Author: Tavakalian Edgar

UNI (United News of India)
September 13, 2008 Saturday 5:56 PM EST

DELHI INKS PACT WITH ARMENIA FOR CLOSER TIES

Report from UNI brought to you by HT Syndication.

New Delhi

New Delhi, Sep 13 (UNI) Delhi government today signed a Memorandum of
Understanding(MoU) with the city administration of Yerevan, the
capital of Armenia for cooperation in the fields of culture, sports,
education and public health. ”This MoU will further promote the close
bonds of friendship that exist between the citizens of the two cities.

It envisages to develop cooperation in the fields of local
self-government, economy, trade, science, technology, culture, sports,
education and environment,” said Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, after
signing the MoU. The two sides will encaurage activities aimed at
developing economic ties between business organisations and
individuals of the two cities. There will be an ”Armenia street” in
Delhi, symbolising closer relations with the former Soviet republic,
she said. Mr Yervand Zakharyan, Mayor of the city signed the pact on
behalf of the Municipality of Yerevan. Speaking on the occasion, he
said the agreement will enable the two cities to have closer
relations. ”We can have more interaction with Indian enterprises and
can cooperate in the fields of pharmaceuticals, urban development,
culture and education,” he said. He added that a street in Yerevan
will also be named after Delhi. Armenian ambassador to India Ashot
Kochazhian, Delhi Urban Development Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan,
Industries Minister Mangat Ram Singhal, Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta
and other senior officers of Delhi Government, were also present on
the occasion.

THIRD MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATION OPERATOR TO BE NAMED NO SOONER THAN IN MID-DECEMBER

ARKA
Sep 12, 2008

YEREVAN, September 12. /ARKA/. The third mobile telecommunication
operator is to be announced no sooner than in mid-December, Armenian
Transport and Communication Minister Gurgen Sargsyan said at a press
conference on Tuesday.

He said 17 companies applied for the license.

"The number of applicant companies shows that the country needs a
third mobile communication operator", Sargsyan said.

The minister said that France Telecom and M$A Tele2 AB, the companies
enjoying high ratings, are among the tender participants.

"It means that Armenian mobile telecommunication market hasn’t lost
its attractiveness", he said.

Sargsyan said that the third operator’s presence in Armenia will
drive prices for mobile telecommunication services down and improve
their quality.

He said the tender winner will be named in mid-October, but the final
decision will be made after completion of all necessary procedures,
including possible appeal by other contenders.

He said all the procedures are planned to be over by mid-December.

Orange company belonging to France Telecom as well as CEO Blackrock
Communication (England and Ireland) and M$A Tele2 AB (Sweden) underwent
preliminary qualification. They were found eligible to take part in
the tender.

17 companies expressed wish to compete, but only six of them – Orange,
0ACEO Blackrock Communication, M$A Tele2 AB, V-Tel (Jordan), Auroratel
(Russia), PJ Engineering (Finland) were found eligible for the tender.

The winner will get the license for 15 years. Under the tender package,
the third operator will spend 200 million.

Two companies operate in Armenia now.

Russian Vimpelcom is the sole owner of ArmenTel. Russian MTS holds
the control package of VivaCell.

ABDULLAH GUL: THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT OPPORTUNITY TO RESOLVE THE KARABAKH ISSUE

armradio.am
11.09.2008 13:49

Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul told reporters in Ankara following
his visits to both Yerevan and Baku he observed the same honest and
sincere desire for a solution of the Karabakh conflict both in Armenia
and Azerbaijan.

"In Azerbaijan I saw the same frank, honest and sincere desire
for a solution and respect to opponent that I observed in Armenia
earlier. There is a significant opportunity to resolve a long-standing
problem. We need to seize this opportunity. Also, everyone is aware
that if a solution is reached, it paves the way for cooperation in
the region," he said.

The Turkish President expressed his hope that Nagorno Karabakh problem
would be solved through dialogue, understanding and negotiations. "We
think new occasion have arisen to solve the problem lasting for 17
years. I returned from Armenia hopefully. I believe that this problem
will be solved through negotiations. The solution to this problem will
bring peaceful atmosphere to the region and it will mean establishment
of great economic cooperation in the whole region. Oil pipelines,
railways can establish network in the whole Caucasus. That’s why one
should improve the new opportunity and solve the frozen conflicts,"
he said.

