Author: Zakarian Garnik

HOLIDAYS AND CULTURE CELEBRATIONS IN ARMENIA BOOK TO BE OUT IN FALL

ARKA
Aug 14, 2009

YEREVAN, August 14. /ARKA /. The book called Holidays and Culture
Celebrations in Armenia will be issued in October-November 2009,
the author and an ethnographer Hranush Kharatyan said.

"I hope that this book will make culture celebrations in Armenia
easier, as it includes proposals and scenarios of individual holidays,
but in no way inhibits the freedom of creative possibilities,"
Kharatyan said on Friday at the Novosti International Press Center.

The issue contains details on five holidays, some of which one way
or the other, are still celebrated in modern Armenia.

One of them is an official holiday, the Independence Day, and in this
regard, the book suggests various scenarios on how the celebration
could be on national or local levels.

Another holiday is the Barekendan (Maslenitsa). The book has different
contemporary forms of celebration of carnival celebrations in various
countries, especially Europe.

The author also noted that she outlined the modern tradition of
celebrating holidays and ceremonies such as the Easter, St. Sarkis’s
day and the Candlemas on the pages of her book.

The book will be published with financial assistance from the Ministry
of Culture of Armenia.

FORMER US AMBASSADOR IN KOSOVO TO REPLACE BRYZA

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
12.08.2009 11:42 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Career diplomat Tina Kaidanow will replace Matthew
Bryza in the capacity of US Assistant Secretary of State for European
and Eurasian Affairs, Bryza announced in Tbilisi. American diplomat
arrived in Georgian capital on August 10, within the frames of South
Caucasus tours.

Tina Kaidanow who’s going to replace Bryza has worked in US mission
to Kosovo for two years before being appointed Ambassador. Before
that, she was Deputy Head of US Mission to Sarajevo for three years

CBA REDUCED REFINANCING RATE TO 5.25%

NEWS.am
11:16 / 08/12/2009

Armenian Central Bank Board on Tuesday meeting made a decision to
reduce the refinancing rate for 0.25% and fix it at 5.25%, CBA press
service reports.

In July 2009 compared to June deflation reached 2.7%, at that the
annual inflation made 3.1%. According to CBA, July deflation was mainly
conditioned by fall in prices for agricultural products: "Despite the
price increase for nonfoods and services, inflation rate is stable".

Under the current microclimate, CBA Board considers expedient to
realize enlarged monetary management to assist the upsurge in economic
activity, not endangering the stable prices.

TIGRAN NOT TO BE BURIED IN TURKEY, SAYS ATALAY

Today’s Zaman
12 August 2009, Wednesday

Aram Tigran, an Armenian singer who is well-known by Kurds and
Turks and who died in Athens last week, had wished to be buried in
the southeastern Anatolian province of Diyarbakýr, which he said he
loved so much.

Interior Minister Beþir Atalay told Today’s Zaman on Tuesday that
Tigran’s family had applied to the Turkish Foreign Ministry in order
to be able to bury Tigran’s body in Diyarbakýr.

However, due to related legal arrangements, the Foreign Ministry had
to refuse this demand, Atalay added.

Meanwhile, the Cihan news agency reported that a special Cabinet
decision was required for the burial of foreign people in Turkey.

Tigran’s family was originally from the southeastern province of
Batman. Yet, they had to emigrate from Turkey to Qamishli, Syria during
the 1915 events in which Anatolian Armenians were killed. Aram Tigran
was born in Qamishli in 1934.

Residents of Diyarbakýr had already prepared for the planned funeral
of Tigran with preparations at the city’s Surp Giragos Armenian Church.

In Diyarbakýr, Selahattin Demirtaþ, deputy chair of the parliamentary
group of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), on Tuesday voiced
disappointment over the refusal of Tigran’s family’s request.

"We have been exerting efforts in order to carry out the last request
of a person. The government should also display a flexible and
constructive manner for carrying out such a humanitarian request,"
Demirtaþ said, noting that his party had held contacts with both
the Interior Ministry and the Culture Ministry. "We haven’t lost our
expectations and hopes yet," he added.

