Author: Maghakian Mike

GERMANY TO GRANT ARMENIA 4MLN EUR FOR CREATION OF A BIO-SPHERE RESERVE ON THE BASIS OF SHIKAHOGH PRESERVE

ArmInfo
2009-07-30 18:33:00

ArmInfo. Germany will grant Armenia 4mln EUR for creation of a
bio-sphere reserve on the basis of Shikahogh preserve, says the head
of the Armenian Office of KfW bank Karapet Gevorgyan.

Additional 1mln EUR will be granted for research, development of
programs in the field of environment protection and organization of
regional conferences.

This may seem a small sum but this is the biggest money ever provided
for an ecological project. The grant will be provided in the coming
months.

The Armenian-German inter-governmental financial cooperation was
started in 1995.

MAIN THING IS THAT U.S. AND RUSSIA DO NOT HARM BAKU-YEREVAN DIALOGUE BY RECKLESS MOVES: EXPERT

Today.Az

July 29 2009
Azerbaijan

Associate professor at International Relations and Foreign Policy
Department of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations
at the Russian Foreign Ministry and candidate of political science
Artem Malgin spoke in an exclusive interview with Day.Az.

Day.Az: Will Russian and U.S. leaders be able to improve or reset
bilateral ties which is expected by many around the world?

Artem Malgin: I think that, in principle, the reset will take place. It
is now necessary both for America and Russia. The recent visit of
U.S. President to Moscow revived all the directions of bilateral
cooperation including the dialogue on disarmament issues for the
first time in the last 7 to 8 years.

A mechanism for informal dialogue has also been set up. This is not
just talking of the so-called wise men but a group, which has been
tasked to formulate proposals to develop Russia-U.S. relations. Now
everything is updated and let us hope that the dialogue will be
developed. Despite the fact that the turnover of Russia with the
United States is less than 16 times than with the EU, the economic
crisis has shown that we are dependent on each other as we are part
of the global financial system.

I think that some old problems of Americanism in Russian public opinion
that have existed since the time of Kosovo have been overcome which is
also important. This is already a kind of a restart of Russia-United
States ties.

An agreement on strategic offensive arms can be described as a
preliminary result. Let’s hope that a new dialogue will be launched by
the end of the year. We know that when there is a sustained dialogue
on the START, he penetrates to other spheres as well. Unfortunately,
we do not have a central element of joint action with the United
States such economy or energy. Therefore, this role is performed by
START in relations with the United States.

Q: Do you think Obama, unlike his predecessor, will be more receptive
to the idea of joint use of Gabala radar?

A: I think that now the prospects of this idea are better. The point
is that this idea was not seriously discussed at a time of the Bush
administration. Now the idea is that you really need some common, not
even the Russian-American, but a Russian-Western system of warning
of something fantastic moves in the sphere of reality. Even if this
idea will not be realized, then some negotiation on this matter will
be held. It is clear that the elections in Iran will maintain for
another few years current tense relations of Tehran with international
community. North Korean problem also "contributes" to preservation
of the tension. A more flexible approach by the Obama administration
gives hopes for a progress in resolving existing problems.

Q: Do you think the degree of global understanding between Russia
and the United States and the Karabakh settlement is independent?

A: To be honest, I think that the Karabakh settlement already lives
its life and Russia and the United States do not play a serious
role here. Yes, once it was important for the co-chairs of the
OSCE Minsk Group to organize a dialogue and to make parties to seat
at the negotiating table. Now the ratio has changed including the
Azerbaijani-Armenian influence within the U.S. and Russia is now
conducting a balanced policy towards Baku and Yerevan. Now the main
thing is that the United States and Russia will not harm the process
by reckless moves. The process is underway and they (Russia and the
United States) should be close, not to interfere and cut off any
unwanted third-force attempts to intervene.

ARMENIAN CARITAS BENEVOLENT NGO ANNOUNCES MEDIA CONTEST ON SENIOR CITIZENS’ RIGHTS PROTECTION

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
28.07.2009 19:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Caritas benevolent non-governmental
organization announced media contest on senior citizens’ rights
protection.

Applications are registered till August 31. The materials should be
broadcast or published till the end of the current year.

ARMENIAN CABINET TO CONTINUE EXPANSIONARY POLICY IN 2010

/ARKA/
July 27, 2009
YEREVAN

Armenian Government will continue its expansionary policy in 2010,
the country’s Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said at a government
meeting Thursday. It will allow the country remaining acyclic and
promoting economic growth, he said.

The government followed a restrictive monetary-credit and budget policy
over the last five years to prevent overheating of the economy under
the two-digit economic growth conditions, Sargsyan said.

