PRESIDENT SERZH SARKISIAN APPOINTS GAGIK KHACHATRIAN AS HEAD OF STATE CUSTOMS COMMITTEE
ARMENPRESS
June 4, 2008
YEREVAN, JUNE 4, ARMENPRESS: President Serzh Sarkisian signed today
a decree to appoint Gagik Khachatrian as head of the government
affiliated State Customs Committee.
The news was reported by the presidential press office.
ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: "AZERBAIJAN’S BELLICOSE RHETORIC CAN BE ASSESSED AS BLACKMAIL"
Today.Az
/politics/45428.html
June 4 2008
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan’s bellicose rhetoric is a sort of a blackmail, which may
undermine the talks on the resolution of Nagorno Karabakh conflict,
said Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan.
"I do not understand why Azerbaijani leadership makes such
statements. To answer to any of such bellicose statements means
to worsen the situation before the important meetings of the two
presidents on June 6, said Nalbandyan during the press conference on
Monday, commenting on the previously made statement of Azerbaijani
Defense Minister.
"We initiate talks with the intention to settle the conflict, being
aware that this is necessary for the interests of both Armenian and
Azerbaijani people", said the Armenian Foreign Minister.
According to Nalbandyan, holding talks on the resolution of Nagorno
Karabakh conflict means suspension of political propaganda. The
Minister noted that the conflict settlement is impossible with such
bellicose propaganda in neighbor Azerbaijan.
Nalbandyan reminded the situation of 2001, when following the talks
in Ki-West the countries were ready to the conflict settlement.
"But this did not occur as Azerbaijan declared that its population
is not ready to the conflict settlement", noted the minister.
He also drew journalist’s attention to the fact that 29% of
Azerbaijanis support the forced resolution of the conflict, in line
with public polls and 82% of the population negatively assess the
activity of the OSCE Minsk Group.
"This figure is unclear to me. I do not know any other country, even
being in a state of war, where the percentage of people supporting
forced resolution of the conflict is so high and it is absurd to
blame the countries, ready to assist in the conflict resolution",
said Nalbandyan.
CASES OF MISCONDUCT IN THE HEALTH SECTOR
KarabakhOpen
04-06-2008 11:24:28
The audit chamber conducted audit of health establishments. "The
outcome of audit can be revealed only after the discussion of the
National Assembly," said the chair of the audit chamber Arthur
Mosiyan. He said several cases were reported to the office of
prosecutor general.
The Azat Artsakh reports that Prosecutor General Arshavir Gharamyan
said the cases involve the ministry of health, the Republic Hospital
and the Pharmservice company. "We are conducting additional audit
and the cases will be reported to the office of prosecutor general
for an investigation. I mean misconduct by some officials," he said.
UNICEF: RATE OF MORTALITY AMONG CHILDREN UNDER FIVE 30 PRO MIL IN ARMENIA
ARKA
June 4, 2008
YEREVAN, June 4. /ARKA/. The rate of mortality among children under
5 is 30 pro mil in Armenia, the Representative of UNICEF in Armenia
Sheldon Yett said.
Mortality among children under 1 is 26 pro mil with mortality among
new-born children (under 28 days) constituting 65% of it, which is
quite high, Yett told journalists.
According to him, the main reasons for high mortality rate among
new-born children are asphyxia, congenital infections, as well as
lack of equipment in hospitals and maternity homes.
The problem can be solved without heavy expenses through teaching
mothers to undergo the required medical examinations during pregnancy,
to inform them how to take care of newly born children, to improve
equipment in maternity homes and to raise the qualification level of
medical staff, Yett said.
He pointed out that today Armenia is among the countries that are able
to achieve the UNO-set fourth development objective of the millennium
– reduce the children’s mortality rate by two thirds by 2010.
Despite the problems in this sphere in Armenia, the general situation
is good and quite a progress has been recorded in reducing mortality
among children, Yett said.
In January-March 131 cases of stillbirth were recorded in Armenia
against 134 similar cases in the same period of last year. A 13.8%
reduction was recorded in the number of cases of mortality among
children under 1 in the period against January-March 2007. Infant
mortality ratio per 1,000 live-born children was 9.9% against 11.7%
in the same period of last year.
In 61.7% of cases the reasons for mortality among children under 1
were death from specific states in perinatal life and congenital
anomalies, deformations and chromosomal disorders against 75.2%
in the same period of last year.
In January-March, 112 cases of death of children aged 0-4 were recorded
with cases of death of children under 1 constituting 83.9%. The rate
of mortality among children under 5 (per 1,000 live-born children)
was 11.8% (12.9% among boys, 10.6% among 10.6%).
ARMENIAN RAILWAY CJSC TRANSFERRED TO CONCESSION OF RUSSIAN RAILWAYS OJSC
arminfo
2008-06-03 14:13:00
ArmInfo. On 1 June 2008 Armenia transferred the Armenian Railway state
CJSC to concession of South-Caucasian Railway CJSC belonging to the
Russian Railways OJSC, Minister of Transport and Communication of
Armenia Gurgen Sargsyan told media Tuesday.
The minister said the contract of concession was signed two weeks ahead
of schedule. The investment plan says the Russian Railways pledge
to invest in development of the infrastructure about $600 million
within 30 years, including 2/3 of the amount will be invested in the
modernization of the railroad, repair and acquisition of equipment, on
the whole within the first 5 years. He mentioned that within a month
or two the concessionaire plans to acquire 8 electric locomotives to
boost passenger transportation. For this purpose, the Russian side
promised to invest first of all in reconstruction of carriages that
were idling for poor technical state.
