BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT CHAIRMAN SENDS CONGRATULATORY MESSAGE TO TIGRAN TOROSIAN ON OCCASION OF HIS ELECTION AS RA NA SPEAKER
Noyan Tapan
Jun 12 2006
YEREVAN, JUNE 12, NOYAN TAPAN. Issues relating to strengthening
of interparliamentary relations were discussed at RA NA Speaker
Tigran Torosian’s June 12 meeting with Ambassador of Bulgaria to
Armenia Stefan Dimitrov. Stefan Dimitrov presented RA NA Speaker
the congratulatory message of Bulgarian Parliament Chirman Georgi
Pirinski on the occasion of his taking office as RA NA Speaker, and
his readiness to deepen cooperation between the two parliaments. The
issue of signing an agreement on cooperation between Armenian and
Bulgarian parliaments was also discussed. The agreement will become
a legal basis for development of contacts between the friendship
groups, standing committees, staffs of the two parliaments. As
Noyan Tapan was informed from RA NA Public Relations Department,
Tigran Torosian attached importance to the steps that will follow
the signing of the agreement, the concrete work both in the sphere of
interparliamentary relations and at the international structures. They
mutually considered as important deepening of bilateral contacts,
exchange of the legislative experience, solidarity and cooperation
between the parliaments of the two countries.

RA PRESIDENT HIGHLY ESTIMATES SWITZERLAND’S ASSISTANCE TO REFORMS IMPLEMENTED IN ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Jun 12 2006
YEREVAN, JUNE 12, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On June 12, the
delegation led by Micheline Calmy-Rey, Head (Minister) of the Swiss
Foreign Affairs Federal Department, was received by RA President
Robert Kocharian. The delegation is in Armenia on an official
visit. The President expressed satisfaction with the current level of
Armenian-Swiss relations. He highly estimated Switzerland’s assistance
to the process of reforms implemented in Armenia, mentioned the
involvement of the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency in some
programs. Robert Kocharian particularly touched upon the Tsakhkadzor
program attaching importance to it from point of view of development
of winter tourism and long-term development of Tsakhkadzor. The
Swiss Foreign Minister said that her country attentively follows
the developments in the South Caucasian region, especially being
interested in issues of stability, security and migration.
According to her, Armenia has a great capital of sympathy in
Switzerland, which is also thanks to the Swiss Armenians. Mentioning
that the indices in the economic sphere are rather modest, the sides
emphasized the necessity of more coordinated cooperation. In this
respect they attached importance to the agreement “On Avoiding Double
Taxation” signed between the two countries today, as well as to the
Swiss Invest Forum being held in these days in Zurich, to business
contacts. As Noyan Tapan was informed from RA President’s Press
Office, the interlocutors also estimated the cooperation between the
two countries within the framework of international organizations
as efficient.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RA FOREIGN MINISTER TO LEAVE FOR PARIS, THEN FOR BRUSSELS, KIEV, GENEVA AND TBILISI
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Jun 12 2006
YEREVAN, JUNE 12, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On June 13, RA Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian will leave for Paris where he will meet with
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadiarov with participation of
OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs. According to RA FM Press and Information
Department, on June 14, RA Foreign Minister will leave for Brussels
to take part in the meeting of the Northatlantic Council and Armenia
(26+1) format with RA Defence Minister Serge Sargsian, during which
the process of implementation of Armenia-NATO Individual Partnership
Actions Plan (IPAP) based on the results of the IPAP interim estimation
given by NATO international staff delegation on May 18-19 will be
discussed. On June 19, Minister Oskanian will pay an official visit
to Kiev where he will meet with the Ukrainian President and Foreign
Minister. On June 20-21, Minister Oskanian will be in Geneva for the
purpose of taking part in the opening sitting of UN Human Rights
Council. On June 27-28, RA Foreign Minister will pay an official
visit to Georgia.

