Politics


2008-02-22 18:00:00 Galoust Sahakyan: Serzh Sargsyan's victory is ensured, oppositionists and have right to freely express their opinion
<>ArmInfo. The victory of Leader of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan is ensured by the majority of votes, and the oppositionists have the right to freely express their opinion, Galoust Sahakyan, an Armenian MP, RPA deputy chairman, told ArmInfo correspondent.

According to him, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the Armenian ex-president and a presidential candidate, wants to cede Karabakh. Commenting upon the fact that several dozens of Serzh Sargsyan's supporters are moving to Yerevan, Sahakyan said: "I have no such information, but one thing is clear: some people will try to create an unsteady situation in the country".



2008-02-22 17:58:00 Rectors of Armenian leading universities refuse mass participation of students in the opposition rallies
ArmInfo. Lessons are held according to the time-table in all the universities of Armenia. In Education Ministry they called disinformation the opposition statement allegedly students boycott lessons in many universities. Rector office;s of several universities disproved such information. ArmInfo
correspondent visited several universities, had a talk with students and clarified that the youth that take part in the rallies of the opposition mostly are not students of their universities.



2008-02-22 17:49:00 Seven deputies of Armenian parliament went over to Levon Ter-Petrosyan's side
ArmInfo. The owner of "Vedi-Alco" company, deputy of the National Assembly Manvel Kazaryan made a speech at the lasting many thousand strong rally at Liberty Square. As ArmInfo correspondent reports from the square, Kazaryan said that six deputies of Armenian parliament: Seyran Saroyan, Hrant Grigoryan, Tigran Stepanyan, Armen Mkhitaryan and Rostom Gasparyan went over to Levon Ter-Petrosyan's side.



2008-02-22 16:47:00 Levon Ter-Petrosyan's supporters adopt application to CEC
ArmInfo. The participants in Levon Ter-Petrosyan's rally adopted an application to the Armenian CEC. Leader of New Times party Aram Karapetyan read out the application.

The application says that the CEC encouraged mass falsifications and violations of Election Code not only on the election day but also during the whole presidential campaign. On the election day, CEC did
not respond to over 300 complaints and applications regarding the falsifications, beating of campaign agents, frightening of election commission members and voters, as well as ballot stuffing. At present, CEC intentionally buy time making fictional recounting of votes to avoid the reveal of mass election rigging. If CEC does not stop such actions, it will become part of the robber's state and will be brought responsible for the crimes commited.

Hovhanness Hovhannissyan, Aram Karapetyan and Khachatur Sukiasyan accompanied by 500 supporters of L. Ter-Petrosyan's handed over the application to CEC and left.



2008-02-22 16:43:00 Armenian Police proved information that crowds of Serzh Sarkisyan's supporters started moving towards Yerevan
ArmInfo. Armenian Police proved the information that crowds of Serzh Sarkisyan's supporters started moving towards Yerevan.

As the head of public relations and information department of Armenian Police Sayat Shirinyan told ArmInfo correspondent, at present several thousands supporters of Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan are trying to move to Yerevan. 'But local authorities, local government bodies and the police are still
restraining them, trying to stop their movement and calm them down', - Shirinyan said. Mass accumulation of people that strive to Yerevan gathered in Ararat and Kotayk regions. According to ArmInfo information, people go on foot, by their private motors and by buses.



2008-02-22 16:20:00 Armenian prosecutor general applied to dismiss Gagik Jangiryan from the post of deputy prosecutor general
ArmInfo. Armenian Prosecutor General Agvan Hovsepyan applied to dismiss Gagik Jangiryan from the post of deputy prosecutor general.

As press-secretary of prosecutor general Sona Truzyan reported, the law "On prosecutor general's office" forbids prosecutors to go in for political activity. Clause 7 says that prosecutor cannot be a member of any political party. In any conditions he should be politically self-contained and neutral. Gagik Jangiryan violated demands of the law and prosecutor general applied to the president with a motion to dismiss Jangiryan from the system of prosecutor general's office.



