Author: Arpi Talalian

ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia
December 1, 2017 Friday


Ambassador Samantha Power Joins the Aurora Prize Selection Committee

Yerevan December 1

Marianna Mkrtchyan. Today, the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative
announces Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations
Samantha Power as the newest member of the Aurora Prize for Awakening
Humanity Selection Committee. As a part of the Selection Committee,
Ambassador Power will join the other esteemed humanitarians, human
rights activists and former heads of state to determine future
recipients for the annual $1.1 million Aurora Prize.

"We are very excited to welcome Ambassador Power to the Aurora Prize
Selection Committee. With her notable experience on the world stage,
she has made great strides in aiding those in the developing world and
standing up for the most vulnerable members of our global community,"
said Noubar Afeyan, co-founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative.
"With her unparalleled expertise in human rights around the world, we
are honored that she will review Aurora Prize nominations and help
shape the future of the Aurora Prize."

Ambassador Samantha Power served as the 28th U.S. Permanent
Representative to the United Nations and as a member of President
Obama's cabinet, and became known as one of the country's foremost
thinkers on foreign policy. Prior to her work at the United Nations,
she served on the U.S. National Security Council as Special Assistant
to the President and Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs and
Human Rights, where she focused on atrocity prevention, United Nations
reform, LGBT and women's rights and the promotion of religious
freedom, among other issues. She also authored the Pulitzer
Prize-winning book, "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of
Genocide." Given her influential work in human rights and democracy,
she has been recognized several times over, including as one of TIME's
"100 Most Influential People" and Foreign Policy's "Top 100 Global
Thinkers."

"The Aurora Prize and its laureates recognize that, while it is
essential to remember past atrocities, we each have the power to
assist those who are saving lives in the present," said Ambassador
Power. "I take great pride in being part of the Prize's Selection
Committee, which seeks to honor those who make great sacrifices to
help others, and who find a way to mobilize human kindness and
persevere amid steep odds." She will join current Aurora Prize
Selection Committee members Nobel Laureates Oscar Arias, Shirin Ebadi
and Leymah Gbowee; former president of Ireland Mary Robinson; former
president of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo; human rights activist Hina
Jilani; Director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at
Imperial College London Lord Ara Darzi; President Emeritus of the
International Crisis Group and former foreign minister of Australia
Gareth Evans; Medecins sans Frontieres Founder Bernard Kouchner;
President of Carnegie Corporation of New York Vartan Gregorian; and
Academy Award-winning actor and humanitarian George Clooney The Aurora
Prize, now in its third year, was founded on behalf of the survivors
of the Armenian Genocide and in gratitude to their saviors. The
Selection Committee will convene in Berlin, Germany on December 4,
2017 to review nominations from this year's process, which gathered
750 submissions from 115 countries. Concurrent to their meeting in
Berlin, the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative will host its first Aurora
Dialogues outside of Armenia, titled "Millions on The Move: Need for
Development and Integration." The Aurora Dialogues Berlin is a joint
effort of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, Global Perspectives
Initiative, Robert Bosch Stiftung and Stiftung Mercator, and will be
held on December 4-5, 2017. Speakers will address the state of the
global migration crisis and look at the role of different actors in
advancing positive change.

The 2018 Aurora Prize finalists will be announced on April 24, 2018,
the day of commemoration of the Armenian Genocide in 1915. The Aurora
Prize, established on behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide
and in gratitude to their saviors, provides the laureate with a
$100,000 grant and the opportunity to continue the cycle of giving by
nominating organizations to receive a $1,000,000 award. The third
annual Prize will be announced on June 10, 2018, at a ceremony in
Armenia.

ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia
 Saturday


Military expert: Acquisitions within the framework of a new loan
agreement of $ 100 million will protect the airspace of Armenia from
surprises

Yerevan October 14

Angela Stepanyan. New acquisitions within the framework of the $ 100
million loan agreement with Russia will protect the airspace of
Armenia from various surprises. Such an opinion ArmInfo was expressed
by the Caucasus department of the Institute of CIS countries, military
expert Vladimir Evseev. In accordance with the credit agreement of the
governments of Armenia and Russia, a loan of $ 100 million is granted
for 20 years, of which 5 years - under preferential 3% per annum.
Armenia will co-finance a loan in the amount of 10% of the total cost
of the agreement.

