Author: Toneyan Mark

ARMENIA SHOULD ADOPT AGGRESSIVE STRATEGY OF IT ENTERPRISES’ ENTRANCE INTO ARAB AND SOUTH ASIAN COUNTRIES

Noyan Tapan

Dec 5, 2008

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The closure of Lycos Armenia – the
Armenian subsidiary of Lycos Europe company, and the dismissal of
75 experts of Epygi Labs AM – the subsidiary of Epygi Labs company
(US) are related to business organization rather than to the impact
of the global economic crisis. The Executive Director of the Union
of IT Enterprises of Armenia (UITE) Karen Vardanian expressed this
opinion at the December 4 press conference.

According to him, Lycos Europe was trying to sell the companies
servicing its six portals for a year, but it failed to do so. So the
management of Lycos Europe decided to stop the operation of these
companies with low profitability. In the opinion of K. Vardanian,
Lycos Armenia with its 200 employees and "unique services" will be
purchased by another company within the next few months.

K. Vardanian said that in case of Epygi Labs AM, the uncoordinated
work of the local team developing high-quality production and the
U.S. team selling that production was evident. Nevertheless, in his
words, "it happened during the crisis, so we cannot say that the
crisis did not affect" the behavior of the above mentioned European
and U.S. companies.

K. Vardanian believes that with the aim of neutralizing the impact
of the crisis on Armenian IT sector, the country’s government should
adopt an aggressive strategy of entrance into markets of countries
with an economic growth, taking into account the fact that 60% of
the sector’s production is currently exported to the countries which
are now in economic recession. 20% of IT production is exported to
Russia, 50% – to the U.S, and the rest – to Europe. According to
experts, the recession will continue in the U.S. and Europe for two
years. K. Vardanian expressed an opinion that the sale capacities
should be increased in markets of Arab states, China and other
countries of South-East Asia.

KOCHARYAN CUTS NEW RIBBONS

A1+
[07:38 pm] 03 December, 2008

A long-expected transport link was opened in Yerevan today, which,
specialists say, will completely change the face of the city center and
will considerably improve the state of transport communication. The
red ribbon of the newly constructed high-speed highway was cut by
President Serzh Sargsyan and ex-President Robert Kocharyan.

The last sector of the high-speed highway linking the southeastern and
northwestern parts of the city is 2.6 km long. The new highway will
considerably lighten the traffic on Mashtots and Tigran Mets Avenues,
as well as Khanjyan, Alex Manoogian, Isahakyan, Abovyan, Nalbandyan,
Koryun and Charents Streets and will reduce the time spent on roads.

JEWS AND ARMENIANS TO HAVE THEIR HOLIDAYS IN UNIVERSITIES, WHAT ABOUT OTHERS?
Tolga Korkut – [email protected]

BIA
Dec 2 2008
Turkey

YOK’s circular about excusing the Jewish and the Armenian students
and personnel during their religious holidays gets reactions, since
the other religious groups are not included in the practice.

According to the information bianet obtained, the Higher Education
Council (YOK) is getting ready to widen the scope of its circular about
excusing the Armenian and Jewish students and personnel during their
religious holidays. For there have been reactions to the circular in
its original form.

According to the report of Sefa Kaplan from daily Hurriyet, the
YOK circular sent from the YOK president Yusuf Ziya Ozcan to all of
the rectors in its present form has only excused the Jewish and the
Armenian students and personnel during their religious holidays.

Positive but not enough Prof. Dr. Ayhan Aktar with whom bianet met
about the subject describes the move as a positive step, but says
it will not be enough. For the circular in its present form excludes
the other non-Muslim groups.

Neither all the Armenians are Gregorian, nor all the Greeks are
Orthodox, and nor all the Turks are Muslims The academicians with
whom bianet met about the subject say that it was wrong to do the
categorization using terms such as "Ermeni" (Armenian) or "Rum"
(Greek).

The circular in question leaves out the Syrians, the Rums (Greeks),
the Keldani (Chaldeans), and the non-muslim Turks.

The holidays listed in the circular as Armenian holidays are the
holidays of the Apostolic Armenian Church (Gregorian). But there
are Catholic Armenian and Greeks, too. Chaldeans are Catholic as
well. Their holidays are different. The believers of the Greek Orthodox
religion are excluded, too. There are Protestants living in Turkey
and moreover, the Alewite religious celebration of Hıdırellez is
kept outside as well. Then there is Newroz celebrated by many groups
in the Middle East and the Caucasus.

The academicians believe that if there is going to be a practice like
this one, then it should be based on religions, not the ethnic groups.

According to Aktar, they can take the list of the religious holidays
from the religious leaders and make their arrangement accordingly.

There are also academicians who say that it is wrong to include only
the monotheistic religions in the implementation; all of the religions
should be included.

There are more than 90 religious holidays in the USA The state of
New Jersey in the USA prepared a similar list, but they told the
educational institutions in their area that they could have added
other religious holidays they had wished to the list.

