Author: Tigranian Ani

SERGEY LAVROV AND HILLARY CLINTON MEET IN GENEVA

Panorama.am
12:33 06/03/2009

The head of the U.S. State Department Hillary Clinton and the Foreign
Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov are going to have the first bilateral
meeting in Geneva today. The new Administration of the U.S. has
announced that they wish to start relations with Moscow from anew,
which seem to have suffered during the Bush Administration, reports
"Ria Novosti".

A few days ago Lavrov and Clinton had a meeting in Egypt in the frames
of "the four" session of the Near East. It is expected that the heads
of foreign affairs relations of these two big countries will be get
acquainted and they will also discuss the specter of bilateral and
international problems.

U.S. Department of Commerce to open an office in Azerbaijan

04 Mar 2009 18:58

Baku. Rashad Suleymanov – APA-ECONOMICS. The U.S. Department of
Commerce will open an office in Azerbaijan, US Ambassador to
Azerbaijan Ms Anne E. Derse told a meeting at the Caspian-European
Integration Business Club (CEIBC).

According to her, there was a decision during the Bush administration
to open office in Baku but the decision was not realized then.

She said the new administration supports the idea of opening the
office although the date is not known yet.

RUSSIA TO PROVIDE $500 STABILIZATION LOAN TO ARMENIA

Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire
March 2, 2009 Monday 2:42 PM EET
Russia

The Russian government will provide a U.S. $500 million stabilization
loan to Armenia at an annual interest rate of 3% over Libor, Armenia’s
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan told reporters Monday.

The loan will be provided for 14 years and will have a 4-year grace
period, Sargsyan said.

Funding for the loan has been allocated in the amendments to Russia’s
2009 federal budget that are expected to be approved soon by the State
Duma, the Russian parliament’s lower house, Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin said, ITAR-TASS reported.

Armenia plans to use the funds to cope with the financial crisis,
including to fund programs aimed at the creation of new jobs,
Sargsyan said.

IMF: ARMENIAN DRAM MAY DEVALUATE BY 17-30%

ARKA
March 3, 2009

YEREVAN, March 3. /ARKA/. Armenian Dram may devaluate by 17-30%,
IMF Resident Representative in Armenia Ninke Oomes told journalists
Tuesday.

Over the year 2008 Armenian Dram was over-estimated by an average
of 17-30% and now the rate will be adjusted within the same range,
she said.

These are rough estimates not to be taken serious: it is just that
the floating rate of Armenian Dram could be expected to fluctuate
within this range, Oomes said.

For comparison, devaluation of national currency made 20% in Belarus
and Kazakhstan, 11% in Georgia and almost 35% in Russia due to fall
in oil prices. Yet, the new rate level is to be established by the
market, she said.

The Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) Artur Javadyan
reported return to the policy of the floating rate due to worsening
trade conditions under the global financial and economic crisis,
as well as due to slowing down capital inflow.

According to CBA experts, exchange rate is expected to range between
360 Drams and 380Drams for $1 in 2009.

In the period from 2003 to 2008, USD devaluated by 47.3% in Armenia.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT RECEIVED TOP MANAGEMENT OF GEOPROMINING COMPANY

RIA Oreanda
March 3 2009
Russia

Yerevan. OREANDA-NEWS On 03 March was announced, that Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan received the top management of the
GeoProMining Company.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Siman Povarenkin spoke about
the implementation of the obligations assumed by the Company in
our country, present situation in the area of gold and molybdenum
extraction, and prospects of the areas development. Stressing the
importance of refraining from further job cuts in the area of mining
during the ongoing financial and economic crisis, the President of
Armenia underscored his clear anticipation that there would be no
additional lay offs at the Agarak copper and molybdenum processing
plant and that even more jobs would be created in the gold mining area.

The two sides discussed also issues related to the new investment
projects to be implemented by Geopromining Company in Armenia.

RISE IN PRICES IS NOT SIGNIFICANT?

A1+
[07:40 pm] 04 March, 2009

"Prices are kept up. Only the prices of oil, butter, sugar and petrol
have gone up in the country," says the chairman of the State Commission
on the Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC), Ashot Shahnazaryan.

The rise in prices is not significant: prices have gone up by 10-12
percent. Only prices of some medicines have gone up by 15 percent.

Ashot Shahnazaryan says no rise in prices is expected for the coming
three months. "In three months prices may go up by 5 percent, no
more. We shall see to it," announced Mr. Shahnazaryan.

Some economic entities availed themselves of the opportunity of panic
and pushed up prices. Many shops enhanced prices following our visits,
and the Commission was forced to revisit them.

Asked what measures the Commission intends to take against them,
Ashot Shahnazaryan said: "Today we shall send them a warning and
tomorrow we shall file a suit against them."

The SCPEC Chairman of the Commission says the exchange offices have
also abused their positions selling a dollar at 400-420 drams.

WHO IS TO MONITOR AND DEFEND CITIZENS’ RIGHTS?

A1+
[07:58 pm] 04 March, 2009

The Central Bank’s recent move to revert to a floating exchange rate
was led with a rough violation of citizen’s rights. Human Rights
Defender Armen Harutyunyan says the Ombudsman’s Office doesn’t deal
with such issues.

"Otherwise, the institute of a financial ombudsman wouldn’t be set
up in Armenia," says Armen Harutyunyan.

The Ombudsman’s Office forwards all economic complaints to the
Financial Ombudsman Piruz Sargsyan. The latter informed A1+ that
so far they haven’t got any complaints from civilians or economic
entities regarding the rise in prices of essential goods.

"We have no right to monitor shops unless we are submitted with a
written-complaint," says Piruz Sargsyan.

NEW MEETING OF ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTS SCHEDULED

ArmInfo
2009-03-03 12:02:00

ArmInfo. During the joint press-conference of OSCE MG cochairmen in
Yerevan today, it was informed that the new meeting of the Armenian
and Azerbaijani presidents has been scheduled.

However, the mediators did not specify the time and the place of
a top-level meeting. The meeting is envisaged within the next few
months, and the cochairmen intend to offer possible versions of the
meeting to presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

WORLD JUNIOR FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIP: ARMENIAN FIGURE SKATERS HAD NO SUCCESS

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.03.2009 17:08 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian figure skater Sargis Hayrapetyan came 31st
at the World Junior Figure Skating Championship that was held in Sofia,
Bulgaria, from Feb. 23 to Mar. 1, Samvel Khatchatryan, President of
the Figure Skating Federation of Armenia told PanARMENIAN.Net.

"Sargis Hayrapetyan is the 31st among 42 participants. To be honest,
we have to accept the result as satisfactory, since we can’t expect
better results. As you know, Hayrapetyan and Stamboultyan have
been trained in Moscow because of absence of training facilities in
Armenia. Such a nomadic manner of training can’t produce favorable
results. So we have to content ourselves with what we have. As for
Armine, she had poor success this time," Samvel Khatchatryan said.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Putin: Armenia-Russian bilateral trade increased by 10%
28.02.2009 13:43 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan met in
Moscow with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, reported the press
office of the RF government.

`Despite the crisis, the commodity turnover between our states has
increased by 10% and totaled 900 million while Russian investments in
the Armenian economy made 1 billion 800 million,’ the Russian PM said.

He also pointed out to implementation of energy and transport projects