Հայաստանի - նորություններ | Armenia - News

[robo_boss]

^Are you Armenian?

[Newropean]

No, not at all. But I have/had a, let's say, academic interest in Armenia.

More music:

[robo_boss]

Samvel Yervinyan, one of the best violinists in the world.

[robo_boss]

It's been a slow month for any worthy Armenian news so here's a few more pics of Kim Kardashian just to keep the thread up:

[robo_boss]

Alice Panikian, Miss Canada 2006 :

[Newropean]

Is it just me or did the number of views jump up rapidly after you posted Kim Kardashian's pictures?

[robo_boss]

LOL it did go up a little .

[Newropean]

U.S. ‘Interested’ In Armenian Nuclear Project

The United States hopes that American companies will participate in the planned construction of a new nuclear power station in Armenia, a senior State Department official announced on Monday.

Daniel Rosenblum, who coordinates U.S. government assistance to former Communist states, said the matter was discussed at a regular meeting in Yerevan of the U.S.-Armenia Joint Economic Task Force (USATF), which he co-chairs with Armenian Economy Minister Nerses Yeritsian.

“We are interested in having U.S. companies participate [in the nuclear project,] if possible,” Rosenblum told a news conference after the meeting. “We did discuss it today at the session, although it’s one among many energy-related issues that were on the agenda.”

The Armenian government plans to close the Soviet-built nuclear plant at Metsamor, which generates about 40 percent of the country’s electricity, and build a new, modern facility in its place in the coming years. Chances for the implementation of the extremely ambitious projects increased in late August with the signing of a Russian-Armenian agreement on “technical and financial cooperation” over the plant’s construction.

Russian energy officials said Moscow could provide up to one-fifth of an estimated $5 billion in investments needed for the new plant. Yerevan has yet to secure other sources of funding.

The Russian and Armenian governments already set up late last year a joint venture tasked with building the plant’s reactor. Armenian officials said other plant facilities might well be built by or receive equipment from Western nuclear energy firms. According to them, equipment suppliers will be chosen in international tenders.

“We have worked for many years very closely with the Armenian government, with the nuclear industry here on the safe use of nuclear power and also on issues concerning proliferation of nuclear materials, and we will continue that joint work with the government,” said Rosenblum. “But at the same time when there are private sector opportunities, we would like to promote them.”

The U.S. government already allocated in late 2007 $2 million for a feasibility study on the project. “We look forward to the rapid replacement of the Metsamor facility with a more modern and safer plant,” a senior U.S. diplomat in Yerevan said at the time.

The U.S. as well as the European Union have spent much larger sums on wide-ranging safety measures at the Metsamor plant since its reactivation in 1995. The plant was due to be decommissioned by 2017.

However, Ashot Martirosian, the head of Armenia’s State Committee on Nuclear Safety, told RFE/RL in August that the shutdown is likely to be delayed by several years because the new plant’s construction will last longer than was anticipated by the government.

The Armenian Economy Ministry and the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan made no mention of the nuclear project in separate statements on the USATF meeting. They said the meeting focused on ways of improving Armenia’s problematic business environment.

Rosenblum also met on Monday with Levon Ter-Petrosian, the top leader of the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK). A statement by the HAK said they discussed a broad range of issues, including the socioeconomic situation, government corruption and conduct of elections in Armenia. It said Ter-Petrosian stressed the importance of a “rapid” release of his loyalists remaining in jail.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2220925.html

[Newropean]

Armavia launches regular flights to Almaty

PanARMENIAN.Net - On December 11, 2010 Armavia national carrier will launch regular flights to the Southern capital of Kazakhstan, Almaty.

Yerevan-Almaty flights will be operating every Saturday, Armavia press service reported.

http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/economy/news/56978/

Shops and cafes along state roads of Armenia to have single architectural style

PanARMENIAN.Net - During the November 18 sitting, the Armenian government approved introduction of a catalogue for architectural designs of trade and service facilities located at territories adjacent to the state and international roads.

Armenian Minister of Urban Development Vardan Vardanyan told a briefing that the development of the catalogue is aimed at regulation of disorganized and various constructions at the aforementioned territories, what will contribute to formation of an environment with single architectural solutions.

According to him, around 10 design offers will be presented in the catalogue for construction of trade and service facilities. Besides, the designs will offer governors of the country’s regions to keep to these architectural solutions. The Minister added that operating facilities at the aforementioned territories will not be destroyed.

http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/econo...tectural_style

Sevan hydropower plant to be put into operation in April 2011

PanARMENIAN.Net - Chairman of the commission for Lake Sevan issues, Vladimir Movsisyan, said that the cleaning of waterlogged parts of the lake will begin in the near future.

