Author: Topchian Jane

GLOBAL CRISIS TO IMPACT MONEY TRANSFERS, MORTGAGE MARKET AND MINING INDUSTRY IN ARMENIA

ARKA
Feb 5, 2009

YEREVAN, February 5. /ARKA/. The global financial and economic crisis
will impact money transfers, mortgage market and mining industry in
Armenia, Vardan Atoyan, assistant to the deputy finance minister,
said Wednesday at a seminar focused on the global crisis.

He said that private money transfers in Armenia are estimated at $1
to 2 billion, of which $600 million is transferred through banks.

"These transfers are mainly sent here from Armenians working in
construction and trade in Russia. It is known that these sectors
are now paralyzed there. That is why many our compatriots may lose
their jobs", Atoyan said adding that many Armenian citizens working
in trade sector face this threat because of the restrictions imposed
by Russian government on employment of foreigners.

National Statistical Service of Armenia says that $1489.2 million
was transferred in Jan/Nov 2008 to individuals in Armenia for
non-commercial purposes.

This amount is 26.2% or by $309.1 million greater than that of the
same period of the previous year.

The most intensive flows came from Russia and the United
States. Transfers sent from these countries in Jan/Nov 2008 made 91.6%
of total transfers received in Armenia over that period. Transfers
sent over the same period a year earlier made 95% of total transfers.

Speaking about mortgage market, th e assistant to deputy minister
said that Armenian banks have stopped extending mortgage loans,
and the extension business crediting is also under threat of stoppage.

"We think the main cause is cash shortage in banks", he said.

Atoyan said that precipitous fall in prices for metals on world
markets strikes hard at Armenia’s mining industry, since the major
part of its output is exported.

"Alaverdi, Kajaran and Agarak copper and molybdenum combines and Kapan
mining combine faced grave financial problems. Their administrations
resorted to job cuts and wage lowering and caused additional damage
to economies in these job-starving border areas", he said.

Atoyan said that tourism that rallied recently in Armenia will be
affected by the global crisis as well.

DEFENDANT TREATING COURT WITH DISREGARD CAN BE SENT AWAY FROM SITTING HALL FOR A TERM OF UP TO 10 DAYS

Noyan Tapan

Feb 5, 2009

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 5, NOYAN TAPAN. On February 5, the RA National
Assembly in the second reading and completely adopted the package of
bills authored by the government, which envisaged making amendments and
addenda to the RA Civil Code, Criminal Code, Code of Administrative
Procedure, Judicial Procedure, and to the law On Bankruptcy. The
adopted laws will come in force from March 1.

According to the main rapporteur, Justice Minister Gevorg Danielian,
the government made some revisions in the package of bills adopted in
the first reading the day before. In particular, it was stipulated in
the Criminal Procedure Code that if investigation is carried out with
defendant’s absence the court does not accept defendant’s refusal of a
lawyer and in the envisaged order appoints a lawyer or keeps the powers
of the appointed lawyer. It was also established that if a defendant
hinders sitting’s normal process or does not execute judge’s orders,
as well as if he treats the court with disregard, the defendant can
be sent away from the sitting hall for a term of up to 10 days.

CSTO MILITARY CONTINGENT WILL NOT INFLUENCE AZERBAIJAN

Trend News Agency
Feb 4 2009
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani military experts do not believe the united military
contingent established under the auspices of the Collective Security
Treaty Organization (CSTO) will influence national security.

"Azerbaijan is maintaining the correct position by not joining the CSTO
or signing a contract to form a joint military contingent. Russia
continues to pursue its policies to establish authority in the
post-Soviet territory," independent military expert and Chairman of
the Democratic Civil Supervisory Board Alakbar Mammadov said.

Moscow is hosting a CSTO meeting today. The organization’s Foreign
Ministers Council, Defense Ministers Council and Secretary Board of
Security Councils are attending. The meeting will focus on forming
collective military forces. An agreement has already been developed
and will be signed.

