Author: Mamian George

PACE CO-RAPPORTEURS MEET THE PROSECUTOR GENERAL OF ARMENIA

Trend News Agency
Jan 15 2009
Azerbaijan

The co-rapporteyrs of the Monitoring Committee of the Council of
Europe, John Prescott and Georges Colombier, and Secretary of the
Commision Bas Clain arrived in Yerevan, reported Public of Radio.

This morning they had a meeting with the Prosecutor General of Armenia,
Aghvan Hovsepyan.

Within the framework of the visit the co-rapporteurs are expected
to meet also the Special Representative of the Council of Secretary
General, Silvia Zehe and Human Rights Defender Armen Harutyunyan.

At the National Assembly the co-rapporteurs will be received by Speaker
Hovik Abrahamyan, Head of the Armenian parliamentary delegation to PACE
David Harutyunyan, President of the parliamentary ad hoc commission
investigating the events of March 1-2 in Yerevan Samvel Nikoyan,
members of the fact-finding group of experts.

The co-rapporteyrs of the Monitoring Committee John Prescott and
Georges Colombier will be hosted by the President of Armenia,
Serzh Sargsyan.

WE WILL BRING UP RUSSIA’S HAND-OVER OF AMMO TO ARMENIA FOR DISCUSSIONS IN OSCE PA SESSION: MP

Trend News Agency
Jan 13 2009
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani members of parliament will bring up Nagorno-Karabakh
during discussions at the winter session of the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly in Vienna.

"The Azerbaijani delegation will bring up Russia’s ammunition sales
to Armenia at the session," member of the Azerbaijani delegation to
the OSCE Rabiyyat Aslanova told Trend News.

The winter session will be held on Feb. 19.

According to mass media reports, Russia sold the following ammo
to Armenia: 21 units of T-22 tanks; 27 units of BMP-2; 12 units
of APC 70/80; 5 BREM-2 war vehicles produced on basis of 5 BMP-1;
four units of ZSU- 23-4 Shilka rockets; various Strela rockets; 875
boxes of F-1 and RQD grenades; 1,050 boxes of RKQ-3/3 EM grenades;
7,897 various packages of ammo (122 millimeters RS; 152 millimeters
2s3; 122 millimeters D-30); 120 units of QP-25 grenade launchers; 2,
846 units of 5.45-millimeter AK-74 and AKS-74 guns; 1,472 units of
7.62-millimeter AKM and AKMS guns; 103 units of NB-8 night vision
equipment; various mines (TM 62 M/P; OZM-72; PMN); 14 units of
BM-37 mine launchers; 9 Grads (RSZO 9K51 BM-21); 10 units of Akasia
howitzers produced on the basis of the T-55 (SAU 152-millimeter 1S);
14 units of Gvozdika howitzers produced on the basis of the MT-LBU
(SAU 122-millimeter 2 S1); 5 units of 100-millimeter Rapira cannons
(MT-12r); and 210 units of 3 M9M3 Kub rockets.

Aslanova said although the agenda for the session has not yet been
made public, Azerbaijani members of parliament will insist on holding
broad discussions about international conflicts.

Armenia occupies 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory –
Nagorno-Karabakh and 7 surrounding regions.

The occupation began in 1988.

In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and 7
regions surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia
signed a ceasefire agreement.

Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France and the U.S. –
are holding peaceful negotiations.

President of "Bi Line": Priority sphere for IT development in Armenia
is elaboration of e-content

2008-12-30 15:41:00

ArmInfo. The priority sphere for development of information
technologies in Armenia is e-content elaboration, President of "Bi
Line" company Hayk Khanjyan told ArmInfo correspondent. To recall, "Bi
Line" localized Windows XP in Armenian. In 2008 the company localized
Windows Vista as well. "I see IT development in Armenia in the sphere
of e-content rather than in elaboration of computer programs as today
e-content is the most representative sphere in the world. The world
judges about a country by its e-content. In the near future this sphere
will considerably leave behind the whole IT sphere by its growth rates.
Therefore, being quite creative people, we can create high-quality
content by involving not only programmers, but also actors, writers,
painters. This content will deserve to be presented in many languages
all over the world",- Khanjyan stressed.

Agence France Presse
Dec 30 2008

US billionaire investor Kerkorian dumps Ford stake: report

DETROIT (AFP) ‘ US billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian, who had once
pledged his support and confidence in Ford Motor Co., has sold all of
his remaining shares in the automaker, Dow Jones Newswires reported
Monday.

