Author: Toganian Liana

NEXT YEAR CNN WILL CONTINUE BROADCASTING ADVERTISEMENT SKETCHES ABOUT ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
08.11.2006 18:56 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In 2007 Armenia will keep on financing broadcast of
advertisement sketches about the republic on CNN. 160 million AMD out
of 250 million provided by the state budget for the tourism development
program will be spent for the purpose, said the RA Minister of Trade
and Economic Development Karen Chshmaritian. In his words, the rest of
the funds will be spent on organizations of exhibitions, preparation of
advertisement and cognitive materials, reports newsarmenia.ru. CNN has
broadcast advertisement sketches about Armenia since September 2006.

BIRTH RATE DECLINED TWICE

Lragir, Armenia
Nov 7 2006

According to the minister of employment and social security Aghvan
Vardanyan, the rate of the demographic growth in Armenia is highly
worrying, the news agency ARKA reports. The minister stated that
over the past 25 years Armenia has been facing serious demographic
problems. Against the annual 80-84 thousand children born in Armenia
the late 1980s and the early 1990s, the annual rate of birth has
been 40 thousand children over the past 2-3 years. The rate of birth
has halved. One of the chief reasons, according to Aghvan Vardanyan,
is the problem of government assistance to young families.

REPRESENTATIVE OF TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL DOES NOT EXCLUDE THAT AID TO ARMENIA WILL BE "FROZEN" PROVIDED THAT NORMAL ELECTIONS BE HELD

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Nov 6 2006

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 6, NOYAN TAPAN. According to the studies of the
Transparency International conducted in 169 countries of the world,
Armenia is among countries with a high level of corruption. Amalia
Kostanian, Chairwoman of the Center for Regional Development of
Transparency International Armenia NGO, declared at the November 6
press conference within the framework of the Actual Subject program
of the National Press Club.

She explained that according to used methods, calculation of corruption
level starts from one point, i.e. the most corrupted are the countries
where this index is close to one. It is two years running that the
index of corruption in Armenia is "2.9," which, in A.Kostanian’s
words, is evidence of failure of fighting corruption announced by
the country’s authorities.

"In spite of anti-corruption laws adopted in the country, signing of
a number of conventions in this sphere, fighting corruption in Armenia
has an imitation character. No high-ranking official was punished for
taking bribe during the three years of official fighting corruption
and, which is the most important, on the threshold of elections the
authorities bear no responsibility for factual failure of this fight,"
A.Kostanian declared.

She especially dwelt upon such problem as political corruption, the
brightest manifestation of which is falsifications during elections.

Besides, manifestations of political corruption are also creation of
unequal conditions for agitation during electoral campaign, electoral
bribes, etc.

As regards the recent statement of the Freedom House international
human rights organization containing appeal for the Millennium
Challenge corporation for ceasing to provide aid to a number of
countries, including Armenia, in connection with not ensuring political
rights and civil freedoms, A.Kostanian did not exclude that aid to
Armenia within the framework of the above mentiond program can be
"frozen" provided that normal elections be held in Armenia.

AZERI SNIPER WOUNDED ARMENIAN VILLAGER

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.11.2006 14:43 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ November 3 an Azeri sniper wounded resident of
Aygepar Armenian village Maxim Poghosyan, born in 1978, Spokesperson
of the Defense Ministry of Armenia, colonel Seyran Shahsuvaryan told
PanARMENIAN.Net. Poghosyan is delivered to the medical detachment of
Berd town. His state is assessed as average heavy.

A1+

THE FIRST GOAL OF EDGAR MANOUCHARYAN
[01:22 pm] 03 November, 2006

19-year-old striker of the RA football national team Edgar
Manoucharyan scored at the 65th minute of the UEFA cup group stage
match "Ajax"-"Austria" yesterday. "Ajax" beat "Austria" 3:0.

The Armenian played about 30 minutes. Eight minutes after his
appearance in the field he scored his first goal in the international
matches of "Ajax".

Ajax played a solid match, and they got the start they wanted in the
group stage of the UEFA Cup. According to the "Ajax" coach, "Edgar
clearly is on good form and he is feeling fine. He is a great talent.

Hopefully he can make the final steps, I really hope that. "

Yesterday Artavazd Qaramyan also played in the UEFA cup group
phase. His "Rapid" tied with "Hapoel" from Tel Aviv.

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Nov 4 2006

Karabakh Liberation Organization Accuses Law-Defenders of Being
Indifference towards Destiny of Karabakh Partisans

Source: Trend
Author: S.Ilhamgizi

04.11.2006

Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) expressed its protest against
several law-defenders in relation with the absence of the names of
the Karabakh partisans in the list of political prisoners submitted
to the Council of Europe, Trend reports with reference to the KLO.

