Author: Tamamian Anna

ARTHUR ABRAHAM DEFENDS IBF TITLE

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.03.2009 16:08 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Arthur Abraham retained his IBF middleweight title
with a unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Lajuan Simon
on Saturday.

Abraham pounded Simon, who finished with a swollen left eye, but
could not land a knockout punch.

Simon moved well and took a lot of punches, but his counter punches
were few and never really troubled the champion, who defended the
title for the ninth time and improved to 29-0.

The judges scored it 117-110, 118-109 and 117-110 for Abraham,
a naturalized German who was born in Armenia.

"I am pleased with my performance tonight," Abraham said. "He was
not a bad opponent and he took a lot and he fought bravely. It was
important to win."

He was hoping for a unification bout against Kelly Pavlik, who holds
the WBO and WBC belts.

"After that I will move into the super-middleweight division,"
Abraham said.

He traditionally has trouble making the weight limit in the
middleweight division and 15 pounds in 10 days before the fight.

Simon lost for the first time in 25 fights. He also has two draws.

"He was stronger than I thought, it was an interesting experience. I
will be back," bostonherald.com cited Simon as saying.

ARTHUR ABRAHAM MAY TAKE ON VERNON FORREST

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.03.2009 21:48 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Rumors of a possible clash between WBC junior
middleweight champion Vernon Forrest and Arthur Abraham, the IBF
middleweight champion – are indeed true. Sauerland Event, who
promotes Abraham, have reached out to Gary Shaw to make the fight
happen. If the fight can be finalized, it would happen in the summer
on Showtime. Abraham would travel to America for the fight.

Forrest looked very impressive in his last fight with Sergio
Mora. Weight issues are creeping up on King Arthur Abraham and his
performances are starting to suffer. He has at least two fights before
he moves up to super middleweight.

There is almost a sense of boxing irony here. Both Forrest and Abraham
were trying to secure a summer date with WBC/WBO middleweight champion
Kelly Pavlik. Neither was successful. Instead they are willing to fight
each other and Pavlik will likely face Mora, who Forrest dominated
last September. The winner of Abraham-Forrest would really push the
envelope on being the next logical opponent for Pavlik.

If the deal is finalized, there are some doubts as to how it will
affect Forrest’s title defense against interim-champion Sergio
Martinez. The two sides reached an agreement last week, and under
that agreement both fighters were given the option of taking one fight
[before actually fighting each other]. Forrest’s "pre-Martinez fight"
would have to take place before the end of April, and per the agreement
it had to be a ten-round contest. If the Abraham fight gets made,
Forrest would be forced to give up the WBC title and Martinez would
become the full champion, BoxingScene.com reported.

DIRECTOR GENERAL OF ‘ARMAVIA’: TWO PROMISED SU-100 SUPERJET TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA TILL LATE 2009

ArmInfo
2009-03-16 09:59:00

ArmInfo. "Armavia" Airlines will receive two aircrafts Su-100
Superjet till late 2009, Director General of the Company Norayr
Belluyan told journalists on March 14. He said a number of employees
and representatives of the management of "Civil Aircrafts of Sukhoy"
CJSC have recently arrived in Armenia, and an agreement was reached
with them on supply of Su-100 till late of 2009. To recall, a contract
on supply of two aircrafts SSJ-100 to "Armavia" Company to the sum
of about $50 mln was signed in September, 2007.

N. Belluyan also recalled that the management of "Armavia" will
leave for Hamburg to acquire a new A-319 aircraft. ‘We shall probably
negotiate on acquisition of new aircrafts’, the director general said.

Fars News Agency , Iran
March 14 2009

Iran Ready to Help Resolve Karabakh Dispute

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran is prepared to help its Azeri and Armenian
neighbors to resolve their dispute over Karabakh, Iranian Foreign
Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Friday.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsian in Yerevan, Mottaki described
peace as the first condition for sustainable development in the
region.

Referring to the two countries’ cooperation and trade exchanges, he
urged forwarding new ideas to expand ties, and said the existing
relations are not ideal.

Iranian foreign minister expressed hope that Iran and Armenia sign a
free trade agreement to promote the trend of development in the
region, build railway and construct Aras hydraulic power plant.

