Author: Kanayan Tamar

World bank intends to assist Armenia in developing agricultural sector

YEREVAN, March 10. /ARKA/. At its sitting on Tuesday, the
Constitutional Court of Armenia recognized the agreement with
International Development Association of the World Bank (WB) on
sponsoring 1.3mln SDR worth development programs for agricultural
enterprises and small commercial agricultural entities.

The agreement was signed this February 26 and the Armenian side was
represented by RA Minister of Finance Tigran Davtyan. The agreement
aims at assisting to development of small and medium agricultural
enterprises in Armenia.

RA Ministry of Finance believes ratification of the agreement is
expedient and it will impose additional financial commitment on the
country.

Ministry of Justice submitted a paper to the court, according to which
the agreement does not contain any norms contrary to the Armenian
legislation and does not provide for any law revisions.

IDA issues interest-free loans with 30-40 years time to run and
ten-year delay of main payments.
During the 17 years of cooperation with Armenia, the World Banks has
allocated credits to the amount of $1.162bln.

Currently 16 programs are being implemented and their completion
requires 94mln USD. `0–

Tsolvard Gevorgyan: The crisis will clean the rubbish of the economy
11.03.2009 16:33

Nvard Davtyan
`Radiolur’

Tsolvard Gevorgyan, President of the Armenian Merchants NGO, engaged in
the protection of the rights of merchants, told a press conference
today that she likes the crisis because it will clean the rubbish of
the economy and will contribute to the shaping of market economy.

Tsolvard Gevorgyan said the difficulties of the small and medium-sized
businesses are connected with the return of credits.

According to her, if the Government manages to render correct
assistance and the banks meet halfway, the losses will be minimal. `For
example, the borrowers should be allowed to pay only the interest. The
agreements should be reconsidered and the interest rate should be
reduced. I mean the restructuring of credits,’ Tsolvard Gevorgyan said.

Trend News Agency , Azerbaijan
March 9 2009

Sergey Hakobjanyan and Grigor Minasyan set free
09.03.09 17:36

Director of the "Charles Aznavour" Benevolent Fund of Akhaltskha
Sergey Hakobjanyan and Director of the Youth Center Grigor Minasyan
have been released. The Armenian public figures had been arrested by
Georgian law-enforcement bodies in January on charges of spying and
creating an illegal armed grouping, Public Radio of Armenia reported.

Today Grigor Minasyan gave an exclusive interview to "Radiolur,"
expressing gratitude to Armenian media for actively following the
development of events in this period and asked reporters not to bother
them, since he has promised the law-enforcement bodies of Georgia not
to give interviews and reveal the details of the case.

Accompanied by Georgian policemen, Sergey Hakobjanyan and Grigor
Minasyan came to Akhaltskha the night of March 6. Sunday Grigor
Minasyan visited the only functioning Armenian Church in Akhaltskha,
St. Gregory the Illuminator, where Armenians welcomed him with tears
in their eyes.

Today Sergey Hakobjanyan and Grigor Minasyan celebrate their freedom
with friends. Asked how he fees now, Grigor Minasyan said: "I feel
normal. I enjoy the delight of freedom."

As it was mentioned above, the two Armenians are accused of creating
an illegal grouping and spying (Articles 223 and 314 of the Georgian
Criminal Code). On March 6 they were condemned to one year of
suspended sentence and were set free on a 2000 lari bail.

Grigor Minasyan said in a phone talk with "Radiolur: "I can only say
that I accept the charges against me. I did it unconsciously, without
any intention of doing harm to Georgia and Armenia. I had no intention
to consciously harm my Motherland, Georgia."

He added that he is not hostile towards Georgia. "Armenia and Georgia
are two parts of my heart and my activity was not consciously targeted
against their interests, but investigation has shown that I have
committed a crime," Minasyan said, adding that he could make no more
comments, since he pledged not to give any interviews or reveal any
details of the case.

"I wish to express gratitude to all those in Armenia, who sincerely
want to help us," he said.

Panorama.am
18:05 10/03/2009
LAVROV WILL DISCUSS KARABAKH ISSUE IN BAKU

The Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov is going to discuss the resolution of Nagorno Karabakh conflict with the President and the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan during his visit to Baku on 11-12 March, announced the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Andrey Nesterenko.

`Surely, they are going to discuss the conflict of Nagorno Karabakh and its resolution. The declaration signed by the Presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan dated on November 2008 gives new opportunities in this regard,’ he said.

Source: Panorama.am

Civil Georgia, Georgia
March 8 2009

Saakashvili Says Economy the Only Priority for Now

Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 8 Mar.’09 / 13:15

President Saakashvili said on March 7 that the government’s only
priority right now was to avert collapse of the economy’s economy and
added that the goal would be accomplished in case of political
stability.

`You know that the Armenia’s economy has crashed completely; why?
Because Armenia has been totally depended on the Russian market; the
Russian market has collapsed and the Armenia’s economy has collapsed
too. We are in the region where economies are experiencing
difficulties; but Georgia will sustain, Georgia will survive even in
the light of difficulties, in case of political stable situation,’ he
said.

He said that Russia had `kicked out’ Georgia from its market three
years ago, but because of reforms the Georgian economy became
resilient.

`We know that people live in hardship; we should not allow the worst
thing to happen ` the collapse economy and it will not happen, because
everything will proceed due to our plan,’ he added.

