ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN TRADE TURNOVER GROWING
ArmRadio.am
16.08.2006 19:20
The Russian and Armenian presidents agreed that trade between the two
countries is growing and expressed their hope for good prospects in
bilateral relations, Interfax Russian news agency reported.
“Trade turnover is growing, and I am sure there are good prospects
for this grow and a desire of the business community to develop
relations of partnership,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said
at a meeting with Armenian President Robert Kocharian in the run-up
to the opening of an informal Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC)
summit in Sochi on Tuesday.
The Armenian president also pointed to growth in mutual trade turnover,
but emphasized that “it would be difficult to achieve good quality
without resolving the problems of communication and transportation.”
Kocharian proposed that the two countries focus on the “investment
component” and mentioned a project in which the Russian aluminum giant
Rusal was involved and which had been announced in Sochi two years ago.
The presidents also expressed their willingness to discuss difficult
problems facing Armenia. “As for the well-known complex problems in
the region, I believe we will have time to talk about them as well,”
Putin said.

PARUYR HAYRIKIAN: THERE IS NO POLITICAL FIELD IN ARMENIA, AND ITS CREATION SHOULD BECOME A SUPERTASK OF POLITICAL FORCES
Noyan Tapan
Aug 16 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, NOYAN TAPAN. Prior to any election, parties
have party-related notions, however, it becomes obvious on the
eve of these elections that there are also concerns above narrow
party interests. Chairman of the National Self-Determination Union
Paruyr Hayrikian expressed this opinion during the round table “The
Role of Ideological Parties in the 2007 Parliamentary Elections”
on August 16. According to him, today “non-ideological groups” are
penetrating the field of “ideological parties”, and these groups become
criminal groupings in the political field. In the speaker’s opinion,
the ideological parties should be able to put aside their personal
political considerations and to struggle jointly. According to him,
at the upcoming parliamentary elections, the political parties’ task
should be not securing certain seats for themselves but “gaining many
seats with the others as a counterbalance to criminal elements with
their criminal mentality.” “There is no political field in Armenia,
and its creation should become a supertask of all political forces,”
P. Hayrikian said. In the opinion of Stepan Zakarian, member of the
People’s Party of Armenia, “the Constitution that did not receive the
people’s votes but was “adopted” is dictating new rules today.” He
noted that the 2007 parliamentary elections are more important than
the previous ones, as under the Constitution currently in force, new
powers are given to the prime minister and the National Assembly. In
his words, “if previously the President was the master of everything
and there was no need for new parties”, now the sitaition has changed,
which is evident from the fact that new parties are being formed. Mher
Shahgaldian, member of Orinats Yerkir Party, in his turn said that
during parliamentary elections, struggle should be conducted around
particular ideas and programs rather than in the interests of political
and nonpolitical groups.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MEETING OF UP TO 21-YEAR FOOTBALL PLAYERS’ TEAMS OF BOSNIA AND ARMENIA TO BE HELD ON AUGUST 16
Noyan Tapan
Aug 16 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, NOYAN TAPAN. Meetings of group tournaments of 2007
football youth championship of Europe are held on August 16. The up
to 21 year players’ team of Armenia will meet in the city of Zenitsa,
Bosnia, with the combined team of that country. 18 football players
left for the place of championship headed by senior trainer Samvel
Petrosian. 11 players play in “Pyunik”, 5 in “Banants” and 2 ones,
Edgar Manucharian and Artashes Baghdasarian, are legionaries. The
meeting will start at 20:00 Yerevan time. The youth team of Armenia

INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE PERSUADES TO KEEP SPORTS BASES CLEAN
Noyan Tapan
Aug 16 2006
TSAGHKADZOR, AUGUST 16, NOYAN TAPAN. Under the patronage of
the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the National Olympic
Committee of Armenia (NOCA) organized a regular event by the “Sport
and Environment” program. Students of the Yerevan State Sports
College on Olympic Shift made works of cleaning in the territory
of the Tsaghkadzor branch and in the 10-km part of the adjacent
forest. The goal was to keep the nature without dust and durt as
it is pleasant to train and have active rest in ecologically clean
sports bases and health zones. Dozens of sportsmen participated in
the event held on August 13, and the best ones were awarded prizes
and NOCA certificates. The winner was Rafael Amirian, a member of
acrobatics team of Armenia, sports master.

