Author: Nalchajian Markos

PROCEEDS FROM CHARITY CONCERT IN STRASBOURG TO BE SENT TO ARMENIA

ARMENPRESS
March 17, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 17, ARMENPRESS: Proceeds from a charity concert that
was held in Strasbourg’s Temple Neuf church on March 15 under the
sponsorship of Armenia’s representative to the Council of Europe,
ambassador Kristian Ter-Stepanian, will be transferred to a specialized
children’s home in Nor Kharberd, a settlement located close to Yerevan.

The Armenian foreign ministry said the concert featured the famous
German-French Amalgammes ensemble and a gifted Armenian pianist Vahan
Martirosian and a singer Gayane Movsisyan.

The concert was attended by high-ranking officials of the Council of
Europe, diplomats and members of the local Armenian community.

Amalgammes, a French-German ensemble comprising soloists of the
Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra and symphonic orchestras of
Baden-Baden and Freibourg, gave charity concerts in the past too to
have sent all proceeds to different institutionalized establishments
of Armenia.

ARONYAN SHARES THE 1ST TO 3RD PLACES IN THE AMBER INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT

armradio.am
17.03.2008 13:35

Armenain Grand Master Levon Aronyan, shares the 1st to 3rd places in
the 17th International Amber "blindfold" and "rapid" chess tournament
underway in the French city of Nice.

After the second round of the "blindfold" chess tournament Aronayn
Shares the 1st and 2nd places with Wishvanathan Anand of India. In the
"blindfold" chess tournament Arnyan currently shares the 4th place,
yielding 0.5 points to Alexander Morozevich, Vasili Ivanchuk and
Sergey Karyakin.

PanARMENIAN.Net

RA MFA: Azerbaijan attempted to misinform UN member states
15.03.2008 13:33 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `I hope Azerbaijan got the message
from the international community. Taking the lead of
the co-chairs, a majority of member states repelled
the one-sided approach,’ said Armenia’s Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian when commenting on the vote
on Azerbaijan’s resolution in the UN General Assembly.

Minister Oskanian characterized the resolution as
hypocritical. `On the one hand, in an effort to
misinform member states, the resolution included a
paragraph that supports the OSCE Minsk Process. On the
other hand, Azerbaijan blatantly ignored the OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairs position. The co-chair countries
had made clear they would not support the resolution
and in fact voted against the resolution.’

`Now we wonder what Azerbaijan’s next move will be,’
he said. `We question whether this resolution was
intended to derail the negotiating process or whether
they got the clear message and will return to the
negotiating table to work on a negotiated, compromise
lasting solution,’ the Minister said, the RA MFA press
office reported.

RESIGNATION OF GOVERNMENT CALLED FOR IN AZERBAIJAN PARLIAMENT

TREND News Agency
March 14 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 14 March /corr. TrendNews I.Alizade / The Group
of MPs ‘Musavat’, which represents the opposition in Azerbaijan
Parliament, requires that the Government (Cabinet of Ministers)
should resign.

"The only way to improve the activities of the Government is for the
resignation of the Cabinet of Ministers," said the member of Group
of MPs ‘Musavat’, Panah Huseyin at the meeting of the Parliament.

On 14 March the Government of Azerbaijan made a report at the
Parliament with regards to the socio-economic development in 2007.

Huseyin sharply criticized the report provided by the Prime Minister
of Azerbaijan, Artur Rasizade.

"Today the Parliament is discussing the issue of trust in the
Government. I think that there are no grounds for trust in the
Government. In 2007 the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh territory of
Azerbaijan was not released. No steps were taken to resolve the
socio-economic problems. The social situation of the underprivileged
society, pensioners and disabled people became worse as compared to
2006. In 2007 the quality of life decreased. In 2008 the situation
was further worsened. The number described with regards to the
newly-created jobs does not correspond to reality. Therefore, the
current Government should resign and the Cabinet of Ministers should
be re-formed," the MP said.

In reply, the Chairman of Azerbaijan Parliament, Oktay Asadov, said
that opposition cannot positively assess the work done in Azerbaijan.