Kerkorian’s holding group Tracinda Corp. no longer owns any shares in
Ford, a Tracinda spokesperson told the news agency Monday.

Tracinda was not immediately available to comment on the report.

Tracinda sold 7.3 million shares of Ford common stock in October for
an average price of 2.43 dollars per share — representing a huge loss
for Kerkorian — and said it was considering divesting its entire
stake through the end of the year.

Tracinda had about 133.5 million shares remaining, or a 6.09 percent
stake, in the loss-making automaker.

Ford shares on Monday plunged 5.2 percent to 2.17 dollars in late
afternoon Wall Street trade following the report. The share has lost
about two-thirds of its value in a year.

Kerkorian accumulated a 6.5 percent stake in the Dearborn,
Michigan-based Ford earlier this year and continued to boost his
stake. He announced in June that he would pay 8.50 dollars to buy an
additional 20 million shares.

The investor, who made a fortune from running and selling Las Vegas
casinos, bought the shares in Ford after referring at the time to
"meaningful traction in its turnaround efforts."

At the time, Ford managers said they were on track to deliver
profitability in 2009 — an objective that has now been shelved.

Since then, the cash-strapped Detroit giant has struggled with falling
auto sales amid a deepening US recession and tight credit conditions
blamed for exacerbating the downturn.

Ford said on December 19 that a comprehensive restructuring plan it
presented to Congress would allow it to return to profitability by
2011.

VALLETTA OF ARMENIAN COMPANY EFFECTS 2ND COUPON PAYMENTS ON BONDS ON DEC 27

ARKA
Dec 29, 2008

YEREVAN, December 29. /ARKA/. Armenian Valletta company effected the
second coupon payments on bonds on December 27.

The Press Service of Armenian Armswissbank reported that payments
were made on bonds of AMVALTB02ER9 series. Armswissbank closed joint
stock company was the underwriter.

According to the report, the next coupon payments are to be effected
on June 26 and during three days after December 28 2009 with redemption
scheduled for December 28 2009.

The decision on issue of registered coupon bonds was adopted on
November 12 2007, says the report. The tranche included 10,000 bonds
of Valletta with 50,000 Drams’ value each, a redemption period of 24
months and a coupon yield of 10.5% p.a. (5.25$ per half a year)

Valletta LLC has been operating in Armenia since 1990. Its main fields
of activities are trade (export-import, wholesale-retail sale), fast
food (SFC), tea and coffee production and promotion of enterprises
to an independent status. The company has processing enterprises,
restaurants, shop networks, house appliance importing firms.

Armswissbank closed joint stock company was registered on November 22
2004 and has 100% Swiss capital. On February 25 2005 the bank received
a license for banking activities. On October 6 2008 Armswissbank
became the official market-maker of the third tranche of Valletta’s
bonds. ($1=308.44D rams).

FOREIGN MINISTERS OF ARMENIA, TURKEY AND AZERBAIJAN TO MEET SOON

Panorama.am
18:49 25/12/2008

In the beginning of the year Karabakh conflict will become the main
topic to be discussed by the Foreign Ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Turkey. According to the Ambassador of Turkey to Azerbaijan the
Foreign Ministers Edward Nalbandyan, Ali Babacan and Elmar Mamediarov
will have a meeting in Janaury-February of 2009.

According to the Ambassador they will discuss the initiative of Turkey
to establish a Platform of Stability and Peace also. Remind that it is
intended that Russia, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan should
join the initiative. According to some Armenian experts the objective
of the initiative is to isolate Iran from the regional affairs.

2008 WAS SUCCESSFUL IN RESPECT OF STRENGTHENING AND DEVELOPMENT OF ARMENIAN-KAZAKH RELATIONS

NOYAN TAPAN

Dec 25, 2008
YEREVAN

The political relations between Armenia and Kazakhstan are at a high
level. Nurbolat Alimbayev, the Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of
Kazakhstan to Armenia, said at the December 25 press conference adding
that 2008 was a successful year in the respect of strengthening and
development of the relations between the two countries: a number
of mutual official visits have taken place during the year. In his
opinion, the most important axis in the Armenian-Kazakh relations is
mutual confidence and friendship between the two countries. According
to N. Alimbayev, the most important problem in the development of
the relations between the two countries is the lack of a direct
transport communication.

