Author: Kamalian Hagop

TORSARKISSIAN: DE-FACTO CABINET MIGHT BE ANNOUNCED IF BLOCS DON’T COMPROMISE

NowLebanon
ewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=104200
July 16 2009
Lebanon

Lebanon First coalition MP Serge Torsarkissian said, after visiting
Beirut’s Orthodox Bishop Elias Audi on Thursday, that announcing a
de-facto cabinet is a very good idea, in case the parliamentary blocs
maintain their demands.

He said that Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri insists on forming
the cabinet, but "if he reaches a dead end, then there is always the
de-facto option, even though I do not believe that things will go
this far."

He also said that the opposition has to facilitate Hariri’s mission
to form the cabinet, and to give up the obstructing-third vote,
which is undermining the prevailing positive atmosphere.

PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN MEETS WITH BRITISH PRIME-MINISTER

Trend
July 13 2009
Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with British Prime-Minister
Gordon Brown on July 13, AzerTaj state informational agency reported.

British Prime-Minister congratulated the Azerbaijani President
with success achieved in economic sphere. Gordon Brown stressed
high level of relations between two countries in different spheres,
including economic.

Concerning Azerbaijan’s participation in anti-terrorist coalition,
Brown said that the British government highly appreciates Azerbaijani
activity on this regards. Congratulating the Azerbaijani President with
achievements in democracy, British Prime-Minister named extension of
relations between EU and Azerbaijan as positive event. "We can expand
political, economic and other relations with Azerbaijan," Brown said.

The Azerbaijani President said that political, economic and other
relations develop between two countries successfully. "Relations
between BP and Azerbaijan develop successfully many years. There
are prospects in development of relations in other spheres too,"
the Azerbaijani president said. Ilham Aliyev spoke in details about
success of Azerbaijan in economy, energy and non-oil sector.

As to Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Azerbaijani
president said that Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan creates
significant obstacle for development of the region.

The memorandum on mutual understanding was signed between the
Azerbaijani state oil company and BP after the meeting. The document
was signed by president of the Azerbaijani state oil company Rovnag
Abdullayev and BP president of production Andy Inglis.

VIVACELL OFFERS BETTER TERMS FOR "NEW DAY" AND "POGHANTSUM" SERVICES

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
13.07.2009 16:21 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian mobile operator VivaCell-MTS offers new
tariffs for "New Day" and "Poghantsum" services.

>From now on, when prolonging the validity period through the "New Day"
service, subscribers will be charged AMD 20 instead of the former AMD
30 for each extra day. And the minimum transfer amount for "Poghancum"
service will hereafter comprise AMD 100 instead of the former AMD 200.

Trend, Azerbaijan
July 10 2009

G-8 Summit issues statement on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict (UPDATE)

Azerbaijan, Baku, July 10 /Trend News, E.Tariverdiyeva/

The G-8 Summit in the Italian city L’Aquila city adopted a joint
statement by the presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.

"We, the presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group, confirm our commitment to
the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict settlement and encourage them to resolve some remaining
differences and conclude a peaceful settlement," the statement said.

"We instruct our mediators to provide the Armenian and Azerbaijani
presidents with an updated version of the Madrid paper, dated Nov. 29,
2007, containing the co-chairs’ latest proposals on forming of the
basic principles," the joint statement by leaders of Russia, the
United States and France said.

The presidents of Russia, the United States and France believe the
agreement between the Azerbaijani and Armenian leadership should be
achieved on the basis of the principles of the 2007 Madrid Agreement.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding
districts. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in
1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the
U.S. – are currently holding the peace negotiations.

FORMER DEPUTY PROSECUTOR GENERAL WAS AGAINST AMNESTY

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
02.07.2009 22:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The rally of the Armenian National Congress has just
finished at Matenadaran where some 6000 opposition supporters gathered.

Addressing the demonstrators, former deputy prosecutor general Gagik
Jahangiryan, who was pardoned lately, said he was against the amnesty.

"Amnesty applies to those who committed crimes. We were sentenced
not for crimes but for our political views," he said, adding that
the authorities hold people hostage and violate laws.

"This amnesty is not the generosity of those ruling the country but
the result of popular struggle. We will fight unless all political
prisoners are released," Jahangiryan said.

SARGSYAN, ALIYEV TO MEET MID JULY

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
02.07.2009 13:11 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The next meeting between Armenian and Azerbaijani
Presidents will meet in mid July in Moscow. Russia’s Ambassador to
Azerbaijan Vladimir Dorokhin said Serzh Sarsgyan and Ilham Aliyev
will meet during an informal summit of CIS leaders.

The exact date of the meeting has not been announced yet.

EXPENDITURES OF ARMENIAN STATE BUDGET AMOUNT TO 279.2 BILLION DRAMS IN JANUARY-MAY 2009

NOYAN TAPAN
JULY 1, 2009
YEREVAN

The expenditures of the RA state budget amounted to 279.2bn drams in
January-May 2009, including expenditures of 4.6bn drams at the expense
of off-budget resources of state institutions. In particular, current
expenses made 262.2bn drams, transactions with financial assets – 17bn
drams. State budgetary expenditures grew by 5.3% or 13.9bn drams on
the same period of 2008. This growth was conditioned by an increase
in current expenses, particularly in pensions, salaries, benefits,
expenses on the purchase of services, and subsidies for equalization
of community budgets.

