Intrigue of the day

2008-04-19 13:29:00 DPA Leader: If I were on the place of the authorities, I would not hinder Levon Ter-Petrosyan since his surroundings will give short shrift to him

ArmInfo. ' If I were on the place of the authorities, I would not hinder Levon Ter- Petrosyan since his surroundings whom he let down will give short shrift to him', Leader of the Democratic Party of Armenia (DPA) Aram G. Sargsyan said at Azdak debate club in response to ArmInfo question, Saturday.

He said the authorities should be seriously concerned about the fact that a great many people fairly dissatisfied with the social situation in the country joined 'Devil'. Asked why DPA did not join Ter-Petrosyan's movement, A. Sargsyan said: 'We have always criticized the authorities. But DPA shouldn't be where Levon Ter-Petorsyan and Armenian Pan National Movement are. Their goals are too familiar to us', he said.







Politics

2008-04-21 10:59:00 Several events to be held in Tbilisi on April 23 and 24 dedicated to 93rd anniversary of Armenian Genocide

ArmInfo. A number of events will be held in Tbilisi on April 23 and 24 dedicated to the 93rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

The event have been organized by the Armenian Cooperation Center of Georgia. As the press service of ACCG reports, torches will be lighted on April 23 at 8:30 PM near Turkey's Embassy in Georgia,
where a large-scale meeting has been scheduled on April 24 at 1:30 PM. A photo-exhibition and first performance of an artificial film will be held the same day. To note, it is the 4th year the ACCG has
been holding different events within the frames of the campaign on activation of the Armenian Genocide issue. In order to attract more number of people to such events, every year, members of the
organization conduct an active work with wide strata of the Armenian community of Tbilisi, namely, they hold preparatory meetings with schoolchildren, students and the older generation, as well as distribute booklets, leaflets and other agitation materials.


2008-04-19 17:20:00 Levon Ter-Petrosyan's supporters' rally ended under disguised shouting of oppositionists as a reply to the actions of the police

ArmInfo. Levon Ter-Petrosyan's supporters' rally has ended under the disguised shouting of oppositionists as a reply to the actions of the police, which switched off electric devices at 5:00 PM, the time of possible ending of the rally declared in advance.

Chairman of Levon Ter-Petrosyan's election headquarters, his former press-secretary Levon Zurabyan said that when the rally started electric power was switched off for 30 minutes, and now they have to
continue the rally for 30 minutes. But the talks between organizers of the rally and policemen had no result. After that supporters of the opposition were shouting anti-governmental slogans for several
minutes and then left as the rally organizers called them to do it.As the equipment was disconnected from energy supply, the leaders of two large oppositional parties had no chance to make a speech, -
Stepan Demirchyan, the chairman of the People's Party of Armenia, and Aram Sargsyan, the head of the Political Council of the "Republic" party.

To note, the City Hall of Yerevan has acknowledged the notification about the rally for the first time after state of emergency in Yerevan was lifted. According to ArmInfo correspondent's estimation, a total of 7-10 thsd people took part in the rally. The rally was held under the scenario of the similar termless rallies from February 20 till February 29. During the intervals between the speeches, the participants listened to the music and chanted the slogans "Levon president", "Fight, fight up to the end", "Free,
independent
Armenia". After the rally, some supporters of the opposition went to the Northern Avenue to take part in the traditional political strolls. Levon Ter-Petrosyan himself took no part in the April 19 activities.


2008-04-19 17:02:00 Speaker of Armenian parliament: We are able to protect our two national identities and our people

ArmInfo. "Unlike Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia doesn't encroach upon Nagorno-Karabakh people's right to self-determination", Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly Tigran Torosyan said after the sitting of the Commission for Karabakh-Armenia Inter-parliamentary Cooperation.

As ArmInfo own correspondent in Stepanakert reports, Torosyan said that the declaration about the key principles of the international law states that the self-determining people may choose one of the
three possible variants of self-determination: separating itself and joining another country, separating itself and proclaiming its independence, or some other political status that the people will choose of their own free will.

