Author: Chakhmakhchian Vatche

BARACK OBAMA: IRAN HAS RIGHT TO DEVELOP PEACEFUL NUCLEAR ENERGY

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
04.06.2009 22:29 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Iran has a right to develop peaceful nuclear
energy, said the U.S. president Barack Obama in his speech at the
Cairo university. However, according to him Tehran must join The
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Long years Iran has been an adversary of the U.S. Instead of remaining
in the past it is necessary to look in the future," the U.S. president
said. "Certainly, when we speak about nuclear weapons, there mustn’t be
another decision. This topic relates not only to American interests,
but directly to prevention of nuclear arm race in the Near East,"
Barack Obama said.

THIS YEAR THE ARMENIAN URBAN MINISTRY TO IMPLEMENT RECONSTRUCTION OF 87 EDUCATIONAL, HEALTH CARE, CULTURAL AND SPORT ESTABLISHMENTS

ARMENPRESS
June 5, 2009

YEREVAN, JUNE 5, ARMENPRESS: This year the Armenian Urban Ministry
intends to implement reconstruction works of 87 educational, health
care institutions, cultural, community and sport centers.

Public relations department of the Ministry told Armenpress that
nearly 7 million 500 000 AMD have been released from the state budget
for the implementation of the works.

In Yerevan 18 secondary schools are intended to be reconstructed
for which overall 1 million 700 000 drams will be spent. Within the
frameworks of nearly 2 million 500 000 drams the building of Kapan
metallurgy laboratory of the Armenian National Academy of Science, the
secondary school of the Lori village, 6 schools in the Ararat province,
by 4 schools in Aragatsotn, Armavir, Kotayk and Lori provinces, by
three schools in Gegharkunik and Shirak and two schools in Tavush
will be reconstructed.

This year 400 000 drams have been released from the state budget for
the reconstruction works in the cultural institutions. The building
of Yerevan "State Song Theatre", the Syunik province library, cultural
house of Lusarat village of Ararat province as well as cultural houses
and community centers of Kurtan, Katnajur, Nor Yerznka, Karashamb,
Argel villages in Lori and Kotayk provinces will also be reconstructed.

184 000 drams have been provided for the reconstruction of the Armenian
Chess Academy building. Reconstruction works will also be implemented
in the "Grigor Narekatsi" medical center for which 156 000 drams have
been released

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT TO ALLOCATE $2.5MLN WORTH BUDGET GUARANTEE TO ELITE GROUP CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

/ARKA/
June 4, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, June 4. /ARKA/. Armenian Government decided to allocate
a $2.5mln worth budget guarantee to Elite Group company today for
completing one of the construction projects in Yerevan.

Earlier the country’s Minister of Finance Tigran Davtyan said that
the government was ready to provide state guarantees for 20bln Drams
to construction companies for promotion of construction projects.

Davtyan pointed out that today’s government decision is the first
step on this way – in providing government guarantees provided by
Ameriabank.

Elite Group has been properly working on the construction market
since long ago and meets the government-set eligibility criteria for
the guarantees, Davtyan said.

Armenian Premier Tigran Sargsyan, in his turn, said that it was the
first application received by the government after the instrument of
construction sector promotion was launched.

The Premier expressed hope that other companies eligible for the
guarantees will follow the example.

MARXIST IS AGAINST THE BOYCOTT

LAGIR.AM
13:44:10 – 04/06/2009

On June 4, the member of the Armenian National Congress, the head of
the Marxist Party, David Hakobyan stated that his party is against the
decision of the Armenian National Congress to refuse the mandates of
the Yerevan Elders’ Council. David Hakobyan stated that it is wrong
to refuse the mandates, because it means that the nation loses an
important platform.

David Hakobyan stated that the Congress is obvious to lose its
voters, the proof of which is that Levon Ter-Petrosyan got more
votes at the presidential election that at the Mayoral one. David
Hakobayn, disagreeing with the HAK decision to boycott, stated
that a representative of the Congress visited him and brought an
application on refusing his mandate for David Hakobyan to sign. David
Hakobyan stated that if the HAK refuses the mandates there should be
a joint application for all the members of the ticket, otherwise,
David Hakobyan may refuse the mandate and the other members of the
ticket may preserve them. David Hakobayn stated that in this way,
the members of the HHSh may clear the list from unpleasant people for
them and only the pleasant ones will have the right to hold offices
at the Yerevan Elders’ Council.

