Politics


2008-01-15 20:45:00 Newly appointed adviser to British prime minister to visit Armenia
ArmInfo. The Trustee of the John Smith Memorial Trust, pro-Armenian politician, Baron John Herbert McCluskey has been appointed Adviser to the Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Hayk Martirosyan, the adviser to the Chairman of the Armenian Supreme Court, a member of the John Smith Trust, told ArmInfo correspondent that Lord McCluskey is going to visit Armenia in 2008. The visit will be paid within the frames of agreement on exchange of experience and cooperation in the judicial system reached between Armenia and Great Britain in 2007. A former solicitor general in Harold Wilson's government, Lord McCluskey conducted the loudest criminal cases. To note, Lord McCluskey was the counsel
of Paul McCartney, one of the members of the Beatles rock band. In 1974-1979 Lord McCluskey with his close friend, Labor Leader John Smith elaborated and navigated the legislation of Scotland's autonomy through the parliament. The legislation became a cornerstone in Great Britain's history. In the recent years Lord McCluskey headed the John Smith Memorial Trust, which is one of the best known and rating organizations in the international arena for disseminating democratic
values. Within the frames of the Trust's activity the Lord has visited Armenia practically every year.



2008-01-15 20:36:00 Leader of Union Constitutional Rights publicly slapped the party's vice-chairman- for the second time over the last year
ArmInfo. Leader of Union Constitutional Rights Hrant Khachatryan publicly slapped the party's vice-chairman-Hayk Babukhanyan, for the second time over the last year.

To recall, on Tuesday, another overturn took place in the party- the Power at Union Constitutional Right party is again in the hands of Hayk Babukhanyan's supporters. It is not the first power change at the party over the last 18 months.

To recall, leader of the party Hrant Khachatryan resigned in September 2006 'as a sign of protest against party Vice Chairman Hayk Babukhanyan's illegal activity'. Later, he changed his mind and
restored his post of the party leader through the court. H. Khachatryan seized his office and made a public slap in the face of Babukhanyan. As a result, the party split up into 2 parts. Moreover, the party newspaper Iravunk is now published in two versions Iravunk and Iskakan Iravunk.

Today, on January 14, Babukhanyan's supporters tried to penetrate into the party office. H. Babukhanyan told ArmInfo the court restored his post of Vice Chairman. 'Why cannot I enter my room for already a year? Why cannot Hovik Galajyan fulfill his duties of Iravunk editor after the court restored his position? Why Hrant Khachatryan reserves a right to declare the party's support to Vazgen Manukyan's candidature? It is the party congress that must made such a decision. We are studying all the contenders except
Levon Ter-Petrosyan', Babukhanyan said.

After H. Khachatryan had defended the office for 5 hours, Babukhanyan's supporters with help of police officers and rescuers broke the door. Babukhanyan with his supporters victoriously went round all the rooms, opened the safes and made an inventory of property. Khashatrian gave a short briefing and called the actions by Babukhanyan, police and rescuers illegal. 'Head of the Police Central Department sent them here illegally. Rescuers were told that people inside the office may die if they fail to open the
door. I have applied to the Prosecutor General's Office', Khachatryan said.

Later, during negotiations in the presence of journalists and police officers Hrant Khachatryan all at once made a public slap in the face of Babukhanyan-the second over the last year. For the public insult-the slap received on February 8 2007, Babukhanyan got 150 000 AMD compensation through the court. It's interesting what today's public humiliation towards his irreconcilable opponent will cost for Kahachatryan. In any case, the police officers immediately took the leader of Union Constitutional Right to the
police station.



2008-01-15 20:30:00 Matthew Bryza: Events of 1915 one of the greatest human tragedies in history
ArmInfo. Events of 1915 one of the greatest human tragedies in history, US Co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza said in response to a question from the hall at the international conference Wider Black Sea Region: Perspectives for International and Regional Security in Yerevan.

