Category: News

ARMENIA THIS WEEK
Friday, June 4, 2004
U.S., ARMENIA SIGN CULTURAL AGREEMENT, DISCUSS MILLENNIUM AID
Armenia and the United States committed to safeguarding the cultural
heritage of their respective citizens, and began talks on launching a new
U.S. aid program to Armenia and Kansas-Armenia state partnership in the last
two weeks.
Armenia’s Ambassador to the U.S. Dr. Arman Kirakossian signed the Agreement
on the Protection and Preservation of Certain Cultural Properties following
a December 31, 2003 request from the Chairman of the U.S. Commission for the
Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, Warren L. Miller. The Commission
was established by Congress in 1985 and has since signed over a dozen
agreements with Central and Eastern European countries. In addition to
protection and preservation of sites of historical significance, such as
temples and cemeteries, as well as archival documents, the agreement calls
for provision of public access to same. The Commission is negotiating
similar agreements with Azerbaijan and Georgia, and is also expected to
begin negotiations with Turkey. These three countries hold cultural heritage
of special importance to the Armenian-American community.
Also last week, Major General Tod M. Bunting, the recently appointed
Adjutant General of the Kansas National Guard, made his first visit to
Armenia to explore areas of cooperation under the Pentagon’s National Guard
State Partnership Program. The program pairs Eastern European countries with
U.S. states’ national guards for civil-military training. While in Armenia,
Bunting met with Defense Ministry and other officials to discuss possible
cooperation in emergency management, health and peacekeeping operations.
Kansas’ Governor Kathleen Sibelius endorsed the partnership with Armenia in
a special proclamation earlier this year.
This week, a delegation of the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)
led by its Chief Executive Officer Paul V. Applegarth was in Armenia to
begin preliminary discussions about this new U.S. assistance program.
Armenia and 15 other countries were found eligible for $1 billion in
additional U.S. aid in Fiscal Year 2004. In the next two months, MCC’s
Armenia counter-part commission, which is led by the Prime Minister and
includes the ministers of Finance, Agriculture and Transport, as well as the
Chairman of the Water Management Committee, is expected to submit Armenia’s
request identifying priority areas. MCC will consider funding proposals
based on their proven impact on economic growth, civic involvement and
effective implementation. (Sources: ;
; ; Armenia This Week 5-7; Embassy of
Armenia in U.S. 5-25; Noyan Tapan 5-25, 28; RFE/RL Armenia Report 5-31; AAA
Yerevan Office 6-3)
ARMENIA LAUNCHES THINK TANK TO EXPLORE SECURITY OPTIONS
Armenia’s Defense Ministry this week established the Dro National Strategic
Research Center tasked with providing policy advice and training on defense
and security issues to the Armenian government and serve as a liaison with
similar institutions abroad. Defense Minister Serge Sargsian designated his
advisor Col. Hayk Kotanjian to run the new Center. Sargsian and other
officials this week attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Center’s
new building. The initial construction costs are funded from Diaspora
sources.
Kotanjian is a veteran Defense Ministry official, who combines a background
in the Soviet military and academia with Western training. He had just
completed a year-long program for senior officers at the U.S. National
Defense University and had previously served as Armenia’s Defense Attaché in
Washington (1998-2001). In a recent interview, Kotanjian underscored the
importance of Armenia’s growing relations with NATO, which he described as
“the only effective military-political organization in the world today.”
A recent poll conducted by the Armenian Center for National and
International Studies (ACNIS) found that a strong majority of local experts
“think that Armenia should join NATO within 10-12 years.” Armenia,
constrained by persistent antagonism from NATO member Turkey, and resultant
alliance with Russia, has yet to make a political commitment on membership.
According to Tevan Poghosian, head of the Armenian Atlantic Association, a
local NGO working to educate the Armenian public about NATO, all three
Caucasus countries have still much to do to reach even the basic NATO
standards. “But I would be happy should Armenia undergo the necessary
reforms, whether or not we eventually join the Alliance,” Poghosian said.
(Sources: Azg 5-22; ACNIS 5-27; Regnum.ru 5-28; Noyan Tapan 5-31; RFE/RL
Armenia Report 5-31)
GEORGIA STEPS UP EFFORTS TO REASSERT TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY
Following the successful re-imposition of state authority in Ajaria, the
Georgian government is moving rapidly to reassert control over other
breakaway and uncontrolled areas, while also accelerating talks on the
withdrawal of Russian forces from the country. Should these goals be
achieved as successfully and peacefully as in Ajaria, they may have a
significant positive effect on Armenia’s economy, which heavily relies on
trade routes through Georgia.
