Author: Andres-Papazian

EDUARD SHARMAZANOV: IN THE END, NKR WILL REUNITE WITH ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 25, 2010 – 20:33 AMT 15:33 GMT

Armenian parliamentary delegation testifies NKR elections were held in
accordance with principles of freedom and democracy and in conformity
with international norms, RPA parliamentary group secretary Eduard
Sharmazanov stated.

As he told a news conference in Yerevan, NKR parliamentary elections
demonstrated unity of Karabakh people to the whole world. “A time
will come for NKR to be recognized by international community and
reunite with Armenia.”

Commenting on the statement by the member and former speaker of the
Slovak parliament, Frantisek Miklosko on inclusion of Armenia, NKR
and Azerbaijan in EU in the capacity of associate members, Eduard
Sharmazanov expressed his satisfaction over Slovak parliamentarian’s
recognition of NKR independence.

From: A. Papazian

BAKO SAHAKYAN NOTED THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ARMENIAN OBSERVERS’ PARTICIPATION IN THE ELECTIONS

NOYAN TAPAN
MAY 25, 2010
STEPANAKERT

On 24 May President of the Artsakh Republic Bako Sahakyan met members
of the Armenian official delegation arrived in Artsakh to observe
the process of the parliamentary elections.

B. Sahakyan noted the importance of the Armenian observers’
participation in the elections considering it among necessary factors
for strengthening inter-Armenian ties.

According to the cetral information department of the office of the
Artsakh Republic president, it was mutually noted that successes of
Artsakh in state and democracy building are success for the whole
Armenian people.

From: A. Papazian

PSRC RULING NOT TO AFFECT DRINKING WATER PRICE FOR YEREVAN RESIDENTS

/ARKA/
May 25, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, May 25, /ARKA/. Armenia’s Public Services Regulatory
Commission (PSRC) has allowed today the French-run Yerevan Jur (Yerevan
Water) distribution company to raise the free for one cubic meter of
drinking water for households by 14 Drams to 195 Drams The decision
comes into effect from July 1. By another decision PSRC has allowed
the Yerevan municipality to pay the difference until 2011 July 1. As
a result the fee for Yerevan households will not change.

Yerevan Jur, which is managed by the French Generale des Eaux, had
formally asked the Armenian Public Services Regulatory Commission
(PSRC) on February 26 to allow it to raise the price of 1 cubic meter
of drinking water from 181 drams to 206 drams from July 1. Under the
law, the PSRC had to make a ruling within 90 days, but the PSRC said
today that after making an inquiry into its application it found the
request not grounded. It, however, allowed the company to raise the
fee by 11.6 Drams, down from 33.2 Drams sought by Yerevan Jur.

Pascal Royen, chief manager of Yerevan Jur, dissatisfied by the
ruling, argued that as a result the company will slow down the pace
of the network’s rehabilitation that in turn will tell on its plan
to improve water supplies to residents of the city.

According to him, Armenian enterprises have already slashed water
consumption by 20 percent. He also said the price of drinking water in
Armenia is one of the cheapest in the world. The water price already
rose by 4 percent in April last year.

Generale des Eaux won an international tender announced by World
Bank to take up a long-term management of the Yerevan network in
2006. It pledged to upgrade the obsolete network and ensure 24-hour
water supplies to households.

The company manages also drinking water and waste water removal
systems in Ararat, Aragatsotn and Kotayk provinces. It has 339,370
customers and produces 370 million cubic meters of drinking water a
year managing 2,120 lm long water pipelines. ($1- 385.05 Drams).

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA RANKED 52ND IN WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM’S GLOBAL ENABLING TRADE REPORT

/ARKA/
May 25, 2010
YEREVAN

Armenia is ranked 52nd in World Economic Forum’s Global Enabling
Trade Report.

The country upgraded its rank by 12 positions, compared with 2009.

According to the report, Armenia’s enabling trade index is 4.24
this year.

Armenia improved all its indicators.

In particular, it improved its market access index to 5.33 and came
ninth in World Economic Forum’s ranking.

Armenia took up medium positions for its ability to spur a free flow
of goods and reached progress also in boarder administration ranking,
improving its index to 3.52.

Armenia’s rank in business environment and development of
transportation and communication infrastructures report remains almost
unchanged, but the country was placed 20 points higher for the number
of mobile telecommunication users.