"In this context, one of the big concessions to Azerbaijan made by the Nagorno-Karabakh people is proclamation of independent statehood. And we respect this concession", Torosyan said.

He added that the implementation of the right to self-determination by Karabakh people was irreproachable, "and one can find no other similar example in the world history, at least in the period when the right to self-determination was proclaimed the international law's standard having the highest status".

Asked about recognition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic by the Republic of Armenia, Tigran Torosyan said: "The recognition of the NKR by Armenia is not a problem. This can be done at any moment.

However, this shouldn't become a one-time action. We'll make the relevant step at a well-chosen moment".
According to Torosyan, the present possibilities of Armenia "are
incommensurable with those the country had in the late 80s early
90s". "We are able to protect our two national identities and our
people", Torosyan said in conclusion.


2008-04-19 13:27:00 Leader of Democratic Party of Armenia: One should not go into a tail-spin because of PACE resolution on Armenia adopted on 17 April

ArmInfo. 'One should not go into a tail-spin because of PACE resolution on Armenia adopted on 17 April', - the leader of the Democratic Party of Armenia Aram Sarkisyan said at Azdak discussion club when commenting on ArmInfo correspondent's question regarding the PACE resolution.

He also added that Armenia is like an undiligent schoolboy which what to do and what not. "We knew very well everything mentioned in the resolution without European parliamentarians. Now Azerbaijan made use of it for its goals", - Sarkisyan said.


2008-04-19 13:26:00 Moral deficit in public key reason of present domestic political crisis in Armenia: DPA leader

ArmInfo. Moral deficit in public is the key reason of the present domestic political crisis in Armenia, Leader of the Democratic Party of Armenia (DPA) Aram G. Sargsyan said at Azdak Debate Club, Saturday.

He said the new President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan inherited from Robert Kocharyan moral deficit in public and has to make steps to correct the situation. Staff reshuffles are of great importance in
such situation and Serzh Sargsyan is on 'the right way' so far since the public will approve the appointment of Tigran Sargsyan, Seyran Ohanyan, and Edvard Nalbandyan to the posts of prime minister, defense minister and foreign minister. At the same time, A. Sargsyan said that political parties in the ruling coalition should present their human resources to the president and further appointments must be based on the principle 'we have a program and need specific people for its implementation', DPA leader said.
One should give the new government and president 6 months to bestir themselves, afterwards the public will see if their promises coincide with their acts or not.


2008-04-19 13:21:00 Custody of New Times opposition party leader Aram Karapetyan extended for a month

ArmInfo. First Istance Court of Center and Nork Marash communities extended the custody of Leader of New Times opposition party Aram Karapetyan for a month, the lawyer of Aram Karapetyan Haroutyun Baghdasaryan told ArmInfo.

He mentioned that Aram Karapetyan was detained on February 24 by the National Security Service officers and has been kept in custody since then. He is charged with Article 333 of Criminal Code (false
denunciation). On April 18 the court satisfied the petition by the investigation group for prolongation of the period under guard for a month. Earlier the lawyers and the members of the party Political Council called Aram Karapetya's arrest political. 'In addition, since February 24 A. Karapetyan has been interrogated just twice and no other investigative measures have been taken so far. Obviously, the arrest of A. Karapetyan and other oppositionists is a preventive measure in order 'he calms down and changes
his mind' and another month is necessary to investigators just to decide whether to submit his case to the court or set him free', the lawyer said.

Asked if he intends to appeal against the verdict, the lawyer said he has not discussed the issue with his client so far. 'My personal opinion is that appealing against the verdict is senseless because he court exceeded his powers', H. Baghdasaryan said.


Interview

2008-04-19 17:13:00 Outsourcing for Armenia - it is not so bad

It is no secret that development of information technologies in Armenia rests on the outsourcing, first of all, i.e. execution of orders from abroad. Moreover, producers of all the kinds of computer articles are specialized in this area. The matter also concerns the developers of independent programmes and producers of drivers, that is, software for computer items, as well as producers of microchips. However, is IT-sector of Armenia able to establish a full process cycle of production of programmes and items?
Perhaps, a literally planned outsourcing industry is able to become the primary driving force of IT-sphere development in Armenia as it already successfully happens in many countries of the world: quick development of IT-sphere in the countries of South-Eastern Asia is a convincing example here, Director of the Competitive Armenian Private Sector - CAPS organization, set up in Armenia in 2006 under assistance of USAID, Hayley Alexander told ArmInfo correspondent abou
t it and other problems of IT-sphere in Armenia. He also said about the current programmes of CAPS in the sphere of information technologies, tourism and pharmaceutics.