"I consider that this year, a serious approach will be demonstrated to
review the Government’s activities, but the opposition did not change
its image and still sees everything in gloomy tones," he added. ‘

Another opposition member MP, Fazil Gazanfaroglu, said that
changes should be made to the items of trust on the Government
in the Constitution because even if Parliament does not trust the
Government and President does not approve it, the Government will
continue its activities.

PARLIAMENT OF KARABAKH CALLED FOR CONSISTENCY IN RECOGNITION OF STATES

KarabakhOpen
13-03-2008 13:20:35

On March 12 the parliament of NKR adopted a statement calling
the parliaments of the countries of the world to be consistent in
recognition of states established on the basis of the right for
self-determination and not to use double standard.

Below is the text of the statement.

STATEMENT

Of the parliamentary factions of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic National
Assembly on the occasion of the Declaration of Independence adopted
by the parliament of Kosovo on February 17, 2008

The factions of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic National Assembly:

– Upholding the right for free self-determination, – Commending the
stance of the international community respecting the human rights
and civil rights of the majority of the population of Kosovo, –
Maintaining that for over decades the government of Azerbaijan
pursued a policy of discrimination, shortening of civil rights,
ethnic cleansing and displacement of the ethnic Armenian population
of Karabakh, the consequences of which were possible to prevent only
through self-defense, – Considering that from the moment when the
dissolution of the Soviet Union was set down Azerbaijan lost every
legal and moral right to sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh, – Voicing
regret for the human losses and destruction caused by the conflict
and especially the armed confrontation, – Hoping to reach through
talks agreement acceptable for the sides, which will guarantee the
recognition of the fact of free self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh
We call the parliaments of the countries of the world to be consistent
in the recognition of states which were established on the basis of
the right for self-determination, and not to use double standard.

Vahram Atanesyan on behalf of Democracy faction Arthur Tovmasyan
on behalf of Hayrenik faction Armen Sargsyan on behalf of the ARF
Dashnaktsutyun-Movement 88 faction

MEETING OF RA MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS WITH OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRMEN TO BE HELD IN VIENNA ON MARCH 14

Noyan Tapan
March 13, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 13, NOYAN TAPAN. On March 14 Vardan Oskanian, the RA
Minister of Foreign Affairs, will leave for Vienna, where he will
meet with the co-Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group.

On the same day he will leave for Brussels, where he will take
part in the "Brussels Forum 2008" until March 16. During the forum
Vardan Oskanian and David Bakradze, the Minister of Foreign Affairs
of Georgia, as main speakers will take part in the discussion on the
subject "Does the Path to Europe extend to the Caucasus?"

The forum will also be attended by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs
of Egypt, Sweden, Bulgaria, France, Slovakia, and Poland, the Prime
Ministers of Belgium and Denmark, the Secretary General of NATO,
the European Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus and
other high-ranking officials.

According to the information provided to Noyan Tapan by the Press
and Information Department of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Vardan Oskanian will also have a number of bilateral meetings within
the frameworks of the conference.

AZERBAIJAN’S ATTACK ON KARABAKH FORCES WAS PREPLANNED – SARGSYAN

Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS
March 12 2008
Russia

Armenian President-elect Serzh Sargsyan said that the attack of the
Azerbaijani military on the positions of Nagorno Karabakh forces
was preplanned.

"The attack by Azerbaijan was not accidental, it was prepared in
advance," he said at a Wednesday meeting with students.

"The violation of the ceasefire by Azerbaijan was not an accident,
but I find it hard to say now how it is connected with the political
situation in Armenia," he said.

Sargsyan expressed confidence that the Azerbaijani leadership had
known about the planned attack. The fact that the Azerbaijani defense
minister with whom talks were held through the personal representative
of the OSCE chairman in office refused to recall servicemen serves
to prove that, he said.

According to Armenia, on the night of March 3 a subversive unit of
the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, in violation of the ceasefire, attacked
an outpost of the army of the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno
Karabakh near the village of Levonarkh and assumed temporary control
over it but was thrown back to its old potions by counter action.

The Foreign Ministry of Nagorno Karabakh insisted on monitoring by
an OSCE mission. The monitoring was scheduled for March 7 but was
conducted only on the Karabakh side, Yerevan indicates.

