Author: Kanayan Tamar

DOLLAR SHARPLY FALLS IN ARMENIA

news.am
July 10, 2012 | 16:57

YEREVAN. – The US dollar’s exchange rate began losing ground in
Armenia’s financial market, and it is weakening as quickly as it was
gaining strength in the country.

So, the US currency’s average exchange rate against the Armenian Dram
(AMD) comprised AMD 415.06/$1, at NASDAQ OMX Armenia stock exchange
on Tuesday, as compared with Monday’s AMD 418.25/$1.

Furthermore, the dollar was offered even lower than AMD 415/$1 at
the closing of the day’s trading session.

And the total trading was $4.1 million.

The US dollar’s exchange rate sharply declined in Armenia’s cash
foreign currency market, too. The exchange offices began offering
it even at AMD 415.5/$1, in the case when they were buying it at AMD
417/$1 on Monday. For the most part, the American currency’s buying
exchange rate dropped all the way to AMD 412-413/$1. And the next
anomaly occurred in Armenia’s cash foreign currency market, when
one bank buys the dollar at an exchange rate that is higher than the
neighboring bank’s selling rate.

SAVE TEGHOUT GROUP SENDS URGENT APPEAL TO U.N.

13:59, July 9, 2012

The Save Teghout Civic Initiative has sent an urgent appeal to the UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights, to stop illegal mining in Teghut,
which violates human rights, national legislation of Armenia and
international conventions to which Armenia is a signatory.

The appeal, signed by 27 Armenian and international NGOs and one
international specialist on human rights, has also been forwarded to
8 other responsible U.N. offices.

The conclusions noted in the appeal are:

Mining activity in Teghut has been initiated by ACP and approved by
the Armenian Government with massive infringements of national laws
and international conventions, including violations of human rights
requirements.

The decision-making on Teghut mining was carried out without ensuring
timely and effective public awareness and participation that ruled out
the possibility for the exercise of people’s right to participate in
decision-making that might impact their lives and the protection of
other rights such as right to live in a healthy and safe environment,
right to property and right to cultural heritage.

Mining activity and mining waste have a high risk of causing serious
damage to the health and lives of human population, as well as
the ecosystem. It will pollute and destroy sources of drinking and
irrigation water, increase possibilities of landslides, destroy large
areas of forest. The project will likely deprive the population of
safe drinking water and food. All mentioned risks will grow because
of high seismic activity of the region.

The local population is being deprived of their permanent agricultural
jobs, and forced taking mining jobs. The latter are short term,
little paid and cause high health risks. In case of large scale
mining in Teghut and large scale water, soil and air pollution,
agricultural use of the area will become impossible for tens of
thousands of years. This may cause dramatic increase in the rates of
poverty and migration of the population in the future.

Historical and cultural heritage is being destroyed, including valuable
historical monuments and artefacts, which will be lost as a consequence
of the mining project in Teghut.

The Teghut case is not unique and most of the hazards described in
this Appeal are valid in case of other mines in the country. Scales
of mining in Armenia are increasing dramatically, and in many cases
this is accompanied by illegalities, major human rights violations
and threats to human life and environment.

Read full text HERE

RUSSIAN DIRECTOR DREAMS TO SHOOT FILM IN ARMENIA

news.am
July 10, 2012 | 19:35

YEREVAN. – Russian film director Natalia Belyauskene , whose If all
film was selected in the Panorama Armenia competition program of the
Armenian Golden Apricot film festival, hopes to film her next movie
in Armenia, she confessed at a press conference on Tuesday in Yerevan.

This young Russian woman with a Lithuanian last name is often asked
how she managed to get involved with Armenia so deeply and to end up
in the Armenian film festival.

“The more I think the more I understand that nothing happens without
purpose. After I visited Armenia for the first time, my admiration
for this country and its people constantly grew,” she said.

ARTHUR ABRAHAM CONSIDERS STIEGLITZ WORTHY OPPONENT

ARMENPRESS
10 July, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, JULY 10, ARMENPRESS: Boxer of Armenian origin, world
ex-champion Arthur Abraham trains in a city on Baltic seashore
Chinnovich. After four weeks trainings here he will return to
Germany and continue training process in a city far from Berlin 100
km Cinbaum. During the talk with Armenpress the boxer informed that
lately he had trained in Spanish city Mallorca.

It is planned that Arthur Abraham will hold training matches with
boxers who have similar style as Stieglitz in order to work on
his strategy for the match. Abraham considers his opponent worthy
opponent. ~SI do not underestimate him, if he was not strong sportsman
he would not become champion. In any case I will struggle for the
victory. The coming match is a good opportunity to make my fans happy
as I did when in 2009 defeated in the last round Germaine Taylor~T
said Abraham.

German boxer Robert Stieglitz in the interview given to Bild.de
newspaper stressed that despite Abraham who tries to finish the match
by one kick he would concentrate at the whole match and try to attack
all the time. ~SI will be very glad to tell my son one day that his
father was once the strongest man in the world~T said Stieglitz.