Last month Georgia renewed settlement offers to Abkhazia and South Ossetia,
two Soviet-era autonomies that broke away from Georgian control following
bloody wars in the early 1990s. This week, Georgia sent additional security
forces to South Ossetia, while also taking steps to win over the local
population by distributing humanitarian aid and beginning TV broadcasts in
the Ossetian language.
This week Georgia sent additional forces to the Azeri-populated areas of
Kvemo Kartli province in an effort to clamp down on smuggling there.
Georgian officials also temporarily closed the country’s border with
Azerbaijan as part of the operation.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell this week resumed calls for withdrawal
of Russian bases from Batumi and the Armenian-populated Akhalkalaki. In the
latter case, Georgian officials are reportedly preparing U.S.-funded
assistance programs aiming to reduce the local economy’s reliance on the
military base. Russia has made a general commitment on withdrawal, but is
said to expect U.S. compensation for the move.
A leading regional analyst Elizabeth Fuller suggested this week that Georgia
and Russia are working on a deal that would lead to incorporation of South
Ossetia and Abkhazia into a federated Georgia, return of refugees and
reopening of communications. Should the effort be successful, it would lead
to reopening of the Abkhazia railroad which connects Armenia to Russia and
Europe, and provide Armenia’s economy with a major boost.
At the same time, any armed escalation in Ossetia may be fraught with
sabotage against a key gas pipeline that supplies both Georgia and Armenia,
and one of two major highways linking the Caucasus with Russia. (Sources:
; Armenia This Week 5-7; Eurasia.net 5-19, 21; RFE/RL 5-27, 6-1,
3; U.S. State Dept 6-1; In the National Interest 6-2)
Visit the Armenia This Week archive dating back to 1997 at
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Tennis-Halle Open ATP tournament results
HALLE, Germany, June 7 (Reuters) – First round results from the
$975,300 Halle Open ATP tennis tournament on Monday (prefix number
denotes seeding, + denotes new result):
Kenneth Carlsen (Denmark) beat Michael Berrer (Germany) 3-6 7-6
(7-5) 7-5
Alexander Popp (Germany) beat 7-Andrei Pavel (Romania) 1-6 6-4 6-4
6-Mardy Fish (U.S.) beat David Prinosil (Germany) 6-4 6-2
Sargis Sargsian (Armenia) beat Filippo Volandri (Italy) 2-6 6-2 6-2
Arnaud Clement (France) beat Alexander Waske (Germany) 6-1 6-4
3-Jiri Novak (Czech Republic) beat Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) 6-2 6-2
Marco Chiudinelli (Switzerland) beat Michel Kratochvil (Switzerland)
6-2 6-2
Tommy Haas (Germany) beat 8-Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 6-3 6-4
06/07/04 14:22 ET

Azer Tag, Azerbiajan State Info Agency
June 7 2004
AZERBAIJAN SCIENTIST ATTENDS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
[June 07, 2004, 13:12:31]
International conference on the topic “Revolutions of 1988 and their
consequences” under organizational support of the Council of Europe
has been held in Hungary /Budapest/.
At the Conference with the participation of representatives of COE
member states, the head of English language vocabulary and regional
geography faculty of Azerbaijan State University of Languages,
assistant professor Masmakhanum Gaziyeva, represented Azerbaijan.
By means of heavy arguments, the scientist informed conference
participants on the history of ancient Azerbaijan land – Nagorny
Karabakh, where the Armenians have inhabited only after 1828. Meeting
with the local population, she familiarized them with the history,
culture, customs and traditions of Azerbaijan people.

Azer Tag, Azerbiajan State Info Agency
June 7 2004
INTERVENTION IN RADIO SPACE OF OUR COUNTRY STOPPED
[June 07, 2004, 15:53:49]
Broadcasting of the tele-channels of Iran and Armenia in the border
areas of Azerbaijan is one of the problems causing concern of the
society.
As Minister of Communications and information technologies Ali Abbasov
informed the correspondent of AzerTAj, our country is a member of
the International Telecommunication Association. Members of the said
Association should observe the established legal rules. According to
these rules, television and radio channels of the frontier countries,
depending on relief, can be broadcast in territory of the next state
on distance almost 300 kilometers. However, it should be carried out
by regulation of channels between the countries. The Iranian TV channel
“Seger-2” possesses very powerful transmitting system. Therefore, airs
programs of this channel are possible to look sometimes even in Hovsan,
a settlement of Baku. For solution of the mentioned problem in the
corresponding zone a new transmitter was installed as a result of which
the radius of broadcasting of this channel was considerably reduced.