The list has more than 90 religious holidays and days: Islam, Orthodox,
Jewish, Hindu, Bahai, Sikh, Shinto, Taoism, Russian Orthodox, Buddhism,
all the other Christian sects.

–Boundary_(ID_SDS/2JXcfzbjOBfHXHtkZQ)–

PROBLEM OF "ENEMY IMAGE" EXISTS IN BOTH AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.12.2008 13:49 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The problem of "enemy image" in Azerbaijan, but to be
frank, also in Armenia, is a series one but it is not insurmountable,
a British expert said.

"A lot of work needs to be done and should be done and government and
society in both countries must work together in this regard. However
it is also easy to be very pessimistic about this issue," Mr. Dennis
Sammut, the Chair of the Executive Steering Committee of the Consortium
Initiative, said in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net.

"I have been in many situations where people from Armenia and
Azerbaijan, from all levels of society, have met each other and
although they were meeting each other for the first time soon found
they had many things in common with each other. The Moscow declaration
talks about the importance of confidence building measures. The
Consortium Initiative and its component members, International Alert,
Conciliation Resources and LINKS, have since 2003 engaged with non
state actors in the region, working with different sectors of society,
from grass roots organizations to politicians and officials. We think
there is scope for our work to continue and we would like this work
to develop further with the support of the two governments and of
the international community," he said.

AIDS AND HIV DISEASE MORE COMMON….

Panorama.am
19:37 26/11/2008

During 2008 68 AIDS and 111 HIV cases have been registered in
Armenia. Since 1988 150 people died suffering AIDS, according to AIDS
Prevention Centre, 128 of them were men, 22 women and 3 children. And
649 suffered from HIV.

HIV is more found in Yerevan – 45.8% and the second region is Shirak –
10%. Note that HIV was first found in Armenia in 1988.

In 2001 it was found out that children in Armenia also suffer AIDS
and HIV. Generally HIV is found among 20-39 years-old people.

ARMENIA DOES NOT CONFIRM PARTICIPATION IN CONFERENCE OF CULTURE MINISTERS OF CE MEMBER-STATES TO BE HELD IN BAKU

Today.Az
9274.html
Nov 27 2008
Azerbaijan

Armenia has not confirmed its participation in the conference of
the Culture Ministers of the CE member-states to be held in Baku,
said Azerbaijani Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfaz Garayev.

"Armenia has received invitation from the Council of Europe to take
part in the conference but the official registration of participants
has completed and Armenia has not confirmed its participation.

He noted that "we expect the delegation of Armenia to take part and
in this case for them there will be created the same conditions for
them, as for other participants.

The conference of the Culture Ministers of the CE states on
"Intercultural dialogue is a basis of stable development and peace in
Europe and its neighbor regions" will be held in Baku on December 2-3
of this year. The main discussed issue of the conference will become
the issue of intercultural cooperation.

The conference will be attended by the ministers of the countries,
which signed a European cultural agreement, officials of the Council of
Europe, as well as Culture Ministers of the League of Arabian states,
representatives of ALECSO and ISESCO.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Nov 22 2008

Sports opening new opportunities for dialogue among nations, says
President Gül

Making the opening remarks of the 37th general assembly of the
European Olympic Committees (EOC) on Friday, Turkish President
Abdullah Gül said sports offered an ideal opportunity for laying the
groundwork for dialogue among nations.

"I had the chance to visit Armenia for the first time, and a sports
event gave me this opportunity. It was the best example of sports
creating new grounds for dialogue among nations. Games are one of the
oldest and most important driving forces of friendly and peaceful
relations among countries and their nations," he said in his address
to the gathering.
The 37th general assembly of the EOC began in Ä°stanbul on the
centenary of the founding of Turkey’s National Olympic Committee
(TMOK). The two-day meeting at Ä°stanbul’s Hilton Exhibition Center
brings together delegations from national Olympic committees (NOCs) of
Europe, numerous sports federations and a great number of the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) members.

EOC President Patrick Hickey and Secretary-General Raffaele Pagnozzi
as well as IOC President Jacques Rogge are among participants of the
event giving the candidate cities for the 2016 Olympic Games a last
opportunity to meet the European delegates. During the meeting, the
four cities vying for the 2016 Summer Games got the chance to make
their case to the regional group with the most influence in the
Olympic movement.

Chicago, Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro made presentations to the
general assembly of the European Olympic Committees (EOC), which
represents 50 countries and holds the balance of power in the Olympic
world.

"Most important, the audience of 500 delegates is expected to include
between 20 and 25 voting members of the IOC," EOC President Hickey
said.

It’s also the first bid presentations since the election of former
Illinois Sen. Barack Obama as US president, a potential major boost to
the bid from his hometown of Chicago. A video message from Obama,
taped since his election victory was included in Chicago’s 20-minute
delivery.

The full IOC will select the host city in a secret ballot in
Copenhagen on Oct. 2, 2009. But the campaign is already in full swing
as the cities prepare to submit their final bid documents to the IOC
in February. The cities made recent presentations to regional Olympic
groups in Acapulco and Bali, but the European meeting offers by far
the biggest chance yet for the candidates to get their message out to
key constituents.