According to the intermediate program of defense spending for
2018-2020. Armenia plans to increase the defense budget annually by $
60 million to increase military spending by 4% of GDP. At present,
Armenia's military expenditures are about 3.6% of GDP or about $ 450
million.

"Considering the advantage gained by Azerbaijan with the help of
Israel over Armenia in the area of air defense, Yerevan today
desperately needs shock systems." The Armed Forces of Armenia are
strengthening their military capabilities, seeking to acquire weapons
from the Russian Federation that could further strengthen it,
primarily air defense systems and heavy, division artillery, "- he
said. According to the first Armenian-Russian agreement on granting
Armenia a loan of $ 200 million, the Armed Forces of the Republic
purchased rocket launchers 9K58 "Smerch" SAM "Igla-S", passive radio
technical reconnaissance "Avtobaza-M", flamethrower systems TOS-1A
"Solntsek" , armored vehicles "Tiger", anti-tank missile systems
"Competition-M", antitank grenade launchers RPG-26, small arms,
engines and sights for tanks T-72 and BMP, communications equipment,
engineering equipment, KamAZ.

The agreement on granting a loan on preferential terms - to start a
loan with a 3% rate Yerevan will start only in 2018 in rubles for 10
years, and an advance payment of only 10% was concluded in 2015.

ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia
 Wednesday


The Armenian delegation to PACE proposes to annihilate the reports of
those deputies of the Assembly whose names are involved in the
corruption scandal around Azerbaijan.

Yerevan October 11

Tatevik Shahunyan. Armenian delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe proposes to cancel the reports those deputies
of the Assembly, whose names are involved in the corruption scandal
involving Azerbaijan.

As the head of the Armenian delegation, deputy speaker of the National
Assembly of Armenia Arpine Hovhannisyan stated from the PACE rostrum,
the reports prepared by the deputies involved in corruption scandals,
including those involving Baku, can not inspire confidence in the
Assembly delegates, especially if these reports concern Azerbaijan
itself . "Well, how can we trust the report on Azerbaijan prepared by
Alan Deshteks if his name is being discussed in a scandal involving
Baku? What should we do in this case? If the unaccepted reports can
still be revised or canceled somehow, how to deal with the adopted
documents that the Azerbaijani lobbyists themselves prepared for the
sake of Baku? "The Armenian parliamentarian asked.

In this regard, member of the Armenian delegation Naira Zohrabyan
proposed to cancel all reports prepared by the participants of
corruption scandals fueled by petrodollars Baku.

In turn, Transparency International called on PACE to launch tough
anti-corruption measures, including sanctions against corrupt PACE
members, in order to restore confidence in the Assembly in the context
of allegations of corruption and in connection with the resignation of
the chairman. "Transparency International" welcomed this week's PACE
vote on a resolution on strengthening the rules for fighting
corruption, but calls on the organization to quickly address existing
accusations. In the statement, the organization refers to a recently
published investigation, according to which current and former PACE
members received funds to promote Azerbaijan's image abroad.
"Regarding the current and former members of the parliamentary
assembly, which turned out to be financially profitable from
Azerbaijan, an investigation must be conducted, and eventually the
authorities of their countries should take up their duties," said
Patricia Moreira, managing director of Transparency International.

The organization believes that the countries mentioned in the
investigation should begin their own investigations into reports of
political corruption. "Transparency International" also calls on the
Council of Europe to establish a permanent investigative office as an
effective mechanism for disclosing the future of money laundering and
bribery. "The Council of Europe and its member states must also adopt
procedures that would exclude a country that violates integrity rules
and takes bribes," the statement reads

Please find the attached press release of the Ministry of Diaspora.

Sincerely,
Media and PR Department
(+374 10) 585601, internal 805

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(+374 10) 585601, ներքին 805

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