According to minister, for the full termination of broadcasting were
singed two protocols with the Iranian officials. According to the
protocols, the neighbors should bring corresponding technical changes
to the transmitter of the mentioned channel.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian Troops Violate Cease-fire, Killing An Officer
Baku Today, Azerbaijan
June 7 2004
Armenian troops shot an Azerbaijani army officer to death and wounded a
soldier in southwestern Cocuq Mercanli village area of frontline early
Monday, press office of the ministry of defense said, according to ANS.
The press office identified the killed as Captain Zaur Ismailov, 28,
and the wounded as Ramil Baghirov, 19.
The killed officer had been drafted from Samukh District. According to
the press office, Armenian troops also started firing at Azerbaijan’s
army positions in Qizil Hacili and Mazam villages of northwestern
Qazakh District late Sunday and shootings continued the following
day. Azerbaijani troops retaliated the enemy, the press office added.

National Review Online
June 7 2004
Moscow’s Spring
Ronald Reagan at Moscow State University.
EDITOR’S NOTE: President Ronald Reagan delivered this speech at Moscow
State University on May 31, 1988.
Before I left Washington, I received many heartfelt letters and
telegrams asking me to carry here a simple message, perhaps, but also
some of the most important business of this summit. It is a message
of peace and goodwill and hope for a growing friendship and closeness
between our two peoples.
First, I want to take a little time to talk to you much as I would
to any group of university students in the United States. I want to
talk not just of the realities of today, but of the possibilities
of tomorrow.
You know, one of the first contacts between your country and mine
took place between Russian and American explorers. The Americans were
members of Cook’s last voyage on an expedition searching for an Arctic
passage; on the island of Unalaska, they came upon the Russians,
who took them in, and together, with the native inhabitants, held a
prayer service on the ice.
The explorers of the modern era are the entrepreneurs, men with
vision, with the courage to take risks and faith enough to brave
the unknown. These entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are
responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States.
They are the prime movers of the technological revolution. In fact,
one of the largest personal computer firms in the United States was
started by two college students, no older than you, in the garage
behind their home.
Some people, even in my own country, look at the riot of
experiment that is the free market and see only waste. What of
all the entrepreneurs that fail? Well, many do, particularly the
successful ones. Often several times. And if you ask them the secret
of their success, they’ll tell you it’s all that they learned in their
struggles along the way — yes, it’s what they learned from failing.
Like an athlete in competition, or a scholar in pursuit of the truth,
experience is the greatest teacher.
We are seeing the power of economic freedom spreading around the
world — places such as the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan
have vaulted into the technological era, barely pausing in the
industrial age along the way. Low-tax agricultural policies in the
sub-continent mean that in some years India is now a net exporter of
food. Perhaps most exciting are the winds of change that are blowing
over the People’s republic of China, where one-quarter of the world’s
population is now getting its first taste of economic freedom.
At the same time, the growth of democracy has become one of the
most powerful political movements of our age. In Latin America in
the 1970’s, only a third of the population lived under democratic
government. Today over 90 percent does. In the Philippines, in the
Republic of Korea, free, contested, democratic elections are the
order of the day. Throughout the world, free markets are the model for
growth. Democracy is the standard by which governments are measured.
We Americans make no secret of our belief in freedom. In fact, it’s
something of a national pastime. Every four years the American people
choose a new president, and 1988 is one of those years. At one point
there were 13 major candidates running in the two major parties, not
to mention all the others, including the Socialist and Libertarian
candidates — all trying to get my job.
About 1,000 local television stations, 8,500 radio stations, and
1,700 daily newspapers, each one an independent, private enterprise,
fiercely independent of the government, report on the candidates,
grill them in interviews, and bring them together for debates. In
the end, the people vote — they decide who will be the next president.
But freedom doesn’t begin or end with elections. Go to any American
town, to take just an example, and you’ll see dozens of synagogues and
mosques — and you’ll see families of every conceivable nationality,
worshipping together.
Go into any schoolroom, and there you will see children being taught
the Declaration of Independence, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable rights — among them life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness, that no government can justly deny —
the guarantees in their Constitution for freedom of speech, freedom
of assembly, and freedom of religion.