David Hakobyan, who is against the HAK boycott, stated that he wanted
to talk to Levon Ter-Petrosyan in this connection, but he was not
given such an opportunity. David Hakobyan stated that people wanted
the opposition to use that tribune and all the responsibility falls
on the "bandits from HHSh". In other words, being against the boycott,
David Hakobyan will not accept the mandate if the HAK does not change
its intention to refuse it. By the way, leaders of other HAK member
political parties, in private conversations with him, were against
the HAK boycott, stated David Hakobyan.

He stated that they had to accept the mandates to be able to struggle
against the "Republicans in their own den". According to David
Hakobayn, refusing mandates is a political idiotism. And in the end,
David Hakobayn is ready to go alone in the den of the Republicans,
if the HAK decides to send there only one tribune.

By the way, David Hakobyan stated that his "personal daughter",
Hasmik Hakobyan, who was on the HAK ticket too, according to David
Hakobayn, is a very educated person, she finished the English Gordon
University and she is a person of a high erudition and intellect,
and she is a highly qualified pharmacist. He stated that none of 5
people on different tickets were pharmacists, while this market needs
to be corrected.

CYPRUS AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

yprus_and_World_News/15745
June 03, 2009

Petros Kestoras recently presented his credentials to President of
Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, as Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus to
Armenia, based in Moscow.

According to an official press release, Sargsyan referred to
developments in efforts to normalise relations between Armenia and
Turkey, and Kestoras briefed the Armenian President on developments
in the Cyprus problem and the necessity to reach a settlement based
on UN Security Council resolutions.

Furthermore, they praised the excellent relations between Cyprus and
Armenia, and expressed the will to further strengthen relations in all
sectors, with emphasis on the sectors of economy, trade and tourism.

AZERBAIJAN HAS NO EXTRA GAS FOR GAZPROM
Elena Mazneva

RusData Dialine – BizEkon News
June 1, 2009 Monday
Russia

The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan is ready to start supplying
gas for Gazprom as early as 2010, but not more than 1 billion cubic
meters, company department chief Vagif Aliyev said yesterday. Russia,
of course, had bargained for more, said an Energy Ministry official,
but he gave no figures: Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko is planning
to discuss the issue in Baku today.

Azerbaijan is a potential supplier of gas for the Nabucco gas pipeline,
which is expected in 2013 to link the Caspian region with Europe,
bypassing Russia, and cut the EU’s dependence on Gazprom. Azerbaijan is
the only CIS country exporting gas, but not to Gazprom, thus upsetting
its monopoly on fuel purchases on the post-Soviet space.

Azerbaijan can conclude a 20- to 30-year agreement with Russia, but
the stumbling block is the price, the country’s Minister of Industry
and Energy Natig Aliyev said the other day. Gazprom is prepared to
pay the so- called European price (including a 15% to 20% margin for
itself), but Azerbaijan wants to know what this means, the minister
said. For comparison: in 2008, Gazprom’s average price for Europe
was $409 per 1,000 cu m, while Azerbaijan exported most of its gas
to Turkey at $120.

The Europeans are promising Azerbaijan much more than Russia –
investment and technology, and this means Gazprom might fail to get
extra gas, says Chingiz Ismailov, head of the Center of Regional
Development in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan remembers how in 2007, when the
republic still depended on Gazprom’s imports, the company planned
to cut supplies and raise the price to $235 – twice as high as for
Armenia.

However, Azerbaijan so far has no surplus fuel for Gazprom. The
republic’s annual gas output is about 20 billion cu m. Domestic
consumption, as estimated by Gazprom, is 12 to 14 billion cu m. Another
7 billion cu m must be exported to Turkey.

>From an economic standpoint Gazprom would do better not to buy Azeri
gas at all, says Mikhail Korchemkin, director of East European Gas
Analysis. The corporation is already losing profit from the resale
of gas from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan (about 60 billion
cu m a year). But from a political perspective, Gazprom needs it all,
he added.

TIGRAN MANSOURYAN – PLEASED TO SEE THAT HIS BIRTHDAY WAS REMEMBERED

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
02.06.2009 19:06

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Outstanding Armenian composer Tigran Mansouryan,
who this year celebrates his 70th birthday, is pleased that the
occasion was remembered.

