Category: 2018

ArmenPress, Armenia
Oct 10 2018
La Francophonie Economic Forum is arena for diversifying external
commercial relations, says foreign ministry
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, ARMENPRESS. The La Francophonie economic forum is
a platform in which Armenia will diversify its foreign economic
relations, Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson Tigran Balayan told
reporters ahead of the forum.
“The La Francophonie economic forum will have impact on foreign
economic policy. Not only [government]officials, but also businessmen
from nearly five dozen countries are in attendance of the forum,” he
said.
Digital technologies is one of the main topics of the forum. Balayan
said in this context Armenia has many proposals.
He praised the governmental interagency commission, led by Deputy
Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan, for daily supervision of the
preparations for the forum and the summit.
On October 4, Tigran Balayan was named next Ambassador of Armenia to
the Netherlands.
The forum is organized under the high patronage of President Armen Sarkissian.
Back at the 2014 summit of La Francophonie in Senegal, participants
agreed to deepen the economic direction of the organization – adopting
the first economic strategy of La Francophonie.
Yerevan is hosting the XVII International Organisation of La
Francophonie summit in 2018.
The events will take place October 7-12, with the summit scheduled for
the final two days.
Armenia is a member of the organization since 2008.
The International Organisation of La Francophonie represents one of
the biggest linguistic zones in the world. Its members share more than
just a common language. They also share the humanist values promoted
by the French language. The French language and its humanist values
represent the two cornerstones on which the International Organisation
of La Francophonie is based.
The International Organisation of La Francophonie was created in 1970.
Its mission is to embody the active solidarity between its 84 member
states and governments (58 members and 26 observers), which together
represent over one-third of the United Nations’ member states and
account for a population of over 900 million people, including 274
million French speakers.
IOF organizes political activities and actions of multilateral
cooperation that benefit French-speaking populations. Its actions
respect cultural and linguistic diversity and serve to promote the
French language, peace and sustainable development.
IOF has concluded 33 cooperation agreements with international and
regional organisations and has established permanent dialogue between
the major international linguistic zones (the English, Portuguese,
Spanish, and Arab-speaking zones).
The IOF has its head office in Paris as well as four permanent
representations in Addis Ababa (at the African Union and at the United
Nations Economic Commission for Africa), in Brussels (at the European
Union), in New York and in Geneva (at the UN). It has three regional
offices (West Africa; Central Africa and Indian Ocean; Asia-Pacific)
located respectively in Lomé (Togo), Libreville (Gabon) and Hanoi
(Vietnam) and two regional antennas in Bucharest (Romania) and in
Port-au-Prince (Haiti).
Alongside the IOF, the Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie and
the four direct operators are responsible for implementing the
programs decided at the Summits. The four direct operators are: the
Academic Agency of La Francophonie, TV5Monde, the International
Association of Francophone Mayors and The Senghor University of
Alexandria.
58 Member States and Governments: Albania, Principality of Andorra,
Armenia, Kingdom of Belgium, French Community of Belgium, Benin,
Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada,
Canada-New-Brunswick, Canada-Quebec, Cape Verde, Central African
Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cyprus, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, France, Gabon,
Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Laos,
Lebanon, Luxembourg, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius, Mauritania, Moldova, Monaco,
Niger, New-Caledonia, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Säo Tomé
and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo, Tunisia,
Vanuatu, Vietnam.
26 Observers: Argentina, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Canada-Ontario, South Korea, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic,
Dominican Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia,
Lithuania, Mexico, Montenegro, Mozambique, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Thailand, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay.
Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

ArmenPress, Armenia
Oct 10 2018
PM Pashinyan assures Armenian Government will support all innovative
and creative ideas
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Government will support
anyone wanting to do business in Armenia with the condition that their
activities will be fully in line with the law, ARMENPRESS reports
Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan announced in his speech at
the economic forum in the sidelines of the Francophonie summit.
The PM welcomed the participants in Armenia, at the symbolic “Tumo”
center, which, according to the PM, embodies the new Armenia.
“As you know Armenia is in a stage where once again its commitment to
values such as freedom, democracy, equality before the law, human
rights was reaffirmed. These values are also the basis of Francophonie
and the slogan of the velvet revolution. The velvet revolution was not
just a political act, but also a revolution of values. Finally, that
revolution will have no value if we fail to carry out an economic
revolution. In that sense, now we are in the most important stage of
our revolution and we have to ensure economic success with clear rules
for everyone who want and can start a business in Armenia”, Nikol
Pashinyan said.
