Author: Tambiyan Samvel

A1+

Unemployment on the rise
[12:04 pm] 10 March, 2009

More people are seeking employment in the Lori Marz in the past two
months. According to director of the employment center of Vanadzor Ara
Arakelyan, the number of unemployed has risen by 685 during the months
of January and February and a considerable growth of unemployed is
seen in the city of Vanadzor.

There have been 554 people seeking jobs in Vanadzor from January 1 to
March 1 and the number has increased by 128.

The number of unemployed in Alaverdi has gone up by 47. According to
Ara Arakelyan, the number of people seeing employment will increase
even more in the months to come due to lay-offs of people working in
many factories and organizations.

On January 1, 2009, there were 13,596 registered unemployed people and
this is 1037 more than the number in January 1, 2008. The index of
unemployed has gone from being 10,673 to 11,772. As a result, the
level of unemployment has gone from 9.8% to 10.6%

Gayane Sargsyan

Vanadzor

VivaCell-MTS presents free airtime to women subscribers on occasion of
March 8

2009-03-09 19:59:00

ArmInfo. VivaCell-MTS, a subsidiary of Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (NYSE:
MBT) gives men an unprecedented opportunity to congratulate the women
they love and make a surprise providing them an opportunity to make
free of charge calls during a whole week.

From March 8 till April 7, send the command *888*subscriber’s phone
number# – indicating your sweetheart’s phone number, and along with
congratulations she will receive an opportunity to call you free of
charge during a whole week more than 10 000 minutes. 1400 AMD are
charged from the account of the subscriber who sends the command.Free
airtime can be presented only to VivaCell-MTS prepaid and corporate
subscribers. It is possible to present free airtime to the same
subscriber maximum 4 times. Every time one more week is added to the
free calls period. If the number of the sender is included in the
recipient’s "My World" list, it will be excluded from the list and
after the free calls period expires, she can add it back to "My World"
list. If the number of the sender is the recipient’s Special Number, it
will stop being a Special Number and after the free calls period
expires, the subscriber can reset it as a Special Number. Subscribers
of "I love:" tariff plan cannot present free airtime to the subscribers
of their Beloved Numbers. Free airtime can be presented and received
only during the card’s validity period. The free airtime cannot be used
in roaming.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Georgian, Azeri and Armenian youth taught tolerance
14.03.2009 18:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ With the assistance of RA Ministry of Culture, the
Armenian Branch of the British Council together with a
non-governmental organization `Future belongs to you’ and the Armenian
team of LoFT (Leap of Faith Together) are conducting a program `Let’s
live together.’ The Armenian presentation of the program under the
heading `Knowing Ourselves’ has taken place today, in Yerevan.

Students from five countries are taking part in the program: Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Wales, Israel. Eight participants were selected
from each country, who worked out and conducted various youth and
social programs in October 2008 and February 2009.

Boston Herald, MA
March 8 2009

Already missing Mr. Speaker

By Peter Gelzinis
Sunday, March 8, 2009 –

My last phone conversation with George Keverian was two weeks
ago. `I’m looking over bread inside the Market Basket,’ he told me.

I apologized and said I’d call back in an hour.

`Peter, don’t be silly,’ said the former speaker of the House. `Your
call is the highlight of my day. I’m able to multitask, you know. I’m
sure I can squeeze the bread and provide you with insight at the same
time. So, Peter, please, what can I do for you?’

Our phone calls always ended the same way, with me promising to bring
coffee over to his assessor’s office in Everett. `I’ll look forward to
it,’ George would say.

In the aftermath of his passing on Friday, I can’t remember now what
it was that kept me from going to Everett City Hall.

George Keverian was, quite literally, an abundant man. His similarly
sizable intellect was surpassed only by his prodigious compassion. In
many ways, he was an engaging paradox.

As a public figure, Keverian was skilled enough to dominate in that
shark tank known as the State House. He was also the devoted
first-born son of Armenian immigrants, who died in the same Everett
three-decker where he’d spent all of his 77 years; he was the powerful
pol who never married and cared for his mother until the day she
died. Such bedrock loyalty does not exist in today’s crop of
politicians.