2008-02-22 16:19:00 ARF Dashnaksutyun Party abstains from commenting on post-electoral situation in Armenia
ArmInfo. The ARF Dashnaksutyun Party abstains from commenting on the post- electoral situation in Armenia. However, a source close to the ARFD leadership told ArmInfo correspondent that the party leaders are holding a conference, and the final decision on the party's position will shortly be taken and published. To note, ARFD Press-secretary Spartak Seyranyan refused to give any comments. He said: "I am not empowered to tell media representatives about the decisions taken by the ARFD Supreme Body". To recall,
according to the preliminary data of the Armenian Central Electoral Commission, Vahan Hovhannisyan, the vice speaker of the Armenian parliament, a member of ARFD Bureau, obtained 100 876 votes (6,12%).



2008-02-22 16:14:00 Serzh Sargsyan urges government to speed up reforms
ArmInfo. Prime Minister of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, who gained victory in the presidential election on February 19, stressed at a governmental sitting, Friday, that law-enforcement agencies must inspect all the facts of falsifications, a governmental press-service reports.

The premier also said the government members must immediately start implementing the programs envisaged. These programs must allow our people feell changes. Reforms must be accelerated. It is an important task, S. Sargsyan said.



2008-02-22 16:12:00 Large-scale youth procession to Prosecutor General's Office underway in Yerevan
ArmInfo. Over 5 thousand of students from Yerevan and regions are on the way to the Prosecutor General's Office.

ArmInfo correspondent on the spot reports that Head of the presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosyan's campaign headquarters Nikol Pashinyan leads the procession. The traffic in Abpovyan and
Tumanyan streets is blocked. The young supporters of Levon Ter-Petrosyan cry out anti-governmental slogans. They demand immediate initiation of criminal cases against the organizers and executors of mass election rigging. However, the most of Ter-Petrosyan's supporters are still rallying in the Republic Square. The Union of Volunteers Yerkrapa and Spirit Testing NGO, comprising
Karabakh freedom fighters, guard the youth procession.



2008-02-22 16:10:00 Self-recording devices of Belarusian aircraft which crashed in Yerevan registered no break-down
ArmInfo. The self-recording devices of the Belarusian aircraft, which crashed in Yerevan, registered no break-down in the engines of the aircraft, Head of General Department of Civil Aviation of Armenia Artyom Movsisyan said at a briefing in the Armenian government.

According to him, the decoding of the self-recording devices carried out at the Interstate Aviation Committee in Moscow has given no negative results on the working capacity of the engines. At the same
time, he noted that the producer of the aircraft, the Canadian company "Bombardier" intends to hold its own investigation to reveal the reasons of the air crash on the basis of the mathematical model of estimation of break-down. Afterwards the results of the investigation will be presented to the commission created in Armenia to study the results of the air crash in Zvartnots Airport in Yerevan on February 14.

To recall, Belavia Company's passenger airplane SRJ-100M, which was making the 2 1834 flight from Yerevan to Minsk, crashed in Zvartnots Airport in Yerevan. There were 18 passengers and 3 crew
members on board the plane. There were no victims.



2008-02-22 16:07:00 Heritage party Leader Raffi Hovannisian calls on Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan to appologize to people for election rigging
ArmInfo. Heritage party Leader Raffi Hovannisian called on Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan at the large-scale rally of the presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosyan's supporters, Friday, to appologize to people for election rigging.

ArmInfo correspondent on the spot reports that R. Hovannisian called Serzh Sargsyan just incumbent prime minister and not the winner of the presidential election. Particulalrly, he said: 'Mr. Sargsyan aske yourself if you deserved such victory acocmpaied with mass violation and ballot stuffing'. He also urged S. Sargsyan to look back to the real sources of Armenian and Artsakhi national liberation fight. He emphasized the necessity of public unification, which ensured the victory in Artsakh war. 'This square
where the Armenian people unifies will undoubtedly lead us to victory and establishment of
demcoracy and legality', Hovannisian said.