Go into any courtroom and there will preside an independent judge,
beholden to no government power. There every defendant has the right
to a trial by a jury of his peers, usually 12 men and women — common
citizens, they are the ones, the only ones, who weigh the evidence and
decide on guilt or innocence. In that court, the accused is innocent
until proven guilty, and the word of a policeman, or any official,
has no greater legal standing than the word of the accused.
Go to any university campus, and there you’ll find an open, sometimes
heated discussion of the problems in American society and what can
be done to correct them. Turn on the television, and you’ll see
the legislature conducting the business of government right there
before the camera, debating and voting on the legislation that will
become the law of the land. March in any demonstrations, and there
are many of them — the people’s right of assembly is guaranteed in
the Constitution and protected by the police.
But freedom is more even than this: Freedom is the right to question,
and change the established way of doing things. It is the continuing
revolution of the marketplace. It is the understanding that allows us
to recognize shortcomings and seek solutions. It is the right to put
forth an idea, scoffed at by the experts, and watch it catch fire
among the people. It is the right to stick – to dream – to follow
your dream, or stick to your conscience, even if you’re the only one
in a sea of doubters.
Freedom is the recognition that no single person, no single authority
of government has a monopoly on the truth, but that every individual
life is infinitely precious, that every one of us put on this world
has been put there for a reason and has something to offer.
America is a nation made up of hundreds of nationalities. Our ties to
you are more than ones of good feeling; they’re ties of kinship. In
America, you’ll find Russians, Armenians, Ukrainians, peoples from
Eastern Europe and Central Asia. They come from every part of this
vast continent, from every continent, to live in harmony, seeking a
place where each cultural heritage is respected, each is valued for its
diverse strengths and beauties and the richness it brings to our lives.
Recently, a few individuals and families have been allowed to visit
relatives in the West. We can only hope that it won’t be long before
all are allowed to do so, and Ukrainian-Americans, Baltic-Americans,
Armenian-Americans, can freely visit their homelands, just as this
Irish-American visits his.
Freedom, it has been said, makes people selfish and materialistic,
but Americans are one of the most religious peoples on Earth. Because
they know that liberty, just as life itself, is not earned, but a
gift from God, they seek to share that gift with the world. “Reason
and experience,” said George Washington in his farewell address,
“both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in
exclusion of religious principle. And it is substantially true,
that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.”
Democracy is less a system of government than it is a system to keep
government limited, unintrusive: A system of constraints on power to
keep politics and government secondary to the important things in life,
the true sources of value found only in family and faith.
I have often said, nations do not distrust each other because they
are armed; they are armed because they distrust each other. If this
globe is to live in peace and prosper, if it is to embrace all the
possibilities of the technological revolution, then nations must
renounce, once and for all, the right to an expansionist foreign
policy. Peace between nations must be an enduring goal — not a
tactical stage in a continuing conflict.
I’ve been told that there’s a popular song in your country —
perhaps you know it — whose evocative refrain asks the question,
“Do the Russians want a war?” In answer it says, “Go ask that silence
lingering in the air, above the birch and poplar there; beneath those
trees the soldiers lie. Go ask my mother, ask my wife; then you will
have to ask no more, ‘Do the Russians want a war?'”
But what of your one-time allies? What of those who embraced you on
the Elbe? What if we were to ask the watery graves of the Pacific,
or the European battlefields where America’s fallen were buried
far from home? What if we were to ask their mothers, sisters, and
sons, do Americans want war? Ask us, too, and you’ll find the same
answer, the same longing in every heart. People do not make wars,
governments do — and no mother would ever willingly sacrifice her
sons for territorial gain, for economic advantage, for ideology. A
people free to choose will always choose peace.
Americans seek always to make friends of old antagonists. After
a colonial revolution with Britain we have cemented for all ages
the ties of kinship between our nations. After a terrible civil war
between North and South, we healed our wounds and found true unity
as a nation. We fought two world wars in my lifetime against Germany
and one with Japan, but now the Federal Republic of Germany and Japan
are two of our closest allies and friends.
Some people point to the trade disputes between us as a sign of
strain, but they’re the frictions of all families, and the family of
free nations is a big and vital and sometimes boisterous one. I can
tell you that nothing would please my heart more than in my lifetime
to see American and Soviet diplomats grappling with the problem of
trade disputes between America and a growing, exuberant, exporting
Soviet Union that had opened up to economic freedom and growth.
Is this just a dream? Perhaps. But it is a dream that is our
responsibility to have come true.