Under the economic decline (16.3% in the first half) an expansionary
policy is required, which means that government expenditures should
be increased.

"Even if the government do not have own means for this, it should
attract additional resources from internal and external markets,
and we are doing it together. This year we are implementing an
unprecedented expansionary fiscal policy," Sargsyan said.

Similar policy has been implemented by the Central Bank of
Armenia (CBA) after the return to a free float for the exchange
rate. Consequently, the CBA had to raise the refinancing rate by 1%.

"We have recorded that we entered a stage of lower inflationary
pressure; the CBA started reducing refinancing rate and turned to an
expansionary policy," Sargsyan said.

In early March 2009 the Central Bank of Armenia returned to a free
float policy. According to CBA experts, average weighted exchange
rat e is expected to range between 360 drams and 380 drams for $1 in
2009. The CBA has reduced the refinancing rate five times since March;
currently it is 5.5% p.a.

The Prime Minister said that the level of expenditures should be
maintained to prevent economic decline. All WB and IMF experts agree
with this, he said.

The government has already re-distributed on-budget expenditures
and received the approval of Armenian Parliament for bringing the
deficit down to 7.5% of the Gross Domestic Product. This means that
the parliament allowed the cabinet increasing the national debt and
receiving an additional of $300 million from the IMF for 2009-2010,
$60million from the WB and $80 million from the Asian Development Bank.

"These prestigious international organizations considered our policy
to be justified," Sargsyan said.

Russia, Armenia sign cooperation pact on transnational crime

July 24, 2009 Friday
RIA Novosti

The work of the Joint Panel of the Russian Ministry of Internal
Affairs and Armenian Police has been accomplished and Russian Minister
of Internal Affairs Rashid Nurgaliyev and Chief of Armenian Police
Alik Sargsyan have signed an agreement on cooperation between the
entities in 2010, a RIA Novosti news agency correspondent reports down
the line.

The agreement was signed aboard a Russian "Imperiya" ship.

Nurgaliyev expressed his content with outcomes of the panel board.

"The panel was held constructively. I am very much content with
results, and also decisions, taken during discussion of issues. The
decisions made will allow us to perfect joint work in fighting
transnational crime in future", the Russian minister said.

At the session of the joint panel, Nurgaliyev and Sargsyan discussed
issues of countering interregional crime, including search and
detention of criminals, who had fled, and issues of cooperation
between the two agencies aimed at fighting illegal circulation of
narcotic substances and their precursors.

It is planned that issues of fighting economic and tax crime, illegal
financial operations and other legal violations of economic
orientation will be raised at the panel’s session.

Sargsyan, who had arrived on Wednesday [23 July] from Armenia, took an
interest in experience of Russian colleagues in setting up the Centre
for Traffic Monitoring and Operational Administration in Krasnodar
Territory, which is one of the elements of Bezopasnyy Gorod [Secure
City] institutional-programme complex introduced in the Russian
Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The chief of Armenian police, in particular, took interest in the
system of control over traffic flows on roads. He believes this system
has good a perspective of strengthening traffic security. Sargsyan did
not rule out that the experience of Russian colleagues will be
introduced in Armenia in the near future.

Source: RIA Novosti news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0646 gmt 23 Jul 09

CHAPEL TO BE BUILT FOR ARMENIAN JEWELLERS IN GUYUMCUKENT COMPLEX OF ISTANBUL

Noyan Tapan
July 23, 2009

ISTANBUL, JULY 23, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Two chapels have
been decided to be built for Armenian and Assyrian jewellers in
Guyumcukent complex, where jewellers of the former Closed Market
work and which was built near Istanbul Eni Bosna district. They make
the 30 percent of the whole population, the Assyrians are the first
in the field of gold, and Armenians in the field of jewellery, the
Marmara daily reported. These two chapels are also envisaged for the
Christians visiting the Guyumcukent.

There is a Moslem praying room on the each floor of this complex.

Complex Board Chairman Said Erdal Metiner noted that Armenians and
Assyrians have worked at their small workshops for a long time and
have a great number of buyers, today many of them have moved to the
complex. He also noted that the inner repairs of the chapels has been
entrusted to the participant of Van’s Akhtamar church renovation,
Armenian architect Zakaria Mildanoglu. The expenses of building the
chapels should be covered by Assyrian, Armenian and Greek sellers.