2008-02-22 16:05:00 Deputy Prosecutor-General of Armenia Gagik Jhangiryan openly supports Levon Ter-Petrosyan
ArmInfo. At the Feb 22 multi-thousand rally of the opposition, Deputy Prosecutor- General of Armenia Gagik Jhangiryan stated his open support of Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

He referred to Ter-Petrosyan with the words "dear president" and appealed to people not to call him the first president of Armenia any more, as he has already become the third president. Jhangiryan stressed that there has never been such shameful election in Armenia, as on Feb 19, 2008. He said that it is the obligation of all citizens, including him, to protect their choice up to the end and to help winner Ter-Petrosyan establish legitimacy in the country in every possible way.



2008-02-22 15:55:00 International organization 'Reporters without Borders' advocates punishing everybody who committed violence against journalists on election day
ArmInfo. The international organization "Reporters without Borders" advocates punishing everybody who committed violence against journalists on the presidential election day in Armenia. The Armenian authorities should treat such incidents with responsibility, the journalists were just doing their work, a statement at www.rsf.org says.

To recall, on the presidential election day, pressman of Hayk newspaper Samvel Avakyan, cameraman of "A1+" TV channel Hovsep Hovsepyan and correspondent of Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper Lusine
Barseghyan were beaten when carrying out their professional duty.



2008-02-22 14:55:00 Votes recounting process continues at 144 election precincts
ArmInfo. Votes recounting process of the results of presidential election taken place on 19
February continues at 144 election precincts, press-secretary of CEC of Armenia Tatev Ohanyan told ArmInfo correspondent.

She also added recount of votes at 45 election precinct ended. According to the recount results, preliminary data changed at several precincts, in particular, the votes given to Serzh Sarkisyan reduced at 9/31 election precinct. According to the legislation, votes recount process will continue till 14:00 PM, on 24 February, Tatev Ohanyan said.



2008-02-22 14:52:00 Presidential candidate Arman Melikyan: Armenia must recognize NKR and international community will do this in future
ArmInfo. Armenia must recognize the Nagorny Karabakh Republic and the international community will do the same in future, Presidential candidate Arman Melikyan said at a press conference, Friday. Earlier, A. Melikyan occupied the post of Advisor to NKR President.

Asked about the precedent of Kosovo independence, Melikyan said that NKR's recognition is necessary regardless of Kosovo recognition. He called Kosovo independence recognition an important fact. 'However, we could recognize Karabakh much earlier, settle these territories, which might give us a better situation than we have now. Simply, this process must have been launched earlier', A.Melikyan said.



2008-02-22 14:48:00 Candidate for president Vazgen Manukyan calls his voters not to lose heart because of the presidential election results
ArmInfo. Candidate for president, leader of National-Democratic Union party Vazgen Manukyan made a statement today in which he calls his voters not to lose heart because of the presidential election results. To recall, according to the data of Central Electoral Commission, Vazgen Manukyan gathered only 1% votes.

In his statement Manukyan thanked his voters and said that the anti-democratic system established in 1995 again held election with numerous violations. 'At present those who created this anti-democratic system declared fight to those who uses it and many honest people are involved in this fight as they think that this is the fight for the future of the country. Actually this fight is for getting power at any cost. And there is no use to the state or to the people from that fight', - the statement says.



2008-02-22 14:47:00 Vazgen Manukyan's campaign headquarters studying possibility of appealing against presidential election result
ArmInfo. The campaign headquarters of presidential candidate Vazgen Manukyan is studying the possibility of appealing against the result of the presidential election, Leader of National Democratic Party of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan said at Tesaket Club, Friday.

He said they know that the election were mostly falsified. 'We have no sufficient facts to find out how different are the official data and the real picture. However, we are following the work of other
headquarters and take into account also their materials', he said. He also added that Vazgen Manukyan will make a final speech later today.