Remarkable is that Armenia outdone Azerbaijan who ranked 77th this
year, Russia (114th rank), Kazakhstan (88th) and Ukraine (81st),
and is lagging only behind Georgia (37th) in the Commonwealth of
Independent States.

Singapore, with its 6.06 enabling trade index, is topping the World
Economic Forum’s ranking now, as in 2009.

Hong Kong, with 5.70, follows Singapore. Then Denmark and Sweden come
with their 5.41.

Switzerland (5.37) is fifth in top five. Ivory Coast, Chad and Burundi
took the worst positions.

The enabling trade index measures the factors, policies and services
that facilitate the trade in goods across borders and to destination.

The ranking, which spans 125 counties, is made up of four sub-indices:
market access, border administration,ã~@~@transport and communications
infrastructure and business environment.

Market access index shows how much a country has accomplished in
spurring turnover of imports on local market and free access of
domestic manufacturers to foreign markets.

Border administration shows how mechanisms applied in this area foster
effectiveness of flows of goods.

Business environment index means environment regulating a country’s
import and export. Transport and communications infrastructure index
estimates effectiveness of inside and outside freight traffic.

From: A. Papazian

AMERICAN PHILANTHROPIST OF ARMENIAN ORIGIN ALBERT BOYAJAN WAS AWARDED THE “MESROP MASHTOTS” MEDAL

NOYAN TAPAN
MAY 25, 2010
STEPANAKERT

For services shown to the Artsakh Republic and in connection with
the 70th birthday President Bako Sahakyan signed on 21 May a decree
awarding the “Mesrop Mashtots” order to American philanthropist of
Armenian origin Albert Boyajyan. The cenrtal information departament
of the office of the Artsakh Republic president reported NT.

From: A. Papazian

“THE ELECTIONS IN KARABAKH WERE UP TO EU STANDARDS”
Arman Gharibyan

2010/05/25

Nagorno Karabakh politics

The first Speaker of the National Council of Slovakia and current
member František Mikloško came up to the Hetq office to take a look
at Mount Ararat, before heading off to a press conference. On 23 May,
the Slovak delegate was an observer at the parliamentary elections
in the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh and was amazed by the election
process.

“I saw many election observers from reputable organizations in
Karabakh. We collectively came to the conclusion that the elections
in Nagorno-Karabakh were free, democratic, exceptionally peaceful and
were fully in line with all the standards dictated by the European
Union,” FrantiÅ¡ek MikloÅ¡ko said at the Mirror press club.

He was amazed by the active participation of the people of Karabakh
in the elections. “I was told that almost all the elections have had
this level of active participation.”

The Slovak delegate found the European Commission’s announcement that
it would not recognize the 23 May elections to be absurd and comical.

“That leads us to ask a logical question – what does the European
Union want? After all, these elections lead to peace, democracy and
other achievements, which are needed in this region,” said MikloÅ¡ko.

It was through FrantiÅ¡ek MikloÅ¡ko’s efforts that the Slovakian
National Council recognized the Armenian Genocide in 2004.

From: A. Papazian

ARF REPRESENTATIVE PARTICIPATES IN WORLD CONGRESS OF PATRIOTIC PARTIES

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 25, 2010 – 13:27 AMT 08:27 GMT

The Russian State Duma hosted the 4th World Congress of Patriotic
Forces, which was convoked at the initiative of Leader of the
Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia, Vice-Chairman of the State Duma
Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

The role of political parties under the conditions of globalization and
global financial crisis was in the focus of the event, which brought
together leaders of parties and parliament members of European, Asian,
Near East, CIS and Baltic countries.

Representative of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun in Russia, President of the
Russian-Armenian Commonwealth organization Yuri Navoyan delivered
a speech to the congress. He presented Dashnaktsyutyun as a stable
political force in Armenia’s political system and all-Armenian
organization uniting the Armenian Diaspora.

Besides, Navoyan referred to a range of directions for political
parties’ activity under the crisis conditions: implementation of
inter-parliamentary cooperation, organization of discussions at the
international level as well as consultations among parties to exchange
experience on overcoming the crisis consequences.

Later, Vladimir Zhirinovsky met with Yuri Navoyan to discuss the
geopolitical situation in the South Caucasus, Russian-Armenian
relations and role of the Armenian Diaspora of Russia.

