ARMENIAN DIPLOMATES DON’T TRADE IN CARS
By Ara Martirosian
AZG Armenian Daily
26/01/2008
The response of the head of the press and information department of
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Karapetyan to Radio Liberty
Mr. Karapetyan, the German DPA agency informs that the diplomats
representing Armenia to Buenos Aires have appeared among diplomats of
over 30 other countries, who are suspected by the foreign ministry
of Argentina of illegal import of cars. Please confirm or refute
this information.
The part of the information published in the Clarin, an Argentinian
newspaper, and spread by the German agency DPA concerning the Armenian
embassy to Argentina and its staff is not true.
In Argentina no Armenian diplomat has ever bought a personal car and
has never been involved in any profit deal.
The Armenian embassy to Argentina owns a Honda Accord car which was
donated to the embassy in 2006 by the national benefactor Eduardo
Seferyan, and one For Focus which was bought in 2007. The Armenian
embassy does not own any other car.
It should be noted that the authoritative Argentinean newspaper La
Nacion published a story about the same incident but did not mention
the Armenian embassy.
The foreign minister of Argentina Jorge Taiana has initiated an
investigation in illegal import of cars.
Several senior officials of the foreign ministry and customs service
of Argentina have been dismissed. The Armenian embassy urges in a
letter to the editor of the Clarin to refute the wrong information.
Jan B. Poulsen Appointed Coach of Armenian National Football Team
Veteran Danish coach Jan B. Poulsen has been appointed as the man
to lead Armenia through 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying, coming in as
a permanent replacement to Ian Porterfield following the Scotsman’s
death in September.
The 61-year-old Poulsen will couple the role with that of the Football
Federation of Armenia technical director, taking the reins from
Vardan Minasyan who took temporary charge after Porterfield passed
away following a long illness. "I’ve only seen two Armenia matches so
I’ll get to know the players and the team during training sessions,"
said the former Denmark Under-21 coach. "Our goal is to achieve good
results and play attractive football." Poulsen will get a taste of
what is to come at the beginning of February when Armenia compete in
an international tournament in Malta, alongside the hosts, Belarus
and Iceland, uefa.com reports.
RA Trade and Economy Minister: Armenian Industry Experiences "Quite"
Growth without Diamond Proceeding
Nerses Yeritsian, RA Trade and Economy development Minister, dwelt
on the results of the past economic year at yesterday’s annual press
conference. Touching upon the main microeconimic factors, he stated
that the economic growth was quite an impressive one. As for the
industry, he said that even excluding the diamond proceeding sector,
the economic growth made 8,8% last year. He especially pointed out
the growth of machinery industry which made 20%.
Yeritsian said that they have elaborated a number of programs aimed
to improvement of business athmosphere, to economic growth mainly
in the spheres of mining industry, chemical industry, tourism and
information technologies. He added that they expect certain improvement
of the diamond proceeding sector after cooperating with the Russian
"Alrosa" company.
In response to the question of a journalist, Yeritsian said that
in conditions of economic downturn in the US, the prices for gross
products in Armenia may not be changed much. Yeritsian also added
that there are manu serisous investments made in the cphere of mining
industry aimed to the development of this primary sphere of Armenian
economy. Yeritsuan promised to give more detailed information about
the sphere of mining industry in 6-7 months.
As for the pre-electoral programs, he said that such promises as growth
of budget and salaries may acuse high inflation, as awell as certain
expectations that may dissappoint people if they do not come true.