ENTRANTS OF PHILOLOGICAL DEPARTMENTS GET IN GENERAL LOW POINTS ON “ARMENIAN HISTORY”
Noyan Tapan
Aug 16 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, NOYAN TAPAN. Entrance exams of institutions of
higher education finished on August 16. More than 12400 entrants
were, in total, to participate in them. As Lilit Galstian, the
Republican Entrance Commission Responsible for Press informed the
Noyan Tapan correspondent, the exams went on in a calm atmosphere,
no extreme incident was fixed. It, according to him, is provided by
the circumstance that all, including entrants and parents, adapted
to exams having been held in the same order for more than 10 years.
According to L.Galstian, entrance commissions kept the same standards
and principles of estimation, so “no flights of the average mark”
were fixed. According to L.Galstian’s words, this year as well,
a “hot struggle” will be promoted for departments of the “Law,”
“Economy” and “International Relations” professions.
And taking into account results of exams on the “Mathematics” and
“Physics” subjects, it’s possible that the transitional point for
departments of a number of natural and technical professions will
be 0.5-1 point lower, compared with the previous year. According
to the observation of the REC Responsible for Press, it’s possible
that vacant paid places will remain at philological departments
as entrants chosen that faculty, in general, got low points on the
“Armenian History” subject. It was also mentioned that as of August
14, 3880 entrants got unsatisfactory marks and 8072 ones got 18-20
points. Most of 18-20 points were for the “Armenian Language,”
3337, and the “English Language,” 2508, written exams. No 20 points
were fixed in exams on the “Biology,” oral “French Language” and
“Russian Language,” “History of Armenian People,” “General History,”
“Geography,” “Creative Competition” and “Chemistry” subjects.
Most of unsatisfactory marks were fixed for the “Mathematics,” 1315,
and “Physics,” 591, subjects. 136 written works were presented for
appeal till now, marks of 33 of which were raised by 0.5-1 point,
and of 4 were reduced by 0.5-1 point.

NUMBER OF ENTRANTS FOR SOME PROFESSIONS OF MIDDLE PROFESSIONAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS NOT SURPASS 30-35% OF GIVEN PLACES
Noyan Tapan
Aug 16 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, NOYAN TAPAN. Entrance exams at 81 middle
professional and 287 vocational state educational institutions which
have started from July 20 will continue till late August. As Samvel
Pipoyan, the Chief of the Middle Professional and Vocational Education
Department of the RA Ministry of Education and Science informed
the Noyan Tapan correspondent, 2018 places for free education and
7000 places for paid education were given to the sphere of middle
professional education this year, and 2065 places for free education
were given to vocational education department. S.Pipoyan mentioned
that the number of entrants to some professions does not surpass
till now 30-35% of the envisaged total number. It was mentioned
that even free places were left vacant at some departments of music
and art education institutions. The Department Chief mentioned that
entrants do not take entrance exams for places of paid education at
middle professional educational institutions, besides departments of
medical and art professions.

CROP YIELD DECLINES IN KOTAYK MARZ
Noyan Tapan
Aug 16 2006
HRAZDAN, AUGUST 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The harvest is underway in Kotayk
marz. NT correspondent was informed from Karen Margarian, press
secretary of the Kotayk regional administration that this year autumn
sowing was done on 6,000 ha and spring sowing – on 7,000 ha. He said
that in general, this year was not favorable for the agriculture of
Kotayk marz: the crop yield declined, the areas sown with spring
cultured plants decreased by almost half. By rough estimates, in
2006, it is expected to harvest about 11 thousand tons of grain,
7 thousand tons of potato, 8 thousand tons of friut, 500 tons of
grapes and to cut 25 thousand tons of grass. By comparison, in 2005,
the grain harvest made 24 thousand tons, potatoes – 12 thousand tons,
the fruit harvest – 16 thousand tons, grapes – 1.1 thousand tons and
53.59 thousand tons of grass was cut.
Last year, the total amount of agricultural production in Kotayk marz
made 29.4 bln drams. The milk production amounted to 43,750 tons,
meat production – to 8,900 tons and 178.46 mln eggs was produced.