"My talks with Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents revealed the
need for exchange of vi ews between the two countries on bilateral,
regional and international developments. Turkey and Azerbaijan have
always advocated that the regional problems should be resolved through
peaceful and diplomatic ways," he said.

23 COMPANIES WIN ANNUAL CONTEST "PRODUCT OF YEAR 2008"

ARKA
Sep 11, 2008

YEREVAN, September 11. /ARKA/. Twenty-three local and oversees
companies have won the annual national contest "Product of the Year
2008", with four of them being Grand Prix winners. The companies
exhibited 41 product items.

Grands Prix were awarded to the following companies: Bari Samaratsi,
Arzni livestock breeding factory, Borodino cannery (Armenia), Shen
Concern building materials company.

"Now we can state with confidence that this contest is a traditional
one and is a method of selecting the best representatives of Armenian
business," Arsen Ghazaryan, Chairman of the Union of Employees of
Armenia, stated at the awarding ceremony.

He expressed the confidence that Armenia’s market, though narrow from
outside, is actually "fantastic" and impresses foreign producers and
importers by its demand and supply.

Ghazaryan pointed out that the goods produced by many of the contest
winners have become well-known brands in Armenia. However, they can
stand competition on the foreign market as well.

"I am sure that, if our country resolves some communication problems,
our producers will be a success in other countries in view of the fact
that Armenia’s market is the most competitive in the CIS," he said.

RA Deputy Minister of Economy Ara Petrosyan urged Armenian producers
to develop their brands at t he regional and international level
and the contest organizers to promote Armenian products on the
international market.

Petrosyan expressed the opinion that services sector representatives
should also take part in the contest from next year.

Norair Nazinyan, Director of the Master center for international
integration, said that over 60 organizations applied for participation
in the contest. He reported that prizes are awarded in the "foodstuffs"
and "convenience goods" categories. The motto of the contest is
"Popularity – highest mark for product".

"During one year experts were following the demand for products
in terms of sales and sale by the piece, and when certain products
received prizes it was evidence pf not only high quality, but also
competent marketing," Nazinyan said.

The survey was conducted by the Master center with the assistance of
the Union of Employers (Manufacturers and Businessmen) of Armenia.

Among the winners are such products as Ararat brandy (Yerevan Brandy
Company), Armenian champagne (Yerevan Champagne Factory), Coca-Cola,
"Asa" ice-cream and confectionery, "Latino" coffee, "Golden Sun"
vegetable oil, Black&White cigarettes (Cigaronne company), Lamborghini
gas-fired boilers (Termoros AR company), Castrol oils (GTR Group),
Peronda и ABK tiles (R&V Comfort company).

–Boundary_(ID_17tgl2WQx60/Sz6T3xy70A)- –

OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS ALLOWED TO RETURN TO NORTHERN AVENUE

Noyan Tapan

Se p 11, 2008

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 11, NOYAN TAPAN. After dispersing the participants
in an everyday "political" walk and the seven hunger strikers in
Northern Avenue on the evening of September 9, policemen closed
that section of the avenue, preventing anyone from walking in the
area. On finding the avenue closed at about 7 pm of September 10,
the opposition supporters gradually gathered near the Swan Lake. An
hour later policemen formed a chain and approached the people, pushing
them and urging them to go away. About a hundred citizens tried to
go round the lake, after which the law enforcers surrounded them and
pushed them away to Terian Street where the opposition activists
stopped and began chanting "Serzhik, Killer", "Struggle, Struggle
Till the End" and "Levon, President". Passers-by and drivers greeted
them by raising their fists and joining the chanting.

Some time later the representative of the Armenian National Congress
Levon Zurabian informed the activists that an agreement had been
reached during negotiations with police. In his words, those who
gathered were allowed to return to Northern Avenue – instead, starting
from September 10, "political" walks shall pass without noise and last
until 10 pm. L. Zurabian also declared that the reason for postponing
the September 12 meeting until September 15 was that the mayor’s
office permitted to hold it on September 15 and that the radical
opposition intends to act within the law and use the possibilities
envisaged by the law.

At 8:30 pm the oppositionists returned to Northern Avenue to continue
their walk.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT MEETS DIRECTOR GENERAL OF ROSATOM SERGEY KIRIYENKO

ArmInfo
2008-09-09 17:41:00

ArmInfo. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met Director General of
Rosatom State Corporation (Russia) Sergey Kiriyenko, Tuesday.