He stressed that definition of the events of 1915 is a great moral and humanitarian responsibility. We do not deny anything, of course. However, we do not think that it is politicians who must propose a
definition to these terrible events, the American diplomat said. He also added that USA tries to achieve an open discussion of the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in the Turkish public.



2008-01-15 19:18:00 OSCE MG US Co-chairman feels spirit of constructiveness in settlement of Karabakh conflict
ArmInfo. 'I feel spirit of constructiveness in the consideration of the project of new formulations on the basic principles of Karabakh conflict settlement submitted to the parties in Madrid,' OSCE Minsk Group Co-chair Matthew Bryza told ArmInfo.

'Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan very attentively study every word and it is good and it means that a serious work is carried out. However, I do not know if we can conclude a treaty this year. I hope we will. President Aliyev said yesterday that this year must become crucial for the process. I hope it will,' the co- chair said. He also added that OSCE MG Co-chairs are in Armenia to exchange opinions with the president and foreign minister regarding 'Madrid project'.

'Now we are working on the document to finally elaborate it. I cannot predict if we will manage to do it before the election in Armenia, it depends on many details. I know that both presidents have their
viewpoints. Both are very delicate and tough. At the same time, I think that they are ready to get a common language. We are working', the US diplomat said. As regards the progress of the peace process, M. Bryza said: 'I will leave for Karabakh with my colleagues today to get first hand view of the situation and people. I think it can be considered a positive shift in the process'.



2008-01-15 19:14:00 International Scientific-Technical Center financed 9 projects from Armenia during 2007 to total sum of $4.2 mln
ArmInfo. The International Scientific-Technical Center financed 9 projects from Armenia during 2007 to the total sum of $4.2 mln, Head of the ISTC Yerevan Office Hamlet Navasardyan told
ArmInfo.

To recall, the ISTC financed 10 projects from Armenia during 2006 to the total sum of $2.8 mln. As H. Navasardyan said, 22% of the whole volume of financing falls on the area of physics, 20% - biology and
15% - new materials, followed by the sphere of information and nuclear technologies. By the number of the submitted and financed projects, from the viewpoint of activity, the leaders are the Yerevan Physical Institute (72 projects were submitted over the years of ISTC activity in RA, 31 of which have been financed), the Yerevan State University (29 projects submitted, 16 financed) and the Institute of
Physical Researches (14 projects submitted, 7 financed). H. Navasardyan said that the main financing of the projects is carried out by EU (42%) and the USA (36%).

Talking of the year results, H. Navasardyan said that a modern equipment (spectrometers, laser diods, laboratory furnaces, etc.) was acquired in 2007 to the sum of about $300,000 to carry out the
project work. This allowed to renew the technical park of RA Institutes and gave an additional stimulus for the research work. He also said that 9 scientists from Armenia received grants in 2007
under assistance of ISTC for business trips to the foreign scientific centers for meetings and consultations with collaborators, as well as for participation in conferences and seminars abroad. Moreover, an international conference "New Polymers and Radioprotectors for Biology and Medicine" was held in Armenia in 2007, organized by the Center of Radiation Medicine and Burns and the Yerevan Institute "Plastomer", within the frames of ISTC programme on assistance in holding scientific seminars and conferences.



2008-01-15 19:10:00 Press Secretary of Armenian FM: Problem around Armenian-Turkish riverbed border settled
ArmInfo. Problem around Armenian-Turkish border has been settled, Press Secretary of Armenian Foreign Minister Vladimir Karapetyan said commenting at the request of ArmInfo on article in January 15 issue of Haykakan Zhamanak.

The article says that on the initiative of the Turkish party, Armenia and Turkey discussed the issue that originated around their Araks Riverbed border. The Armenian party used the soil for construction, which has led to extension of the riverbed. That was the matter of discussions. V. Karapetyan said the last contact with the Turkish party was in April 2007. There has been no necessity for a new contact since then, he stressed.

Asked to comment on the same problem, Armenian Foreign Minister said it is Minister of Territorial Administration Hovik Abrahamyan who is engaged in the issue and delivers soil from the above area.