RUSSIAN EXPERT: DEPLOYMENT OF PEACE-MAKING FORCES IN THE KARABAKH CONFLICT ZONE IS INADMISSIBLE FOR THE ARMENIAN PARTY

ArmInfo
2009-08-10 14:41:00

ArmInfo. The option with deployment of peace-making forces in the
Karabakh conflict zone is inadmissible for the Armenian party in the
condition of the "unrecognized" status of the NKR, Director General
of the Russian Strategic culture Foundation Andrey Areshev told
ArmInfo correspondent.

When commenting on recent statement of the American co-chair of
the OSCE MG Matthew Bryza that the peace-making forces at the
territory of Nagornyy Karabakh will not be armed, Areshev said:
‘There is practically nothing about this in the context of the
"Madrid principles", though this is the key problem. If Mr Bryza
would be absolutely honest, he would say that the Defence Army of
the NKR should turn into the "armed police" equipped only with
the self-defence ammunition, in the conditions when there is no
guarantee if demilitarization of the conflict zone from the side of
Azerbaijan. And the Armenian society will stop discussing if there
are any "pluses" for the NKR and Armenia in these "principles"’, –
the Russian expert said.

COMSTAR MERGES SEVEN REGIONAL SUBSIDIARIES INTO CJSC "COMSTAR – REGIONS" AND BRANCH NETWORK

PR-Inside.com
Business Wire 2009
2009-08-10 09:08:01

"COMSTAR – United TeleSystems" JSC ("Comstar" or "the Group")
(LSE:CMST), the largest integrated telecommunications provider in
Moscow and 69 Russian cities, today announced that it has completed
the first stage of the reorganization of its regional business
through the merger of seven of its largest subsidiaries into CJSC
Comstar-Regions, which is 100% owned by Comstar and will serve as a
centre for consolidation of the Group’s regional assets.

Comstar-Regions was legally registered on August 3, 2009, and
consists of CJSC STREAM-TV, owner of several subsidiaries and
branches in Russia’s regions, CJSC Digital Telephone Networks South
in Rostov-on-Don, CJSC Strategia in Yekaterinburg, which owns CJSC
Ural Telephone Company, CJSC Intersvyaz-Service, CJSC Inter-TV Media,
a provider of communications services in Ryazan and owner of Interlink
Group, CJSC Teleradiotechnika in Smolensk, and CJSC Sandy Service in
Nizhny Novgorod.

Comstar-Regions comprises branches in the Central, North-West,
Southern, Volga, Ural and Siberian Federal Districts, with
corresponding centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don,
Saratov, Yekaterinburg and Tyumen.

Sergey Pridantsev, President and Chief Executive Officer of Comstar
UTS, commented: "We continue to execute on all of our previously
set strategic goals to restructure the business and create a unified
efficient operating company offering telecommunications services on a
national basis. The challenge now is not only to unite these assets
into Comstar-Regions, but also to gradually switch to a unified
system of operations for offering services in all of our regions,
whilst maintaining a maximum level of comfort for both our clients
and subsidiaries. Our subscribers should be the first ones to feel
the main benefit of the restructuring of our regional business."

Viktor Koresh, Vice President for the Regional Development, added:
"Our remaining assets will be also merged into Comstar-Regions when
they are ready to be reorganized, as these companies have to adhere to
a set of corporate requirements both from a legal perspective and in
terms of business practices. The result of the current reorganization
will be a more transparent and efficient business structure, which
will allow us to continue our successful development going forward."

For further information, please visit :

Comstar-UTS is the leading fixed-line telecommunications company in
Moscow. Comstar provides voice, data, television and other value-added
services to residential and corporate subscribers and operators,
using its extensive backbone network and exclusive last mile access
to 97% of Moscow households. The Company also offers communications
services in five Russian regions, Armenia and Ukraine. Comstar had 3.6
million residential subscribers and 795 thousand residential broadband
internet subscribers in Moscow, as well as 310 thousand residential
regional and international broadband internet subscribers and 1.9
million residential regional pay-TV subscribers at the end of March
2009. Comstar generated US$ 334.4 million of revenues and a 37.8%
OIBDA margin for the three months ended March 31, 2009. Comstar’s
Global Depositary Receipts are listed on the London Stock Exchange
(ticker. CMST).