The PM noted that those rules have been announced numerous times. But
the PM, taking advantage of the presence of numerous businessmen,
reiterated that they have two preconditions for anyone who wants to do
business in Armenia. “Any activity should be fully in line with the
law and we will help everyone to create maximally many jobs and of
course, pay taxes”, Pashinyan said, reassuring that the Government
will support everyone who will respect the two rules.
The PM noted that he was glad to learn that the main emphasis of the
works of the economic forum was on digital economy, since the goal of
the Government is to transfer Armenia into a high-tech country from an
agrarian one. “Those who are familiar with Armenia know that there are
enough human resources for implementing the economic transformation”,
PM Pashinyan underlined, adding that any creative and innovative idea
will be supported by the Government of Armenia.
The International Organisation of La Francophonie represents one of
the biggest linguistic zones in the world. Its members share more than
just a common language. They also share the humanist values promoted
by the French language. The French language and its humanist values
represent the two cornerstones on which the International Organisation
of La Francophonie is based.
The International Organisation of La Francophonie was created in 1970.
Its mission is to embody the active solidarity between its 84 member
states and governments (58 members and 26 observers), which together
represent over one-third of the United Nations’ member states and
account for a population of over 900 million people, including 274
million French speakers.
IOF organizes political activities and actions of multilateral
cooperation that benefit French-speaking populations. Its actions
respect cultural and linguistic diversity and serve to promote the
French language, peace and sustainable development.
IOF has concluded 33 cooperation agreements with international and
regional organisations and has established permanent dialogue between
the major international linguistic zones (the English, Portuguese,
Spanish, and Arab-speaking zones).
The IOF has its head office in Paris as well as four permanent
representations in Addis Ababa (at the African Union and at the United
Nations Economic Commission for Africa), in Brussels (at the European
Union), in New York and in Geneva (at the UN). It has three regional
offices (West Africa; Central Africa and Indian Ocean; Asia-Pacific)
located respectively in Lomé (Togo), Libreville (Gabon) and Hanoi
(Vietnam) and two regional antennas in Bucharest (Romania) and in
Port-au-Prince (Haiti).
Alongside the IOF, the Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie and
the four direct operators are responsible for implementing the
programs decided at the Summits. The four direct operators are: the
Academic Agency of La Francophonie, TV5Monde, the International
Association of Francophone Mayors and The Senghor University of
Alexandria.
58 Member States and Governments: Albania, Principality of Andorra,
Armenia, Kingdom of Belgium, French Community of Belgium, Benin,
Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada,
Canada-New-Brunswick, Canada-Quebec, Cape Verde, Central African
Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, , Cyprus, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, France, Gabon,
Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Laos,
Lebanon, Luxembourg, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius, Mauritania, Moldova, Monaco,
Niger, New-Caledonia, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Säo Tomé
and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo, Tunisia,
Vanuatu, Vietnam.
26 Observers: Argentina, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Canada-Ontario, South Korea, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic,
Dominican Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia,
Lithuania, Mexico, Montenegro, Mozambique, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Thailand, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay.
Armenia is a member of the organization since 2008 and will assume the
presidency over the organization during this summit.
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan

 The Guardian(London)
 Wednesday 8:00 PM GMT
Gladys Berejikilian calls for immigration cut - but it could cost NSW
The New South Wales premier, herself the daughter of immigrants, wants
state's migrant intake halved
by Michael McGowan and Nick Evershed
Gladys Berejiklian has become the latest politician to weigh into
Australia's population debate, calling for a return to "Howard-era
immigration levels".
On Wednesday the New South Wales premier, herself the daughter of
Armenian immigrants, called for a halving of the state's migrant
intake, citing concerns about population growth in Sydney.
But a Guardian analysis of immigration data shows any reduction in
migration in Australia would involve hard and potentially costly
choices for the state's economy.
While permanent arrivals in Australia are at the same level as they
were under the Howard government, the increase in net overseas
migrants has been driven by the lucrative international student
market, tourists and skilled workers.
On Wednesday in an interview with the Daily Telegraph Berejiklian said
immigration in NSW had been allowed to "balloon out of control".
"It's time to tap the brakes and take a breather on immigration levels
to this state. We should return to Howard-era immigration levels in
NSW," she said.
"I'm the daughter of proud immigrants myself, but it's clear that
successive federal governments have allowed the rate of immigration to
NSW to balloon out of control."
But an analysis of migration figures by Guardian Australia shows that
while net overseas migration has grown in NSW, the bulk of the
increase has come from international students who inject billions of
dollars into the state's economy.