To recall, Vazgen Manukyan received 20,938 votes in total.



2008-02-22 14:45:00 Serzh Sargsyan: Police will take relevant measures if participants in opposition rally violate law
ArmInfo. Police will take the necessary measures if the participants in the opposition rally violate the law, Prime Minister of Armenia, recognized the winner of February 19 presidential election in Armenia, told Reuters.

Serzh Sargsyan does not think legal the opposition demand to cancel the result of the voting and conduct new election. 'We have received the positive assessment of international observers and foreign embassies', he said. 'We must convince them not to violate the law and public order and not to infringe the rights of other citizens. However, if they do that, the law enforcement agencies will have to restore public order', S. Sargsyan said.



2008-02-22 14:43:00 Twenty-four hour sit strike of Levon Twer-Petrosyan's supporters grows into another large-scale rally
ArmInfo. Another several thousand strong rally of the presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosyan's supporters is underway in the city Freedom Square.

ArmInfo correspondent on the spot reports that about 30,000 people, as many as yesterday, gathered in front of the building of the Theatre of Opera and Ballet. Leader of Heritage party Raffi Hovannisian attended the rally for the first time, today. The host of the rally, editor-in-chief of Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper, Nikol Pashinyan said the law-enforcers try to hold them from rallying. A few minutes ago, a group of policemen demanded the organizers to stop the rally and sign definite documents, however their
demand was not satisfied. In the meanwhile, Ter-Petrosyan's supporters stated yesterday that it is not mass public assembly but a spontaneous expression of public will.



2008-02-22 14:15:00 Arman Melikyan is ready to become mediator between authorities and opposition to form atmosphere of trust in country
ArmInfo. RA presidential contender Arman Melikyan is ready to become a mediator between the authorities and the opposition to form an atmosphere of trust in the country.

"If the parties want and entrust me to make preliminary steps in this direction, I am ready to become a mediator between them", Melikyan said at today's press-conference and emphasized that consent and trust of both parties is necessary here, as the mission will be senseless without one of the parties' consent. He said that the past election may be characterized as "election of mutual tolerance
and hatred". "In essence, the society voted rather against a candidate which it did not want to see as a president than for a preferential candidate. It means that both the society and the state are seriously ill and need treatment. However, today's prescriptions, whatever party they are offered from, replace the treatment by sentence of death. I am against a death sentence and I think that we shall follow the way of internal dialogue, and these election should become a lesson for all of us. We have
approached the edge beyond which serious collisions may start and, in any case, in a long-term prospect, mutual trust of the society and the state will undergo serious deformation", A. Melikyan said.

He also expressed an opinion there cane be no force or legal way out of this situation. "I warned that the lost party, whether the authorities of the opposition, would not agree with the election results. The present situation is a result of absence of an interested dialogue between the opposition and the authorities. I think that this is the authorities' omission as just the authorities may and should offer such a dialogue. On the other hand, the opposition in the person of Levon Ter-Petrosyan and his supporters
did not show a serious desire to start a dialogue either. These are the reasons of the present atmosphere of intolerance", A. Melikyan said.



2008-02-22 14:05:00 Presidential candidate, Leader of National Unity Artashes Geghamyan congratulates Armenian Prime Minister on election win
ArmInfo. Presidential candidate, Leader of National Unity Artashes Geghamyan congratulated Armenian Prime Minister on election to the post of President of Armenia.

The information provided to ArmInfo, Friday, says that Artashes Geghamyuan believes the National Unity party 'drew the fire upon itself' and 'saved the country from dangerous processes up to lost of
statehood'. As regards the assessment of the election, Artashes Geghamyan agreed with international observers who say that the election were mostly in the line with international commitments of the country, though further improvements are necessary to meet the existing challenges. A.Geghamyan also thanked the 7 thousand of voters that supported him.



