Intrigue of the day

2008-07-21 15:28:00 Serzh Sargsyan: I don't think that there will be a 'Flood' if we fail to implement something from the PACE resolutions in time

ArmInfo. I don't think that there will be a "Flood" if we fail to implement something from the PACE resolutions in time, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said during a press-conference on the occasion of the 100th day of his presidency.

The point is not that Armenia should implement resolutions 1609 and 1620 by the specified time - by Jan 2009 - but that the country should become more democratic. He said that the Armenian government was working hard to implement the resolutions and his electoral programs and the electoral programs of the coalition parties formulated the same tasks in more detail.

Of course, it would be desirable that we should find solutions as quickly as possible but it is wrong to set deadlines. The calls for implementing some requirements in time are an additional stimulus for Armenia's development. Armenia has undertaken these commitments on its own will and will implement them without fail, Sargsyan said.







Politics

2008-07-21 15:40:00 Serzh Sargsyan: Too soft verdicts to pogromists may not be of service to public

ArmInfo. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan called effective the actions by the law- enforcement in investigation of the incidents of 1 March in Yerevan.

Speaking at a press conference devoted to 100 days of his presidency Serzh Sargsyan outlined the release of dozens of people not guilty in organization or participation in the unrest as an evidence of the effective work of the authorities and partial fulfillment of international recommendations. 'I have repeatedly said and now reiterate that I welcome soft verdicts to the people whose guilt is not significant', the president said. However, he said, the people that committed heavy crimes, provoked pogroms or
crushed private
property will not get soft verdicts.

'On the other hand, I think we have no right to overlook those incidents and the people who committed heavy crimes, organized disorders, broke, smashed private property. I think if we are too soft to them we will not be of service to public and many in our country will yield to temptation to make such actions', the president said.

Commenting on the recent statement by the first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan that 'Serzh Sargsyan could set free all the prisoners by a singe phone call', the president said 'this step will not be useful to anyone. If anyone is able to set free dozens of people by a single call, he can easily imprison dozens of people in the same way. It is not my style', he said.


2008-07-21 15:38:00 Serzh Sargsyan: Common sense must win in normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations

ArmInfo. Common sense must win in normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said at a press conference Monday. He said trends towards healthy discussions of problems are observed in the Armenian and Turkish publics.

Moreover, the possible visit of Turkish president to Armenia may lead to good and stable breakthroughs. We ought to exert efforts to settle the problem and not create new problems, the president said. 'Some officials say normalization of relations will be in favor of Armenia but there will be mutually advantageous relations', Sargsyan said.

Sargsyan said Armenia may deepen relations with Iran and Georgia and establish new relations with Azerbaijan as far as possible.


2008-07-21 15:34:00 Serzh Sargsyan: I am president of all citizens of Armenia even of those who do not recognize me president

ArmInfo. 'I am president of all the citizens of Armenia even of those who do not recognize me president', President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said at a press conference in Yerevan on 21 July when asked about prospects of dialogue with first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

He said he ought to be president for all the citizens of the Republic of Armenia and will remain their president. As regards the dialogue, the president said: 'what we can speak to the people who demand new election. I have tired of elections, the country has experienced at once several election processes and the next elections must be in 2012. It will be regular elections to the parliament' Serzh Sargsyan
said.

Nevertheless, the president said he does not think the dialogue 'belated'. Dialogue is communication with the people, public in the format state-public and not president and isolated persons, he said. 'I believe such processes must continue and it is wrong believing any format of dialogue belated', S. Sargsyan said. 'I am always in my room since 9:00am till the evening so there is a great variety of topics for dialogue', the president said.


2008-07-21 15:29:00 Serzh Sargsyan: Possible visit of Turkey's president to Armenia may positively affect discussion of issues concerning two countries' public

ArmInfo. Possible visit of the Turkish president to Armenia may positively affect discussion of the issues which concern the two countries' public, RA President Serzh Sargsyan said at today's press-conference dedicated to summing-up of the first 100 days of his presidency.

