Author: Frangulian Shushan

VTB BANK ARMENIA SERVES MONEYGRAM USD AND EURO TRANSFERS

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.11.2009 11:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ According to an agreement signed in October between
VTB Bank Armenia and MoneyGram international money transfer system,
the bank’s clients can henceforth send and receive MoneyGram USD and
Euro transfers, the bank’s press office reported.

"The system allows to expand cooperation with MoneyGram service
consumers and businessmen interested in strengthening ties between
Armenia and Europe," said Valery Ovsyannikov, Chairman of the Board
of Directors of VTB Bank Armenia.

VTB Bank Armenia and MoneyGram launched cooperation in September 2009.

Presently, MoneyGram consumers may be served in any of 74 bank’s
branches across Armenia.

THE CASE OF EXPLOSION OF "NAIRIT" FACTORY IS STILL IN THE PHASE OF PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION

ARMENPRESS
Nov 4, 2009

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS: The case of explosion of "Nairit"
factory is still in the phase of preliminary investigation. Head of
Armenian Police’s media and information department, Police Colonel
Sayat Shirinyan said that several investigations have been carried
out and some investigations are still in process. Other details he
did not present.

Referring to the statement of a journalist, according to which the
police had earlier stated the cause of the explosion at "Nairit"
is the human factor, S. Shirinyan noted that the police never denies
such statements. "The police usually advances several hypothesis in
regard to the case and after verifying each of them, concludes to an
objective truth", he said.

S. Shirinyan also underscored that the articles on criminal cases
published in mass media, are always in the center of attention of the
police, but S. Shirinyan found it difficult to say how many criminal
cases have been provoked.

‘CORRUPTION OUT OF OUR LIFE’ PROGRAM IN ARMENIA

Tert
Nov 3 2009
Armenia

Armenia’s PR Association and USAID’s Mobilizing Action Against
Corruption (MAAC) program will implement a project called "Let’s Get
Corruption Out of Our Life" over a six-month period.

The initiative aims to target small and medium businesses primarily,
according to Armenia’s PR Association deputy chair Arman Saghatelyan.

Though it is a generally accepted custom in Armenia to settle issues
with the help of relatives, Saghatelyan believes that "finally we’ll
come to the civilized world’s method of settling issues."

"The main ideology is to attempt to present to society the direction
it is necessary to take in protecting [people’s] rights," Saghatelyan
said, emphasizing in this context the process of taking corresponding
judicial measures.

Within the frames of the program, discussions with business and media
representatives are planned, Saghatelyan said. With the help of mass
media, the organizers try to present the "good practices package,"
in which ordinary people are involved.

"They are mainly stories of people who wish to work in their country
and wish that their rights are protected in their country by people
who live on the funds paid to them by all of us," Saghatelyan said.

The journalists who have agreed to cooperate will get remuneration
"as accepted in the civilized world." According to Saghatelyan,
often an issue arises when granting journalists their right to free
expression. "Neither USAID nor Armenia’s PR Association intends to
interfere with journalists’ activities," Saghatelyan emphasized, adding
that organizers might not share the viewpoint of media representatives.

ZHARANGUTIUN PROPOSES MARKING APRIL 24 ALSO AS CONDEMNATION DAY OF HOMELAND DEPRIVATION

NOYAN TAPAN
NOVEMBER 2, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, NOYAN TAPAN. RA National Assembly Zharangutiun
(Heritage) faction deputies on November 2 by the order established by
the NA Regulations sent a bill On Making an Amendment to the RA Law On
RA Holidays and Memory Days to NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamian. The bill
proposes restating Article 5 of the law, according to which April 24 is
marked as Commemoration Day of Genocide Victims. Zharangutiun proposes
marking that commemoration non-working day also as Condemnation Day
of Homeland Deprivation.

The motivation attached to Zharangutiun’s legislative initiative,
in particular, read:

"Genocide’s consequence was that the Armenians were deprived of
their homeland. The people slaughtered just on its native land was
deprived of its historic homeland. This fact is a common tragedy which
makes more complete the fact of the Genocide. We should perceive the
tragedy within that entity and appreciate the commemoration day in
that context. The adoption of that law will complete the real picture
of Genocide, will stipulate the condemnation of deprivation of its
native heirs of legal and historic rights for the Armenian lands.

The Genocide not only took away lives of 1.5 million innocent people
but also deprived millions of Armenians of their own homeland: it is
a murder of not only a people but also a culture, a whole way of life,
therefore that fact should be also recorded and mentioned. It will not
permit to raze this crime from our people’s collective memory, which
deprived the Armenian generations of their civilization, heritage,
and homeland.

It should be recorded that this problem is as actual on the political
agenda of the Republic of Armenia as never: not to renounce and to keep
the memory of Genocide victims, statehood’s dignity. The Republic of
Armenia should double the potential of stopping the denial going on for
centuries until the international community recognizes aforethought
deprivation of a whole people of its homeland. By adopting this
law the Republic of Armenia will again value the memory of Genocide
victims and the fact of homeland deprivation.

Turkey and Azerbaijan to discus military cooperation

2009-10-31 14:58:00

ArmInfo. Turkey’s Land Force Commander, Army General Isik Kosaner will
visit Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told APA. The visit
will take place on November 2-4. Isik Kosaner plans to hold meetings
in Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, Interior Troops headquarters and
other bodies. Military issues of mutual interest will be discussed at
the meetings. Isik Kosaner will be chief of the Turkish General Staff
after Army General Ilker Basbug retires.