`When George was speaker and (Billy) Bulger was Senate president,’
recalled one insider, `you had this remarkable contrast in styles and
temperament. George was the Everett kid who rode the subway back and
forth to Harvard, a tremendous wit who made himself the butt of all
his best jokes.

`Bulger, on the other hand, was the (BC) Triple Eagle who never let
you forget it,’ the source added, `the studied quip whose fork-tongued
punch lines were always aimed at someone else.’

After Keverian out-maneuvered his Napoleonic predecessor, Tommy McGee,
in a coup of House reformers, the word `paternal’ described a
leadership style befitting a man who really did view the House as his
family.

Our conversations started after George had left Beacon Hill with no
regrets and no desire to lobby or look back. He took refuge in the
bosom of his beloved Everett, where the city immortalized its favorite
son by naming an elementary school in his honor.

`Peter, do you know what it feels like to be able to walk into a
building that bears your name and read Dr. Seuss to a kindergarten or
first-grade class?’ George Keverian would say. `It’s wonderful, truly
wonderful.’

I will miss the insight and the laughter so graciously dispensed by
this kind and generous man with the gentle voice.

s/view/2009_03_08_Already_missing_Mr__Speaker/srvc =home&position=1

President Sargsyan congratulates women on March 8

armradio.am
08.03.2009 13:16

President Serzh Sargsyan issued a congratulatory message on the
occasion of the International Women’s Day. The message reads, in part:

`Dear women,
I congratulate you on the occasion of the International Women’s Day.

You have combined the best qualities, you have filled our families with
warmth and care. With all that you play an important role in the public
life of our country, contributing to the development and strengthening
of the state with your work and knowledge.

I extend my gratitude and congratulations to those women who bring up
and educate the new generation of citizens of our country, those
engaged in the fields of science, culture, healthcare and others.

I congratulate our daughters and grandmothers, mothers and sisters, all
Armenian women on this beautiful day.
I wish you love, warmth, happiness and all the best.’

RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan received a delegation led by Deputy
Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Italy Alfredo Mantica.

Fri day, 6 March 2009

RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan received a delegation led by Deputy
Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Italy Alfredo Mantica.
By pointing out that the bilateral relations have ushered in a new
stage of development, the Prime Minister stated our country’s special
focus on boosting the Armenian-Italian economic interaction.
Tigran Sargsyan and Alfredo Mantica underscored that despite the
functioning of a number of Italian companies in Armenia, the current
level of economic ties is still far from being satisfactory and falls
short of the existing potentialities.
The Italian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs briefed the RA Prime
Minister on the meetings and discussions held in our country by making
a point of the outcome of his talks with the Armenian Minister of
Economy. According to Alfredo Mantica, a draft action plan is out for
the development economic interaction, including the establishment of
direct ties and cooperation between Armenia and the region of Veneto.
The interlocutors informed each other about the steps underway in both
countries towards overcoming the global financial and economic crisis.
The parties also referred to a number of questions concerning the
Armenian-Italian joint endeavors under the EU Eastern Partnership
Program, regional security and stability.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan outlined Armenia’s
positions regarding the settlement of the Karabakh conflict and
Armenia-Turkey relations.

IF U.S. AND RUSSIA STRIKE A DEAL ON IRAN, ANKARA AND BAKU WILL LOSE SIGNIFICANCE

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.03.2009 11:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ If U.S. and Russia strike a deal on Iran, Ankara
and Baku will lose their significance for the West.

The matter concerns a serious bargain between Washington and Moscow
envisaging direct partnership to undermine the Ahmadinejad regime,
RTR Vesti reports.

It’s not hard to guess which countries will maximally reap the benefit
of such bargain and which will lose.

Israel, which actually elected Likuda, and Romania, a transit country
for Iranian gas in Nabucco initial draft, will certainly be in the
first group.

The second group will include Azerbaijan and Turkey as presumed
transit countries. Georgia is not counted, since Nabucco also supposes
Iran-Armenia-Georgia transit as an alternative to the Turkish one.

The other countries which will lose from Israel and Romania’s
strengthening are Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Bulgaria, Ukraine and
Moldova.