“Multifunctional excavators will be obtained for the purpose,” he told journalists on November 6. “The works will take 2 or 3 years.”

According to Movsisyan, 520 constructions at the will be demounted and a pumping station will be built.

Besides, Sevan hydropower plant will be put into operation in April 2011.

As to road construction, he said that Sevan-Lchashen road is expected to serve 8-10 more years. Then, new solutions will be found and possibly another road around the lake will be built.

http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/econo..._in_April_2011

[Newropean]

NKR Defense Army excludes Azerbaijan’s complicity in incident at frontline

Several versions have been suggested with respect to the November 19 incident at the frontline of the NKR armed forces. Besides, immediate investigative actions have been taken.

According to data of the preliminary investigation, the version of Azerbaijan’s illegal actions has been almost excluded, the press service of the NKR Defense Army reported.

A criminal case has been initiated with respect to the incident.

4 soldiers were killed and 4 injured in the incident that took place on November 19 night at the frontline of Nagorno Karabakh armed forces.

http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/world...t_at_frontline

[Galandar]

"..." for so-called NKR. And if you count it independetn republic then why you post news about it and Azerbaijan in news section about Armenia. It says nothing about Armenia. You just contradict to yourself my dear Armenian friend

[robo_boss]

This thread is about Armenia and Armenians, no matter where they live or die (in this case). Stop trolling here, you've been asked more than once already.

[robo_boss]

Armenian participant wins 2010 Junior Eurovision Song Contest


PanARMENIAN.Net - Vladimir Arzumanyan won the contest, gaining 120 points for his song – Mama. Meanwhile, Russia's duet gained 119 points. Daniil Kozlov from Belarus was the fifth with 85 points.

Immediately after the results announcement, Vladimir Arzumanyan gave a press conference, eurovision.org.ru reported.

http://panarmenian.net/eng/culture/n...n_Song_Contest

[Newropean]

Armenia Set For Visa Facilitation Talks With EU

Armenia expects to begin next month official negotiations with the European Union on the facilitation of visa procedures for Armenian citizens seeking to travel to EU member states, Deputy Foreign Minister Karine Kazinian said on Friday.

The easing of the stringent visa rules would stem from Armenia’s inclusion in the EU’s Eastern Partnership program entitling six ex-Soviet states to closer political and economic partnership with the bloc.

The closer ties are due to be formalized by comprehensive “association agreements” between the EU and each of those states. Armenia and the EU launched the first round of association talks in July.

“Official Brussels has promised us that by the end of this year we will receive the mandate from the European Union’s Council to start the process of visa facilitation,” Kazinian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.

She said the first phase of that process will take up to two years and should result in simpler visa requirements for certain group’s of Armenia’s population such as students, academics and businesspeople. The same simplified rules will eventually be applicable to all Armenian nationals, she said.

“We know that it’s going to be a long process and we have assumed obligations to expedite it,” added Kazinian.

Among those obligations is the signing of so-called “readmission agreements” aimed at facilitating the repatriation of illegal Armenian immigrant seeking asylum in the EU. According to the deputy minister, Yerevan has already signed such agreements with nine EU member states.

Earlier this year, the EU introduced additional requirements for the citizens of Armenia and other countries who plan to travel to the Schengen zone covering much of Europe. Schengen visa seekers already had to submit a long list of documents, including information on their employment, monthly income and bank accounts, to its consulates.

The strict visa rules are the result of large-scale illegal immigration to the EU from Armenia and other ex-Soviet republics that followed the break-up of the Soviet Union. Tens of thousands of Armenians are believed to reside illegally in France, Germany and other European countries.

According to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 6,000 Armenian citizens, asked for a political asylum last year. The vast majority of them live in Europe.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2231697.html

[Newropean]

It's time for Wikileaks!

Leaked Cable Reveals U.S. Anger At Armenian ‘Arms Supplies’ To Iran

The United States accused Armenia of re-exporting weapons to neighboring Iran and threatened to impose sanctions on Yerevan two years ago, according to one of the thousands of leaked State Department cables publicized by WikiLeaks on Sunday.

The document reveals that top Bush administration officials raised their “deep concerns” with President Serzh Sarkisian and were unconvinced by his denial of “the arms re-export case” dating back to 2003.

In a December 2008 secret letter sent through the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan, the then U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte pressed Sarkisian to take wide-ranging measures that would “ensure such transfers do not occur in the future.” “Notwithstanding the close relationship between our countries, neither the Administration nor the U.S. Congress can overlook this case,” he wrote.

“By law, the transfer of these weapons requires us to consider whether there is a basis for the imposition of U.S. sanctions. If sanctions are imposed, penalties could include the cutoff of U.S. assistance and certain export restrictions,” warned Negroponte.