HERITAGE PROPOSES THAT APRIL 24 BE MARKED AS DAY OF CONDEMNATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
30.10.2009 18:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "To the best of my understanding, Armenian leadership
has admitted the existence of precondition in Armenian-Turkish
Protocols. They just insist on finding flexible methods for
establishing secure relations with Turkey, so to say," Heritage
faction MP Larisa Alaverdyan told a parliament briefing on October 30.

At that she noted that the faction had proposed a legislative
initiative on introducing amendments to RA Law of Holidays and
Commemoration Days. Authors propose that April 24 be marked as day of
commemoration of victims of Armenian Genocide and condemnation for
depriving Armenians of their homeland. "We are convinced that the
draft law will essentially change Armenia’s position, so no wonder
that the term President has been recently used by President as well,"
Ms. Alaverdyan said.

To journalists’ question on party’s attitude to ARFD-proposed bill
on Establising Punishment for Genocide Denial, she answered that
Heirtage had made positive response to that since it coincided with
its programs.

AMBASSADOR OF NETHERLANDS TO ARMENIA HANDS HIS CREDENTIALS TO THE ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN

ARMENPRESS
Oct 30, 2009

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS: Ambassador of Netherlands to Armenia
Peter Yan Langenberg (residence Tbilisi) handed his credentials to
the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.

Press office of the president told Armenpress that Serzh Sargsyan
congratulated the ambassador on assuming the office and said that
Armenia is interested in boosting relations with Netherlands in all
the spheres. The president expressed hope that the ambassador will
be active and will undertake new steps to expand partnership.

The president of the country highly assessed the support of
Netherlands in the development of the Armenian economy and pointed
out the successfully developing cooperation within the framework of
the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s "Dutch Group".

The sides highlighted the deepening of relations not only in bilateral
but in multilateral formats.

With the request of the ambassador the Armenian president presented
Armenia’s approaches toward Nagorno Karabakh conflict regulation
process and normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations.

KSISTOF PENDERETSKI AWARDED A MEDAL OF HONOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA

armradio.am
29.10.2009 18:40

President Serzh Sargsyan received today Ksistof Penderetski, an
outstanding Polish composer and conductor of Armenian origin, who
is visiting our country within the framework of the "Perspectives of
the 21st" 10th international music festival.

Welcoming the visit of the great composer to Armenia, President Serzh
Sargsyan said: "It’s always a great honor for us to host you in our
country. Our people rate highly your compositions, as well as your
devotion to the Armenian roots."

President Sargsyan awarded Ksistof Penderetski with a Medal of Honor
of the Republic of Armenia. The composer said it was a great honor
for him to get the award.

Serzh Sargsyan and Ksistof Penderetski talked about the Armenian-Polish
cultural ties and about the new initiatives of cooperation.

ARMENIA’S TOP 10 MAJOR TAX PAYERS

Tert
Oct 28 2009
Armenia

Though Orange Armenia will begin providing services on November 5,
it has already made the list of the ten leading major tax payers,
taking 10th place with an amount of 3.5 billion AMD tax paid.

Almost 95% of the amount was levied by customs bodies as a value added
tax (VAT) on imported goods. At this time, it’s not clear why in that
case the tax privilege wasn’t provided to payers, which states that
if the cost of imported equipment exceeds 300 million AMD paying tax
can be delayed by three years.

Another telecommunications company, Karabakh-Telecom, leads the list
of major tax payers by the amount of taxes paid over the period
January-September 2009 (12.7 billion AMD). For comparison’s sake,
over a 9-month period in 2008, Karabakh-Telecom paid 23.1 billion AMD.

Generally, the crisis had a different effect on the taxes paid by
major companies: in some cases, businesses paid more this year;
in other cases, less.

ArmenTel CJSC is the second on the list of major tax payers: it paid
10.7 billion AMD in taxes, about 6% less than the indicator of the
same period last year. ArmRosGazArd, which was the major tax payer
in 2009 by the half year indicator, is the fourth by the indicator
over 9 months.

Alex Grig LLC, which holds a dominant position in supplying butter,
juices for children, ethyl alcohol and other products, comes in third
place. The company paid 10.7 billion AMD tax this year. This is one
of the few cases when the amount of taxes paid increased by about
one third during a year of economic crisis.

In the 5th and 6th place on the list of major tax payers are Flesh
and City Petrol Group (legal successor of Kaghpetrolservice), both of
whom hold a dominant position in the area of importing fuel. Following
in the list are Armenian Energy Network company at 7th place, VIDIS
Distribution (distributor of Phillip Morris International in Armenia)
at 8th place, and International Massis Tabak at 9th place. Grand
Tobacco was ousted from the leading ten this year, falling behind at
11th place.

SCR LAUNCHES ELECTRIC TRAIN IN ARMAVIR-ARAGATS DIRECTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.10.2009 20:11 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On October 1, South Caucasian Railways (SCR)
will launch a new electric train in Armavir-Aragats direction, the
company’s press service reports.

New electric train is scheduled to leave Armavir station at 12:40
(arrival in Aragats: 13:57) and depart from Aragats at 14:20 (arrival
in Armavir: 15:57).

Ticket price comprises AMD 300, with 50% discount for students.

South Caucasus CJSC is a 100% subsidiary of Russian Railways OJSC.

Armenian Railways CJSC has been handed over to SCR CJSC’s concessionary
management. Concessionary agreement dated February 13, 2008 was
signed for the period of 30 years, with possibility of extension for
additional 10 years.