I AM SURPRISED THAT TARON MARGARYAN’S WORD MAY BE WORTHLESS,” VALERIE GORTSUNYAN SAYS
Arpine SIMONYAN

July 9, 2012 11:39

Valerie-Ashkhen Gortsunyan, a French businessman and the former owner
of the company Cafe de Paris, still waits for the fulfillment of the
promise made to her by Mayor Taron Margaryan that the open-air part
of Cafe de Paris will be reopened. “Mr. Mayor personally said that the
summer part of Cafe de Paris will be opened two months after cleaning
up Abovyan Street, but after rather long negotiations he permitted
to open only the part beside the wall and the street part is not
permitted yet. I trusted his word and I am surprised that the mayor’s
word may be worthless,” Ms. Gortsunyan said during a conversation with
Finding out that the mayor had permitted the brother
of Gagik Beglaryan, the Minister of Transport and Communication, to
open a cafe in the very place where the dismantled booths had been, Ms.

Gortsunyan became more disappointed, “A naïve Diaspora Armenian thinks
that the mayor should respect his word. It is hard for me to say
whether the mayor of Yerevan is free to make decisions or whether
oligarchs allow him to act freely for their political interests,
but seeing the Armenian reality, it is hard for me to believe that
he is the right mayor or the mayor who defends the interests of the
city and its citizens.”

ARMENIAN NATIONAL CARRIER PREFERS AIRBUS AND BOEING TO SUPERJET

news.am
July 10, 2012 | 17:07

Armenian national carrier Armavia said it plans to purchase Airbus
and Boeing airliners.

Representatives of Armavia met with counterparts from both producers
during the Farnborough International Airshow in Britain, Interfax
reports.

Air company said the details of the deal will be issued later after
the close of the air show.

Meanwhile, this week Armavia announced it refused to buy the second
Sukhoi Superjet 100 plane. The reason might be financial difficulties
the company is faced with, the agency says.

A handover ceremony of the first Sukhoi Superjet-100 that arrived in
Armenia was held at the Zvartnots international airport in Yerevan
in April 2011.

HOLLANDE STANDS BY ARMENIAN GENOCIDE LAW

Eyewitness News

July 9 2012

PARIS – French President Francois Hollande will stand by a campaign
pledge to make it illegal to deny that the killing of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks in 1915 was genocide, his office said, days after his
foreign minister said the law had been abandoned.Relations between
Paris and Ankara had begun to thaw after a decision in February by
France’s constitutional court to strike down the genocide denial
law as contrary to free speech.Turkey had cancelled all economic,
political and military meetings with France in December after the
French parliament voted in favour of the draft law.At a joint news
conference last week, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said
the law was unlikely to be resurrected and Turkish Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu hailed the opening of a warmer phase in relations
with France.But Hollande’s office said on Monday the president
would stand by his pledge, made to French Armenians while on the
campaign trail ahead of his election in May.”The position is very
clear, the commitment will be met,” a source at Hollande’s office
said.Asked about Hollande’s decision, Turkish President Abdullah Gul
said Ankara was not prepared to act on unconfirmed reports and said
recent meetings in Paris had been positive.”We will follow it and
let’s see what the result will be,” he said.Given the likelihood that
the constitutional court would reject a new law, weekly newspaper
JDD reported that Hollande’s government was examining alternative
legal means, including penalising denial via official decree.Armenia,
backed by many historians, says about 1.5 million Christian Armenians
were killed in what is now eastern Turkey during World War One in a
deliberate policy of genocide ordered by the Ottoman government.Turkey
says there was heavy loss of life on both sides during the fighting
in which Armenian partisans supported invading Russian forces. The
Ottoman Empire collapsed after the war. Successive Turkish governments
and the vast majority of Turks feel the charge of genocide is an
insult to their nation.Turkey hopes Hollande’s election might mean
France is more open to its joining the European Union than under his
conservative predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, but has so far received no
public support for its EU bid from Paris.

ARMENIAN CHILD AMONG MISSING IN RUSSIAN FLOOD

news.am
July 09, 2012 | 14:21

An Armenian child is among those missing in the flood that ravaged
Russia’s Krasnodar Krai (federal subject).

Four children between 1 and 10 are declared missing. Their parents
turned to police after they failed to find them among the victims
and those who had survived.

The rescuers are searching a year-old Ilya, 7-year-old Marina S.,
10-year-old Ninevi Banyaminova and 3-year-old Artyom Davtyan,
representative of internal ministry told Russian Life News website.

Artyom Davtyan, together with his father and grand-father, is missing.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, three Armenians are listed
among the victims.

Their ages and citizenship, however, are not yet determined.

The July 7 flood inundated close to 5,000 homes in the Krai’s three
cities and several villages. The natural disaster claimed almost 180
lives and affected more than 12,000 people.