2008-02-22 13:37:00 RA presidential contender: Despite violations during voting and calculation of votes, Serzh Sargsyan had advantage against Levon Ter-Petrosyan
ArmInfo. RA presidential contender Arman Melikyan thinks that, despite violations during voting and calculation of votes, Serzh Sargsyan had an advantage against Levon Ter-Petrosyan, A. Melikyan said at today's press-conference in "Tesaket" club.

"Undoubtedly, there were cases of violence and abuse, nevertheless, I have become aware from the sources I trust, that Serzh Sargsyan had an advantage against L. Ter- Petrosyan. However, based on the data available, I cannot claim whether this advantage was enough for victory in the first round. However, there was an advantage", A. Melikyan said.

To recall, RA presidential contender Levon Ter-Petrosyan's supporters accuse the authorities of falsification of February 19 presidential election results, in the first round of which RA PM Serzh Sargsyan gained a victory.



2008-02-22 13:33:00 Director of Caucasian Institute of Mass Media Alexander Iskandaryan: Armenian society is pregnant with opposition, and needs it
ArmInfo. The Armenian society is presently pregnant with the opposition and needs it, Director of the Caucasian Institute of Mass Media, a political expert Alexander Iskandaryan said today in "Mirror" club commenting on February 19 presidential election in Armenia.

He said that the present election in Armenia have shown a number of phenomena which could hardly be expected before the election process. The phenomenon of the first President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan is the chief of them. Iskandaryan thinks that the matter concerns a phenomenon of a human being and not a political force he represents, since if the Armenian National Movement party took part in the election without Ter-Petrpsyan, the result would be quite different in percentage ratio. Meanwhile, L. Ter-Petrosyan,
who has kept a 10-year silence, appeared in the politics in September, 2007, and could consolidate the whole protest electorate around himself within 3-4 months. Moreover, by the official data, he has shown a great result: every fifth elector voted for Ter-Petrosyan, Iskandaryan said.

According to the "Heritage" party faction Stepan Safaryan, who took part in the discussions, the election have shown that no election system exists in Armenia as one may call February 19 events election only with great reservation. There is no political field in Armenia either, as if it existed, the phenomenon of Ter-Petrosyan would be just impossible. Safaryan said.

Touching upon the post-election processes, A. Iskandaryan said that Ter-Petrosyan needs not so much to achieve his goal - 500,000 people in all, who will stay in the Liberty Square for a fortnight. As for the authorities, they keep silence now, having made a number of mistakes in the election period, since silence is a literate political category, the political expert said. S. Safaryan thinks that Ter-Petrosyan should take correct decisions which will not make the meeting marathon monotonous and will increase
the critical mass. In this case, he will have a real chance. "I do not think that the authorities, having decided to carry out a force action, will be guided by ambiguous conclusions of the western observers. Their decision, if it is made, will be affected by internal factors", the parliamentarian said.



2008-02-22 11:24:00 Head of one of Yerevan election commissions arrested on charge of falsification of voting results at presidential election
ArmInfo. Head of the election commissions of Yerevan is arrested on a charge of falsification of the voting results at presidential election. As press-secretary of RA Prosecutor General Sona Truzyan said, yesterday, the Special Investigation Service received a message from RA CEC about falsification of the voting results at the election precinct 9/16 by the Head and members of the election commission. It turned out that Head of the election commission Eduard Aghajanyan, his deputy
Alvard Hovhannisyan, secretary Margarita Ayvazyan, members of the commission Leyla Grigoryan, Roza Hovsepyan and others have evidently entered incorrect and falsified data in the protocol on
the voting results. A criminal case has been instituted on this fact per Article 150 of RA CC, investigation is underway, E. Aghajanyan is arrested.

The Prosecutor General Office has also denied the information that Arman Mnatsakanyan, having been injured on February 20 night in Alapars village, is a son of the Head of Levon Ter-Petrosyan's
campaign headquarters of Alapars village. "This case has no relation to the election processes. Vardan Ayroyan is Head of L. Ter- Petrosyan's campaign headquarters in Alapars village. Moreover, the uncle of the suffered person leads the work of Serzh Sargsyan's campaign headquarters", the message of the Prosecutor General's Office reads.



