Author: Madatian Greg

HEAD OF EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR EXTERNAL RELATIONS
VISITS ARMENIA

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The head of the European Commission
Directorate General for External Relations Eneko Landaburu paid a
working visit to Armenia on October 16. According to a press release of
the European Commission Armenian Mission, the main purpose of E.
Landaburu’s visit was to discuss EU-Armenia relations, the
implementation of the European Neighborhood Policy Action Plan, as well
as some regional issues and the Western Partnership Initiative.

During the visit E. Landaburu had meetings with the Armenian president
Serzh Sargsyan, the prime minister Tigran Sargsyan, the minister of
economy Nerses Yeritsyan, representatives of the opposition, the RA
ombudsman, and the former foreign minister Vartan Oskanyan.

THE EXPERTS HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
16 Oct 2008
Armenia

"We have nothing to hide. The results of our expert examinations are
either on or under the ground. And after all, it is not difficult to
take the latter out and examine.

I officially announce that they can demand the exhumation of 10
bodies. If they find similar chin damages I’m ready to be held
criminally liable.

As regards live individuals, we have one case – a person with 2-3
damaged teeth. As for the tongue, even if you show these pictures to
a child, he will also say that it is too big to be a human tongue,"
Director of the Scientific-Practical Center of Forensic Expert
Examinations.

CIC COUNTRIES TO HOLD AIR DEFENSE EXERCISE IN SUMMER 2009

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.10.2008 16:21 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The CIS Unified Air Defense System is planning
Combat Commonwealth 2009 large-scale exercise in summer 2009, Russian
Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told a news conference Wednesday
after the CIS Defense Ministers’ meeting.

He informed that the Ministers ratified a number of documents and
exchange digital geodetic data.

The next meeting of the CIS Defense Ministers is due in Yerevan in
May-June 2009, RIA Novosti reports.

U.S PLANNING GAS TRANSIT TO EUROPE BYPASSING RUSSIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
13.10.2008 12:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A U.S. official said that a deal may soon be sealed
allowing natural gas from ex-Soviet nations to reach western Europe
bypassing Russian territory.

Boyden Gray, the U.S. special envoy for Eurasian energy issues, told
reporters in Rome that an agreement on a pipeline could be completed
in as soon as six months.

"I think there will be an understanding for transit through Turkey
for a pipeline," Gray said, without elaborating. "Completely firm
details and shovels underground no, but the outlines of a deal, yes,"
he added, the AP reports.

The Nabucco pipeline is a planned natural gas pipeline that will
transport natural gas from Turkey to Austria, via Bulgaria, Romania,
and Hungary.

The pipeline will run from Erzurum in Turkey to Baumgarten an der
March in Austria with total length of 3,300 kilometres (2,050 mi). It
will be connected near Erzurum with the Tabriz-Erzurum pipeline,
and with the South Caucasus Pipeline, connecting Nabucco Pipeline
with the planned Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline.

Polish gas company PGNiG is studying the possibility of building a
link to Poland with the Nabucco gas pipeline.

In early years after completion the deliveries are expected to be
between 4.5 and 13 billion cubic meters (bcm) per annum.

Construction of pipeline is expected to begin in 2010 and is planned to
be finished in 2013. It estimated to cost around â~B¬7.9 billion. The
company leading the project is OMV from Austria.

–Boundary_(ID_Au8yRUNwchpeojuAy4l2Sw)–

COMMITTEE ON COORDINATION OF STRATEGIC ACTIVITIES IN DEFENSE SECTOR FORMED IN ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
13.10.2008 14:14 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The National Security Council of Armenia discussed
Saturday the outcomes of Rubezh 2008 command and staff exercise and
the republic’s juridical system.

The Security Council NSC gave a positive assessment to the maneuvers
and pointed out to a number of shortcomings which will be addressed,"
NSC Secretary Artur Baghdassaryan told reporters.

"By President’s Sargsyan’s decree an interdepartmental committee to
control and coordinate strategic activities in defense sector was
formed in Armenia," he said, adding that the process of conscription
and civil defense reform will be in the highlight.

Baghdassaryan said issues referring to Armenia’s chairmanship in the
CSTO were also considered.

Commenting on reform in the juridical system, he said that
the population will soon notice considerable changes in the
field. "Presently, only licensed attorneys had the right to address to
the court of review. We should give up this practice," Baghdassaryan
said.

TODAY HAYPOST IS POSTAL OPERATOR MEETING INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS, HANS BOON SAYS

Noyan Tapan

Oc t 9, 2008

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, NOYAN TAPAN. Today the HayPost company is a postal
operator meeting the international standards. Hans Boon, HayPost’s
Director General, stated during an event organized on October 9,
on the occasion of World Post Day.

According to him, it is not only the holiday of sphere’s workers, but
also the holiday of everybody, as there is no one in the world who has
not used postal services. According to H. Boon, 1.2bn letters and 16m
parcels are sent through post every day in the world. He said that
the world postal network has 665 thousand permanent postal offices
with 5.5m employees, who have made postal system a structure having
the most compact network in the world.

According to H. Boon, the company does its best to record positive
results in Armenia’s postal activity, and it is not accidental that
today HayPost takes a proper place in the World Post Union. It was also
mentioned that the volume of HayPost’s postal circulation has increased
two-fold over the past two years. Besides, money transfers and payment
deals through the postal system have increased five-fold. "It is
obliging, and we should do our best to jointly record new success
in the postal system, as well as to provide high-quality service to
Armenia’s population," H. Boon said.

