VARTAN OSKANIAN AND ANTONIO GUTERRES DISCUSS RA GOVERNMENT’S STATE PROGRAMS DEDICATED TO REFUGEES’ PROBLEMS
Noyan Tapan
Aug 22 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, NOYAN TAPAN. RA Foreign Minister V.Oskanian
received on August 21 the delegation headed by Antonio Guterres,
UN High Commissioner for Refugees. According to the information
submitted to Noyan Tapan by the RA Foreign Ministry’s Press and
Information Department, the interlocutors discussed the state programs
being implemented by the RA Government in direction of refugees’
issues. The parties were of the same opinion in their positive
estimation concerning the effective cooperation between the UN Refugees
Office in Armenia and the RA authorities. Opinions were exchanged
on problems concerning the Armenian refugees’ integration into the
society, legal acts regulating their life conditions, concerning their
citizenship. The sides also spoke about issues connected with refugees
in the region, particularly, about problems arisen in consequence
of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Minister Oskanian presented within
this context the viewpoints of the Armenian side concerning the NKR
conflict settlement, recent developments of the negotiation process.

“DAYS OF ARMENIAN CULTURE” TO TAKE PLACE IN KUBAN
Noyan Tapan
Aug 22 2006
TUAPSE, AUGUST 22, NOYAN TAPAN. “Days of Armenian Culture” will take
place in Kuban on August 26 and 27, within the framework of the “Year
of Armenia in Russia.” According to the “Yerkramas” (country) newspaper
of Armenians of Russia, the celebration will open on August 26 in the
village of Tenginka, the region of Tuapse, and will continue on the
next day in the House of Culture of the city of Tuapse. Armenian
amateur groups of folk and estrada music and performers of the
Krasnodar region will participate in the event organized by the
“Hamshen” Armenian cultural-educational union of the city of Tuapse.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MANY OF ENTRANTS OF SPECIAL CATEGORIES HAVE NO NECESSARY POINTS FOR ENTERING HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION THIS YEAR
Noyan Tapan
Aug 22 2006
YEREVANM AUGUST 22, NOYAN TAPAN. Children of died freedom-fighters,
ones lost both parents and invalid children whose education payment
is covered on the account of the state budget, may enter this year
institutions of higher education only in the case if they have marks
necessary for studying at the paid system. But, as Levon Mkrtchian,
the RA Minister of Education and Science mentioned at the August
22 press conference, many of them have low points. In the previous
years entrants of those categories were only to get positive marks
for entering institutions of higher education. Accepting that
it’s a violation of the law. however, the Minister proposed to
the Republican Entrance Commission to take those entrants to the
institutions of higher education by the order functioned during
the previous years. L.Mkrtchian also informed that the Ministry will
present in autumn to the National Assembly the draft law on making
amendments to the acting law. According to the draft, the former
order will be re-established.

INTRODUCTION OF JOINT SYSTEM OF SCHOOL-LEAVING EXAMS AND ENTRANCE EXAMS OF INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION MAY BE POSTPONED
Noyan Tapan
Aug 22 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, NOYAN TAPAN. It is envisaged to introduce in
Armenia in coming years a joint system of graduation exams of secondary
education and entrance exams of higher educational institutions:
the system will be introduced from 2007 with one subject: “Armenian
Language and Literature.” As Levon Mkrtchian, the RA Minister of
Education and Science stated at the August 22 press conference,
the existing system of centralized exams for entering institutions
of higher education “exhausted itself” and there is a necessity of
introducing a new system. The Minister informed that the new system
will be experimented till December in few schools of Yerevan and one
of the marzes.
L.Mkrtchian mentioned that if it is found out during the
experiment that “the school does not imagine or is not ready for
introduction of the new system, it would not be awful to put off its
introduction.” According to the Minister’s words, the test exams
consisting of about 100 tasks proposed by the new system give the
child a right of being mistaken. So, the entrant loses one point only
in the case if he makes the same mistake, for example, 7 times.