Your generation is living in one of the most exciting, hopeful times
in Soviet history. It is a time when the first breath of freedom stirs
the air and the heart beats to the accelerated rhythm of hope, when the
accumulated spiritual energies of a long silence yearn to break free.
We do not know what the conclusion of this journey will be, but
we’re hopeful that the promise of reform will be fulfilled. In this
Moscow spring, this May 1988, we may be allowed that hope — that
freedom, like the fresh green sapling planted over Tolstoy’s grave,
will blossom forth at least in the rich fertile soil of your people
and culture. We may be allowed to hope that the marvelous sound of
a new openness will keep rising through, ringing through, leading to
a new world of reconciliation, friendship, and peace.
Thank you all very much and da blagoslovit vas gospod! God bless you.

PACE Official Accused Of Taking Armenian ‘Bribe’
By Hrach Melkumian 08/06/2004 00:28
Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep.
June 7 2004
A senior official from the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly
(PACE) monitoring the fulfillment of Armenia’s membership commitments
was accused by the Armenian opposition on Monday of being effectively
bribed by the authorities during a visit to Yerevan last week.
Poland’s Jerzy Jaskiernia, one of the two Armenia rapporteurs of the
PACE’s Monitoring Committee, arrived for a high-profile presentation of
the Armenian version of his book dedicated to the 45-nation assembly.
Its translation and publication was funded by the leadership of
the Armenian parliament, with speaker Artur Baghdasarian personally
attending the presentation.
The book had previously appeared only in the Polish and English
languages. Speaking to journalists at the event, both Baghdasarian
and Jaskiernia denied any political motives behind the publication.
The latter argued in particular that the book’s subject is irrelevant
to Armenian politics.
However, opposition leaders claim that Baghdasarian’s gesture was
aimed at influencing the content of a crucial report which Jaskiernia
and the other rapporteur, Rene Andre of France, will submit to the
PACE ahead of its summer session later this month. The two men are
to inform the Strasbourg lawmakers whether the Armenian authorities
have implemented the recommendations of their recent resolution on
the political crisis in Armenia.
“I regard it as a bribe. I think that there are corrupt people in
the Council of Europe and any other international structure,” Aram
Sarkisian of the opposition Artarutyun (Justice) alliance charged.
“That person was given a present in the expectation of drawing up
a corresponding document. They could have done it in the autumn,
after the drafting of the document,” Sarkisian added.
The PACE resolution denounced the Armenian government’s heavy-handed
response to the opposition campaign for President Robert Kocharian’s
resignation, saying that it is “contrary to the letter and the
spirit” of its earlier recommendations to Yerevan. It warned that the
authorities must release all opposition detainees, scrap “unjustified
restrictions” on anti-Kocharian demonstrations, investigate their
“human rights abuses” or face the possibility of sanctions next
September.
The opposition insists that the authorities have failed to comply with
the resolution by continuing to arrest and imprison its activists
and supporters. Armenian officials, for their part, have disagreed
with the PACE criticism and say they are determined to prove the
opposite. Jaskiernia and Andre are due in Yerevan on Friday on a
fact-finding mission which will likely determine the content of
their report.
The Polish lawmaker personally presented the draft resolution during
a debate in Strasbourg on April 28. The initial version of the
document contained language discouraging the Armenian opposition from
challenging President Robert Kocharian’s disputed 2003 reelection
with street protests. But that was dropped after strong objections
voiced by some PACE members.
Nonetheless, Jaskiernia and the Monitoring Committee pushed through
the assembly a passage saying that serious irregularities “did not
decisively change the outcome of the elections nor invalidate their
final results.” They also blocked opposition attempts to secure a
PACE endorsement of a “referendum of confidence” in Kocharian.

ARMENIA’S FOREIGN MILITARY POLICY BASED ON COMPLEMENTARITY, SENIOR OFFICER SAYS
ArmenPress
June 7 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS: A senior army officer told reporters last
weekend that the army is fully prepared to accept the first conscripts,
granted the right to alternative military service. Lieutenant Colonel
Sedrak Sedrakian, the chief of the legal department at the defense
ministry, said all relevant infrastructures will be ready on July 1.
He said the major task faced now by the defense ministry is to ensure
a full application of the Law on Alternative Military Service. He
said the locations where the alternative conscripts will serve, the
design of their special uniforms will be submitted soon to government’s
approval. The army officer said everything must be done to organize
alternative military service in a way that not violate the conscripts’
rights concurrently avoiding jeopardizing the national security of
the country.