"Two years ago I asked myself a question: will my friends and
colleagues living abroad come here to celebrate my birthday? It isn’t
as if they should draw up their plans beforehand. But we appeared
to be late," Mansuryan said, adding that his teacher – great man and
composer Ghazaros Saryan, preferred to celebrate one of his birthdays
in Aram Khachaturyan’s home-museum which houses over 80 people.

A man having world-wide recognition , Manusuryan finds "dream and
demand to be very close to each other; they are very similar, but I
don’t want to make any demand."

Estimating cultural atmosphere in Armenia, the composer noted,
"We recently observed considerable efforts towards development of
classical music in the country, but we are facing a serious task:
to make classical music and high art accessible to our public in its
everyday life."

Any unfairness, be it of minor importance, hurts the composer. "Our
strength and unity are already known; our losses are already visible. I
want our society to be governed by rule of law, and everybody do what
he is required to."

Voter turnout reached 41.66% as of 5 p.m.

Armradio.am
31.05.2009 18:48

As of 5 p.m., 321,403 voters or 41.66% of the enfranchised citizens of
Yerevan participated in the elections for the Yerevan City Council, the
Central electoral Commission reported. The picture of voter turnout in
the 13 electoral districts is as follows:

Electoral District 1 (Avan, Nor-Nork) ` 27,067 voters or 44.20%;

Electoral District 2 (Nor Nork) ` 25,197 voters or 42.41%;

Electoral District 3 (Kanaker Zeitun, Nor Nork) ` 24,733 voters or
40.29%;

Electoral District 4 (Arabkir) ` 20,274 voters or 35.59%;

Electoral District 5 (Davitashen, Arabkir) ` 24,231 voters or 40.04%;

Electoral District 6 (Adjapnyak) ` 23,575 voters or 41.81%;

Electoral District 7 (Adjapnyak, Malatsia Sebastia) ` 28,197 voters or
49.55%;

Electoral District 8 (Malatsia Sebastia, Shengavit) ` 26,219 voters or
43.45%;

Electoral District 9 (Kentron, Adjapnyak) ` 21,803 voters or 41.36%;

Electoral District 10 (Kentron, Nork Marash) ` 21,685 voters or 38.77%;

Electoral District 11 (Shengavit, Erebuni) ` 28,280 voters or 45.84%;

Electoral District 12 (Shengavit, Erebuni) ` 28,220 voters or 46.09%;

Electoral District 13 (Erebuni, Nubarashen) ` 21,922 voters or 32.85%.

GERMANY ASSISTED ARMENIA IN REFORMING ITS LEGISLATIVE FIELD

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
29.05.2009 18:16 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On May 29 RA National Security Council (NSC)
Secretary Arthur Baghdasaryan met a professor, ex-judge of German
Constitutional Court, Hans Joachim Yentchin in Yerevan.

The parties focused on Armenian-German collaboration issues. Arthur
Baghdasaryan noted that Germany has shown serious assistance to Armenia
in reforming its legislative field, and the collaboration should be
developed in that direction. According to Arthur Baghdasaryan, around
200 reforms, including those of legislative filed, will be implemented
within the framework of European Neighborhood Policy Activity Program
for 2009-2011. The parties also touched upon Armenian-Turkish ties
normalization issue, RA NSC Press Service reported.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

"BUILDING A NEW SCHOOL MEANS GIVING A NEW VITALITY TO OUR COMMUNITY LIFE"

SAID HIS HOLINESS ARAM I

On Sunday 24 May 2009, the Diocese of Lebanon inaugurated a new school in
Bourj Hammoud. His Holiness Aram I officiated the foundation-laying
ceremony. The President of the Council of the Diocese Mr. Gregoris Bogharian
welcomed the official guests and the members of the community and said that
with the blessing of His Holiness Aram I the community was committing itself
once more to safeguarding the Armenian national heritage. Archbishop Kegham
Khatcherian the Prelate of Lebanon then added that the impact of the new
school would expand beyond Lebanon because Lebanon was the pulse of Armenian
Diaspora. In his concluding remarks His Holiness Aram I said: "laying the
foundations of a school today demonstrates our collective will to overcome
the tragic experiences of the civil war and give shape to our mission and
vocation as a people of vision, faith and national awareness."

Singing "Cilicia" the anthem of the Catholicosate concluded the ceremony.

##
View the photos here:
tos/Photos385.htm#5
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.