And permanent migration figures are on par with the end of the Howard
era - after almost doubling during his 11 years in power, a point the
prime minister, Scott Morrison, made on Wednesday.
"In the current planning year, NSW had requested more than 5000
additional migrants into NSW, well I'll take it from those comments by
Gladys that she would like now those assigned to states like South
Australia or other places, and we can do that," Morrison said on
Wednesday.
"But our current permanent immigration levels are running just a
little over 160,000 - that was the level of permanent immigration that
was running at the time of the conclusion of the Howard government,
and so those levels have been pretty consistent for some time, they
used to be a bit higher than that in terms of what the permanent
intake had been a few years ago and that's come down somewhat over the
last year or so and I expect it to sort of remain at about these
levels."
Similarly the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, suggested issues of
perceived overcrowding in Sydney related to infrastructure.
"What I would say to Gladys Berejiklian is we stand ready to work with
you to invest in the necessary infrastructure to ensure that this
great state of NSW has the right services and the right infrastructure
to support the population that it has," Frydenberg told reporters in
Sydney.
"The number of permanent visas have come down quite significantly, we
are a very proud migrant nation."
According to government statistics permanent migration to Australia
almost doubled during the Howard era, from 85,802 in 1996-97 to
161,217 in 2006-07. In 2016-17 the permanent migrant intake was
183,608, mostly via skilled visas.
But that figure was set to fall to about 160,000 in 2017-18 because of
changes to the visa migration program made by Peter Dutton in 2015.
In 2016-17 net overseas migration to NSW was 104,480, up from 73,570 in 2006-07.
But that growth has been driven in large part by the increased
reliance by universities on revenue from international students and by
tourists and skilled workers.
In 2016-17 those three categories accounted for 59% of temporary visa
holders in NSW. Since 2006-07 there has been a 92% increase in the
number of people in NSW on international student visas.
Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson urged
policymakers "to tread carefully to ensure any policy change does not
damage Australia's successful international education sector which is
a major income-earner for our economy.
"International education is the second biggest export in NSW,
injecting $11.2bn into the NSW economy each year and supporting more
than 46,000 jobs. "It's a hugely important income earner - bigger than
tourism - and international students also make a huge cultural and
social contribution to the state and Australia."
In a statement Berejiklian confirmed that the government wanted to
halve net overseas migration, but her office did not specify where
they wanted to see the cuts come from.
The premier instead wants the level of migration to be considered at a
COAG meeting.
The comments come during a difficult period for the premier and the
Liberal government in NSW.
The week has been dominated by negative headlines and protests against
her support for a controversial advertisement for a horse race on the
Sydney Opera House, and recent polling suggests the Labor opposition
is now neck-and-neck with the government.
Berejiklian was critical of Labor leader Luke Foley earlier this year
after he used the term "white flight" to describe the shifting
demographics in western Sydney during an interview.
At the time she described the comments as "deeply divisive, dangerous
and nasty".
But on Wednesday Berejiklian said Sydney had been forced to "wear the
pain" of increased migration, blaming previous infrastructure spending
in Sydney for not keeping pace with population growth.
"My government has been playing catch-ups building the schools,
hospitals, roads and transport links our state needs to deal with our
growing population after years of do-nothing Labor governments," she
said.
"But it's becoming increasingly clear that the current growing rate of
immigration to our state needs to be ­addressed. This is an
opportunity for a new dawn on this important issue."
The Coalition has been in government in NSW since April 2011.

Targeted News Service
 Wednesday 7:12 AM EST
Dr. Umit Kurt to Speak on Gaziantep-area Armenian Genocide
FRESNO, California
California State University's Fresno campus issued the following news release:
Visiting professor in Armenian Studies Dr. Umit Kurt will give his
second public lecture on "Proactive Local Perpetrators: Mehmet Yasin
(Sani Kutlug) and Ali Cenani" at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16, in the
University Business Center, Alice Peters Auditorium, Room 191.
In his presentation, Dr. Kurt will recover the stories Mehmet Yasin
and Ali Cenani of Aintab, modern-day Gaziantep, and in the surrounding
district. Biographies of a genocide's local leaders can illustrate the
social processes, institutional cultures, and power relations that
undergirded the violence. This lecture hopes to do this by
highlighting the human element: the actors, their motives, and their
actions.
Kurt was appointed the 15th Henry S. Khanzadian Kazan Visiting
Professor in Armenian Studies for the fall 2018 semester. A free
parking code for lots P6 and P5 can be obtained by calling the
Armenian Studies program at 559.278.2669.