CAT IS ON AZERBAIJANI FM’S SHOULDERS – ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT VICE CHAIRMAN

news.am
July 09, 2012 | 14:20

YEREVAN. – Armenia’s National Assembly (NA) Deputy Speaker Eduard
Sharmazanov reacted to Azerbaijani FM Elmar Mammadyarov’s statement
made Monday in Baku, during his joint news conference held with
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) Secretary
General Lamberto Zannier.

Specifically, Mammadyarov had said: “If the Armenian armed forces are
removed from the occupied territories, there will not be the problem
of either snipers or armed incidents.”

And in response to this statement, NA Deputy Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov
specifically stated:

“Mr. Mammadyarov continually distorts the reality. And the reality is
as follows: As long as Azerbaijan continues to occupy Nagorno-Karabakh
[NK] Republic’s certain regions (Getashen, Martunashen, Shahumyan) and
regularly opens fire-by way of snipers-in the direction of peaceful
civilians-including a kindergarten-, the Azerbaijani side bears the
whole responsibility for the absence of a serious progress in the NK
peace process.

Therefore there is no need to look for a cat in a dark room when that
cat is [sitting] on your [own] shoulders.”

EBRD WANTS MORE TRANSPARENCY WITH MINING LICENSES IN ARMENIA

news.am
Aram Gareginyan
July 09, 2012 | 10:17

In his interview to Armenian News – NEWS.am, the EBRD for the Caucasus,
Moldova and Belarus office Director Paul-Henri Forestier shares his
views on the potential of the mining sector in Armenia.

Do you think that the regulatory environment and access to credit
have been sufficient for the private sector in Armenia over the last
few years?

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone for a
healthy and well functioning economy and EBRD always supports the
development of the SMEs sector. Our direct involvement is predicated
upon financial transparency, which unfortunately is often lacking. We
also support this sector indirectly through SME credit lines with our
local partner banks. In natural resources area, one is not dealing
with SMEs, but large projects. For EBRD to finance such projects the
company has to meet both Armenian regulatory requirements and the
EBRD’s corporate governance and environmental standards.

Do you think that the mining sector in Armenia is generally compliant
to the EBRD requirements?

I can talk only about the projects which we would consider financing.

On one such project, we are currently waiting for the Ministry of
Nature Protection to approve the Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIA) but we are surprised and somewhat disappointed with the recent
announcement that they require another 230 days to make a decision.

The Environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA), which is
required by the EBRD for financing this project should be finalized
in July and should enable us to assess whether this project meets our
very high standards. Delaying the start up of this project without
proper justifications can send wrong signals to the market with
negative implications on the FDI.

So far, you’ve had only one partner in the mining sector in Armenia –
Lydian International. Does the EBRD have any plans in increasing its
equity portfolio?

Currently Lydian is our only mining partner in Armenia. We are
confident that they would only operate under high environmental
standards. Should this be demonstrated, we would be prepared to
consider financing the Amulsar project. We do not currently have in
our pipeline more equity investments in the mining sector in Armenia.

Are you happy with the engagement of civil society? Are the NGO’s
competent and adequate enough?

We always engage with NGO’s and have a very healthy dialogue with
them. We also expect from NGOs to demonstrate the same transparency
which we expect from our clients.

Is EBRD planning to embark on other large-scale infrastructure
projects, after a major project of construction of a new terminal at
Zvartnots international airport?

The Bank recently has approved its new strategy
for Armenia, you can see the full strategy on
. The main
strategic priorities that Bank is going to focus are as follows:

Developing the financial sector and improving access to finance. The
Bank will focus on providing its traditional SME and micro-finance
lines targeting areas outside the capital city and facilitating access
to credit for SMEs in the rural areas. In rural areas, the EBRD will
launch agricultural credit lines in local currency.

Improving municipal and urban transport infrastructure. The Bank will
support the water and waste water sectors introducing cost-reflective
tariff structures, improving service availability, as well as urban and
municipal transport reforms including the introduction of integrated
transport management and ticketing systems, better parking management
and regulation of feeder bus and minibus services.

Developing agribusiness and high value-added, export-oriented
industrial companies. The Bank will identify investments in
industries with export potential, including in areas highlighted by
the authorities’ recent program of export promotion. EBRD will aim
to support the agricultural sector by targeting investments along
the whole value chain.

Improving the regulatory and institutional framework for sustainable
energy and increasing value-added in the mining sector. The Bank
will support investments in financially viable renewable energy
projects and, through partner banks, continue to finance energy
efficiency credit lines for industrial and residential users. The
Bank will support power generation, particularly new entrants and
non-state participants, and will consider participating in regional
electricity infrastructure projects that strengthen competition in the
regional electricity market. The Bank will support bankable mining
operations with reputable investors who demonstrate high standards
of environmental and social protection.

Armenia’s medium-term prospects depend to a large extent on
the authorities’ ability to create conditions for investment and
productivity improvements. In the coming years, the Bank will continue
its policy dialogue with the authorities on improving the business
environment in Armenia. Through the Bank-funded Business Support
Office, the public-private dialogue will be strengthened and expanded
to deal effectively with various issues that impede doing business
in Armenia.