As S. Sargsyan said, when the matter concerns a neighbouring country, one should not talk of the terms 'but wait as much as required'. He added that healthy discussion of the existing problems is already marked both in Turkey and Armenia. Commenting on the fact of meeting of the Armenian and Turkish diplomats, the president said that contacts among the officials have never stopped, and there is nothing strange that representatives of Armenia met their Turkish counterparts in Switzerland. He emphasized that both
Armenia and Turkey will only win having established the relations.


2008-07-21 15:26:00 Serzh Sargsyan: Armenian-Russian relations as good as relations of two states can be

ArmInfo. Armenian-Russian relations are as good the relations of two states can be, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said at a press conference devoted to 100 days of his presidency.

'We had very good common past, we have good present and I am confident in the bright future of our relations', he said. The president said that some rivals speaking of problems evidently do that from the best of motives.

Serzh Sargsyan said that the dynamics of economic relations is sometimes called insufficient. However, what can better testify to dynamics of relations than 30-40% growth of commodity turnover. 'We
have common approaches with RF to many issues and it makes our cooperation at international organizations easier', the president said. He is confident that the upcoming visit of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev will foster the bilateral relations.


2008-07-21 15:13:00 Azerbaijani party presents murder of Armenian soldier as fight 'with reconnaissance group'

ArmInfo. The Azerbaijani party presents the murder of the Armenian soldier as a fight 'with reconnaissance group'.

As spokesman of RA Defense Ministry, Colonel Seyran Shahsouvaryan told ArmInfo, the statements of the Azerbaijani party about the alleged attempt of RA Armed Forces to penetrate into the territory of Azerbaijan are the next attempt of disinformation of the world community and its own country's population. 'Nothing of the kind happened in fact', S. Shahsouvaryan emphasized. As for the murder of the Armenian captive Gor Manasaryan, RA DM spokesman said that a soldier of involuntary service of one of the boundary
units G. Manasaryan lost his way and was shot dead by the Azerbaijani soldiers. Now, the Azerbaijani party presents the murder of the Armenian soldier as a fight "with reconnaissance group". 'The Azerbaijani party deliberately hushes up or does not want to admit that there was not even an outfit on the killed soldier required in the case if everything happened in a way the Azerbaijani party presents', S. Shahsouvaryan said.

Presently, the body of the killed soldier is at the Azerbaijani side. The Armenian party intends to shortly take active measures to return the body of the died soldier to his relatives.


2008-07-21 15:04:00 National-democratic party of Armenia opposes to collection of signatures against RA ex- President Robert Kocharyan

ArmInfo. The National-Democratic party of Armenia opposes to collection of signatures for commitment of RA ex-President Robert Kocharyan for Hague Tribunal.

'The edge, after which the country's national interests are endangered and the positions of two states, Armenia and Nagorno Karbakh, weaken on the international arena, should not be exceeded in the internal political struggle. Just this edge was exceeded by supporters of RA first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who organized collection of signatures for commitment of RA ex-President Robert Kocharyan for Hague tribuna', the statement received by ArmInfo from NDP party's office says.

'Azerbaijani authorities continuously claim that they prepare a "working material" about the alleged ethnic cleansings, genocide and military crimes with respect to Azerbaijan's population, carried out
by the Armenian authorities, for delivery to Hague tribunal. Azerbaijan uses collection of signatures initiated by L. Ter-Petrosyan's supporters for its purposes having quickened its actions in this direction. Further, a threat will occur that Hague tribunal will investigate not the Armenian Genocide in 1915 and
ethnic cleansings of the Armenians carried out by Turkey and Azerbaijan in the territory of Azerbaijan and Karabakh at late 20th century but Armenia's case against Robert Kocharyan. While the going is good, it is necessary to stop collection of signatures. Otherwise, this action will turn out be an assistance to Azerbaijan which will speed-up the process of bringing false charges against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh in Hague court', the statement of the National-Democratic party of Armenia says.


Economy

2008-07-18 13:35:00 Armenia announces tender for license for activity of third mobile operator in Armenia

ArmInfo. Armenia has announced a tender for license for activity of a third mobile operator in Armenia, Press Secretary of Armenian Transport and Communication Ministry Susanna Tonoyan told
ArmInfo.

She said relevant announcement was published in The Financial Times on 17 and 18 July. The parties interested must apply for participation in a tender within 10 days after it is announced. The companies that will pass the pre-qualification stage will be named within 40 days. The winner will be declared within 90 days. The opening offer for 15-year license is 10 million euros. The third operator must have relevant experience and ability to invest at least 200 million in development within 2 years.