FORMER ARMENIAN SENIOR OFFICIAL WANTS KOCHARIAN TRIED FOR MADRID PRINCIPLES OF KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

Interfax
July 20 2009
Russia

Former Armenian deputy defense minister Vagan Shirkhanian believes
that former Armenian President Robert Kocharian and former Foreign
Minister Vardan Oskanian must face trial in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"Kocharian and Oskanian must face trial in Karabakh for the current
Madrid principles of settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,"
Shirkhanian, currently a member of the opposition Social Democratic
Party, said at a Monday press conference.

"The Kocharian regime drew Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh to the
threshold of disaster. I will tell any demagogue that the Madrid
principles are a bad thing. These are anti-Armenian and anti-Karabakh
principles. Kocharian and Oskanian must be held responsible for that,"
he said.

In his opinion, today Nagorno-Karabakh should hold talks on conflict
settlement with Azerbaijan itself.

NEARLY 40 PERCENT OF YOUNG AK PARTY VOTERS ARE ‘KEMALIST’

Today’s Zaman
July 22 2009
Turkey

Thirty-eight out of every 100 young persons who voted for the Justice
and Development Party (AK Party), a conservative political party,
define themselves as "Ataturkist-Kemalist," a survey conducted by
Selcuk Sirin, a professor at New York University and Bahcesehir
University, has reported.

The results of the "Young Identities Research" were announced yesterday
at the Besiktas campus of Bahcesehir University. The surprising
results pointed to widespread diversity among the voters of the AK
Party. Fourteen percent of those surveyed who voted for the staunchly
secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP) identified themselves as
members of the "Islamic segment" of society.

The survey was conducted among 1,403 young people between the ages
of 18 and 25, 60 percent of whom are university students across 52
provinces, 253 smaller districts and some villages. According to the
"multi-faceted political belongingness analysis," 78 out of every 100
young persons who voted for the AK Party said they were part of the
"Islamic segment," while 65 percent said they were conservative and
38 percent said they were "Ataturkist-Kemalist."

Eighty-nine percent of CHP voters surveyed defined themselves as
"Kemalist-Ataturkist," 60 percent as "leftist or social democrat"
and 14 percent identified themselves as a member of the Islamic
segment. Five percent of respondents said they were of Armenian
descent.

Sirin interpreted the results as an indicator that young people today
are free to express their political identities, noting that today’s
youth was not raised with the fears of the previous generation. Sirin
said he believed Turkey’s future looks promising, based on the survey’s
results. He also said in Turkey, politics was involved in daily life
much more than was necessary, stating that people tended to treat
one’s political identity as part of one’s personality.

IN FIRST HALF YEAR OF 2009 NUMBER OF ACTIVE PLASTIC CARDS IN ARMENIA GREW BY 30%

ArmInfo
2009-07-21 14:25:00

ArmInfo. By 1 July 2009, the number of active plastic cards in Armenia
grew by 30% as compared with the same period of 2009 and totalled
392660. A total of 14347 cards were issued in June, having increased
by the index of May by 2288. The given cards were issued by Armenian
Card payment system member banks.

Armenian Card CJSC told ArmInfo that the share of local ArCa cards
was the biggest – – 61% (239.1 thsd); Visa – 26% (103.2 thsd),
and MasterCard – 13% (50.3 thsd) rank next. At the mean, in June
operations with 265.4 thsd cards were carried out (68% of the total
number of active cards).

According to the source, as of 1 July 2009, there were 1975
points of trade/service operating in the given system (bancomats
exclusive). There were 2227 POS-terminals in these points of
trade/service. 2206 of the POS-terminals served ArCa cards, 1482 –
Visa, 1733 – MasterCard. In June the number of points of trade/service
grew by 12 as compared with May, POS-terminals – by 18. As of July 1,
2009, there were 503 bancomats in Armenia.

EDWARD NALBANDIAN DOES NOT COMMENT ON DEMAND BY ARF DASHNAKTSUTYUN FOR HIS RESIGNATION

ArmInfo
2009-07-21 10:39:00

ArmInfo. Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian refused to
comment on the demand by ARFD Party for his resignation.

If we have not commented on such demands yet, it means that there
is no necessity for any comments’, E. Nalbandian said at a press
conference on Tuesday.

The minister said that the recent mess around settlement of the
Karabakh conflict is groundless. It is either naivety or an attempt to
‘mud things up and to fish in troubled waters’, he said.

‘I do not think that speculations on the Karabakh conflict that is
of national importance redounds to anyone’s honor’, the minister said.

To recall, ARF Dashnaktsutyun disseminated a statement a few days
ago saying that ‘to liquidate the negative aftermaths in the foreign
policy and restore the national state political course, we demand
resignation of the Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, who is directly
responsible for the foreign policy of Armenia’.