2008-01-15 19:03:00 Serzh Sargsyan: Every new family in Armenia will have an opportunity to buy a flat and a car
ArmInfo. Every new family in Armenia will have an opportunity to buy a flat and a car, says the electoral program of presidential contender, Prime Minister of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan that was officially made public on Tuesday.

The program says the second-generation reforms in Armenia are the most important task of the country. Reforms will create the next conditions for development of business and investments. 'To boost investments and active business, the tax and customs systems in the country must become competitive in the international arena. The country must not create obstacles to establishment and development of business. It must create equal conditions for business development and risk reduction. We will support all the new
Armenian companies meeting international requirements and promote the rapidly growing small and medium-size enterprises. The country will stimulate introduction of corporate system of management in the real sector. Corporate management system will be introduced at enterprises with government stakes. The country will always boost the transparently operating companies to raise the public trust in business. '

The program says structural reforms and modernization of infrastructures must remain in the focus of state attention. Under the second-generation reforms, a new quality of industrial policy based on innovations is proposed. In addition, the program proposes agriculture industrialization and full activation of the production-processing-market network, which will allow increasing incomes in the agricultural sphere.

The financial system of Armenia has a real potential for becoming the financial center in the region. 'The entry of Nordic OMX to Armenia is a bright evidence of it. We will continue deepening our policy of
financial mediation. Financial services will be available throughout Armenia. Every new family will have an opportunity to buy a flat and a car. Insurance companies and pension funds will create preconditions for savings. No one must remain in Armenia without life and property insurance,' the electoral campaign of Serge Sargsyan says.



2008-01-15 19:00:00 Leader of United Communist party of Armenia knows for sure who will win at presidential election and with what percent of votes
ArmInfo. Today, leader of the United Communist party of Armenia Yuri Manukyan gave a maximum precise, in his opinion, forecast for the forthcoming presidential election in Armenia.

Coming out in "Pastarq" club, he emphasized that the party he heads made a decision last autumn on support of the candidacy of the Republican party leader, RA PM Serzh Sargsyan. "According to our researches, about 1 600 000 voters will take part in the presidential election, 70% of whom will vote for Serzh Sargsyan, so no second round should be expected. The second place, by our data, will be taken by member of the Bureau of ARF Dashnaktsutyun party Vahan Hovhannisian", Y. Manukyan said.

As for the first President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Y. Manukyan advised the first president to apologize to Vazgen Manukyan for the victory he taken off from him in 1996 and then withdraw his candidacy. This will attach a worthy image of the country's first president to L. Ter-Petrosyan, Manukyan said.

"I advise the rest of the presidential contenders to withdraw their candidacies in favour of RA PM as only S. Sargsyan is able to solve the problems the country faces, including Nagorno Karabakh problem", Y. Manukyan said.



2008-01-15 18:49:00 Anatol Lieven: For the west to say Kosovo is a unique case is empty, given the obvious parallels.
ArmInfo. For the west to say Kosovo is a unique case is empty, given the obvious parallels, writes Anatol Lieven, professor at King's College London and a senior fellow of the New America Foundation in Washington in his article 'Balkan unrest remains a recipe for disaster' in The Financial Times.


Further in the article, the professors writes:'In their dealings over Kosovo's independence, the European Union and Russia need to take their points of departure from reality and common responsibility for the stability of the European continent, not from legalism or self-righteousness.

The Russians must recognise that, whether they and the Serbs like it or not, Kosovo will soon become independent and will be recognised as such by the US, the EU and many Muslim states. If this is not granted soon, the Kosovo Albanians will revolt.

By vetoing United Nations recognition and giving moral support to Serbian intransigence, Russia can help keep Kosovo unstable and spread in-stability across the region. In the worst case, it could help produce a war that would destabilise not just the Balkans but Europe and deal a terrible blow to Russia's relations with the west; but Moscow needs to ask itself how it can be in Russia's interest to do this and take actions that will drive western Europe closer to the hardline antiRussian positions in the US.