The Armenian presidential press-service told ArmInfo that the meeting
covered issues of Armenian-Russian cooperation in the sphere of
nuclear energy. The sides expressed content with the current level
of partnership and the course of programs aimed at the sphere’s
development. They noted that Armenia and Russia have already gained
great joint experience in the sphere of nuclear energy. Touching upon
the work of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant, Kiriyenko noted that
the ANPP is in a good state, all the conditions for safe exploitation
are ensured. The interlocutors also discussed the possibilities of
installation of a new power unit, as well as the organization of
geological prospecting of uranium deposits in Armenia.

LANGUAGE SCHOOLS

Manly Daily
September 9, 2008 Tuesday
Australia

Armenian, Japanese and German: are available in an intensive, bilingual
curriculum at three northern beaches schools.

Hamazkaine Arshak and Sophie Galstaun College ()
at Ingleside has been open since 1986 and offers Armenian and English
curriculum.

The Sydney Japanese School ()
at Terrey Hills offers two streams of education, the Japanese and the
International Division, where classes are taught in both languages. The
school has an open day on Saturday, September 24, from 10am to12.30pm.

The German International School Sydney ()
opened its doors on the northern beaches earlier this year.

Moving from its old base at Ryde, the school offers a German-language
based teaching from pre-school through to HSC and/or the International
Baccalaureate.

The program has expanded to include Year 7 students with no former
knowledge of German into its classes.

HEAD OF ARMENIAN PRESIDENT’S STAFF HOVIK ABRAHAMYAN RELIEVED OF DUTIES, GAINS SEAT IN PARLIAMENT

ARKA
Sep 8, 2008

YEREVAN, September 8. /ARKA/. Hovik Abrahamyan, head of the RA
President’s Staff, had been relieved of his duties as he gained a seat
in the RA National Assembly (NA), the RA President’s office reports.

Republican Abrahamyan’s won the August 27 parliamentary by-election
in the 17th election district.

ONE ANSWER FOR SIX
by Natalia Alexeeva

WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
September 8, 2008 Monday
Russia

WHAT PREVENTS CSTO MEMBER STATES TO SUPPORT RUSSIA FRANKLY?; During a
recent meeting with his Armenian colleague, Serzh Sarkisyan, Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev said, "we will formulate the final stance
during the CSTO summit in Moscow." Diplomats of all six member states
were painfully seeking a degree of the partners in a "mini-NATO"
to recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on
September 4.

During a recent meeting with his Armenian colleague, Serzh Sarkisyan,
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said, "we will formulate the
final stance during the CSTO summit in Moscow." Diplomats of all
six member states were painfully seeking a degree of the partners
in a "mini-NATO" to recognize the independence of South Ossetia and
Abkhazia on September 4.

It seems that presidents of the countries that are members of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) together with Russia
do not have anything against the independence of Abkhazia and South
Ossetia but they cannot say this out loud. Along with this, each of
them has his own reasons for this.

Despite all its inclination towards Russia, Kazakhstan should bear in
mind the opinion of its other neighbor, China, who does not like the
attempts of self-determination very much. Kyrgyzstan is partially
dependent on China too. It is, to put it mildly, not a very rich
country and lives due to investments from China to a large extent.

Armenia, for which Russia is much more than just an ally, is also
interested in more or less normal relations with Georgia. Otherwise
Armenia will be actually cut off from the rest of the world. In any
case, the dreams of Yerevan about the delivery of cargos from Russia
by railway already became unrealistic. There is also the problem
of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Belarus in the person of its President, Alexander Lukashenko, once
again adopted its favorite stance "to you and to them" trying to
understand on which side it may gain more. Even the anti-Americanism
of President of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, was not enough to announce
the recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia yet.

Tajikistan also justly thinks that it should not outrun its more
influential neighbors.

The recent summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization with
approximately the same composition of participants finally managed
to make it only to very vague formulation, "we express a deep concern
about the recent tension regarding the South Ossetian issue."

Foreign ministers of the six countries who met in Moscow managed to
move much further. They are "deeply concerned about the military
actions of Georgian party in South Ossetia." Of course, this is
not recognition yet but an unambiguous support of the stance of
Russia. Will the presidents manage to take the next step?