Current expenses amounted to 262.2bn drams in the reporting period,
ensuring a 76.9% fulfilment of the six-month program. Out of this
amount, 25.1bn drams was allocated for the payment of salaries of
employees of the state institutions, and 1.8bn drams was allocated
for compulsory social security payments. These expenses grew by 19.2%
and 4.5% respectively on the same period of 2008.

According to the press service of RA Ministry of Finance, 53.1bn
drams was allocated from the state budget for the purchase of goods
and services, which exceeded the same index of 2008 by 13.2% and
ensured a 74.1% fulfilment of the program for the first half of 2009.

DORA BAKOYANNIS: ARMENIA PLAYS A CRITICAL ROLE IN HELPING TO PROMOTE SECURITY AND STABILITY IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS AND THE WHOLE OSCE AREA

ArmInfo
2009-07-01 12:48:00

ArmInfo. Armenia plays a critical role in helping to promote security
and stability in the South Caucasus and the whole OSCE area. In
this context, I welcome the efforts of the Armenian government to
normalize bilateral relations with Turkey, the statement of Foreign
Minister of Greece, presiding in OSCE, Dora Bakoyannis, disseminated
on the evesays.

"My visit to Armenia as OSCE Chairperson-in-Office comes at a time
of formidable challenges and great opportunities for our common
Organization.

Just this past weekend the foreign ministers of the OSCE, including my
counterpart Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan, met on the initiative
of Greece on the island of Corfu to address the present and future
of European security.

This informal meeting was an important opportunity for us to deepen our
dialogue on our common concerns, and craft more effective responses
to the security challenges of 21st century Europe. We must continue
to build on this momentum.

Protracted conflicts continue to cast a shadow over our region,
a fact of which you are all too aware. But here too we have seen
progress. Before they came to Corfu Minister Nalbandyan and Azerbaijani
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyrov and the Minsk Group Co-Chairs met
in Paris. This meeting follows five meetings between President Serzh
Sargsyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev just this year.

I am encouraged by the latest developments in the negotiation process,
and the constructive discussions that have taken place. There is
a positive momentum in the discussions, which is vital to build
upon. I fully support the mediation efforts of the Minsk Group
Co-Chairs, as well as the confidence-building work of my Personal
Representative Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk. But incidents on the
ground remain a concern, and I urge both sides to fully implement the
ceasefire agreement and to withdraw snipers from the line of contact,
as proposed by the Co-Chairs.

I am also encouraged by the high level of co-operation between
the OSCE Office in Yerevan and Armenia in a range of activities,
including its long-standing cooperation with the Armenian police,
measures to mitigate the impact of the financial crisis, and supporting
the office of the Human Rights Defender.

It is encouraging that the Parliament has initiated reform of election
legislation, which remains a priority. The OSCE and its Office for
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights stand ready to support Armenia
in further improving election procedures. The OSCE and Armenia should
also continue to work together to support freedom of the media and
freedom of peaceful assembly. Open dialogue, a robust civil society
and a free press are critical to the democratic process, and represent
key commitments that we as OSCE participating States have signed up to.

As was clear from our discussions in Corfu, we have made progress
towards building a "Europe whole and free and at peace" but much
work remains to be done, and new security challenges will test our
commitment to indivisible security. I look forward to continuing
the dialogue we began so fruitfully in Corfu on this visit", the
statement says.

CLOSER ARMENIAN-GEORGIAN COOPERATION CAN MITIGATE GLOBAL CRISIS IMPACT ON TWO ECONOMIES

ARKA
June 25, 2009

YEREVAN, June 25. /ARKA/. Closer Armenian-Georgian economic cooperation
can mitigate adverse impact of the global crisis on the countries’
economies, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said Wednesday in
Yerevan, at a joint news conference with his Georgian counterpart
Mikhail Saakashvili.

"I and Georgian President Saakashvili paid special attention to
economic partnership between the countries and joint programs. I
hope this will help mitigate impacts the global crisis on Armenian
and Georgian economies", he said.

In his words, Armenia attaches special importance to the transportation
links passing through Georgia’s territory.

Sargsyan said that Armenia is especially interested in check point
on motor road between Russia and Georgia.

Trade turnover between Armenia and Georgia has reached $421.7 million
over the period between 2005 and 2008.

Georgia’s share in Armenia’s foreign trade turnover of 2005-2008
is 2.7%.

Trade turnover with Georgia has reduced 14.8% Jan-Apr 2009, compared
with the same period of the previous year, to $29.2 million.

Verkhny Lars, checkpoint on Russian-Georgian border was opened on
May 5 after repair.

But in fact, it doesn’t function, because the countries have no
diplomatic relations.

309 CITIZENS ALREADY RECEIVE MONEY THEY WON AS A RESULT OF JUNE LOTTERY OF CASH REGISTER RECEIPTS

Noyan Tapan
June 25, 2009

YEREVAN, JUNE 25, NOYAN TAPAN. As a result of the lottery of cash
register receipts held on June 5 by the State Revenue Committee (SRC),
309 winners have already received sums of a total of 2.2 million drams.

According to the SRC press service, 277 citizens won 5 thousand drams,
27 – 20 thousand drams and 5 citizens – 50 thousand drams each.