The CSTO is a military union composing 7 countries, including Armenia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The
organization was formed on the basis of the Collective Security Treaty
on May 15. The treaty became an international organization on May 14,
2002. The UN granted its general assembly monitoring status on Dec. 2,
2004. Azerbaijan is not a member.

Mammadov said Russia always supported Armenia militarily. This is
part of its policy, he added.

"Armenia began occupying Azerbaijani lands with Russia’s
support. Russia will not change its position toward Armenia even if
Azerbaijan signs the treaty," Mammadov said.

Mammadov said if Azerbaijan joins the CSTO, Russia will seek to
strengthen its position in the country.

The military expert said Azerbaijan should continue integrating with
the West, seeking NATO membership and gaining the West’s support in
its struggle against Armenia.

"If we sign the agreement, we will lose the support of the West,"
Mammadov said.

Another independent military expert Uzeyir Jafarov told Trend News
that the CSTO’s move to establish collective military forces will
not create any serious danger in the future.

"Azerbaijan’s decision not to join the bloc will not lead to any
serious danger. I do not think that Russia will openly interfere in
Azerbaijan as was the case in Georgia," Jafarov said.

He added that Armenia will take advantage of its membership by
purchasing military equipment with considerable concessions.

Azerbaijan has maintained a neutral position in military processes
in the CIS, the expert said.

Russia, in turn, is trying to include Azerbaijan under its sphere
of influence.

Jafarov did not exclude that Azerbaijan will join the CSTO in the
future.

"Azerbaijan must observe military processes in the CIS and take
relevant steps to safeguard national security and integrity," he said.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry’s Press Secretary Eldar Sabiroglu
refused to comment on the issue for Trend News.

IRAN LAUNCHED ITS FIRST SATELLITE

AZG Armenian Daily
05/02/2009

International

Iran Tuesday successfully launched its first satellite into orbit,
a step hailed by Iran’s president as a "source of pride" for the
Islamic republic, according to state-run news outlets.

Reported satellite launch took place on the 30th anniversary of the
Islamic revolution in Iran.

The launch of the satellite Omid — which means "Hope" in Farsi —
was timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary celebrations of the
Islamic revolution in Iran, according to Iranian media reports.

Iran said the satellite had already completed its first mission —
to transmit a message from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
who spoke at the launching ceremony Monday night.

In his message, Ahmadinejad congratulated the nation and said the
successful launch improves Iran’s status in the world, the Islamic
Republic News Agency reported.

He stressed that both the satellite and the Safir rocket used to
launch it were made entirely by Iranian technicians.

Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said that despite the
small size of the Omid satellite, it will open the way for an Iranian
space program. He said Tehran plans to launch another satellite in
the future.

In August, Iran performed a test of a rocket capable of launching
a satellite into orbit. Iranian officials declared that mission a
success, but U.S. officials disputed that.

Senior U.S. officials had expressed concerned about the test of
the rocket, saying Iran could use the rocket to deliver warheads,
CNN reported.

INTERNATIONAL BOXING TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD ON FEBRUARY 16-18 IN YEREVAN ON INITIATIVE OF ARMENIAN BOXING FEDERATION

Noyan Tapan

Feb 2, 2009

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 2, NOYAN TAPAN. Elder age group International
Boxing Youth Team Tournament will be held on February 16-18 at Karen
Demirchian Sports and Concert Complex on the initiative of the Armenian
Boxing Federation. As Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed by Arman
Muradian, the newly elected Chairman of Armenian Boxing Federation
and Co-chairman of Bamo Holding, the Armenian national team will
compete with national teams of Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Russia.

NALBANDIAN OFF TO MOSCOW FOR CSTO FOREIGN MINISTERS COUNCIL SUMMIT

PanARMENIAN.Net
03.02.2009 13:43 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian is
departing for Moscow today to attend the summit of Foreign Ministers
of the Collective Security Treaty Organization member countries due
on February 4.

The top diplomats will negotiate formation of collective peacekeeping
force.

Armenia assumed the rotating 6-month chairmanship in the Organization
in September 4, 2008.