Sedrakian also said some 120 million Drams were collected from
Armenian citizens who dodged mandatory military service escaping
from Armenia in early nineties. Under the law, that came into effect
on March 1, such citizens who have reached the age of 27 can avoid
criminal responsibility after coming back to Armenia by paying around
$3,500. He said a special inter-agency commission founded to consider
such application can consider some 30 applications a day
In a related development, Major-General Mikael Melkonian, the head of
a defense ministry department for external relations and cooperation,
reiterated that Armenia’s foreign military policy is based on what
is known as “complementarity.” Speaking at special discussions at the
American University of Armenia on the existing problems in the Armenian
armed forces, the General said the major points of Armenian military
policy is to keep the military and strategic balance, constructive
cooperation will all interested forces and building the security
environment in the region.
He pointed to Armenia’s allied partnership with Russia and its
membership to the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which he
said is the main security guarantee of Armenia and also to Armenia’s
close cooperation with NATO within the frameworks of the latter’s
Partnership for Peace program, underlying the presence of an Armenian
peace-keeping platoon in Kosovo. “Unlike some years ago when Armenia’s
participation in Partnership for Peace program was limited to attending
several training courses, now we are moving towards close practical
exercises,” he said.

THE CENTRAL BANK OF ARMENIA AND UNDP JOIN EFFORTS TO DEVELOP
ArmenPress
June 7 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS: The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) and
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched the first
e-payment system in Armenia. Mr. Tigran Sargsyan, Chairman of the
CBA and Ms. Lise Grande, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident
Representative, presented the initiative to the mass media and the
first online payment was made by plastic card.
The e-payment system is a joint initiative of the Armenian Card
(ArCa) Unified Payment System and UNDP. Through the system, online
payments for public utilities, including telephone, electricity, gas,
and water can be made using ArCa cards. The system can also be used to
buy top-ups for the ArmenTel mobile prepaid system and Arminco Internet
services. Plans are also underway to expand the system to allow ArCa
cardholders to shop online and benefit from other paid services.
The online payment system is based on the highest standards of
transaction security and user convenience. The long-term goal of the
system is to expand Armenia’s infrastructure for non-cash transactions
and create a reliable and user-friendly environment for e-Commerce.
In her comments, Ms. Lise Grande, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP
Resident Representative, noted: “It’s important to see this online
payment system as an important step in developing an information
society in Armenia. Modern Information and Communication Technologies
are essential for creating a modern economy in Armenia and ensuring
equal access to information for all citizens.”
Mr. Tigran Sargsyan, Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia,
reiterated the “significance of the e-payment system for the further
development of the banking system in Armenia, particularly the
establishment of e-banking.”
The Armenian Card was established by the CBA and ten commercial banks
in March 2000 with the aim of developing a new unified payment system
in Armenia. Today, 13 commercial banks are part of the ArCa system,
and more than 46,000 plastic cards of this type are in circulation.

PRESIDENT KOCHARIAN HAS WORKING MEETINGS
ArmenPress
June 7 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS: Armenian president Robert Kocharian had a
working meeting today with the chairman of the State Water Committee
Andranik Andreasian. Kocharian’s press office said the committee
chairman introduced the president to the ongoing reforms of the
sector and the process of implementation of projects in cooperation
with international organizations.
During another working meeting the president discussed today the
shortcomings and problems reported during special examinations,
set for secondary school graduates, claiming for gold medals, equal
to finishing school with honors. A presidential oversight service
was watching the examinations as observers. Kocharian was quoted by
the press office as saying that there is a range of related issues
that cannot be ignored, especially that in a month time entrance
examinations to state-run universities are set to start.
“All reported shortcomings should be completely eliminated during the
university entrance examinations,” Kocharian was quoted as saying. He
said schools lack proper supervision, and a practice is formed that
disgraces the idea of gold medals. The president said graduation from
secondary school with honors has become a kind of an end in itself
with a prospect of easing the entrance examination to university and
‘this motive” has deformed a lot of things at schools. The president
said his conclusion was based on observations, reported to him by
oversight service.
Vahram Barseghian, the head of the oversight chamber, presented the
facts, shortcomings and other problems of concern, which the service
has identified. He said many of graduates, claiming for gold medals,
failed to confirm their high knowledge of separate school subjects
and also a great number failed to participate in the examinations,
which he said was “an evidence that school principals violate the
principles of choosing graduates, claiming of gold medals.”
Kocharian has instructed the government to consider the issue of
granting graduates with honors privileges during university entrance
examinations.