He said that the construction of the Kazakhstan-Iran-Armenia railway
is among the priority programs.

According to N. Alimbayev, Kazakhstan carries on balanced policy
with all countries. "We do not have a notion of small, medium-sized
or big country," he said. In response to the question of what is
Kazakhstan’s most important achievement since its independence,
N. Alimbayev said that no doubt it is country’s home political
stability based on consent and tolerance between religions and nations.

Touching upon the issue of making investments in Armenia’s
economy, Kartay Kharirov, the Adviser for Economic Issues of
Embassy of Kazakhstan, said that they have done some work in that
direction. However, according to him, no investment proposal has been
presented to them by the Armenian side so far.

It was also mentioned that Kazakhstan’s Armenian community is rather
big, nearly 25 thousand people, and large-scale activity is carried
out in country’s cultural, scientific, and other spheres.

7 TEST LABORATORIES ACCREDITED IN ARMENIA THIS YEAR

NOYAN TAPAN

Dec 25, 2008
YEREVAN

In 2008 the Accreditation Agency of the RA Ministry of Economy has
made expert examination of the documents submitted for accreditation
of 27 test laboratories and 11 certification bodies. As a result,
11 certification bodies and 7 test laboratories have been accredited.

With the aim of joining European and international accreditation
organizations, the agency conducted negotiations with the European
cooperation for Accreditation (EA) and the International Laboratory
Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) this year. At the same time
negotiations were conducted with the Russian agency in order to
receive advisory services on introduction of a quality management
system in line with ISO 9001 standard in the Accreditation Agency.

OSCE HOPES TO SEE PROGRESS IN THE KARABAKH SETTLEMENT IN 2009

armradio.am
24.12.2008 16:59

OSCE hopes that there will be progress in the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict next year. "We hope we will see progress
in this direction in 2009", Dora Bakoyannis, new OSCE Chairwoman and
Greek Foreign Minister, said in her interview with Trend News.

The OSCE chairman-in-office and Finnish foreign minister Alexander
Stubb officially handed over office of the chairman to the Greek
Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis at the OSCE Ministerial Meeting in
Helsinki on December 4.

Greece will chair the OSCE from January 1.

Bakoyannis said Greece believes that frequent meetings between
Azerbaijani and Armenian representatives will lead to the establishment
of mutual confidence which is essential to solve the conflict.

"Greece fully supports these efforts and encourages constructive
engagement from both parties, in line with the Statement delivered at
the Helsinki Summit earlier this month by the French Foreign Minister
on behalf of the European Union", Bakoyannis said.

The last statement by the foreign ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chair countries says the Moscow declaration signed by the sides
opens new and promising stage in the general striving to establish

ARMENIAN MEDIA INVOLUNTARILY SUPPORT AZERI AGITATION MACHINE, A NUMBER OF ARTSAKH YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS STATE

NOYAN TAPAN

Dec 24, 2008
STEPANAKERT

The Armenian media are cut off from reality and persistently disregard
the interests of our compatriots living in the liberated territory by
involuntarily supporting the Azeri agitation machine in the information
and psychological war against the Armenians. It was mentioned in the
statement of a number of Artsakh youth organizations addressed to
heads and workers of Armenian media. They consider that the events
happening in the liberated territory, the life of those regions’
population almost are not covered by RA media.

Considering inadmissible the situation formed in the country’s
information sphere and realizing the exclusive role media play
in the issue of formation of that sphere, the statement authors,
in particular, call for "more often and in detail covering the life
of liberated territory’s population, touching upon our compatriots’
problems, informing our citizens of liberated territory’s strategic
importance."

It should be mentioned that on December 9 they had sent an open letter
to RA President Serzh Sargsyan calling for removing the picture of
Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Region having become history long ago from
the weather forecast maps broadcast by RA TV companies and replacing
it by the RA and NKR map.

"The everyday show of the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Region map not
existing from the moment of NKR proclamation on Public Television,
as well as other TV companies every day deeply defames not only RA
and NKR, but also Diaspora’s televiewers. In the political respect it
especially has a negative influence now, when at a stage of conflict
settlement negotiations decisive for the nation, as we all hope,
Armenian diplomacy struggles for protection of Armenian people’s
interests. We demand removing the "Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous
Region picture from metheorological maps shown by all TV companies
and replacing it by the RA and NKR maps," the open letter to the RA
President read.