2008-02-22 11:23:00 Azerbaijani MP calls on youth 'to be ready for war with Armenia'
ArmInfo. Azerbaijani MP Elman Mamedov called on the youth "to be ready for war with Armenia", Day.az reports. He said that "each battalion of our armed forces is able to get to Yerevan". Then he started praising Ilham Aliyev's dignities. "Azerbaijan has attained great achievements owing to him, which will promote the decisive victory over the enemy", E. Mamedov said.

Mamedov called on the youth to be ready for war for release of the occupied lands. At the same time, the deputy stressed the need to intensify political and diplomatic pressure on Armenia, as the diplomatic efforts of Azerbaijan in the negotiation process may lead to success only when they are supported by strong armed forces.



2008-02-22 11:22:00 RF deputy FM: Possibility of force settlement of conflicts in CIS at level of political statements is denied
ArmInfo. "Any conflict, either in CIS space or in any other place, breaks out easily, however it is difficult to redeem", first deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Andrey Denisov told the "Vryemya Novostey" newspaper.

"Possibility of force settlement of conflicts in CIS at the level of political statements is denied. Minimum four members of CIS- Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Moldova have been involved in conflicts, that has become a pain of the whole Commonwealth. Russia and CIS, in general, have been making a determinant contribution to maintenance of peace and stability in the conflict areas over a
decade", Denisov said.

Asked if the "Kosovo scenario" will lead Russia to recognition of self-declared republics in the post-Soviet space, A. Denisov replied that Russia's attitude to unilateral declaration of Kosovo independence is negative. "This action, undertaken in the absence of an agreement between Serbs and Kosovars regarding Kosovo status, has an apparent illegal and precedented character. However, this is not a reason for us to loose self- control and take mirror steps in order to make things livery for someone. Simply,
in our policy, we shall have to take into account the example of both open violation of the principle of the state's territorial integrity and fussy recognition of Kosovo "independence" by a number of states. Pandora's box is open and the consequences are on a head of those who initiated it.



2008-02-22 11:21:00 Head of the Armenian Assembly of America congratulated Serzh Sargsyan with victory of at presidential election in Armenia
ArmInfo. Head of the Board of Trustees of the Armenian Assembly of America Hrayr Hovnanyan congratulated Serzh Sargsyan with victory at the presidential election in Armenia.

The felicitation of Hrayr Hovnanyan, received by ArmInfo today from the governmental press service, reads that Serzh Sargsyan accumulated an exclusive experience over the last 20 years, holding
very different positions. "I am sure that you will use it for the Armenian people to have a safe country which we shall be able to be proud of", the message reads. "Actively cooperating with the executive and legislative branches of RA Government, the Armenian Assembly of America made it its mission to create and develop mutually beneficial relations between Armenia and USA. We expect development of cooperation with you", the felicitation notes.



2008-02-22 11:14:00 Protest action of Levon Ter-Petrosyan's supporters continued last night in Liberty Square of Yerevan
ArmInfo. Protest action of RA presidential contender Levon Ter- Petrosyan's supporters continued last night in Liberty Square of Yerevan . To recall, his supporters claim that their candidate has won at February 19 presidential election and they strongly disagree with the official preliminary data of the Central Election Commission of Armenia, according to which leader of the Republican party of Armenia, RA PM Serzh Sargsyan gained a victory at the presidential. election.

Despite a cold weather, about 2,000 people were in the Liberty Square all night. Tents have been pitched, food is distributed, portable electric generators have been mobilized. By information
of the foreign Mass Media, Levon Ter-Petrosyan periodically visited the Liberty Square encouraging the rally participants. Leaders of the political forces, supporting L. Ter-Petrosyan - Ararat Zurabyan,
Stepan Demirchyan, Aram Karapetyan, Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, Aram Manukyan, Hrant Bagratyan and Lyudmila Sarkisyan were in the Square.