IOC President Rogge, a Belgian and former head of the European body,
will be among those attending. More than a third of the IOC’s 100-plus
members are from Europe. The cities that have brought high-level
delegations to Ä°stanbul are out to impress the delegates with video
presentations and promises that they will offer financially secure
bids that can weather the current global financial crisis.

Obama’s election has changed the dynamics of the race. US President
George W. Bush’s unpopularity around the world was reflected in
Olympic politics, with New York soundly defeated in its bid for the
2012 Games and US influence declining in the IOC. Obama has been a
high-profile backer of the Chicago bid and lives a few blocks from the
planned 2016 Olympic stadium. He delivered his acceptance speech
before huge crowds in Grant Park, which is at the heart of the
proposed Olympic venues.

"President-elect Obama’s election has put a bright spotlight on
Chicago," bid leader Patrick Ryan said Thursday. "The fact that he is
managing the transition from Chicago continues to put a spotlight on
Chicago, and we look forward to his continued support." The Chicago
2016 committee is counting on Obama to attend next year’s IOC meeting
in Copenhagen to personally push for the bid. Chicago’s rivals are
adjusting to the Obama factor. Rio is even using his "Yes, we can" and
time-for-change slogan as an example of why the Olympics should go to
Brazil and South America for the first time.

"We also have a need for change in the Olympic movement," Rio bid
president and Brazilian Olympic Committee chief Carlos Nuzman
said. "The Olympic movement needs to go to all regions of the
world. South America is home to 400 million people, and one-third are
young people. The Olympic movement is ready for a historic change."
Rio, which hosted the 2007 Pan American Games, says Brazil will have
the world’s fifth-largest economy by 2016.

Madrid, which finished third behind winner London and Paris in the
vote for the 2012 Olympics, portrayed the Spanish capital Thursday as
the "safest choice for 2016" in light of the economic downturn. Bid
officials said 77 percent of the venues are ready, the candidacy is 90
percent toward its funding goal, the project is entirely underwritten
by the government, and city streets are "safe … day and night."
Tokyo, which hosted the 1964 Olympics and has rated highly in IOC
technical evaluations, said the Japanese government’s $100 billion
loan to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) showed how the games
would be financially secure.

22 November 2008, Saturday
TODAY’S ZAMAN WITH WIRES Ä°STANBUL

ARMENIAN CHESS PLAYERS ARE LEADERS IN WORLD CHESS OLYMPIAD

ARMENPRESS
Nov 21, 2008

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS: "It will be very hard to prevent the
Armenian chess players to celebrate the second uninterrupted Olympic
victory in the 38th World Chess Olympiad which is being held in the
town of Dresden, Germany. The circumstance that before the tournament
the Armenian men chess team had the international ninth rating was
misleading and the Armenian chess players were underestimated",
Russian sport media reported.

"Armenia continues to surprise the chess world. Armenian chess players
did not only concede in competition with the Russian team but also
were able to win them. In the only efficient match of the competition,
the Armenian chess player Gabriel Sargsian simply paralyzed his rival
Alexander Grishchuk and enjoyed a brilliant victory", German sport
media reported.

The Armenian chess players won 2.5:1.5 the Russian team in the
seventh round of the Olympiad and became the only leader of the
Olympic tournament with 13 points.

German first team, Israeli and French teams share 2-4 places with
12 points.

In the women tournament the Armenian chess players won 3:1 the
Austrian team in the seventh round and yet share the 9-13 places
having 10 points.

The leader among the women tournament is the Chinese team having 13
points, followed by the Ukrainian team which has 12 points and the
third comes Russia with 11 points.

In the eighth round the Armenian women team will play with the
Azerbaijani one.

FOOTBALL: PYUNIK WIN ARMENIA’S TITLE

Agence France Presse
November 19, 2008 Wednesday 4:46 PM GMT

Pyunik Yerevan clinched Armenia’s national championship here on
Wednesday after beating city rivals Ararat 2-1 in a title play-off.

Pyunik striker Albert Tadevosyan scored both of his side’s goals
earning Pyunik their 11th and eighth consecutive national title.

Pyunik and Ararat both collected 54 points from 28 matches in the
regular championship, bringing about the play-off. Kapan finished
third with 47 points.

IMF APPROVES $ 13,6-MILLION LOAN FOR ARMENIA

AZG Armenian Daily
20/11/2008

IMF-Armenia

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has
approved a nearly $13.6 million, three-year arrangement under the
Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) for Armenia "to support
the government’s economic program through 2011." In a press release
disseminated on Wednesday the IMF said "the decision will enable
the Republic of Armenia to draw an amount equivalent to about $1.9
million immediately." According to the report, Armenia’s PRGF-supported
economic program builds on the authorities’ Sustainable Development
Program (SDP) and the main goals of the new program are to sustain
and broaden economic growth, and further reduce poverty. "Azatutyun"
reported.