Author: Talalian Arpi

WHERE AND WHY ARMENIA LOSES ELECTRICITY?

Aysor.am
Saturday, October 17

Over this year’s September Armenia’s electricity loss came to 11.6%.

Deputy marketing director of Armenian Electric Networks Arsen
Gabrielyan told Aysor’s correspondent, that some minor losses appear
in the densely populated private sectors, poorly equipped sectors,
and among out-of-date meter users.

He told that in order to reduce losses a number of activities
are carried: upgraded electronic multi-tariff meters, which have
highest accuracy class, install; automated light low-voltage network
(0.4kV) system implements; poor-conditional substations rehab;
and staff-building activities including bonus system for employees,
skilled professionals recruiting, and so on.

The company injected 750 million AMD to reduce losses and for technical
base improving over this year, while to the year’s end will invest
1 more million AMD.

"Actual losses respond to technical base condition; to turn them into
rate loss we need additional injections," said Arsen Gabrielyan.

Meanwhile, Slavik Sargsyan, who is chairman of NGO of legal persons
union "Pan-Armenian Association of Power Workers", in interview with
Aysor said that Armenian energy today is in a volatile situation given
that the equipment is outdated, constant breakdowns and switchoff
happen while the rural areas meet worse situation. According to
Slavik Sargsyan’s calculations Armenia loses 2,100 million kw/h,
not reported 760 million.

"This means that the cost of the monthly loss is 1.5 billion AMD.

"If we assume that this is a made index and the real loss is 500
million AMD, and this can be cut to 50-10 million, then I wonder
where 1 billion AMD is?"

He shared his opinion that there are too little skilled professionals
in field of electrical networks and that one can see a great drop in
security requirements.

Head of Department of investment programs under Public Services
Regulatory Commission (PSRC) Abgar Budagyan told Aysor’s correspondent
that the running tariffs ritten in company’s privatization contract.

The difference between actual and real loss, no matter how much it
was, is the company’s damage being compensated by the profit. He also
pointed that the company is working at providing a minimum in loss.

‘ARMENIA IS SHAPING REGION’S AGENDA’

Aysor.am
Friday, October 16

"Yesterday’s "football diplomacy" is over and we stepped into new
phase of Armenian-Turkish relations," told journalists the secretary
of Republican Fraction Edward Sharmazanov.

The year brought significant development, he noted adding that
proactive policy of Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan provided the
situation that Armenia creates region’s agenda, shifting passive
position into active one, and this doesn’t violate our national and
state interests.

"Establishing Armenia-Turkey relations the President and authorities
support process without preconditions that reflect interests of
region’s states and our country’s first of all."

Edward Sharmazanov gave a positive assessment of the fact that
Armenia’s position has a value in U.S., Europe, and Russia, and called
President’s before-signing speech an historical.

"President clearly marked several important items sending clear
messages both to world and Armenian political and public sources."

According to Edward Sharmazanov, "Armenia is able to give an answer
to any Turkey’s non-constructive step." In this connection, the deputy
said, "Armenian side has no unilateral obligations."

"Protocols signed in Zurich show that Armenian side has clearly
defended Armenia’s interests, we saw there were no any appeared in
protocols changes. Everything is just as it should be."

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT HEARS JEERS ON HISTORIC VISIT TO TURKEY

The Age
October 15, 2009 – 8:09AM

Armenia’s president paid a landmark visit to Turkey Wednesday, and
jeering at the football match he attended showed the difficulty the
two nations face in trying to overcome their bloody history.

Serzh Sarkisian and his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul met "in an
extremely positive atmosphere" ahead of the game, diplomats said,
but there was loud booing of Armenia’s national anthem at the stadium.

Sarkisian flew to the northwestern city of Bursa just four days after
Turkey and Armenia, backed by world powers, signed historic deals to
end decades of hostility, establish formal ties and open their border.

The protocols still need parliamentary ratifications to take effect
and the process is expected to take time amid nationalist ire in
both countries.

Gul hailed the deals as "history making" and "both sides conceded the
process will be difficult… but expressed hope that support for the
agreements will grow," a Turkish diplomat said.

An Armenian diplomat stressed his country "expects to get a guarantee
from Turkey that the ratification will not be drawn out and will
occur within a logical timeframe."

The two nations have been estranged since World War I when, Armenians
say, 1.5 million of their kin were killed by their Ottoman rulers in
what was a genocide, a label Turkey fiercely rejects.

Two other Armenian presidents have visited Turkey in the past for
international gatherings, but Sarkisian was the first to come on a
bilateral occasion.

Gul and Sarkisian watched the match in the company of UEFA President
Michel Platini, as well as the foreign ministers of the two countries
and of Switzerland, which has acted as mediator between them since
August 2007.