“To avoid such sanctions, it is essential that you present compelling evidence that your government is now in partnership with us to ensure such transfers do not occur in the future,” he said.

That, he said, should take the form of a written pledge to tighten export controls and allow U.S. officials to carry out “unannounced” inspections of Armenian border checkpoints. Yerevan would also be required to “consult” with Washington before selling weapons or dual-use commodities to countries that are not member states of the EU or NATO.

Whether Sarkisian accepted these demands and signed a relevant agreement with the Americans is not clear. Sarkisian’s office on Monday refused to comment on this.

“I will refrain from commenting on secret documents of other countries,” the presidential press secretary, Armen Arzumanian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. The Armenian Foreign Ministry also declined a comment.

Reacting to the development, the spokesman for Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), Eduard Sharmazanov, said that Armenia’s relations with Iran have always been “very transparent.” “And if somebody makes statements [to the contrary,] then it’s up to them to substantiate those statements,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service.

A senior representative of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), another major party that was represented in Armenia’s governing coalitions from 2003-2009, questioned the credibility of the U.S. claims. Speaking to RFE/RL, Giro Manoyan said the fact that the U.S. never slapped sanctions threatened by Negroponte means that “there was probably no such thing.”

Manoyan, whose party is now in opposition to the Sarkisian administration, suggested that Washington might have simply sought to prevent possible use of Armenian territory in Iran’s military procurements or to be able to inspect Armenian border facilities at will.

The U.S. Embassy, meanwhile, declined to comment on the content of the disclosed document. The embassy only reaffirmed the State Department’s strong condemnation of this and other WikiLeaks revelations. In a written statement, it also downplayed the significance of classified correspondence between Washington and U.S. diplomatic missions abroad.

“Theses cables are often preliminary and incomplete expressions of foreign policy, and they should not be seen as having standing on their own or as representing U.S. policy,” read the statement.

A “background” note for U.S. diplomats in Yerevan that was attached to Negroponte’s letter contends that Armenia “facilitated” Iran’s purchase of rockets and machine guns in 2003. “In 2007, some of these weapons were recovered from two Shia militant attacks in which a United States soldier was killed and six others were injured in Iraq,” it says without specifying the precise type and origin of the weapons.

The 2008 document adds that the State Department plans to send a team of officials to Yerevan who will present additional proof of the arms transfer and “make it unreasonable for Sarkisian to continue his denials.” It says “high-ranking Armenian officials” were directly involved in the deal but does not name any of them.

Sarkisian served as Armenia’s defense minister and was they key associate of then President Robert Kocharian during the alleged transfer.

Defense and security is arguably the least advanced component of Armenia’s close relationship with neighboring Iran, which has centered on economic cooperation and, in particular, joint energy projects. U.S. officials have occasionally indicated Washington’s unease over Armenian-Iranian ties, warning that they might run counter to international sanctions imposed on Tehran over its controversial nuclear program.

Yerevan faced a major embarrassment in May 2002 when the U.S. State Department blacklisted an Armenian businessman who had allegedly sold biochemical equipment to an Iranian-linked company registered in the United Arab Emirates. The equipment was dismantled from Soviet-era Armenian factory that used to grow special bacteria for the production of lysine, an amino acid added to animal fodder. Scientists say they could also generate other biochemical substances.

The embarrassing affair prompted the Kocharian government to tighten export controls on Armenia’s main border crossings. The U.S. had begun helping it prevent the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction even before the scandal.

Over the past decade, Armenian border guard and customs services have been supplied with various U.S.-made equipment such as radio-communication systems, border sensors, metal detectors, cargo truck scales, and X-ray units. The supplies have been part of the U.S. government’s Export Control and Related Border Security Assistance Program (EXBS) implemented in dozens of countries around the world.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2233626.html

Armenian Leaders ‘Felt Offended By Tbilisi’ During 2008 War

President Mikheil Saakashvili and other Georgian leaders deeply offended official Yerevan by repeatedly ignoring phone calls from their Armenian counterparts during Georgia’s disastrous 2008 war with Russia, according to a leaked U.S. diplomatic document.

In a confidential cable publicized by WikiLeaks this week, a top U.S. diplomat in Yerevan also informed the State Department at the time that the then Georgian Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili snubbed her Armenian opposite number, Edward Nalbandian, as she returned to Georgia via Armenia on August 15, 2008, one week after the outbreak of the war.

“Top Armenian officials are growing increasingly offended by Georgians’s non-responsiveness to Armenian efforts to reach out,” wrote the diplomat, Joseph Pennington. “Armenians feel their good intentions have been met with an undeserved cold shoulder,” he said.

The administration of President Serzh Sarkisian sought to maintain neutrality in the weeklong Russian-Georgian war triggered by Tbilisi’s botched attempt to win back control over South Ossetia. It was anxious not to upset Armenia's most important neighbor and closest military ally.