It should be mentioned that a number of young people had formed an
armed team to protest against the occupation of the Azerbaijani
territories by Armenian Armed Forces. One of them has been sentenced
to the prison for term of life and other from 5 to 14 years.

KLO considers that the court has passed an unfair resolution. In
addition, during the investigation, the court procedures have been
repeatedly violated.

It was mentioned in the KLO resolution that each of these arguments
is enough to include them into the list of the political prisoners.
"But the position of several law-defenders coincides with the unfair
decision of the court. We demand these law-defenders to change their
position," was stated in the resolution.

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
—————————————— —-
PRESS AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
Government House # 2, Republic Square
Yerevan 0010, Republic of Armenia
Telephone: +37410. 544041 ext 202
Fax: +37410. 562543
Email: [email protected]

PRESS RELEASE

01-11-2006

Minister Oskanian Participates in the 15th Meeting
of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Council of Ministers

Minister Oskanian was in Moscow, participating at the 15th meeting
of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Council of Ministers. Russia
has held the presidency of that organization since April 2006.

In his statement at the meeting, Minister Oskanian stressed that
there are more commonalities among BSEC members than differences,
and despite the bilateral problems that exist, the positive elements
must and can override these differences in order to allow for a
harmonious environment in which to work and to settle political
issues. He pointed out that in the realm of creating a transport ring,
the efforts by some members to resort to a policy of exclusion and
not include certain members by circumventing or ignoring existing
transport means is unacceptable for members of the same organization.

Finally, the Minister noted that in light of Bulgaria and Romania
joining the EU next year, this makes, with Greece, three BSEC members
who are simultaneously members of the EU, and thus provides new
opportunities for BSEC ~V EU cooperation taking into consideration
both overlapping interests and overlapping memberships.

Further, Minister suggested that in preparation for the organization’s
15th anniversary and the Summit to be held in Istanbul, the time is
right to study the accumulated experiences and the new challenges,
and to make the necessary modification and institutional changes to
become more effective.

As a result of the meeting, a Joint declaration was passed and the
presidency of BSEC was passed on to Serbia.

Within the framework of the BSEC meeting, Minister Oskanian met with
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov. They discussed bilateral issues, as
well as regional matters, and the Nagorno Karabakh settlement process.

Earlier in the day, Minister Oskanian had also met with Georgian
Foreign Minister Gela Bezuashvili. The two ministers discussed
Armenian-Georgian relations, as well as the effect of Russian-Georgian
relations on the region, and prospects for reduction of tensions.

The Ministers discussed the upcoming meeting in Brussels with the
EU leadership at which time, the European Neighborhood Action Plan
will go into effect, and the two countries will be better able to
cooperate within Euro-integration processes.

Minister Oskanian and Minister Bezuashvili exchanged views on the
peaceful resolution of conflicts in the region, and in that context,
the prospects for alleviating the consequences of a GUAM initiative
within the UN.

RUSSIA – NUMBER ONE TRADE PARTNER OF ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
31.10.2006 14:58 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia keeps being number one trade partner of
Armenia, Minister of Trade and Economic Development of Armenia
Karen Chshmarityan told journalists in Yerevan today. "According to
the outcomes of the previous 15 years, from 1991 to 2005 Russia is
the first in volume of investments into Armenian economy," Karen
Chshmarityan said, when commenting on Russian President Putin’s
statement that Russia being the third on investments in Armenia is
"shameful." "The Russian President spoke about past year, as in
2005 Germany and Greece were on the first places on the volume of
investments into Armenian economy," the Minister noted, adding that
Russia as an individual country keeps being number one trade partner
of Armenia," reports Novosti-Armenia.

ONLY 50 OUT OF 195 YEREVAN COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOLS PROVIDED WITH LOCAL HEATING PRIVATE BOILER-HOUSES

Noyan Tapan
Oct 30 2006

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, NOYAN TAPAN. Only 50 out of 195 Yerevan
comprehensive schools are provided with local heating private
boiler-houses. As Deputy Yerevan Mayor Kamo Areyan said at the October
30 press conference, the rest of 155 schools will be heated with
electric heaters, 120-130 of which will be given to schools by Yerevan
Mayor’s Office. K.Areyan also said that autumn and winter holidays
of 2-10-form pupils will be united and will last from December 25 to
January 21.

"YERKRAMAS" TO CELEBRATE ITS 10TH ANNIVERSARY

ArmRadio.am
30.10.2006 12:20

November 15 the 10th anniversary of "Yerkramas" newspaper of Russian
Armenians will be celebrated in Krasnodar.

Editorial office of the newspaper informs that Armenian ensembles
from different cities and regions of Kuban will participate in the
gala concert.

On the occasion of the jubilee, the editorial staff has received
congratulations from RA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
to Russia Armen Smbatyan, RA Minister Education and Science Levon
Lazarian.