JOHN PRESCOTT CALLS ON ALL PARTIES IN ARMENIA TO SHOW "RESTRAINT AND RESPECT" FOLLOWING TALKS

The FINANCIAL
March 12 2008
Georgia

The FINANCIAL — John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC), rapporteur
for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on
the Armenian elections, has called upon all sides to show restraint,
respect and avoid any precipitate action that could make matters worse,
following two days of meetings with all relevant parties in Yerevan.

"This is essential if we are to move to a genuine and open dialogue,"
said Mr Prescott. "I am convinced that a solution can be found to
the present difficulties. This requires the recognition by all of the
authority of the Constitutional Court and its ruling on the outcome
of the Presidential election. It also requires the removal of the
state of emergency and the restoration of individual human rights and
freedoms, including political rights, as well as the establishment
of an independent inquiry into the circumstances of the events of
1 March that tragically led to the death of 8 individuals and left
many injured. In addition it will also be necessary to make changes
to Armenia’s election code in order to restore trust in the electoral
system. Next week I intend to communicate to the President of the
Parliamentary Assembly in greater detail how the Assembly could
play an effective role in securing the resolution of this conflict,"
Mr Prescott added.

He pledged that the Assembly will do all it can to help resolve the
ongoing dispute following the recent Presidential election in Armenia.

Whilst in Armenia, Mr Prescott met President Kocharyan, Prime Minister
and President-elect Serghz Sargsyan, former President and candidate
Levon Ter-Petrossyan – who was held in de facto house detention -,
Parliament Speaker Tigran Torosyan, the Chairman of the Constitutional
Court, the Human Rights Defender of Armenia and the Chairman of the
national delegation to PACE, Davit Harutyunyan, as well as leading
political figures and members of civil society and the diplomatic
community in Armenia.

The snap visit was organised following a request from the President
of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Lluís Maria
de Puig, in co-operation with the Chairman of the Armenian delegation
to PACE, following the declaration of emergency.

–Boundary_(ID_LZodjltpPhFRjtQWVSvzKw) —

PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS GRANTED LICENSE TO OPERATE IN ARMENIA

ARMENPRESS
March 12, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 12, ARMENPRESS: Armenia’s finance and economy ministry
has granted a license to PriceWaterHouseCoopers firm to offer auditing
services in Armenia.

The license was handed today to Clifford Isaac, the executive manager
of the company’s Armenia branch, by deputy finance and economy minister
David Avetisian.

PriceWaterHouseCoopers (or PwC) is the world’s largest firm of
accountants. It was formed in 1998 from a merger between Price
Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand, both formed in London.

PricewaterhouseCoopers earned aggregated worldwide revenues of $25
billion for fiscal 2007, and employed over 146,000 people in 150
countries.

In the United States, where it is the third largest privately owned
organization, it operates as PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

PricewaterhouseCoopers is a Big Four auditor, alongside KPMG, Ernst &
Young and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

David Avetisian said the company was getting the license at a time
when Armenia’s reforms were being acknowledge by international
organizations.

Clifford Isaac said launching operation in Armenia was very important
for their company since there is great demand here for global customers
and local companies.

He said the firm is trying to help the government initiative to
introduce international accounting and auditing standards.

Armenia has become the 150-th country in which the firm has now its
office. Armenia has 31 licensed auditing firms and four individual
auditors.

ARMENIA’S FOREIGN DEBT UP 20% TO $1.4 BLN YEAR-ON-YEAR

RIA Novosti
March 11 2008
Russia

YEREVAN, March 11 (RIA Novosti) – Armenia’s foreign debt stood at
$1.449 billion as of January 1, or up 20%, year-on-year, the country’s
state statistics service said on Tuesday.

The debt owed by the government is $1.277 billion, while the Central
Bank of Armenia owes $167 million.

The South Caucasus country’s debt to international financial
organizations stands at $1.203 billion, including $978 million owed
to the World Bank, $157 million to the International Monetary Fund,
$55 million to the International Fund for Agricultural Development
and $11 million to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Armenia’s bilateral loans debt accounts for $245 million, including
$110 million owed to Germany, $90 million to Japan and $39 million
to the United States.