DRAFT LAW ON TOTAL STOCK-TAKING OF AGRICULTURE DEVELOPED
Noyan Tapan
Aug 22 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA National Statistical Service
and the RA Ministry of Agriculture have jointly developed the draft
law on total stock-taking of agriculture, Head of the RA National
Statistical Service Stepan Mnatsakanian stated at the August 22
press conference. In response to a question of NT correspondent,
he said the draft law was developed with the assistance of the
International Food Organization in line with a number of similar laws
of EU countries. According to S. Mnatsakanian, the draft law on total
stock-taking of agriculture is now at the stage of interdepartmental
discussion and will be submitted to the RA government by late
2006. According to S. Mnatsakanian, there are 339 thousand farms in
Armenia. The stock-taking of agricultural capacities was, for the
first and last time, done in 1920.

BIDS FOR PROJECTS WORTH 1.1 BILLION DRAMS SUMITTED FOR REALIZATION OF YEREVAN’S MASTER PLAN IN 2007
Noyan Tapan
Aug 22 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, NOYAN TAPAN. Implementation of projects of 570 mln
drams (about 1 mln 425 thousand USD) is envisaged for the realization
of Yerevan’s master plan this year. Chief Architect of Yerevan, Head of
the Architecture and Land Control Department of Yerevan Mayor’s Office
Samvel Danielian stated this at the Augsust 21 press conference. He
attached special importance to the implementation of the project on the
zoning of the Kentron community, during which the community yards will
be reconstructed and improved. According to S. Danielian, out of the
tenders on implementation of all projects, only the tender for external
design of the city was not held because no bids had been submitted. He
said that the ongoing improvement of some Yerevan streets will be
completed within the next few months. In his words, they received
the proposal for regulation of the complex Koryun-Heratsi-Charents
transport nodal point, which envisages joining Heratsi Street with
Khanjian Street by using the Getar River’s bed. According to the
chief architect, bids for projects worth about 1 bln 117 mln drams
have been submitted for the realization of Yerevan’s master plan in
2007. It is envisaged to develop the project on zoning of Ajapniak,
Davitashen, Arabkir and Nork-Marash communities next year. In his
words, at present these are communities of interest to land developers.

ACCORDING TO RA NSS CALCULATIONS, MONTHLY COST OF FOOD BASKET MAKES 19,319 DRAMS IN ARMENIA IN SECOND QUARTER OF 2006
Noyan Tapan
Aug 22 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, NOYAN TAPAN. The monthly cost of the food
basket calculated by the RA National Statistical Service (NSS)
made 19,319 drams (about 44 USD) in the second quarter of 2006,
while the monthly cost of the minumum consumer basket – 29,944.5
drams. Head of the RA NSS Stepan Mnatsakanian said this at the
August 22 press conference. According to him, the monthly cost of
the food basket for the same period calculated by the RA Ministry
of Health made 21,389.7 drams, and the monthly cost of the minimum
consumer basket – 33,154.1 drams. It was noted that the RA NSS has
calculated consumer baskets based on surveys of 6,816 households
(that includes 470 comodity-service representatives) done with
the assistance of the World Bank in the period from April 1,
2004, to March 31, 2005. Prior to that, the consumer basket was
calculated based on surveys of 4.5 thousand households, including
400 commodity-service representatives. S. Mnatsakanian said that as
a result of the surveys in 2004-2005, Armenia transferred to a new
methodology of poverty calculation – that of the World Bank. 2005’s
poverty indices of Armenia will be published by late 2006. In his
words, in developed countries too, the incomes and expenditures of
households are calculated for a year. To recap, in 2004, poverty in
Armenia was reduced by 38.3% compared with 1998-1999 and made 34.6%
(about 1 mln people), extreme poverty was reduced by 70% and made 6.4%
(about 200 thousand people). The degree of disproportion in income
distribution or consumption among various strata of the population
was determined by the Gini coefficient (the greater this coefficient,
the more disproportionate the distribution or consumption is). Thus,
in terms of incomes, in 2004 the Gini coefficient made 0.395 (against
0.597 in 1998-1999), and by consumption – 0.26 (against 0.301 in
1998-1999). In 2004, it was the highest in Armenia among European
and Central Asian countries.