NUMBER OF TOURISTS TO ARMENIA GROWS BY 15.3%, THOSE FROM ARMENIA BY 13.5% IN FIRST QUARTER OF 2006
Noyan Tapan
Jun 12 2006
YEREVAN, JUNE 12, NOYAN TAPAN. In January-March 2006, 46,023
tourists visited Armenia against 39,907 in the same period of last
year. According to the RA National Statistical Service, during the
indicated period, 42,675 people left Armenia to travel abroad, which
is by 13.5% more than in January-March 2005.
The number of those who left Armenia through tourist organizations in
the period under review made 1,079 against 723 persons in the same
months of last year. According to information provided by hotels,
33% of tourists to Armenia in January-March 2006 were those from CIS
countries. During this period, 28 hotels received foreign tourists
against 32 hotels in the same period of last year. In the first
three months of this year, Armenian hotels and hotel facilities
accomodated 6,394 tourists compared with 7,157 in the same period of
last year. During the period under review, tourists from CIS countries
accounted for 33% of the total number of tourists who visited Armenia
and were registered in the country’s hotels and hotel facilities
against 41.5% in the first quarter of 2005. Their absolute number
declined by 29%, including a decline from 34% to 23.7% in the number
of tourists from Russia (a 37.7% decline in the absolute number),
while the number of tourists from Georgia grew from 5.8% to 6.4%
(a 1.2% decline in their absolute number). Tourists from EU countries
accounted for 27.4% of the total number of tourists to Armenia in
January-March 2006 (against 20.7% in the same months of last year),
while their absolute number grew by 18.4%. Out of 6,394 tourists who
were registered at Armenian hotels and hotel facilities in the first
quarter of this year, 36.3% or 2,321 ones visited Armenia on business
(compared with 3,180 tourists in the same period of last year),
22.1% or 1,414 – for pleasure, and the remaining number – for other
purposes. Out of 1,079 tourists who left Armenia for foreign countries
through tourists companies, 10.4% or 112 persons left on business
(116), 11.5% or 124 – for pleasure (196), and the remaining ones –
for other purposes.