EU governments also need to recognise two realities. First, that just as trying to keep Kosovo in Serbia would lead to Albanian revolt, so too trying to force Mitrovica, the remaining Serbian area of Kosovo,
into an independent Albanian state would lead to Serbian revolt. Given the de facto "ethnic cleansing" by Albanians since the Kosovo war, to ask the Serbs to accept either Albanian or western guarantees of their future safety is absurd.

There have been veiled threats from the Albanian side that if Mitrovica is separated and joins Serbia, this will lead to revolt by local Albanian minorities not just in Serbia proper but also in Macedonia. To this there should be a very firm western response. The EU and Nato have rested their moral right to hegemony in the Balkans on the claim to guarantee stability and prevent conflict. They have also given promises to defend the stability and territorial integrity of Macedonia. The other reality the west needs
to recognise is that, just as it is impossible to force Kosovo back into Serbia, so it is impossible to force Abkhazia and South Ossetia into Georgia. Quite apart from the backing of Moscow and coethnics in the Russian north Caucasus for these republics, it should be obvious from recent history that their indigenous peoples can no more trust the Georgian state than Kosovo Albanians can trust the Serbian state.

Kosovo's independence will inevitably have repercussions for the Georgian separatist regions and Nagorno- Karabakh and Trans Dnestr. For the west to say Kosovo is a unique case is empty, given the
obvious parallels.

To resolve these issues and restore elementary consistency to its own position, the west does not need to recognise Abkhaz and South Ossetian independence - something for which Moscow is in any case not
asking, given the obvious lessons for some of Russia's own restive minorities.

Rather, the west should extend to these republics the same solution that leading western countries have sought for nearby Nagorno-Karabakh (though so far without success): namely a "common state", in which Azerbaijan - or, in this case, Georgia - will retain de jure sovereignty, and therefore the theoretical possibility of future reunification by consent, while formally acceding to de facto independence, including most notably, full control over local armed forces and external borders. In all these cases, as
in Kosovo, this would have to be accompanied by limited partitions, in which certain regions (such as Mitrovica, or the ethnically Georgian Gali and Svan districts of Abkhazia) would remain with the former sovereign.

Before they go any further with their existing policies, the big powers should remember this: the catastrophic first world war began with a dispute over the status of Bosnia-Herzegovina, an area of no
interest to the vast majority of the Europeans who died.

The risk today from the Balkans and Caucasian conflicts is far less - but none of the territories concerned is worth any serious risk to the international system. What is more, the governments of 1914 could not imagine the dreadful use to which Hitler and Stalin would put the consequences of the first world war. Today, we do not have that excuse. We know very well the uses to which Osama bin Laden and his Chechen allies would put a serious clash between the west and Russia'.



2008-01-15 11:31:00 OSCE MG Co-chairs on Karaabakh conflict settlement are in Yerevan
ArmInfo. OSCE MG Co-chairs on Karabakh conflict settlement are in Yerevan.

As the USA Embassy in RA told ArmInfo, the co-chairs arrived in Yerevan yesterday, late in the evening. Therefore, the press-conference, scheduled for the evening, was cancelled. Today, the co-chairs will hold a number of meetings in Armenia's capital. In particular, meetings with RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan and RA President Robert Kocharyan have been scheduled.

According to the information available, the co-chairs will visit Stepanakert tomorrow, meet the NKR authorities and take part in OSCE monitoring on the contact line of Armenian and Azerbaijani AF.
Afterwards, the co-chairs will come back to Yerevan and then they will visit Baku again.



2008-01-15 11:29:00 Chairman of RA CEC and EU Special Representative to South Caucasus met
ArmInfo. Chairman of Armenia's Central Election Committee Garegin Azaryan met EU Special Representative to South Caucasus Peter Semneby. As spokeswoman of RA CEC Tatev Ohanyan told ArmInfo, the issues of the forthcoming presidential election in Armenia were discussed during the meeting, in particular, the recent alterations made to the Election Code, the order of appeal of the
voting results, marking of passports, printing of the ballot papers, the order of filling of and the final protocols. G. Azaryan said that at the meeting that a training film has been shot within the frames of the programme of training of the election committee members carried out under support of OSCE Office in Yerevan, that will enable to prepare for the election and hold them more efficiently.