AZERBAIJANI MEDIA ASCRIBES LIES TO THE UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES
By Aghavni Harutyunian
AZG Armenian Daily
23/08/2006
Antonio Gutierrez: I was careful enough not to use the word ‘Armenia’
at the press conference
Armenian foreign minister Vartan Oskanian welcomed Antonio Gutierrez,
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, at the Ministry on August 21,
expressing satisfaction with the attention that the UN pays to refugee
issues. In Mr. Gutierrez’s words, this was his first visit to the
South Caucasus as a UN High Commissioner for Refugees, also saying
that he is satisfied with the cooperation with the Armenian government.
Speaking about the recent legislative initiative directed to refugee
issues, Mr. Gutierrez thanked the Armenian government for its attitude
towards Armenian and non-Armenian refugees during the Lebanese war. As
to Nagorno Karabakh conflict and the adjacent refugee issue, the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees underscored that the office he heads
is a non-political organization and added that once the conflict
is regulated the refugees can return to their homes. “The return
of refugees to this complicated region will be a positive element,”
he said.
Antonio Gutierrez started his South Caucasian journey from
Azerbaijan. According to Azerbaijani media, Mr. Gutierrez voiced
a few interesting views there. In Particular, Azerbaijani online
editions report that the UN representative was displeased with the
statistics of providing citizenship to refugees in Armenia, saying
that the numbers are low. Besides, Mr. Gutierrez was quoted as saying
that Azerbaijan is the first country with the number of refugees and
it is doing everything for refugees. At the Yerevan press conference
on August 21, Mr. Gutierrez stated that he did not say anything
like that. Firstly, Azerbaijan is not on the first place with the
number of refugees it has, Secondly, certain things are being done
for refugees in Azerbaijan but there are still refugee camps with
rather bad conditions just the way it is in Armenia, Mr. Gutierrez
said. As to alleged dissatisfaction with the Armenian government,
Antonio Gutierrez stated that he never said anything like that so
there is need for comments. “I was careful enough not to use the word
‘Armenia’ at the press conference [in Baku – A. H.].” At any rate
the UN High Representative for Refugee said that the best tool for
protecting the refugees is to grant them citizenship and Armenia has
chosen its own path.
Answering a question about returning the belongings of Armenian
refugees, Mr. Gutierrez said that this issue can be discussed after
the regulation and resettlement of the refugees.

AMB. EVANS RELUCTANT TO COMMENT ON CONGRESS’S WORK
AZG Armenian Daily
23/08/2006
On September 7, the US Senate will put for vote the candidacy of
Richard Hoagland as a outgoing substitute for outgoing US ambassador
to Armenia John Evans.
Asked yesterday by a journalist why the new appointment by the Congress
is being delayed, Amb. Evans said abruptly: “I have no comments on
the work of the Congress.” The ambassador also said that he will
leave Armenia in mid-September.

ENTRANCE EXAMINATIONS ANALYZED AS PER REGIONS
Panorama.am
14:42 22/08/06
Minister of Education and Science, Levon Lazarian, summed up today
the results of the entrance examinations at the higher educational
institutes.
“These examinations are tests for measuring the progress of education
in different regions,” Lazarian said. Ruben Topchyan, calculation
center of the republican entrance examination committee, presented
the figures as per regions. Topchyan said Lory student have high
marks in Chemistry, Siunik have advanced in Geography, Aragatsotn
student have bad marks in English whereas Vayots Zor applicants
are weak in all subjects. Minister Lazarian said they are going
to coordinate education in the regions according to the figures of
examinations.