He also called on Armenia to use the abilities of Iranian contractors
in different projects.

He referred to the Armenian president’s visit to Iran, and said inking
new documents can open a new season in the two countries relations.

Sargsian, for his part, termed Iran an influential country in the
region and welcomed Iran’s efforts to resolve the Karabakh dispute.

He announced his country’s readiness to pursue implementation of big
infrastructural projects, specially railway, to connect the two
countries and join the Persian Gulf to the Black Sea.

Panorama.am
18:37 12/03/2009

ARMENIA’S PUBLIC TV BROADCAST BY ORANGE TV

Edward Nalbandian, Armenia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Didier
Lombard, CEO of France Telecom-Orange, on 12th March in Paris
celebrated the arrival of Armenia’s public channel, Armenia 1, to
Orange TV. The channel will be available free of charge on Orange TV
on broadband internet (Canal 305). Orange strengthens the bonds
between France and Armenia.

Armenia 1 on Orange TV
Armenia’s first public general viewing channel, Armenia I will from
now on be broadcast on Orange TV’s channel 305 on broadband
internet. Armenia 1 is a real link between Armenia and the Armenian
community living in France.

Orange and Armenia
This agreement between Edward Nalbandian and Didier Lombard was also
an opportunity to recall the many relationships over the years between
the Group and the Armenian Republic.

In 1988, in the earthquake that shook Armenia, the Group flew a mobile
satellite antenna to the country enabling it to communicate with the
rest of the world. The first pictures and the communications
re-established with the Diaspora helped trigger and maintain the
strong solidarity movement that arose in France.

Since 2000, Orange has supported the Armenian Fund of France in
organizing the annual Phonethon held in November each year. This
operation run by hundreds of volunteers consists of collecting funds
by telephone for structural projects in Armenia such as roads,
schools, hospitals, nurseries¦ etc. The Group makes available all
the logistics, technology and systems for call centers in four large
cities in France.

Each year the Regional Department at Marseille welcomes many Armenian
students into its service as part of a partnership with the French
University in Yerevan, the Conseil Général des Bouches
du Rhône and the French-Armenian Chamber of Commerce and
Industry.

By the end of 2009, Orange will launch a mobile phone service in
Armenia via its subsidiary Orange Armenia. In October 2008, Orange was
awarded the third mobile operator license (GSM and 3G) in the Republic
of Armenia, a market that shows considerable potential for
growth. With this launch, Armenia is set to benefit from the strength
of the Orange brand as well as the Group’s capacity to offer
high-quality, innovative services.

Source: Panorama.am

National Assembly of RA , Armenia
March 13 2009

Ambassador of the Netherlands in the National Assembly

On March 12 RA NA President Mr Hovik Abrahamyan received the
Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Republic of
Armenia Mr Onno Elderenbosch.

Welcoming the Ambassador NA President Mr Hovik Abrahamyan highly
assessed the inter-state relations with the Kingdom of the
Netherlands, noting that the relations between the parliaments have
all possibilities to become close cooperation. The activation of the
mutual visits, the use of the Dutch legislative experience, the
support of the Netherlands in Armenia’s Euro integration processes, in
particular within the format of Eastern Partnership programme was
highlighted. To Mr Abrahamyan’s conviction, the creation of the
parliamentary friendship groups will promote becoming closer the
Armenian-Dutch inter-parliamentary partnership, which will also boost
the cooperation in international different organizations. He said that
in the National Assembly Armenian-Dutch parliamentary friendship group
would be set up in the near future.

Ambassador Mr Onno Elderenbosch highlighted the further development of
the Armenian-Dutch relations, considering necessary the cooperation of
the parliaments in inter-state relations. He noted that the
Netherlands discussed to implement partnership programme worth 1.5 m
euro with the National Assembly of Armenia, which would boost the
inter-parliamentary cooperation, the mutual visits, exchange of
experience and contacts at different levels. Touching upon the
regional problems the Ambassador noted that as a result of the
Russian-Georgian conflict the economy of Armenia incurred great losses
and expressed regret that the European Union attached little interest
to that circumstance and did not support Armenia. He highly assessed
the efforts of Armenia in improving the relations with the neighbours,
in particular, with Turkey, in this context highlighting the necessity
of the regional security and stability.

