NOT ONLY ARMENIANS COME TO ARMENIA FROM LEBANON
Lragir.am
26 July 06
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Agency of
Migration of the Ministry of Territorial Management, over 550
Armenians have already arrived in Yerevan. 54 Armenians arrived
from Israel. On July 27 another 120 people will be evacuated. They
are mostly citizens of Armenia, however, according to the agency
of migration, foreigners move to Armenia as well, 51 have already
applied for temporary refuge. 49 percent are from Lebanon, 2 are from
Israel. The head of the agency of migration, they will be granted a
status and certificates.

TWO-DIGIT ECONOMIC GROWTH CONTINUES
Lragir.am
26 July 06
The minister of trade and economic development Karen Chshmarityan
summed up the economic policy of Armenia and the main tendencies of
development on July 26, in some cases for the first quarter of 2006,
in other cases for the first half. He did not give a surprise. As
in the past several years, our tiger bounces on in two-digit and
three-digit indices.
Armenia had a 10 percent economic growth in the first quarter but
Karen Chshmarityan is hopeful that by the end of the year the economic
growth will go above 10 percent, because in the second half of this
year new companies will be operated, the old companies will be spurred,
such as RUSAL, Nairit, etc. The minister declined to say how many jobs
there are in Armenia, but he noted that there is a shortage of labor,
especially with vocational education and workers. This gap cannot be
filled in because of low salaries, ineffective forms of management,
money transfers from abroad.
According to Karen Chshmarityan, in the first half of 2006 the
income of the population grew by 117.4 percent, expenditure by
119.2 percent. Karen Chshmariyan explains non-desirable realities
by desirable realities. For instance, imports grew by 130.6 percent,
exports grew by only 107.6 percent. According to Karen Chshmarityan,
the reason is the revaluation of the dram and the dominance of quality
goods in imports. The revaluation of the dram, which has turned into a
disaster for out republic living on foreign money transfers will also
produce a positive result, the minister believes. Not now, of course,
but for “investments and industries the revaluation of the dram is
positive”. As for investments, the minister of economic development
believes that there will be investments. In the first quarter of 2006
the amount of imported appliances, equipment grew. “Two companies
imported appliances for 70 million euros.”
Karen Chshmarityan announces that the scientific industrial complex
grew by 189.4 percent, because “innovative activities are stimulated,
science-based economy is becoming a public demand.” However, the
minister does not say why brain drain continues. Tourism also grew
in Armenia. It should be noted that 36.3 percent of tourists arrive
in Armenia on business, and only 22.1 percent come to Armenia for a
holiday. Tourism grew by 115.3 percent. And generally, the growth of
almost all the branches are three-digit. The least growth was in the
sphere of precious stones – 80 percent.

ARMENIA WILL RESPOND TO LEBANON’S CALL
Lragir.am
26 July 06
The press service of the government informs that the prime minister
instructed to hold a consultation on July 26 to discuss rendering
humanitarian aid to Lebanon. The consultation was conducted by Hovik
Abrahamyan, the minister of territorial management. It was mentioned
that Lebanon asked the countries of the world to provide aid, food,
medicine, tents, fire extinguishers and financial donations. During
the discussion, considering the existing possibilities, it was decided
to provide medicine, equipment and tents. After having the approval of
the prime minister, an instruction was given to the Ministry of Finance
and Economy to work out a draft decision, which will be discussed in
the meeting of the government on July 27. It was mentioned that after
the adoption of the decision the aid will be sent by a plane to Aleppo.

INVESTIGATION OF CRASH OF A320 IS OVER
Lragir.am
26 July 06
On July 26 the General Department of Civil Aviation under the Armenian
government received the official release of the Interstate Aviation
Committee on the findings of the investigation into the crash of A320.
The records of the black boxes and ground services were deciphered
and studied. The simulation model of the flight dynamics of A320 was
worked out to find out the conditions and circumstances of the flight.
As it had been reported, 6 km from the coast the plane plunged into
the Black Sea and sunk. Everyone on board died, including 8 members
of the crew and 105 passengers.
During the investigation it became known that the dispatcher instructed
the pilot to stop the landing because of the impermissibly low line
of clouds and at a height of 340 m the crew stopped the landing and
turned the plane right gaining height.
The captain of the crew switched off the automatic pilot and after a
short period of gaining height he started landing. With inadequate
actions of the captain of the crew the second pilot could not keep
the landing parameters under control. The further actions of the
crew were not coordinated and were insufficient to prevent the plane
from falling.
The engine and systems of the plane did not fail, the plane responded
to the instructions of both the autopilot and the crew. The fuel of
the plane was sufficient to end the flight.

NEW PROPOSAL ON NEGOTIATIONS TO ROBERT KOCHARYAN
Lragir.am
26 July 06
A new proposal on the talks over the Karabakh conflict was extended to
the president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan. The author of the proposal
is the civil society network Refugees and the International Law. The
network circulated an open letter to the president of Armenia on July
26, proposing to include the issue of 500 thousand Armenian refugees
on the agenda of the talks over the Karabakh issue.
“A settlement which does not include protection of rights of hundreds
of thousands of our compatriots cannot be sufficient and acceptable.
The problems of the Armenian refugees are divided into three groups:
1. Return of the homeland;
2. Recovery of material and moral damage caused during displacement
from Soviet Azerbaijan and Nakhidjevan;
3. Recovery of indirect damage caused during displacement from Soviet
Azerbaijan and Nakhidjevan,” runs the open letter addressed to Robert
Kocharyan.
The civil network society Refugees and the International Law mentions
that it applied to the U.S. Embassy to Armenia proposing to organize
a meeting with the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group during his
visit to Yerevan in late July. During this meeting the message to
the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs will be extended to Mathew Bryza,
and the problems of Armenian refugees will be discussed.