Sarkisian smiled mildly as Turkey scored, while Gul applauded, after
which the two were seen chatting.

Turkey won 2-0, but the outcome was of no significance as both sides
were already out of the running for the 2010 World C be a show of
bridge-building, the authorities imposed stringent security measures
and tough rules for spectators.

But despite appeals from loudspeakers for respect and hospitality,
intensive jeering erupted when Armenia’s national anthem was played
and its team presented at the start of the game.

Earlier, a bus carrying Armenian journalists was pelted with stones
by dozens of shouting fans, but no one was injured.

Some 3,000 police were on duty for the game, in addition to plain
clothes officers assigned to sit among spectators to prevent offensive
chants.

Ticket sales were restricted, with most reportedly distributed to
military academy students, police and their families, prompting
protests outside the stadium.

Police used tear gas to disperse a group of fans without tickets
after brief scuffles, Anatolia news agency reported.

Still, Sarkisian told reporters before wrapping up his visit that
the two countries "accomplished a great job today."

Armenia’s opposition had condemned his trip to Turkey, accusing
Sarkisian of betraying the country’s interests.

And for many Turks, the peace effort amounts to selling out Azerbaijan,
one of Ankara’s closest allies, whose conflict with Armenia over the
disputed Nagorny Karabakh region had led Turkey in 1993 to seal its
border with Armenia.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed Tuesday that
progress on the Nagorny Karabakh conflict would determine the Turkish
parliament’s ratification of the deals with Armenia.

Yerevan says ties with Turkey should be established without
pre-conditions and categorically rejects any link to its conflict
with Azerbaijan.

Sarkisian’s trip to Turkey was a return of an earlier gesture by Gul,
who became the first Turkish head of state to visit Armenia when he
attended the first-leg match in Yerevan in September 2008.

2009 AFP This story is sourced direct from an overseas news agency
as an additional service to readers. Spelling follows North American
usage, along with foreign currency and measurement units.

RPA SLAMMED RA JOURNALISTS’-RELATED INCIDENT IN BURSA

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
15.10.2009 15:08 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "I censure the fact that the bus taking Armenian
journalists to Bursa stadium was pelted with stones," RA Republican
Party Parliamentary Faction Secretary Eduard Sharmazanov stated.

According to Sharmazanov the incident is an obvious proof Turkey has
problems with tolerance and freedom of speech, still, parallel to
it there are people in Turkey who’re not afraid to speak of Armenian
Genocide and who do not deny the fact.

On October 14, a bus taking Armenian journalists to Bursa stadium was
pelted with stones. As PanARMENIAN.Net correspondent reported from
Bursa, the police failed to call the crowd gathered at the stadium
to order. Those gathered held Azeri flags in their hands.

GENOCIDE SCHOLAR ROGER SMITH DONATES PERSONAL LIBRARY TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MUSEUM OF AMERICA

PanARMENIAN.Net
14.10.2009 18:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Roger Smith, professor emeritus of government at
the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and a
co-founder and past president of the International Association of
Genocide Scholars (IAGS) has donated his personal library of books
on the subject of genocide to the Armenian Genocide Museum of America
(AGMA).

In making this gift, Dr. Smith shared the following thoughts: "I had
long been involved with various Armenian scholarly organizations,
had given talks about the Genocide, and especially denial, to many
Armenian community groups, but I had also been deeply committed to
educating a new generation of scholars who could carry on the work
begun by some of us twenty-five years ago. I offered my collection of
books to the Armenian Genocide Museum of America to provide materials
that could help educate scholars and policy makers about the Genocide,
but also as a kind of fulfillment, and continuation, of my association
with a people whose cause I had come to care about deeply."

Trustee of the museum and chairman of its building and operations
committee Van Z. Krikorian welcomed the gift as a valuable addition
to the resources being assembled to create a state-of-the-art museum
facility in the nation’s capital.

"As an educator and as a human rights advocate, Dr. Smith has
selflessly dedicated his time to speak on the Armenian Genocide at
international conferences, in lecture halls and in the classroom,"
Krikorian said. "In 2000 he was invited by the House International
Affairs Committee to testify in Congress about the Armenian Genocide
resolution then under consideration, and all Armenians owe him our
gratitude for that and so much more. We are so very grateful to him
for his generosity and express our deep appreciation for his strong
support."

PRIME MINISTER OF ARMENIA AWARDED CERTIFICATES TO THE GRADUATES OF THE ASSOCIATION OF ACCCOUNTANTS AND AUDITORS OF ARMENIA

ARKA
Oct 14, 2009

YEREVAN, October 14. /ARKA/. On Wednesday Prime Minister of Armenia
Tigran Sargsyan awarded certuificates to the graduates of the
Association of Accountants and Auditors of Armenia.