The following codes will be provided to the third operator +374 (0) 55 and +374 (0) 95. If the operator fails to use the provided codes by at least 60% by the end of the year, the PSRC has a right to take
back the unused numbers. The third operator will be provided with GSM frequency and an opportunity to provide 3G services including voice and data transmission. The frequencies will be provided within the
following limits: 880-890, 925-935, 1745-1765, 1840-1860, 1910-1915, 1950-1965, 2140-2155 MHz.

At present GSM service providers in Armenia are ArmenTel CJSC (100% subsidiary of Russian VimpelCom OJSC with trademark Beeline) and K-Telecom with trademark VivaCell, 88% stake of the latter belong to Russian MTS operator. By the data of the companies, the number of subscribers was up 45.5% over 2007 to 1,824,344. The greatest part of the market belong top VivaCell.


Finance and banks

2008-07-21 15:12:00 Exchange rate of dram against US dollar and EUR

ArmInfo Today, the maximum buying rates at commercial banks of Yerevan were 301 drams for 1 dollar, 476 drams for 1 EUR and 12,8 drams for 1 Russian ruble. The minimum selling rates stood at 302,5 drams for 1 dollar, 480 drams for 1 EUR and 13,3 drams for 1 Russian ruble.


2008-07-18 17:41:00 Ameriabank launches new deposit program

ArmInfo. Ameriabank has launches a new deposit programs this month, Ameriabank press-service reports.

Under the program the bank has introduced the following deposits: 'Standard', 'Capital', 'To Relatives', 'Moneybox', 'Practical' and 'Convertible'. In particular, deposit 'Standard' maturity is at least 30 days. The minimum amount of deposit is 75,000 AMD. Deposit 'Capital' allows replenishing the deposit, and the interests are calculated on the actual balance. The minimum amount of deposit is
60,000 drams. Deposit 'To Relatives' is registered on a third party that can enjoy all the rights of depositor. The minimum amount of deposit is 100,000 drams. Deposit 'Moneybox' is registered on the
name of a child. The depositor can fill the amount both in conformity with the coordinated amount and term and any time and any amount convenient to him. The minimum amount of deposit is 30,000 drams. Deposit 'Practical' with the minimum amount of 300,000 drams allows flexible management of funds. In particular, one can fill or reduce the amount of deposit by 30% without losing the accumulated
interests. Deposit 'Convertible' allows changing the currency of deposit during the whole time of the Deposit receiving the interests accumulated earlier. The minimum amount of deposit is 300,000 drams.

The bank reports that the new deposits of Ameriabank have a series of privileges: gifts - MasterCard Standard, MasterCard Gold plastic cards, free annual service. At least 0.5% additional interest rate if
the deposit exceeds 30 million drams or equivalent in foreign currency. Ameriabank data say the bank's time deposits for first half of 2008 were up 2.6 times to 8.9 billion drams. The capital base of the bank is 26 million US dollars.


Social

2008-07-21 15:10:00 ViVa Cell finances programme for improvement of infrastructure in Gegharkunik region

ArmInfo. ViVa Cell financed a programme for improvement of the infrastructure in Gegharkunik region. As the Public Relations Department of Viva Cell told ArmInfo, a 1,200 meters long gas pipeline is laid in Lichk village within the frames of the programme that allowed to provide 80 families with gas. VivaCell also extended its all-reaching hand to help address the problem of the lack of reliable irrigation infrastructure in the village of Madina and other villages nearby. Here the company allocated AMD 9
million for the complete renovation of a 20 km long irrigation water supply network thanks to which the water passing through Madina now reaches Verin Getashen and Lichk villages to irrigate 15 hectares of
productive lands. The total sum of Viva Cell investments made up 17 mln drams.

'As a socially-responsible company, VivaCell continues on implementing its large-scale programs having long-term positive impact on the Armenian society, with special focus on improving the quality of life of people living in the regions of Armenia', the Company's message says.

VivaCell (K-Telecom CJSC) is the leading Armenian mobile operator. It enters the group of companies of one of the biggest mobile operators in the territory of Russia and CIS - MTS company.