Presenting the inner-political problems of Armenia and the situation
created as a result of March 1 events, the NA President noted that the
authorities of the country did everything possible in fulfilling the
provisions of PACE resolutions. In particular, the working group
created by the decree of the NA President had already drafted the
amendments to the 225 and 300 articles of the Criminal Code, which
after being adopted in the first reading were passed to the expertise
of the Venice Commission, getting positive conclusion and will be
debated in the second reading at the upcoming four-day sittings. The
NA President highlighted the creation of the atmosphere of tolerance
in the country, expressing hope that in the upcoming months the
progress will be noticeable in that direction.

At the meeting other issues were also discussed.

RIA Novosti, Russia
March 10, 2009 Tuesday 12:44 PM GMT+3

Lavrov to hold Nagorny Karabakh talks in Baku

MOSCOW March 10

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will arrive in Baku on
Wednesday to discuss the Nagorny Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan’s
President Ilham Aliyev and his counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov, a
spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

"No doubt, the Nagorny Karabakh settlement problem will be discussed,"
Andrei Nesterenko said, adding that Russia supports the continuation
of the negotiation process and will do everything to maintain progress
as the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair.

Nagorny Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan with a largely Armenian
population, declared its independence from Azerbaijan in 1983. The
ensuing Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict claimed some 35,000 lives. A
ceasefire was signed in 1994. The area technically remains part of
Azerbaijan, but has its own de facto government.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Turkey’s position hampers Nabucco implementation
11.03.2009 13:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The leaders of Iran, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan,
Turkey and Qatar come together today to discuss implementation of
Nabucco project.

Earlier this month, the Iranian and Turkmen governments had signed an
agreement to allow Iran to develop the Yolotan gas field in
Turkmenistan. With this deal, Iran will buy an additional 350 billion
cubic feet of gas annually.

Besides, Iran offers its gasfield as main resource for Nabucco
pipeline.

According to Kommersant daily, Turkey’s position is one of the major
obstacles for the project implementation.

`The matter is that Turkey doesn’t want to be just a transition
country. It wants to purchase incoming gas at its eastern borders and
sell it at the western ones, imitating Gazprom’s policy,’ the article
says.

UMA: 20% rise in prices for imported products in Armenia

YEREVAN, March 11. /ARKA/. The price for imported products have shown a
rise of 20% in Armenia in proportion with the USD revaluation against
the Armenian Dram, Tsolvard Gevorgyan, Chairwoman of the Union of
Merchants of Armenia (UMA) told reporters.

On March 3, the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) announced a return to a
floating rate regime. CBA experts forecast an AMD/USD exchange rate of
360 to 380 AMD/$1. As a result, the average market AMD/USD exchange
rate became 372.11 AMD/$1.

Ad of today it is 361.28 AMD/$1.

`The prices for imported products have shown a rise of 205 in Armenia,
though the prices for some home-made products have risen as well,’
Gevorgyan said.

She pointed out that the situation may worsen after April 1, when the
new gas, energy and water prices officially take effect.

`Although the rise will not be considerable, it may cause panic and a
jump in prices, which will influence the economy,’ Gevorgyan said.

Monitoring conducted by the RA State Commission for Protection of
Economic Competition showed the situation to be stable in the country,
and a rise of 10-12 per cent in the prices for some essential products
was only registered.`0–

PanARMENIAN.Net

NASDAQ OMX Armenia Director: The crisis will be mitigated by the end
of the year
10.03.2009 16:18 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `Economy sector representatives will participate in
Armenian capital market development,’ NASDAQ OMX Armenia Director
Armen Melikyan told a news conference on Tuesday. According to
Melikyan’s optimistic forecasts, the crisis will be mitigated by the
end of the year, to enable market entrance for potential
issuers. `We’ll need time and awareness level increase. For itself,
the Armenian stock market will show assistance and the companies will
need to provide transparency and publicity in their activities.’

`We’re planning for one more company to receive IPO by the end of the
year, so that the capital market will get a stimulus for further
development. Armenia has a great IPO implementation potential in heavy
and light industry, communication sphere, food sector,’ Melikyan
emphasized.