Movsisyan noted
that the plant cannot produce competitive products due to expensive
gas. Production of chloroprene rubber was discontinued during the
global economic crisis. In 2010, an anti-crisis program was developed
which aims to seek an international operator who will be able to
implement it. The Minister noted that June 15 will be one month since
the publication of the proposal, and soon investors will be known.

The Minister of Economy Tigran Davtyan said in his February 15 press
conference that governmental guarantees are necessary to obtain funds
needed to modernize the largest industrial enterprise in Armenia
while the government is not ready to give them. Apparently, now the
government is ready.

By the way, yesterday an agreement was signed in Minsk on the allotment
of a loan to Belarus by EurAsEC in exchange for privatization of
assets. In June, negotiations on the sale of shares held by the
Belarusian State Beltransgaz to Gazprom are expected to end. In
addition, Russia intends to privatize VTB, Sberbank, Sovcomflot,
Rosneft and other companies in Belarus.

KARABAKH OFFICIALS TO STUDY ENGLISH

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 14:52:24 – 10/06/2011

The recent post of the NKR prime minister Ara Harutiunyan in his
personal blog is an urge for training candidates with modern knowledge
to be able use the best practices in the world and to be competitive.

For this purpose he underscored the knowledge of foreign languages.

For this reason we undertake an English teaching program which will
involve government officials who wish to learn English and who will
need it in their career. The NKR government will fund the program,
the NKR prime minister informs.

AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENTARIAN SLAMS AZERBAIJAN’S OTTOMAN POLICY AGAINST ARMENIANS

PanARMENIAN.Net
June 10, 2011 – 10:50 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The longest serving member of Australia’s New South
Wales State Parliament, Rev. Fred Nile, declared in a Parliamentary
Statement that the Azerbaijani persecution of Nagorno Karabakh
Armenians was based upon the genocidal policy undertaken by the
Ottoman Turkish Government against Armenians in the early part of
the 20th century, Asbarez reported.

Nile, who recently attended the national Armenian Genocide
commemoration in Sydney, rose in Parliament to describe the horrendous
legacy of this crime against humanity.

“The lack of an appropriate punishment for the Ottoman perpetrators
led their Turkic brethren in Azerbaijan to brazenly adopt the same
genocidal policy with respect to the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh,”
he said.

Nile then described Azerbaijan’s continued threats against the civilian
Armenian population of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, concluding
that the only means of preventing a second Armenian Genocide was for
the world to acknowledge Nagorno Karabakh’s independence.

“Tonight, in the New South Wales Parliament I place on record my
support for the application of the principle of self-determination
for the people and the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. The Azerbaijani
Government announced it would shoot down civilian aircraft in Nagorno
Karabakh, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Allyev declared that
Azerbaijan would pursue a military solution to the issue of Nagorno
Karabakh. These actions and threats prove that in order to prevent
a second Armenian genocide and secure a lasting peace, the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic must never be placed under Azerbaijani rule.”

“Never again must the Armenian people, particularly Armenian
Christians, suffer the threat of genocide or experience it in any
shape or form. I call on the nations of the world to support the
people of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in seeking self-determination
and freedom to live and practice their religion, the Christian faith.”

In his statement, Nile also described the mass murder of Greeks and
Assyrians in the early part of the 20th century as a defining example
of genocide paving the way for the NSW Parliament to pass a motion
acknowledging this historical reality.

Nile, who has earned the unofficial title “Father of the House” for
serving in Parliament since 1981, was present at the 1997 sitting
when the NSW Parliament passed the motion of the Armenian Genocide.

MUNICIPALITY TO LAUNCH WATER DRAINAGE REPAIR PROGRAM IN COLLABORATION WITH YEREVAN JUR

Tert.am
10.06.11

The Yerevan Municipality has started the elaboration of a water
drainage repair program in collaboration with the Yerevan Jur company.

It came after heavy rainfalls flooded several streets and underground
passages in the capital city, making them impassable to traffic.

Arthur Gevorgyan, the head of the Municipality’s Public Relations
Department, told Tert.am that the obsolete water drainage system is
the root cause of the problems.

“After heavy rainfalls, water from the upland districts flows into
the center, carrying broken tree branches, stones, rubbish and silt
and blocking the water drainage systems,” he said.

Gevorgyan added that he had toured the city with Deputy Mayor Kamo
Areyan and a representative of Yerevan Jur to clarify possible
solutions to the problem and submit them to the mayor.

He said the details of the program be clear later today, and added
that their activities will not pursue short-term objectives.

Office of the President of the Republic, Armenia
June 9 2011

President Serzh Sargsyan received the Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group

President Serzh Sargsyan received today the Co-chairs of the OSCE
Minsk Group Bernard Fassier (France), Robert Bradtke (USA) and Igor
Popov (Russia), as well as the Personal Representative of the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office Andrzey Kaprzyk who have arrived to Yerevan in the
framework of a regional visit.

The parties discussed issues pertinent to the current stage of the NK
peace process and preparatory works for the trilateral meeting in
Kazan with the participation of the Presidents of Armenia, Russia and
Azerbaijan.

The Co-chairs told the President of Armenia about their meetings in
Baku and Stepanakert.

news.am, Armenia
June 10 2011

Nagorno-Karabakh has right to be independent de jure – Armenian Speaker

June 10, 2011 | 13:08

YEREVAN.- Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is more democratic as compared to
other regional countries and being de facto separate entity has the
right to be independent de jure, said Armenian Speaker Hovik
Abrahamyan.

The international community seems to form a more comprehensive
approach in its position on people’s right to self-determination
principle, he said during the meeting of cooperation committee of
Armenian and NKR parliaments.

According to him, cooperation between the parliaments of two Armenian
states contributes to development of relations between Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh.

Expert: The Armenian Government continue inventing figures and has no
specific concept of economic development

ARMINFO
Friday, June 10, 19:51

The Government of Armenia does not have a specific concept of economic
development and its official statistics are just invented figures,
Doctor of Economics Tatul Manaseryan said during a seminar at the
Armenian Center for National and International Studies today.

Management expert Harutyun Mesrobyan supported Manaseryan by saying
that the real inflation in Armenia ranges from 45% for the poor to 9%
for the rich.

Despite certain increase in tax revenues due to tougher tax
administration in small and medium-sized business and trade, the
country’s fiscal policy is the same: oligarchs do not put coin into
the national moneybox with small companies carrying the whole burden
on their shoulders. Shadow economy is very high – 70-80%.

Even though education and science have been proclaimed as national
priorities, nothing is being done in these fields, with science
receiving just 1% of GDP. The Academy of Sciences has become a
pensioners house as very few young people wish become scientists
today. Very little is done to employ the capacities of the Diaspora.

There are just a few examples of good projects. One of them is the
decision to create free economic zones. This project can help to
alleviate economic inequality between Yerevan and marzes but needs
more active effort on the part of state administrators.