RUSSIA ACCUSES WEST OF PROVOCATION IN GEORGIA

Reuters
Tehran Times
September 8, 2008

MOSCOW (Reuters) — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accused the
United States on Saturday of provoking Moscow by using warships to
deliver relief aid to its ally Georgia, with which Russia fought a
brief war last month.

""I wonder how they would feel if we now dispatched humanitarian
assistance to the Caribbean, suffering from a hurricane, using
our navy,"" Medvedev said, adding that a whole U.S. fleet had been
dispatched to deliver the aid.

Russia has also accused U.S. warships of rearming Tbilisi’s defeated
army, a charge dismissed as ""ridiculous"" by Washington.

Vice President Dick Cheney stepped up U.S. criticism of Russia’s
actions in Georgia.

NATO has rejected talk of a buildup of its warships in the Black
Sea, saying their recent presence in the region was part of routine
exercises.

The biggest U.S. ship to arrive so far, the U.S.S. Mount Whitney,
dropped anchor on Friday off the Russian-patrolled Georgian port
of Poti.

Medvedev, speaking at a meeting of his advisory state council, said
he had summoned the council to discuss changes in Russia’s foreign
and security policy after the war.

Tension between Moscow and the West had eased when the OSCE security
body said on Saturday Russia was allowing its observers to circulate
freely throughout Georgia, but the breakaway Georgian region Abkhazia
later said it was forging military cooperation with Moscow.

""We’ve had very good access. I think we’re working at it and the
Russians are, I’d argue, opening up,"" said Finnish Foreign Minister
Alexander Stubb in Avignon, chairman in office of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The OSCE report comes days before French President Nicolas Sarkozy
travels to Moscow for talks with Medvedev to assess Russian compliance
with a French-brokered peace plan.

The European Union agreed on Saturday to send an ""autonomous mission""
to Georgia to monitor Russia’s withdrawal from occupied territory,
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said, accusing Moscow of
failing to respect several points in the peace plan.

Russia and Georgia fought a brief but intense war after Tbilisi sent
in troops to try to seize back the rebel region of South Ossetia,
provoking massive retaliation by Moscow.

The conflict has dented confidence in the Caucasus as an energy
transit route — Georgia is at the heart of two crucial oil and gas
pipelines which bring high-quality crude and gas from booming oil
state Azerbaijan to Europe via Turkey.

Cheney, speaking in Italy after a tour of former Soviet states
including Georgia, said Russia’s leaders ""cannot have things both
ways.""

""They cannot presume to gather up all the benefits of commerce,
consultation, and global prestige, while engaging in brute force,
threats, or other forms of intimidation against sovereign democratic
countries,"" he said.

Analysts have also questioned the feasibility of the ambitious Nabucco
gas pipeline project, which would bring Caspian Sea gas to Europe
via Georgia, reducing reliance on Russia.

Russian stocks and the trouble have been hurt as foreign investors
pull money out because of increased political risk.

The West has stepped up support for Georgia to join NATO — a move
Moscow opposes on the ground that Georgia is in its sphere of influence
— since Russia recognized the Georgian breakaway rebel regions South
Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.

So far only Nicaragua has followed Russia’s lead in recognizing the
two provinces as independent. In a setback for Russia, its ex-Soviet
security allies in the Collective Security Treaty Organization stopped
short of doing so late last week.

Tbilisi and Western states have accused Russia of annexation, a claim
Moscow sharply denies.

On Saturday self-styled Abkhaz president Sergei Bagapsh said he
expected to reach agreement with Moscow soon on military cooperation.

""We’re insisting (on military cooperation) and we will ask the
Russian Federation to leave Russian troops in Abkhazia,"" Bagapsh
told reporters in the Russian capital, adding that the agreement
should be signed within the next few days in Moscow.

""(The Russian military) will also probably be in front of the security
zone,"" he said, referring to a zone set up on the Abkhaz boundary in
the early 1990s, when the province fought off Georgian rule. Russian
peacekeepers have been based there since.

Hostilities in Georgia have given new impetus to efforts to prevent
other conflict in the broader Caucasus region.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul paid a landmark visit to neighboring
long-time foe Armenia on Saturday to attend a soccer match he said
could help end a century of mutual hostility and aid regional security.