ROBERT KOCHARIAN CONGRATULATES ANDRANIK MARGARIAN ON OCCASION OF HIS 55th BIRTH ANNIVERSARY
Noyan Tapan
Jun 12 2006
YEREVAN, JUNE 12, NOYAN TAPAN. On June 12, RA President Robert
Kocharian sent a congratulatory message to RA Prime Minister Andranik
Margarian on the occasion of his 55th birth anniversary. The message
provided to Noyan Tapan from the President’s Press Office, read:
“Dear Mr Prime Minister, I heartily congratulate you on the occasion
of your 55th birth anniversary. I wish you good health and success in
your state-political activity for the sake of the Armenian people’s
prosperity and the strengthening of the Armenian statehood.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RURAL STONES ON DIASPORA’S CONSCIENCE
Hakob Badalyan
Lragir.am
13 June 06
The government of Armenia has thought of a new target to ask for
money from the Diaspora. Our compatriots abroad are going to learn
about it on September 18-20, if they come to take part in the Third
Armenia-Diaspora Forum. I say “if” because I very much doubt that the
Armenia-Diaspora forums are going to arouse interest in any Diaspora
Armenian for the Motherland. Most probably, everyone realized that
the pan-Armenian events have a sole purpose, which is wonderfully
clear – to bring Diasporans to Armenia, treat them to food and
drinks, take them to places. If we are lucky, they will give us some
money, if not, they will learn to travel to Armenia at least once a
year. Pan-Armenian events have not had another, more serious goal;
if they set such a goal, they failed to reach it, because the society
is not engaged in settling these goals. In the meantime, there were
and there are goals. Several days ago the minister of foreign affairs
announced that the potential of Armenia and the Diaspora has increased
over these years, and is now able to solve new, greater problems. In
other words, not only Armenia but also the Diaspora is a tiger, or if
Armenia is a tiger, with the Diaspora it is a tiger and a half, the
scientific name of which has not been invented yet, but fortunately,
Oskanyan has not retired yet.
Everything is ahead. However, the animal without a scientific name,
which appears in the form of an Armenia-Diaspora union, has to
solve a problem offered by the so-called head of the Armeniadiaspora
halftiger – the government of Armenia. In the Third Armenia-Diaspora
Forum our compatriots will be offered to make investments in rural
areas of Armenia. Their state is indeed very bad, and they really
need from infrastructures to modern utilities not only to survive
but also to develop, preventing the rural population from becoming
economic migrants and lottery tickets in Russia winning life or
death. The government of Armenia has thought it out well, in fact,
and the Diasporans should have a heart of stone to refuse to invest
in rural communities. On the other hand, the Diasporans may not be
that naive and may ask how it happens that Yerevan grows more and
more elite whereas the rural communities nearby do not develop. How
does the tiger bounce that villages always fall off? The Diasporans
may ask how it happens that agriculture, which has the second index
in the pattern of the two-digit economic growth, does not promote
investments and development in rural areas.
The government of Armenia is really going to face a serious problem,
because persuading the Diaspora Armenians is not that difficult, but
it seems absolutely impossible to explain everything to them. For
instance, how are they going to explain that the elite emerges
and the elite houses in Yerevan are built at the expense of rural
communities, both in terms of manpower and resources? How are they
going to explain that the agricultural income goes to the pocket of a
capital official rather than a farmer, and becomes an expensive car,
apartment, restaurant or night club. Can they explain to the Diasporans
why an Armenian millionaire oligarch should invest in the city center,
a motorcade, or politics, whereas a Diasporan is supposed to develop
the rural communities? Can they explain why a Diasporan should invest
money in a country, where foreign investments have hardly reached 1
billion over the past 15 years? Moreover, this one billion came from
the same Diaspora.
Certainly, they can say that they are Armenians and they must
help their motherland for foreign millionaires to see and make
investments. They can say, indeed. But what if the Diasporans suddenly
ask whether the oligarchs cramming the city center are not Armenians,
whether the ministers who put themselves in charge of the agricultural
income are not Armenians to invest money in rural communities? It is
necessary to think about it, the Armenian government must hurry to find
an answer to this question, as well as some other questions. Because
if they say they are Armenians, they will have to explain how they
differ from other Armenians, and if they are not Armenians, they
have to tell who they are. It is a complicated problem, especially
considering the absence of a common grammar.

DID ROBERT KOCHARYAN AND SERGE SARGSYAN DELUDE OLIGARCHS?
Lragir.am
13 June 06
While the period of the election campaign is drawing nearer, different
players in the political sphere have found themselves in a difficult
situation. Particularly, the Lragir.am has learned that some oligarch
owning some TV channels in Armenia are in a dilemma and are facing
a problem of orientation. Political orientation is meant.
Some of these oligarchs, who possess TV frequencies, are concerned
about the behavior of Robert Kocharyan and Serge Sargsyan. They are
said to have complain to their close people that they are unable
to find out whether Robert Kocharyan and Serge Sargsyan are in the
same team or are opponents. An oligarch owning TV channels, who is
also a big producer, said on an occasion that the Kocharyan-Sargsyan
tandem used to assure him that they are a team, whereas now their
behavior is highly controversial, complained the oligarch. We have
learned that the anxiety of TV channel owners occurred after Serge
Sargsyan had been displeased with the TV reports and news praising
Robert Kocharyan, and the reports and news praising the minister of
defense aroused the president’s dissatisfaction. In the meantime,
on finding themselves in such an uncertainty the businessmen owning
TV channels are especially displeased that they nevertheless have to
make up their mind, when very little time is left until fall.