Mr. Alexander, will you please tell about the current programmes of the Fund and their implementation process?

First, I shall start with the programmes in pharmaceutics. We have recently launched a consumer demand programme on April 10, as one of the programmes in this sphere, aimed at analysis of assessments of the present state of the medicines market in Armenia by final consumers. The results of the poll will be used for consultation of local producers. We have set two tasks here. The first task is improvement of the product quality. We are willing to implement the international production standards in Armenia named
GMP (Good manufacturing products). These standards envisage adherence to the high level quality at all the production stages. The second task is implementation of a successful marketing strategy, which includes correct creation and support of the brand, public information, etc.

At present, the majority of medicines are imported in Armenia from outside. Do the Armenian pharmacists need creating new drugs for themselves or they should tighten the relations with foreign exporters?

I think that both are necessary. Such a small country like Armenia is hardly able to produce all the medicines it needs. However, there are products Armenia is quite able to produce at such a level as to meet the domestic demand, as well as rise the interest of foreign customers.

What drugs is Armenia capable to produce today?

The Armenian companies produce wide-spectrum of drugs. These are pills, injection preparations and others.

What can you say about the homeopathic drugs, for example, the herbal medicines?

This is the sphere, where the Armenian producers can achieve serious success in the international market, as herbal drugs are presently in a stable demand in the European market, moreover, their production and use in Armenia are widespread.

What can you say about your projects in tourism, including such a new direction for Armenia as an adventure tourism?

The adventure tourism rock climbing, alpinism, crosses, etc. has great potential for development in Armenia. First of all, this is an interesting alternative to todays tourist industry of Armenia, the main resource of which is the historical and cultural heritage of Armenia. In fact, Armenia is a country with an ancient history and there are many valuable monuments of the world culture here, however, the wider the service spectrum is the more the potential clients are. In 2007, we organized a fact-finding
trip of the Italian tour operators to Armenia, who were kindly surprised at the perfect opportunities available here for development of an adventure tourism.

Will the new kind of tourism require retraining of guides and other specialists of the tourist business?

Of course. However, the point is that there are no such specialists in Armenia, so it is necessary to organize trainings with participation of foreign specialists. Moreover, employees of the rescue services may partially replace instructors of the wild tourism. Therefore, we schedule joint programmes with the Rescue Center of the town of Spitak. I must say that the market potential here is very great, including from the USA, where both the native Americans and the Armenians, living in the United States, who
have never seen their historical motherland or left it long ago, show the interest in Armenia. Such a trip will be an excellent opportunity for them to know Armenia from inside.

Will you please tell about your projects in the sphere of information technologies? A visit to the Silicon valley in June, 2008, will become one of the main events of the year in IT-industry.

We foster great hopes with this trip, so, we started preparing for that beforehand. In February, we started receiving applications from the Armenian developers for participation in the trip. The pretenders had to present a marketing programme or even its project. The best of these projects were later selected on a competitive basis. During selection, we were guided by clear perception of the Armenian developers regarding what they are ready to offer to American companies and what they are expected of. The projects,
where the producers understood the market requirements and the nature of demand, were selected for participation.

Who else takes part in the trip?

The Armenian delegation will also include representatives of the state bodies. It is still difficult to call the names of the participant-companies and representatives of government institutions, as their staff may change.

The final stage of the competition of Armenias IT developers Imagine Cup will be held on April 25, and the main topic of the competition projects this year is echo-technologies, perhaps, for the best programmes to be used in practice.