Some workers of the sphere received awards by HayPost on the occasion
of World Post Day. Special prizes were given to 10 postal workers of
various regions of Armenia by the RA Social Security Fund.

AMERICAN EXPERTS DO NOT HAVE A RIGHT TO ‘COORDINATE’ WORK OF TEMPORARY PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSION, THEY CAN ONLY GIVE ADVICE AND ASSESS ITS ACTIVITY, DEPUTY FROM ARFD SAYS

ArmInfo
2008-10-07 19:01:00

ArmInfo. American experts have arrived in Armenia to exchange
experience with representatives of temporary parliamentary commission
to clarify the 1-2 March events in Yerevan, member of the commission,
secretary of ARF Dashnaktiutyun parliamentary faction Artyusha
Shahbazyan told ArmInfo correspondent.

He also added one can find commoness as well as differences if
to compare the terrorist act on 11 September 2001 in New York and
the March events in Yerevan. ‘Commoness is that mass crimes were
committed in New-York as well as in Yerevan and the commissions have
to represent to the society the true events and how the actions of
the parties were lawful’, – he said.

Shabazyan said that the commission has worked quite openly with media
so far. ‘We put the proposals by opposition and media representatives
on the agenda of the commission. We followed the publications in
newspapers on the topic’, he said. He said another 2 meetings with
American experts are planned. ‘I think that the meeting and exchange
of experience will be very useful for the interim parliamentary
commission’, the parliamentarian said.

He underlined that American experts arrived in Armenia 7 days ago. In
addition, Shahbazyan said the experts have no right to coordinate the
work of the interim commission they can only give advice and assess
its activity.

RUSSIA STARTS PULLING BACK FROM A "BUFFER ZONE" AROUND SOUTH OSSETIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
08.10.2008 14:43 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia says its troops have started pulling back from
a "buffer zone" around Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia.

A BBC correspondent in the area said he saw Russian forces dismantling
and leaving one checkpoint they had set up.

Moscow must pull its troops from areas around South Ossetia and
Abkhazia – another breakaway region in Georgia – by Friday under a
ceasefire deal. Russia has kept troops there since ousting Georgian
forces in August.

A number of Russian armored personnel carriers were seen heading
towards South Ossetia, news agencies report. The commander of Russian
troops on the ground said the withdrawal from all six checkpoints
would be completed by the end of the day.

"Everything is completely on track. Everything will be noted and
registered in documents," Mayor General Marat Kulakhmetov said.

The Russian withdrawal is being monitored by some 200 European Union
observers, BBC reports.

The pull-back was agreed in a ceasefire deal brokered by French
President Nicolas Sarkozy in early August.

But Moscow plans to keep nearly 8,000 troops in Abkhazia and South
Ossetia, which it has recognized as independent states.

TIGRAN SARGSYAN CONDOLES WITH HIS KYRGYZ COUNTERPART

armradio.am
07.10.2008 11:20

RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan sent a message of condolence to
the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Igor Chudinov connected with the
earthquake in Kyrgyzstan. The message states, in part:

"Dear Igor Vitalevich,

On behalf of the Government of Armenia and myself I extend deep
condolences on the occasion of the earthquake in the Republic of
Kyrgyzstan, which resulted in tens of human losses.

Feeling deep sorrow, I ask you to convey our condolences and support
to the relatives and friends of the victims."

YEREVAN-BATUMI TRANSPORT CORRIDOR MAY BE COMMISSIONED IN TWO YEARS

ARKA
Oct 6, 2008

YEREVAN, October 6. /ARKA/. Yerevan-Batumi transport corridor may be
commissioned in two years is works are launched now, Armenian Minister
of Transport Gurgen Sargsyan told journalists.

The road will reduce the current length (about 700 kilometers) of the
route connecting Yerevan with Black Sea by about 30%, the Minister
said. If today it takes 10-12 hours to drive from Yerevan to Batumi,
the new road will reduce the time down to 5-6 hours, the Minister said
adding that the agreement about construction of the new motor road was
reached during Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s visit to Tbilisi.

Among the important issues discussed during the visit was creation of
Barumi-Akhaltskha-Akhalkalaki-Giumry-Yerevan project that is a part
of North-South corridor, the Minister said. Currently, this road,
though existing, is very heavy and even impassable in winter time,
especially for motor cars.

The Minister pointed out that 170-kilometer-long Akhaltskha-Batumi
section of the road goes through two mountain passes (over 2,000 meters
above sea level), and construction of a tunnel system may be needed.

Yet, according to the Minister, construction of the road is beneficial
both in terms of freight traffic and passenger transportation (Batumi
is a tourism center for Armenia).

The Minister reported that the two countries’ presidents instructed
the respective agencies to d iscuss the road construction funding
procedure. A consortium option was suggested at the preliminary
discussion between the presidents, and the construction is expected
to be funded by international organizations.

Particularly, the management of the Asian Development Bank expressed
willingness to finance the project, the Minister said.

The section of the road from Yerevan to Giumry and from Giumry to
Bavra (Armenian-Georgian border) is in normal condition and is a
third-category road. During implementation of the project, the category
of this section is to be raised to the third at minimum, which implies
serious investments and reconstruction, the Minister said.

The cost of the project is to become clear after some preliminary
studies.