ETHNIC AZERI GROUP WANTS GEORGIA TO BE CONFEDERATION

Interfax
March 3 2009
Russia

Georgia should be turned into a "confederation" whose constituent
parts would be regions predominantly populated by ethnic Georgians,
Azeris, Ossetians and Abkhaz, according to Dashgyn Gyulmamedov,
president of the National Assembly for Azeris in Georgia (NAAG).

"Otherwise, Georgian statehood will be ruined," Gyulmamedov told a
news conference at the headquarters of the Interfax-Azerbaijan news
agency on Tuesday.

"Neither Europe nor Russia nor Turkey needs Georgia with the problems
it is experiencing at present. After a year those countries will
themselves embark on a procedure to create a confederated Georgian
state," he said.

The NAAG had put its proposal before the Council of Europe, the
European Union and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Gyulmamedov said.

"We see the territorial integrity of Georgia as indispensable to the
solution of all the problems," and NAAG is against alleged separatist
activities by ethnic Armenians living in Georgia, he added.

CENTRAL BANK OF ARMENIA RELEASES DRAM’S RATE

Interfax
March 3 2009
Russia

The Central Bank of Armenia is now limiting its interventions on the
domestic currency market and returning to a floating rate for the
dram, Central Bank Chairman Artur Dzhavadian said at apres conference
on Tuesday.

According to the Central Bank’s forecasts, the average rate of the
U.S. dollar throughout 2009 will increase to 360-380 dram/$1 against
307 dram, he said. Dzhavadian added that this would allow for an
optimal rate that substantially raises Armenia’s competitiveness on
the world market.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) believes that the real rate
of the dollar to the dram in 2009 will increase faster than the
Central Bank’s forecast. The IMF’s representative in Armenia, Nienke
Oomes, expressed this opinion at a press conference in Yerevan while
commenting on the Central Bank’s decision to return to a floating
rate for the national currency.

Oomes added that the dram was currently overvalued and that its rate
had been strengthened more than necessary. She added that the Central
Bank’s forecast regarding the limit of the dram’s decline was too
optimistic for 2009.

She also said that the IMF had made a recommendation to the Central
Bank to restrain the dram if it falls too far. If this happens,
the Central Bank will use a portion of funds from an upcoming $540
million IMF loan, which would be put into replenishing the bank’s
currency reserves.

Oomes said that the floating rate would allow Armenia to step up
exports and maintain its economy while also creating new jobs.

She said that the IMF was very satisfied with the Central Bank’s
decision.

The Central Bank of Armenia has for a long time restrained the rate of
the dram vis-a-vis the U.S. dollar through currency interventions. As
a result, the dollar has held at 305-307 dram throughout 2008 and
the start of 2009.

According to an Interfax correspondent, the rate of the dollar rose
on Tuesday to 340-390 dram/$1 and was continuing to rise.

CHANGES SHOULD BE MADE IN TAX AND BUDGETARY POLICY WITH AIM OF AVOIDING INFLATION RISKS

Noyan Tapan

M arch 4, 2009

YEREVAN, MARCH 4, NOYAN TAPAN. In order to avoid inflation risks
in case of a floating exchange rate, changes should be made in the
tax and budgetary policy. That is, as economist Andranik Tevanian
stated at the March 4 press conference, it is necessary to change the
structure of the budget, reducing both the revenues and expenditures by
20%. Besides, the economist proposed to withdraw cash registers from
use, introduce fixed payments, and only after ensuring a competition
field, to use cash registers again.

In his words, the bases of the financial crisis in Armenia were laid
in 2007 when the Republican Party of Armenia took the whole control
package from the National Assembly, changing the economic policy,
after which expenditures of the budget increased from 1.7 billion
USD to 2.5 billion USD. The next year the expenditures have amounted
to 3.1 billion USD, which is a heavier tax burden on businessmen,
especially on small and medium ones.

As a result of this policy, according to A. Tevanian, the small
and medium business has found itself in a hard situation in 2008,
and since the second half of 2008, there has been a decline in the
amount of remittances to Armenia, construction volumes, etc. "2009
will be a hard year for small and medium businessmen. The economic
crisis has no relation to it, this is a consequence of redistribution
of the economy," A. Tevanian underlined, adding that "there is also
a smell of criminals in the air".