"Accountants have an important mission in Armenia and we should invest
international financial standards in Armenia", said Sargsyan during
his visit to the Association of Accountants and Auditors of Armenia
and CJSC "National institute of standards".

Mels Petrosyan, the head of the Association said that certificates are
awarded to 105 specialists, from which 32 in the sphere of audit, 49
graduates received qualification of accountants and 24 – book-keepers.

At present, 13 companies are included in Learning-Editorial Center
of the Association which provides accounting services to the
representatives of small and medium businesses.

"About 250 small and medium enterprises have already used the services
of the Center and their number is increasing day-by-day. Thanks to
the new price policy, we expect involvement of new companies in the
activities of the Center", said Petrosyan.

Haykanush Bagratunyan, representative of USAID said that they are
supporting the Association for already 10 years and are glad that it
provides qualified training of Armenian auditors and accountants. The
Association publishes newspapers, journals and books. They organize
professional, technical and other specialized short-term courses,
training, retraining, double training and organization of standards,
expertise and certificates for relevance of standards, organization
of control and quality assurance.

NATO REPRESENTATIVE HAILS DEVELOPMENTS OVER ARMENIAN-TURKISH TIES

Panorama.am
15:44 14/10/2009

In the framework of "NATO Week" during the TV bridge held in NATO
Information Center representative of NATO International Staff Laurence
Mayer-Sineman hailed the recent developments between Armenian-Turkish
relations.

The NATO representative has also noted that the relations of that
state have no links with Armenia-NATO relations.

"We think the developments of Armenian-Turkish relations are
positive. Those ties will have positive impact not only on the
bilateral ties but will also influence on security in the region,
as well as NATO-Armenia cooperation," he said.

RESEARCH AND MARKETS: ARMENTEL IS GRANTED THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO PROVIDE ALL TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES IN ARMENIA UNTIL 2013

Reuters
Mon Oct 12, 2009 12:30pm EDT

DUBLIN–(Business Wire)– Research and Markets
( h/ee407f/armenia_telecoms)
has announced the addition of the "Armenia – Telecoms, Mobile &
Internet" report to their offering.

The Armenia – Telecoms, Mobile & Internet report includes all research
data and analysis on this country. Covering trends and developments
in telecommunications, mobile, internet, broadband, infrastructure
and regulation.

The telecommunications sector in Armenia went into decline following
the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Fixed-line teledensity fell
by around 2% partly due to the prevailing socio-economic instability
in the region triggered by the collapse of the Soviet Union. But more
significant a factor was that the country had failed to embrace any
vigorous reform in the telecom sector.

With steadily improving economic conditions, the telecoms sector has
nevertheless been slow to respond. In the 2006/07 period positive
signs were emerging for the sector, however; despite fixed line
expansion continuing to be flat, mobile subscriber numbers were
increasing by around 75% annually for a number of years, helped no
doubt by the introduction of competition into the mobile market in
2005. Growth in mobiles had slowed to 30% annually coming into 2009
as the faltering Armenian economy started to have a negative effect
on the telecom market.

Armenia’s progress to a more competitive market has been
slow. ArmenTel, the country’s national telecom provider, was granted
the exclusive right to provide all telecommunications services in
Armenia, including public switched telephony services and mobile
telephony, until 2013. As a consequence of this monopoly, no other
company was able to provide international satellite services. The
one segment of the market initially exempt from this monopoly was
Internet services.

Greek company Hell ted US$142.5 million in 1998 for a 90% equity
stake in ArmenTel. The remaining 10% was retained by the Government of
Armenia. OTE agreed to develop and expand the telecom infrastructure in
Armenia, including the digitisation of the Public Switched Telephone
Network. OTE also agreed to invest US$300 million in the country’s
telecommunications network by 2003, of which US$100 million was to
be invested in ArmenTel.

However, amid growing dissatisfaction over the performance of the
country’s telecoms network, in November 2004 the government was under
increasing pressure to do something about the ArmenTel monopoly. It
reached a compromise agreement with ArmenTel to end its exclusive
rights to provide a range of services, including GSM mobile services,
satellite and mobile radio communications services in exchange for
various other concessions, including the stipulation that only one
alternative mobile operator would be allowed to operate in Armenia
until 2009. ArmenTel was to also retain sole rights to Internet
telephony and the use of fibre optic cables.

The government subsequently made a controversial decision to choose
Armenia’s second mobile operator without transparent and competitive
bidding; Karabakh Telecom (KT), a little-known Lebanese-owned company,
was officially awarded a licence to operate a GSM network in Armenia.