SECURITY EXERCISES TO BE HELD AT THE ARMENIAN ATOMIC POWER PLANT ON JULY 25
Yerevan, July 25. ArmInfo. Security exercises on emergency prevention
at the Atomic Power Plant will be held in Yerevan and Armavir region
on July 26-27. The head of the information center of the Emergency
Department Nikolay Grigorian aims to enhance the prevention and
the populations’ protection from atomic and radiation emergencies.
Representatives of 13 ministries and departments will take part in
the exercises.

A WEEK OF ARMENIAN FILMS TO BE HELD IN SAO-PAOLO, BRAZIL
Yerevan, July 25. ArmInfo. On September 19-24, during celebrations
dedicated to the 15-th anniversary of the independence of the Republic
of Armenia, a week of Armenian films will be held at the Cultural
Complex of Sao-Paolo, Brazil.
The press center of the Armenian Foreign Ministry films by Sergey
Parajanov, Harutiun Khachatrian, Vigen Chaldranian, Albert Mkrtchian
and Ruben Kochar will be demonstrated to the Brazilian public. Films
from the Armenian diaspora will be represented by the works of Atom
Egoyan, Henry Vernoy and Robert Keshishian.
According to information received the event will be organized by
the Foreign Ministry of Armenia, Culture Ministry of Armenia and the
Culture Department of Sao-Paolo City Administration.
From: Baghdasarian

FILM ON SEA EXPEDITION OF “CILICIA” VESSEL SHIP TO BE SHOWN IN MOSCOW
Moscow, July 25. ArmInfo. The presentation of “Travel in Seven Seas”
film dedicated to the sea expedition of “Cilicia” vessel ship will
be shown on August 1, 2006, within the framework of Armenia’s year
in Russia, in Moscow based “Rolland” movie-theatre.
“Yerkramas” newspaper informed that the ship is an exact copy of the
Armenian Middle Age ships belonging to the Armenian Cilicia Kingdom.
The vessel ship has already arrived from the Great Britain to St.
Petersbourg to continue its voyage down the Russian rivers.

TIGRAN TOROSIAN:AZERBAIJAN HAS MADE SURE THAT END OF THE WAR ISN’T
ALWAYS CONDITIONED BY THE QUANTITY OF ARMS OR MONEY
Yerevan, July 25. ArmInfo. Azerbaijan had many opportunities to
make sure that the end of the war isn’t always conditioned by the
quantity of arms or money. Tigran Torosian, Speaker of RA National
Assembly, said this at today’s meeting with the representatives of
the Armenian youth.
He emphasized that in 90-ies, in the course of the military actions
in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone, Azerbaijan was stronger thanks
to its military capacity, but only the people who fought a war for
the sake of their homeland took the victory. He added that since the
end of 20th the political situation is quite changed and there are
international game rules that one should take into account. As for the
militant statements of Azerbaijan, Torosian conditioned them by the
lack of Baku’s will to recognize the independence of NKR. “But Baku
realizes that there are no preconditions or prospects for resumption
of the war,” he emphasized. He also focused the attention to the fact
that the international community more frequently gives preference to
the people’s right for self-determination. He underscored that NKR
people achieved their independence in accordance with the international
law and the legislation of USSR.

UNSEEN WORKING MATERIALS OF SERGEY PARAJANOV’S “COLOUR OF
POMEGRANATS” FILM SHOWN TO LARGE CIRCLE OF ART LOVERS
Yerevan, July 25. ArmInfo. The unseen working materials of Sergey
Parajanov’s “The Colour of Pomegranates” were shown to a large number
of art lovers, today. “The manuscripts do not burn. The same thing
concerns the films,” Levon Grigorian, film director, author of the
film, said this at today’s film session at the State Picture Gallery
of Armenia. The new film comprises of the unseen working materials
of Parajanov’s film that excluded by the Soviet censors.
The famous film by Parajanov had quite a tragic fate. The script to
the film was approved in 1966, but later, the CC of the Communist party
accused Parajanov of the existence of many mystical and erotic scenes
in the film. The edited version of film was given the IV category,
which meant that the film crew were totally deprived of their
emoluments. The film was renamed from “Sayat Nova” into “The Coulor
of Pomegranates” and was issued in five copies. The original version
of the film existed for only 20 days, while the frames excluded by
the censors were considered lost till 1995. Only then L.Grigorian
learnt that a part of the working materials on the film is kept in
Armenia. “This is a genuine miracle! Till now I don’t know who I
shall be grateful to for that,” Grigorian said, explaining that he
found the lost frames quite accidentally.
The film by Girgorian lasts 26 minutes and consists of 6 stories
based on the original script by Parajanov. After the film session.
Grigorian said that he is currently working on the next film based
on the same materials.