RICH GOLDMAN: COOPERATION WITH THE YEREVAN STATE ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY IS BEST EXAMPLE OF EFFECTIVE COLLABORATION
Yerevan, June 12.ArmInfo. “SYNOPSYS” world leader in electronic
projecting of automatic technologies initiated the official
ceremony of awarding the graduates of “Synopsys” educational
center with diplomas. This educational center is also known as the
inter-parliamentary chair of “Microelectronic Schemes and Systems”
of the Yerevan State Engineering University. 18 graduates of the
center received the master’s degree, while 36 graduates were given
the bachelor’s degree.
Hovik Musaelian, SG-director of “SYNOPSYS-Armenia,” stated that the
company began collaborating with the YSEU in 2002. Besides financing
the salaries of the teachers and the grants for the students, the
company provided the chair of “Microelectronic Schemes and Systems”
with 50 super contemporary program packages that cost $ 260 million
in total. Thanks to the investments in the educational sphere, the
most of the graduates of the YSEU became employees of the company.
“Armenia has huge intellectual potential,” Rich Goldman, director
general of “SYNOPSYS,” said. He stated that they give preferences to
innovatory thinking and strive for perfection, when choosing students
for their educational center. “SYNOPSYS cooperates with over 450
universities in the world, but the cooperation with the Yerevan State
Engineering University is the best example of effective collaboration,”
Rich Goldman said.
“The educational program of SYNOPSYS in Armenia is an example of
effective cooperation of business and science, business and education,”
Lilit Gevorgian, assistant of RA President said. She also stated that
“SYNOPSYS-Armenia” also finances the presidential awards for the best
students in the sphere of informational technologies.
Ara Hakobian, adviser of RA PM, said that Armenia’s future is
in the creation of the informational society. Ara Avetisian, RA
Deputy Education Minister, stated that the educational program of
“SYNOPSYS” is dynamically developing and enlarging, today, adding
that the Yerevan State University also became the partner of the
company in 2005. “The secret of the educational program of “SYNOPSYS”
in securing qualified specialists is conditioned by the fact that the
final stage of the education was maximally close to real production
process,” Academician Yuri Sargsian said. He awarded Rich Goldman
with a diploma “For considerable contribution to the development of
the Yerevan State Engineering University.”
At present, “SYNOPSYS-Armenia” has 350 employees. According to
theadministration of the company, the goods turnover of the company
makes $1 billion.

MONUMENT FOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS OPENED IN FRENCH TOWN OF TOULON
Yerevan, June 12. ArmInfo. A monument for the victims of Armenian
Genocide in Ottoman Turkey in 1915 has been opened in the French town
of Toulon, the Armenian Foreign Ministry Department for Information
and Press told ArmInfo. Participating in the ceremony were Ambassador
of Armenia to France Edward Nalbandyan and Toulon Mayor Hubert Falco.
The Armenian community of Toulon helped creating and erecting the
monument. The State hymns of Armenia and France were performed at the
opening ceremony, the state flags were lowered, and wreaths were laid
on the monument. In his speech, Edward Nalbandyan said during the
last years, similar monuments were erected in different French towns.
Within the frames of the Year of Armenia in France, about 40 Armenian
khachkars will be demonstrated at the world-known museum Louvre,
the Armenian diplomat said.

HEAD OF ARMENIAN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE DIES
Yerevan, June 12. ArmInfo. On June 12, Head of the Intelligence
Department, Armenian Armed Forces, Major General Bassenciy Azoyan
died at the age of 59.
RA Defense Ministry reports the funerals of the untimely deceased
general will take place on June 13 at 6:00pm in 4, Yerznyak street. A
farewell ceremony will take place on June 14 from 12:00 to 2:00pm at
G. Sundukinyan State Academic Theatre. Major General Azoyan will be
buried in the pantheon “Yerablur.”
Bassenciy Azoyan was born on Nov 30 1947 in Sisian region, Armenia.
In 1970 he graduated from the Oriental Faculty of Yerevan State
University. In 1987, he graduated from USSR State Security Committee
High School. In 1974-1995, he occupied a number of responsible
positions in the national security system. In 1980-1982, he was
detached to Iran, in 1983-86 to Afghanistan. Since 1995, B. Azoyan
served at the Armenian Armed Forces. The title of Major General was
conferred on him in 2002. He was awarded numerous medals and orders:
“Military Service,” “Marshal Baghramyan,” “Andranik Ozanyan,” “Garegin
Nzhgeh,” “For Strengthening of Cooperation,” “For Good Service,”
as well as state awards of the Soviet Union. He was married, had
two children.