OTE put its 90% equity in ArmenTel up for sale in June 2006,
offered to the market through a bidding process. Russian operator
VimpelCom was the successful bidder, finally acquiring the stake in
November 2006. VimpelCom finalised the deal in April 2007 acquiring
the remaining 10% of the shares of ArmenTel from the Government of
Armenia to raise its equity holding in the company to 100%.

In December 2007 the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC)
said that the government of Armenia planned to award a third mobile
licence in 2008 based on the GSM 900/1800 standard. There was to
be a call for an international tender with bidding for the licence
which was due to start in May 2008 and ablished by the government,
would oversee the process. Orange Armenia was awarded a 15-year mobile
operator licence in November 2008. The newly licensed operator was 100%
owned by France Telecom (Orange).

Key Highlights:

* By December 2008 mobile penetration in Georgia had reached 85%,
having increased more than fivefold in just three years; * In late
2008 and into 2009, however, the mobile market was showing signs
of stalling, as the country’s faltering economy impacted on the
telecom sector; * On the positive front, a third mobile licence had
been issued and the new player Orange Armenia had already invested
heavily in its network and was aiming for a launch late in 2009;
* It was also encouraging that ArmenTel had launched its 3G mobile
service in October 2008 and had signed up almost 20,000 subscribers
by March 2009; * Fixed-line growth in Armenia was slow; with still
only 67% of the network digital by mid-2009, the big challenge facing
ArmenTel was to complete the digitalisation program; * While there is
a growing Internet awareness in the country, the Internet segment of
the market remains sluggish, with user penetration down around 6% in
early 2009; * Broadband Internet development has also been poor; the
advent of wireless broadband/WiMAX service offerings in 2008/09 could
allow for faster expansion, however; * Armenia’s economy experienced
a serious setback in 2008/09; it is hoped the progress being made in
telecom sector reform would not suffer as a consequence of troubles
in the wider economy.

Report’s Stats:

* Armenia – key telecom parameters – 2008 – 2009 * Category: 2008
– 2009 (e) * Fixed-line services: * Total number of subscribers:
650,000 – 675,000 * Annual growth: 4% – 4% * Fixed-line penetration
(population): 21% – 22% * Internet: * Total number of subscribers:
1120,000 – 127,000 * Annual growth: 7% – 6% * Internet subscriber
penetration (population): 4% – 4% * Mobile services: * Total number
of subscribers (million): 2.56 – 2.90 * Annual growth: 37% – 14% *
Mobile pen.

NEW MILK-COLLECTION CENTER TO OPEN IN BORDER VILLAGE OF AZATAMUT

Noyan Tapan
12.10.2009

The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund is currently building a milk-collection
center in Armenia’s Tavush Region, aiming to significantly boost
the local dairy industry. The facility, which will be established
in the border village of Azatamut, is intended to service seven
neighboring communities as well, including Khashtarak, Lusahovit,
Lusadzor, Ditavan, Aknaghbyur, Aygehovit, and Achajur. The project
is sponsored by the Armenia Fund U.S.

Western Region, with funding from the Armenian community of San
Francisco.

According to a report of the Fund, the milk-collection center will
be a two-story facility: the milk-collection center with necessary
equipment will be located on the first floor, and a cheese or dairy
section will be built on the second floor.

Commenting on the urgency of the project, Azatamut mayor Zhora
Martirosyan said that currently crop growers and animal farmers in
Tavush barely make ends meet since they lack proper mechanisms to
sell their products outside their communities. "The existence of a
milk-collection center will go a long way in improving the lives of
our residents," Martirosyan added.

TURKISH SIDE’S CUNNING STEP FELL THROUGH IN ZURICH

PanARMENIAN.Net
13.10.2009 13:33 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Comparing the information of various sources,
I can say that delay in Protocol signing was caused by attempts to
introduce in Turkish side’s statement certain elements concerning
Karabakh conflict," Turkish studies expert Ruben Melkonyan told a news
conference in Yerevan. In his words, the text of Turkish FM’s statement
did not contain a direct hint at Karabakh but it was unacceptable to
Armenia. Expert believes this to be a cunning step by Turkey, which,
however, fell through.

On October 10, Armenian and Turkish Foreign Ministers Edward
Nalbandyan and Ahmet Davutoglu met in Zuirich to sign bilateral
Protocols initialed on August 31. The ceremony took place in presence
of Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner,
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier
Solana, Armenia’s Ambassador to Switzerland Charles Aznavour, Turkey’s
Ambassador to Switzerland Oguz Demiral and Slovenia’s Foreign Minister,
Chair of CoE Committee of Ministers Samuel Zbogar.