The agreement of concession of the Armenian Railroad CJSC for
30 years with a 20-year renewable period was signed in Yerevan in
February 2008. The contract provides for subsidizing the annual loss
in passenger transportation by the concessionaire. For its part,
the Russian Railways will provide $57 million guarantee from the
moment of making the contract and undertake the responsibility for
fulfillment of commitments.
SABINE FREIZER: SHIFT OF POWER IN ARMENIA POSITIVE FOR KARABAKH PROCESS
PanARMENIAN.Net
03.06.2008 13:50 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents
is of great importance, according to International Crisis Group Europe
Program Director.
"I am hopeful that the presidents will agree to review the proposals
of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs", Ms. Sabine Freizer said, adding that
the current situation is too sensitive due to presidential elections
in both countries.
"The Armenian election was accompanied by rallies and mass
discontent. Election is to take place in a few months in
Azerbaijan. Both countries are engaged in internal processes, that
is why I call the situation sensitive," she said.
Assessing the shift of power in Armenia, Ms. Freizer said it would
have a positive impact on the talks.
"I am hopeful that Serzh Sargsyan will take a constructive stand and
will give an impetus to the peaceful process. However, it’s premature
to make conclusions before the presidential meeting," she said,
the Azeri Press Agency reports.
INCIDENT OCCURS BETWEEN RUSSIANS AND ARMENIANS IN MOSCOW
Azeri Press Agency
June 3 2008
Azerbaijan
Baku. Lachin Sultanova-APA. An incident occurred between Russian
and Armenian guys in football square of School #919 in Moscow, APA
reports quoting Russian media.
The reason of incident has not been determined yet. There were 25-30
guys during the incident. The two sides used fungo and traumatic
pistol during the incident. Five people have been injured and they
have been hospitalized. The police have confiscated 4 fungos, knife,
two cartridge-cases and 9-mm cartridges.
TIGRAN SARGSIAN: GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE ABLE TO CURB INFLATION
08
YEREVAN, MAY 29, NOYAN TAPAN. "Studies show that the price elasticity
degree is not satisfactory," the prime minister Tigran Sargsian stated
at the May 29 sitting. According to him, after a sharp rise, prices are
declining quite slowly. He said that bread and rice prices have sharply
fallen in international market in the past month. In particular, wheat
prices fell by 42, rice prices by 22%. It is obvious that it has
created some favorable conditions for a downward tendency in Armenia.
The prime minister noted that taking into account the large share of
these foodstuffs in the consumer basket in Armenia, it can be said that
they may have a considerable impact on the decline in the overall level
of prices.
T. Sargsian said that this problem is in the center of the government’s
attention and it will conduct studies and checks at organizations where
the price level is not adequate to international tendencies. In his
words, inflation is the number one problem in Armenia and the
government should be able to curb inflation. For this reason the
respective proposals and instructions were given to the ministers of
economy and finance, the Central Bank of Armenia and the State
Commission on Protection of Economic Competition. The prime minister
expressed satisfation at the work of the indicated commission.
ODIHR publishes final assessment on Armenia’s presidential election
armradio.am
30.05.2008 16:21
The pre-election and voting period of Armenia’s presidential election
was conducted in a manner that mostly met OSCE commitments, but
problems arose, notably after the vote, the OSCE Office for Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said in a final report on the
February election, released today.
`While the 2008 presidential election mostly met OSCE commitments and
international standards in the pre-election period and during voting
hours, serious challenges to some commitments did emerge, especially
after election day,’ the report says.
The ODIHR monitored the February presidential election with 44
long-term and 250 short-term observers from over 40 OSCE participating
States. The report assesses the electoral process for compliance with
OSCE commitments, other international standards and national
legislation.
`There is a sound legal basis for holding democratic elections in
Armenia – the deficiencies noted in our report resulted primarily from
a lack of determination to apply existing laws and rules effectively
and impartially,’ said Ambassador Christian Strohal, Director of the
ODIHR.
`Improving Armenia’s electoral framework does not require so much
further technical or legal changes, but rather a genuine commitment by
the authorities at all levels, as well as all other political
stakeholders, to a democratic electoral process free of undue State
interference and in line with OSCE standards.’
The report makes concrete recommendations on how to improve Armenia’s
election framework. These include measures to address the lack of
public confidence in the electoral process, to ensure that all citizens
are able to cast their votes free of coercion or intimidation, and to
establish a clear separation between State structures and the ruling
party.
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
May 30 2008
Governor of Ararat province appointed Armenia’s Interior Minister
[ 30 May 2008 12:38 ]
Yerevan – APA. Armenia’s president Serzh Sarkisian dismissed Interior
Minister Haik Harutiunian. APA reports quoting Armenian mass media
that under the other order of the president, governor of Ararat
province Alik Sarkisian has been appointed to this post and promoted
to major-general.
Alik Sergeyevich Sarkisian was born in Kanachut village of Ararat
province on June 1, 1957. He graduated from Yerevan Pedagogical
Institute named after Khachatur Abovian and Higher Police School of
Armenia’s Interior Ministry. He worked in the police in 1982-2000. He
had been governor of Ararat province since 2000. He is married, has
two daughters and two grandchildren.