For his part, Peter Semneby said that a notable progress of the election process in the country was marked especially during the past parliamentary election in Armenia in May, 2007. he expressed
hope that this progress will be maintained also during the forthcoming February 19 presidential election in Armenia.







Economy


2008-01-15 20:41:00 Unique species of Sevan lake herring being sold in Armenia at sturgeon price
ArmInfo. In 2008 ichthyologists recommend to ban the catch of fish in Lake Sevan for a whole year. The recommendation of the ichthyologists has not been taken into account by the Armenian Environment Ministry yet. Armenian Environment Minister Aram Harutyunyan also evaded the answer and told ArmInfo correspondent half in jest that maybe there will be no ban.

At the same time, Director of the Institute of Hydroecology and Ichthyology of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences Boris Gabrielyan told ArmInfo correspondent that research to estimate the fish reserves were held jointly with the "Sevan" National Park. The Institute holds research to assess the ecological state of the lake. Thus, the recent surveys of specialists show that the lake herring reserves in the lake have decreased by 70 tons to about 180-200 tons. Monitoring held by ArmInfo in Yerevan showed
that almost the whole fish sold on shopboards is brought from fish-farms. In particular, the matter concerns the rainbow trout, which differs from the Sevan trout, as well as the Siberian sturgeon which is popularly styled as sterlet by mistake, and the river trout. Despite the overfishing of lake herrings in the Sevan, unique species of this fish are still met in the markets of Yerevan and large cities of Armenia. At the same time, the Sevan lake herring is sold for 1500
-2500 AMD per kg, this price being equal to that of the Siberian sturgeon. At the moment, no ban on the commercial catch of fish in Lake Sevan operates. To recall, the fish-farms' attempts to breed the Sevan lake herring in reservoirs failed.



2008-01-15 11:32:00 Dram consolidation allowed to avoid sharp turnaround in prices for oil products in Armenia
ArmInfo. Dram consolidation allowed to avoid sharp turnaround in prices for oil products in Armenia, deputy Director of the biggest Armenian "Flash" oil trading company Mushegh Elchyan told ArmInfo.

As he said, if the world prices for petrol in 2007 grew by 45% on average, they raised by 35% due to the dram consolidation in Armenia. Some jump in prices in Armenia was marked on January 1-2, 2008, and the prices at present are the same as of the midst, December, 2007, M. Elchyan said. By his forecasts, they will hardly change till late January, 2008.

As of January 15, 2008, 1 l of petrol "Super AI 98" costs 400 drams, the "Premium AI 95" - 370 drams, the "Regular AI 91" - 340 drams, the diesel fuel - 320 drams.


Finance and banks


2008-01-15 19:22:00 ARARATBANK issues Green Line plastic card to make customs payments quicker and more reliable
ArmInfo. ARARATBANK issued plastic cards Green Line to make customs payments quicker and more reliable, ARARATBANK press service told ArmInfo. The annual service of these cards is 10,000 AMD.

The source reports that when importing goods and vehicles, individuals and legal entities as well as private businessmen holding the above cards can make customs payments, taxes and other payments for registration of documents directly at the local branches of ARARATBANK.

Alongside with this, Green Line cards speed up the registration of customs documents and allow making non-cash customs payments. In addition, this way of payment allows controlling over the funds and
calculations and ensures the safety of large payments.



2008-01-15 11:33:00 Exchange rate of dram against US dollar and EUR
ArmInfo Today, the maximum buying rates at commercial banks of Yerevan were 308 drams for 1 dollar, 456 drams for 1 EUR and 12,2 drams for 1 Russian ruble. The minimum selling rates stood at 309 drams for 1 dollar, 456 drams for 1 EUR and 12,5 drams for 1 Russian ruble.