Saakashvili was speaking at an opening of a new hotel in Tskneti,
outskirts of Tbilisi, which is owned by Russian-based Georgian
businessman, Tornike Kopaleishvili, an owner of network of restaurants
in Moscow. Saakashvili called Kopaleishvili `a real patriot’ for
continuing investing in Georgia despite global economic crisis and
despite of the August war.

`The Georgian government simply has no other job rather than to assist
and stand beside this kind of people,’ Saakashvili said. `If
everything goes in line of our plan, we will be able to resolve all
the other problems as well.’

PanARMENIAN.Net

Vladimir Hakobyan makes draw with Azerbaijan’s Eltai Safarli
09.03.2009 23:51 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian grandmaster Vladimir Hakobyan made a draw
with Azerbaijan’s Eltai Safarli in the 4th tour of the European
Individual Chess Championship.

Another Olympic champion Tigran Petrosyan defeated Croatia’s Miso
Cebalo while Arthur Chibukhchyan scored a victory over Greece’s Marios
Tassopoulos. Armenia’s champion Arman Pashikyan sustained a defeat
from Ukraine’s Ilya Nizhnik

Zaven Andreasyan and Artashes Minasyan played in a draw.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Abrupt introduction of floating exchange rate policy is more profitable
09.03.2009 15:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `Dram devaluation process is an objective step in
CBA and RA Government policy,’ Vice Minister of Finance Vardan Aramyan
told a news conference on Friday. According to him, the preconditions
for dram devaluation had been registered since September
2008. Recession in trade, transfer flow decrease and CBA internal
reserves resulted in floating exchange rate policy introduction.

Previous experience of many countries practicing floating exchange
rate policy, including Russia, had been examined. As the financial
system of Armenia proved to be the most stable in the region, drastic
implementation of floating exchange rate policy was applied here,
which is more profitable in the long run.

`Dram devaluation resulted in price increase for imported goods. In
current circumstances CBA and the Armenian Government had to chose
between financial stability or price stability in the country,’
Aramyan said.

Referring to the issue of possible introduction of fixed AMD exchange
rate by CBA, (AMD360 ` 380 against $1), Aramyan explained that CBA
never announced a restraining policy for AMD.

`The forecast was made to prevent the holding effect and minimize
negative expectations.’

According to Aramyan, the AMD exchange rate has already been
stabilized. If purchase and sale margin amounted to AMD20 on Mar. 5,
the current margin has decreased to AMD 4-5.

RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan received a delegation led by Deputy
Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Italy Alfredo Mantica.

Fri day, 6 March 2009

By pointing out that the bilateral relations have ushered in a new
stage of development, the Prime Minister stated our country’s special
focus on boosting the Armenian-Italian economic interaction.

Tigran Sargsyan and Alfredo Mantica underscored that despite the
functioning of a number of Italian companies in Armenia, the current
level of economic ties is still far from being satisfactory and falls
short of the existing potentialities.

The Italian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs briefed the RA Prime
Minister on the meetings and discussions held in our country by making
a point of the outcome of his talks with the Armenian Minister of
Economy. According to Alfredo Mantica, a draft action plan is out for
the development economic interaction, including the establishment of
direct ties and cooperation between Armenia and the region of Veneto.

The interlocutors informed each other about the steps underway in both
countries towards overcoming the global financial and economic crisis.

The parties also referred to a number of questions concerning the
Armenian-Italian joint endeavors under the EU Eastern Partnership
Program, regional security and stability.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan outlined Armenia’s
positi
ons regarding the settlement of the Karabakh conflict and
Armenia-Turkey relations.

LIVNI, TURKISH FM MEET TO REPAIR TIES
By Herb Keinon

Jerusalem Post
March 6 2009

In an apparent attempt to patch up Turkish-Israel ties, which had badly
deteriorated since Operation Cast Lead, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
met with her Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan in Brussels on Thursday.

At the meeting, which took place on the sidelines of a meeting of
NATO foreign ministers, Livni and Babacan discussed bilateral ties,
stressing the strategic ties between the two countries.

The two ministers, according to a statement issued by Livni’s
office, discussed the importance of the Israeli-Turkish relationship
to regional stability, and said that diplomatic cooperation would
continue at the highest level.

The meeting came following weeks of tension between Jerusalem and
Ankara over Turkish Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan’s vicious
criticism of Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip during
January’s Operation Cast Lead. Erdogan and President Shimon Peres got
into a shouting match over the issue at the Davos economic summit last
month, after which Erdogan stormed off the stage. Late last month,
IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi apologized to the
Turkish military for critical comments a senior IDF officer made at
a conference regarding the inappropriateness of Turkish criticism
considering Turkey’s history of conflict with Armenians and Kurds.

This meeting in Brussels was an apparent attempt by both capitals to
put the relations back on an even keel.

YEREVAN HOSTS DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL ON HISTORICAL MONUMENTS PRESERVATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.03.2009 22:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A 2-day documentary film festival kicked off
Wednesday in the Armenian National Art Gallery with screening of two
Armenian documentaries – Djugha and Momik.

The second documentary is about medieval architect Momik, the author
of Noravank Church.

Films shot by Bulgarian, Greek, Russian, Serbian and Turkish directors
will also be presented.