To recall, yesterday, at the meeting of Ter-Petrosyan's supporters, it was decided to arrange a sit strike. Even in the beginning of the meeting, member of L. Ter-Petrosyan's campaign headquarters,
Editor-in-Chief of the "Haykakan Zhamanak" newspaper Nikol Pashinyan told all those gathered in the Square that the Liberty Square turns into Ter- Petrosyan's central headquarter from now on. Different
rallies will start from the Square, including meetings, processions, pickets, etc. The meeting organizers urged students to start a strike from February 22.

The next meeting of L. Ter-Petrosyan's supporters will be held today at 3:00 in Liberty Square.



2008-02-22 11:07:00 Georgian Observers Monitoring Presidential Elections in Armenia did not Fix Violations
ArmInfo-BLACK SEA PRESS. Georgian observers who monitored the next presidential elections in Armenia on February 19 did no fix serious violations that would influence the final results. This fact was informed to BLACK SEA PRESS by adviser to the chairman of the Central Election Commission of Georgia Nugzar Kupreishvili.

"We did not fix any serious violations at the polling stations where we were", he said.

"Later we were informed that after election polling stations were closed, police and chairmen of the election commissions of polling stations forced observers from the opposition to leave the polling
stations. We can neither confirm no disprove this information as we were not present there at that moment", Kupreishvili noted.

According to Kupreishvili, the group of observers of CEC of Georgia monitored elections at polling stations in villages near Yerevan. During monitoring the observers visited 15 polling stations.

The group of observers of CEC of Georgia held short-term monitoring of presidential elections in Armenia from February 17 till February 20 at the invitation of CEC of Armenia.



2008-02-21 15:00:00 Possibility of meeting of OSCE chair-in-office with Karabakh party representatives during his forthcoming visit to Armenia is presently discussed
ArmInfo. "Possibility of meeting of OSCE chair-in-office with Karabakh party representatives during his forthcoming visit to Armenia is presently discussed", ArmInfo was told in the permanent representation of Nagorno Karabakh republic in Yerevan. To recall, OSCE Chair-in-Office, Finnish Foreign Minister Ikka Kanerva will visit Armenia on February 25-26. He will meet RA authorities within the frames of the visit.

To note, Ikka Kanerva will visit Armenia within the frames of a regional visit. OSCE chair-in-office will visit Azerbaijan on February 28.







Economy


2008-02-22 16:55:00 Concessioner to invest $130 mln for construction of new passenger terminal at Yerevan Zvartnots airport
ArmInfo. Concessionaire, CJSC "Armenian International Airports" will invest $130 mln for construction of new passenger terminal at Yerevan Zvartnots airport, head of Civil Aviation General Department Artem Movsesyan said at the briefing today.

He also added that $130 mln will be invested for the construction of the new passenger terminal and three-floor motor-car parking for 800 motor vehicles. Another $28 mln will be invested in fire security
and guarding system. Movsesyan said that today the government proved the programme submitted by the concessionaire. Construction of the new terminal will be finished in the middle of 2010. He also added that all the investments will be implemented at the expense of the income got by the concessionaire from exploiting of Zvartnots airport. Repayment of investments will start beginning
from 2011.

The whole complex of the new passenger terminal will occupy a territory of 25 thsd sq/m. The number of check-in tables will grow from today's 21 up to 42. This will make it possible to avoid queues. The new terminal will be able to give service to 3500 passengers in an hour. Movsesyan assured that by its
equipment and service level the terminal will meet all international standards.


Finance and banks


2008-02-22 13:39:00 Exchange rate of dram against US dollar and EUR
ArmInfo Today, the maximum buying rates at commercial banks of Yerevan were 306 drams for 1 dollar, 451 drams for 1 EUR and 12,24 drams for 1 Russian ruble. The minimum selling rates stood at 308 drams for 1 dollar, 456 drams for 1 EUR and 12,5 drams for 1 Russian ruble.