Some of the information in this press release may contain projections
or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or
the future financial performance of Comstar UTS. You can identify
forward looking statements by terms such as "expect," "believe,"
"anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "will," "could," "may" or "might",
the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. Comstar
UTS wishes to caution that these statements are only predictions,
and that actual events or results may differ materially. Comstar
UTS does not intend to update these statements to reflect events
and circumstances occurring after the date hereof or to reflect the
occurrence of unanticipated events. Many factors could cause the actual
results to differ materially from those contained in projections or
forward-looking statements of Comstar UTS, including, among others,
general economic conditions, the competitive environment, risks
associated with operating in Russia, rapid technological and market
change in the industries Comstar UTS operates in, as well as many
other risks specifically related to Comstar UTS and its operations.

GREEK EMBASSY IN RA ANNOUNCES SCHOLARSHIP COMPETITION FOR ARMENIAN STUDENTS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
07.08.2009 18:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Greek Embassy in RA announced scholarship competition
for Armenian students in Greece for academic year 2009-2010, RA
Education and Science Ministry Press Service reported. Participation
applications should be submitted to Greek Embassy in RA until
August 25.

SOCHI TO INTRODUCE GPS TRANSPORT MONITORING SATELLITE SYSTEM ELABORATED BY "LOCATOR" ARMENIAN COMPANY

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
07.08.2009 19:47 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Sochi is going to introduce GPS transport monitoring
satellite system elaborated by "Locator" Armenian company. System
transmitters will be installed in "ambulance cars". "It is planned
to install transmitters in 36 cars in the near future. By the end
of the year, 54 vehicles will be equipped with satellite control
systems," GPSearch.Org reports, quoting the speeches made in the
town’s municipality.

Several experimental samples of transmitters have now been delivered
to Sochi, "Locator" CJSC’s General Director Arman Khachatryan told
a GPSearch.Org correspondent. The client, he said, is RA Health
Minister Harutyun Kushkyan, who "wanted to make a present to Sochi
as a private individual."

According to Sochi’s Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov the estimated price of
navigation monitoring system is 15 million roubles. The Mayor finds
it’s still early to speak about project costs as the "packaging
arrangement of the system is unclear" "In any case, the information
is confidential," Khachatryan added.

"Locator" CJCS offers routing and traffic control systems which use
GPS positioning system and resources of mobile connection network
(GSM and GPRS). Company specialists have created a unique computer
system, enabling clients to accurately determine the location, speed
and direction of moving objects.

The services rendered by Armenian company are designed for
enterprises interested in increasing labor discipline, lowering car
park maintenance costs, improving transport services quality and
ensuring transport security.

BRYZA MET WITH TER-PETROSYAN

Information-Analytic Agency NEWS.am
Aug 7 2009
Armenia

The first Armenian President, oppositional ANC leader Levon
Ter-Petrosyan met with OSCE MG Co-Chair Matthew Bryza, August 7,
ANC press service told NEWS.am. US Ambassador to Armenia Marie
Yovanovitch participated.

"The officials discussed Karabakh conflict settlement, democracy in
Armenia, political prisoners related issues, as well as the prospects
of &’Millennium Challenge’ program," ANC statement reads.

Bryza started a tour around the region. Today he arrived in Armenia
to take part in a Tsakhkadzor conference. The U.S. diplomat will go
to Baku next.

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT READJUSTS ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

Asbarez
/armenian-government-again-adjusts-economic-outloo k/
Aug 5, 2009

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)-Armenia’s economy will likely contract by 12 percent
this year and resume positive growth next year, Prime Minister
Tigran Sargsyan said on Wednesday, presenting his government’s latest
economic outlook.

The country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) shrunk by 16.3 percent in
the first half of the year amid a deepening fallout from the global
recession. Sarkisian warned last month that its full-year contraction
could hit a 20 percent rate.

Sargsyan sounded more optimistic on Wednesday, saying that anti-crisis
measures taken by the Armenian government should result in a GDP
decrease of 12 percent in 2009. "A recovery cycle will start at the end
of the year," he told journalists during a visit to the southeastern
Vayots Dzor region. "This is our tentative forecast."

The premier said the government also expects the Armenian economy to
grow by a modest 1 percent in 2010. "We are going to base the state
budget for 2010 on this indicator," he said.

In an effort to cope with the consequences of the recession, the
government has already obtained more than $1 billion in external
loans from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Asian
Development Bank and Russia. The money is to be used for financing
infrastructure projects, providing cheaper credit to Armenian
businesses and maintaining the value of the national currency,
the dram.