Our partners - Enterprises Incubator Fund (EIF) and the Armenian representation of Microsoft played a great part in organization of the competition. Thanks to Microsoft, these projects may become well-known in abroad and attract investors. As for their implementation in Armenia, it is quite probable that the state agencies will pay attention to some of these projects, as the Imagine Cup will be widely covered in the press.

It is no secret that IT-production in Armenia is mostly based on the outsourcing. What can be done to overcome the situation, and does it need overcoming?

To some degree, the outsourcing may be considered as a fatal evil for the countries with transient economy. You see, not every country is able to develop large-scale projects. However, a number of advantages may be taken out of it . Many countries India, China, the countries of the South-Eastern Asia have built their own IT-industry just on the outsourcing. It is also important that there are always the companies among those in IT leader-countries, for example, in the USA, for which it is of profit to entrust
the developers from another country, including Armenia, with part of their work. I must say that the Armenian IT-sector is actively developing today: new companies appear, and rather serious tasks may be set under these conditions. For this purpose, we are going to hold a business-forum on June 21-22 jointly with the Association of IT-developers of Armenia (UITE), during which possibility of mutually beneficial cooperation of IT-developers and companies of various ec
onomy branches will be discussed.

UITE achieved great success having come through to the final of the European competition of IT-developers in Stockholm

It is a great success. Undoubtedly, such a success attracts attention not only to a specific company but to the country in general. People start thinking: Information technologies in Armenia? If this company reached such a serious success, perhaps, the rest ones lag behind it not so much.

Taking into account all this, can we say that Armenia is able to develop the competitive private sector, in the sphere of information technologies, in particular?

If the state wishes for any branch of economy to develop successfully, it should assist it. Tax and customs advantages for IT-producers will become the most efficient support. For example, full exemption of IT-producers in Armenia from tax and customs may be of a great benefit. Let them export their developments abroad and sell there without restrictions. In this case, not only local but also the foreign producers will show interest in IT-industry in Armenia. Meanwhile, though they would like to open their business
here but high VAT and duties stop them. One should not forget that there is always a choice among several possible versions when carrying out investments in any country, and a foreign investor should have sound reasons to prefer Armenia to another countries. You know, the sphere of information technologies develops so headily that all the expenses on it will be paid off without fail.

Thank you for the interview.

Aram Gareginyan, ArmInfo. April 15, 2008











Finance and banks

2008-04-21 11:01:00 Exchange rate of dram against US dollar and EUR

ArmInfo Today, the maximum buying rates at commercial banks of Yerevan were 310 drams for 1 dollar, 490drams for 1 EUR and 12,97 drams for 1 Russian ruble. The minimum selling rates stood at 311 drams for 1 dollar, 494 drams for 1 EUR and 13,2 drams for 1 Russian ruble.


2008-04-18 14:21:00 ARMIMPEXBANK CJSC to finance acquisition and delivery to Armenia of 55 ZONDA model buses

ArmInfo. Fifty-five comfortable ZONDA buses will soon be serving passengers throughout Yerevan streets, Ameria consulting company told ArmInfo.

Thus, the principal means of public transportation in Armenia are buses, trolleybuses, minibuses and metro, with minibuses being the most popular and holding about 80% share of total transportation
services.

The estimated growth of the number of vehicles in the capital totals to 9,000-10,000 per year, thus making the traffic even more difficult. Taking all that into account, the city municipality adopted a policy of increasing the number of buses and simultaneously decreasing that of minibuses in city routes.

One of the pioneers in switching some of the routes from minibuses to buses is TIGRAN LLC, one of the major transport operators in Armenia.

To support the program implementation process, Tigran LLC contracted Ameria CJSC, a leading investment advisor in Armenia. Based on the Client's objectives Ameria specialists elaborated an investment project, based on which a loan of about US $3'000'000 was funded by ARMIMPEXBANK CJSC to finance acquisition and delivery to Armenia of 55 ZONDA model buses.

During the first phase of the project, 10 ZONDA buses will replace 21 GAZEL minibuses and 4 PAZ buses. The second phase provides for 45 more ZONDA buses to be imported to Armenia and replace 103 GAZEL microbuses. In addition to significant improvement of traffic in the city, these buses were chosen for their efficiency, safety and environmental safety.