18 COMPANIES WITH 600 EMLOYEES OPERATE AT VIASPHERE TECHNOPARK
Noyan Tapan
Aug 16 2006
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, NOYAN TAPAN. 18 high technology companies with
their total staff to exceed 600 in the autumn of 2006 are currently
operating at Viasphere Technopark (Yerevan). The technopark’s director
general Aram Vardanian told NT correspondent about it. According
to him, these companies are engaged in creation of chip designs and
design tools, development of laser technologies and high-frequency
machinery. They also develop energy saving technologies, in particular
technologies allowing to generate electricity by using alternative
energy, particularly solar energy. The companies are operating not
only with Armenian and American but also with Canadian, French,
Austrian and Russian investments. In A. Vardanian’s words, thanks to
accumulation of sufficient intellectual potential at the technopark,
an irreversible process of self-development and generation of new
ideas started there. He expressed a hope that these tendencies will
become even more pronounced at the third stage of the techopark’s
development, which will last two or three years and during which it
is enviasged to increase the number of employees to a thousand, and
the number of companies – to over a hundred. The director general
said that 4 companies to “have grown up” at Viasphere Technopark
are now functioning on their own, outside the technopark. There have
also been 2-3 precedents when a company was sold by its founders. As
regards efficiency of the technopark’s companies, it is close to
efficiency of US companies engaged in the same sectors and equals the
index of annual production worth 100 thousand USD per an employee. At
the same time, in the US comapnies, the pay for the same amount of
work is 15 times as much as in Armenian ones. It is worth mentioning
that Viasphere Technopark was established 5 years ago on the basis of
“Transistor” Scientific and Production Enterprise’s Yerevan Research
Center by Aram Vardanian, the enterprise’s former director general,
Viasphere Technopark’s current director general, and Tony Moroyan,
a famous businessman in Silicon Valley (US).

ARCHBISHOP MESROP MUTAFIAN DEMANDS PATRIARCHATE BE WITHIN JURISDICTION OF INSPECTION OF RELIGIONS
Noyan Tapan
Aug 16 2006
ANKARA, AUGUST 16, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Armenian
Partiarchate of Turkey finished discussing the draft regulations
on the Partriarchate’s activities and authorities, bringing the
draft to its final form. A body called the Council on Minorities
Issues submitted this draft to the Patriarchate for consideration,
the newspaper “Marmara” reported, citing the newspaper “Zaman”. The
Patriarchate objectet to an article of the draft, according to which
the Patriarchate is within the jurisdiction and under control of
the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA). (NT: the Patriarchate is
now under the jurisdiction of the MIA). The Armenian Patriarch of
Turkey Archbishop Mesrop Mutafian noted that the Patriarchate is a
religious institution, and the Partriarch is a clergyman, so both
the Partriarch and Patriarchate should be within the jurisdiction
of the Inspection of Religions rather than the Ministry of Internal
Affairs, as the ministry implements control only from the viewpoint
of security issues, whereas the inspection – from a broader viewpoint
including also religious issues. The Patriarch expressed a wish that
the Ministry of Internal Affairs would intervene for the purpose of
making an amendment to that article.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

COMMISSION ON ARMENIAN ISSUES TO BE SET UP AT CALIFORNIA’S CONGRESS
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Aug 16 2006
SACRAMENTO, AUGUST 16, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A decision was
announced in Sacramento (California) on August 14 that a commission
on Armenian issues will be set up at the Congress of the state
of California. Lena Kayimian, Executive Director of the Western
Representative Office of the Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) told
Radio Liberty that both Houses of the Congress of California marked
Armenia’s Independence Day and made a resolution about creation of a
commission on Armenian issues at the state’s Congress. The AAA had
previously put forward the initiative to set up such a commission,
while the official proposal for that was made by Californian
congressmen Dario Fromer and Greg Aghazarian. The commission’s
official name is “the Congress’ Legislative Commission on Armenian
Issues”. California’s Senate will make an official announcement about
the formation of the commission at the end of this week.