Navoyan hailed the stance of Zhirinovky concerning rehabilitation of
the historical and political rights of the Armenian people, as well
as his support to self-determination of peoples.

The President of the Russian-Armenian Commonwealth organization
attached importance to participation of Zhirinovsky in events of
the Armenian Diaspora of Russia. The parties confirmed readiness to
cooperate in a range of directions.

Zhirinovsky said that the further development of the Armenian-Russian
strategic relations is an important factor of Armenia’s security in
the region.

From: A. Papazian

ARMEN RUSTAMYAN: IT WAS POSSIBLE TO PREVENT ADOPTION OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT’S RESOLUTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 25, 2010 – 19:52 AMT 14:52 GMT

Member of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun parliamentary group Armen Rustamyan
said that Armenia’s insufficient efforts against appointment of Evgeni
Kirilov as a rapporteur for the South Caucasus served as first reason
for the adoption of Resolution on the South Caucasus by the European
Parliament.

“I was aware of the Resolution’s text and addressed a letter to the
chairman of the socialists’ group in the European Parliament. Due to
our efforts, we managed to withdraw some negative provisions from it.

However, we see that the Resolution anyway contains paragraphs,
which distort the reality with respect to the Karabakh conflict,”
Rustamyan told a joint press conference with Vice-Speaker of the
Armenian parliament Samvel Nikoyan.

According to him, Armenia should form a delegation to present Armenia’s
stance concerning the Resolution to the European Parliament.

Rustamyan said that it would have been possible to prevent the
Resolution’s adoption, if enough efforts were exerted.

In his turn, Samvel Nikoyan noted that Armenia must do its
utmost to prevent the Karabakh problem’s discussion in various
inter-parliamentary formats. “Representatives of these structures
are basically unaware of the NKR problem, while Azerbaijan can play
on heartstrings of such audiences,” he stressed.

From: A. Papazian

SAMVEL NIKOYAN: CZECHIA FOREIGN MINISTER’S STATEMENT ON KARABAKH RUNS COUNTER TO THAT OF OSCE FOREIGN MINISTERS

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 25, 2010 – 18:31 AMT 13:31 GMT

May 13-17, Armenian delegation visited Prague to meet with Czech Senate
Chairman, the head of Senate Foreign Relations Committee and other
high ranking officials, as well as Armenian community representatives.

“Using the absence of Czech Embassy in Armenia and Armenia-Czechia
parliamentary friendship group, Azeri propaganda managed to form
pro-Azeri attitude on Karabakh issue,” RA NA vice speaker Samvel
Nikoyan said at joint news conference with ARFD parliamentary group
member Armen Rustamyan.

“In this context, Armenian delegation’s visit was important in
presenting the essence of Karabakh issue to Czechia,” the vice
speaker noted.

“Meetings with Czech officials focused on Czechia Foreign Minister’s
statement made in Baku. The Minister, referring to Madrid documents,
pointed out only territorial integrity among Karabakh conflict
settlement principles,” Samvel Nikoyan noted.

“As we emphasized, Czechia Foreign Minister’s statement on Karabakh
runs counter to that of OSCE Foreign Ministers, signed by him in 2009.

We agreed on formation of Armenia-Czechia parliamentary friendship
group, also discussing the prospect of opening Armenian Embassy
to Czechia.”

Armen Rustamyan, in turn, stated that Armenian delegation’s visit
resulted in certain alterations in pro -Azeri attitude with Czech
officials.

In conclusion, ARFD parliamentary group member stressed the importance
of intensification of parliamentary diplomacy with Czechia.

From: A. Papazian

SERZH SARGSYAN: TURKEY PROVED ITSELF TO BE UNRELIABLE PARTNER

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 25, 2010 – 21:03 AMT 16:03 GMT

On May 25, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met NATO Secretary
General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Brussels.

At the meeting, parties emphasized progress in RA -NATO cooperation,
guaranteeing active dialogue in military and political sphere.

“Armenia will continue to actively collaborate with NATO and partner
states in border protection, peacemaking missions and struggle against
international terrorism,” Armenian President stated, specifically
noting NATO’s assistance to RA armed forces reforms.

Peaceful settlement of Karabakh conflict as well as RA-Turkey
rapprochement process suspension were discussed. As Armenian leader
emphasized, by setting preconditions and failing to observe agreement
terms, Turkey proved itself to be an unreliable partner, presidential
press service reported.

From: A. Papazian