Interfax, Russia
Jan 29 2009

Yerevan praises outcome of presidential talks on Karabakh settlement

YEREVAN Jan 29

The Armenian side regards the outcome of the Zurich meeting of
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev as
constructive and positive, the press service of the Armenian leader
told Interfax on Wednesday.

"At the meeting the sides expressed their opinions about the current
stage of the negotiating process. At the end the two presidents bound
the foreign ministers together with the cochairmen of the OSCE Minsk
group to continue the negotiations," the press service said.

The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan expressed the wish that the
cochairmen would continue coordinating the approaches of the sides. At
the meeting they also agreed on a coming visit of the cochairmen of
the OSCE Minsk group to the region.

The press service said that the meeting of the two presidents began in
the presence of the foreign ministers of the two countries, cochairmen
of the Minsk group and personal envoy of the OSCE chairman- in-office
Andzey Kasprzyk. The Sargsyan-Aliyev meeting was followed by talks
between full delegations.

>From Zurich Sargsyan traveled to Davos where he will attend the
official opening of the World Economic Forum.

Anadolu AGency, Turkey
Jan 29 2009

Turkish, Armenian foreign ministers meet in Davos

Davos, 28 January: The Turkish foreign minister met his Armenian
counterpart in Davos, Switzerland, today.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ali Babacan had a meeting with Armenian
Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian in Davos on the sidelines of the
annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.

"I will have another meeting with Nalbandian later," Babacan told
reporters.

Babacan said that he had met Nalbandian for five or six times since
the national soccer game between the two countries in September 2008.

The Turkish foreign minister said that Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan was scheduled to meet Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev on Friday [30 January], and Armenian President Serzh Sargsian
was also demanding a meeting.

‘AIR’ TAX IN ARMENIA TO BE ABOLISHED STARTED LATE MARCH, 2009

ArmInfo
2009-01-30 14:14:00

ArmInfo. According to the law passed by the Armenian parliament,
the "air" tax will not be collected directly from air passengers but
it will be included in the air ticket cost started March 28, 2009,
deputy Head of the State Committee on state incomes of Armenia Armen
Alaverdyan said in the government on Friday.

According to him, the relevant work should be conducted with airlines
for the latters to prepare for these changes. He said about 7 bln
drams were annually collected as regards "air" tax.

The Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sarkisyan said these changes
facilitate the citizens’ life, however, they should be informed of
this innovation.

ARMENIAN SIDE ASSESSES OUTCOME OF MEETING OF ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENTS IN ZURICH AS POSITIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE

ArmInfo
2009-01-29 10:22:00

ArmInfo. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and President
of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev met yesterday at the Radisson Hotel
in Zurich. This is the third meeting of the two Presidents in the
process of negotiations for the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict.

As the Armenian presidential press service reports, the meeting of the
Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan started with the participation
of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the two countries Edward
Nalbandian and Elmar Mamedyarov, as well as the Co- Chairs of the
OSCE Minsk Group Yuri Merzlyakov, Matthew Bryza, Bernard Fassier, and
the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej
Kasprzyk. Later, President Sargsyan and President Aliev continued
the talks in the face-to-face format. After the private meeting of
the President of Armenia and the President of Azerbaijan the talks
were continued in the extended format.

The Armenian side assessed the outcome of the meeting in Zurich as
positive and constructive. During the meeting, the two sides presented
their positions on the current stage of the peace talks. The Presidents
of the two states directed their Ministers of Foreign Affairs to
continue the negotiations in cooperation with the Co-Chairs of the
OSCE Minsk Group.

Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliev expressed satisfaction with the fact
that the Co-Chairs are working toward the synchronization of the
parties’ positions.

During the meeting, the parties agreed also on the upcoming visit of
the Co-Chairs to the region. After the negotiations, the President of
Armenia Serzh Sargsyan left for Davos where he will participate at
the official opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum. To also
recall, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan are in Switzerland
to take part in the International Economic Forum in Davos.