Sarkisian faced strong criticism from his political opponents and some media after he discussed the situation with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev by phone on August 13, 2008 and only sent a letter to Saakashvili the next day. Critics viewed that an indirect endorsement of Russian military action.

Citing an unnamed Sarkisian aide, Pennington wrote that in fact the Armenian leader tried to phone both Medvedev and Saakashvili on the same day but was unable to get in touch with the latter. “After repeated attempts to get a call through, Sarkisian finally just sent a letter to Saakashvili, in a substitute effort to show support for the Georgian side,” he said.

Pennington, who was the U.S. charge d’affaires in Armenia at the time, added that Nalbandian and Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian were likewise unable to contact their Georgian counterparts. He said Nalbandian met him on August 15 to complain about the “hostile attitude" of the Georgians.

“Visibly agitated, FM Nalbandian noted that Armenia is trying to help Georgia by taking in more than 4,000 refugees and offering to serve as a humanitarian corridor for international relief efforts,” reveals the document.

“The final indignity, according to the FM, was when FM Tkeshelashvili arrived at Yerevan Airport at 4:00 am on August 15 en route overland to Tbilisi and declined Nalbandian’s proposal for a short Airport meeting at that hour. Tkeshelashvili said she was ‘under instructions’ to return to Tbilisi immediately,” it says.

According to Pennington, the then Georgian ambassador to Armenia shared the Armenian frustration but blamed Tbilisi’s lack of responsiveness on the emergency situation in Georgia. The U.S. diplomat found this justification “very valid,” suggesting that the Armenian leaders felt offended, in large measure, because of their relative inexperience.


“Both the president and foreign minister remain new enough in their jobs for such perceived slights to sting more than perhaps would be the case of more seasoned hands,” he said.

Whether or not Sarkisian managed to speak to Saakashvili by phone later in August or in September 2008 is unknown. Their first face-to-face meeting after the war took place in Tbilisi on September 30. The two leaders pledged to strengthen bilateral economic ties and further simplify border crossing procedures for their citizens.

Speaking at a joint news conference, Saakashvili thanked Sarkisian for “expressing support for Georgia's territorial integrity” during the Russian-Georgian conflict and gave him a Medal of Honor, a top Georgian state award.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2235282.html

[Newropean]

*bump*

Armenia Approves Army Modernization Plan

President Serzh Sarkisian and his National Security Council approved at the weekend a five-year plan to modernize Armenia’s armed forces which envisages the acquisition of long-range precision-guided weapons.

Sarkisian’s office referred to it as the State Program of Developing Weaponry and Military Hardware in 2011-2015. It said the Armenian military will receive “state-of-the-art weapons” and become “considerably” stronger as a result.

“With the adoption of this program, we are taking an important step to neutralize all possible military threats to Armenia’s security,” the secretary of the National Security Council, Artur Baghdasarian, told a news conference on Monday. Yerevan will not only get hold of modern armaments but also develop its domestic defense industry, he said.

The modernization plan is essentially based on two documents approved in August by another Armenian government commission dealing with defense and national security. One of the documents dealt with army weaponry, while the other detailed measures to develop the Armenian defense industry.

“The two programs envisage both the acquisition of state-of-the-art weapons and their partial manufacturing by the local defense industry,” Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian said at the time. He said this will enhance the Armenian army’s “long-range strike capacity” and enable it to “thwart free enemy movements deep inside the entire theater of hostilities.”

Speaking to journalists on August 10, Ohanian did not deny that the modernization plan is connected with the persisting risk of another Armenian-Azerbaijani war for Nagorno-Karabakh. In an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian two weeks later, he said the long-range weapons sought by Yerevan would be aimed at “strategic facilities” of Armenia’s hostile neighbors.

The Armenian military is believed to be already equipped with short-range tactical missiles capable of striking military and civilian targets in Azerbaijan.

Ohanian spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian service just days after Armenia and Russia signed a new agreement prolonging and upgrading Russian military presence in the South Caucasus state. The defense pact also stipulates that Moscow will help Yerevan obtain “modern and compatible weaponry and (special) military hardware.” The precise type of these weapons is not yet known.

Baghdasarian effectively acknowledged a link between the pact signed during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s August visit to Yerevan and the modernization plan endorsed by Sarkisian. He noted that Medvedev and Sarkisian also oversaw the signing of another deal that calls for closer cooperation between the Armenian and Russian defense enterprises. Baghdasarian reaffirmed the two governments’ plans to set up joint defense ventures.

The planned modernization of the Armenian armed forces comes amid a continuing military build-up in Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani leaders’ growing threats to end the Karabakh conflict by force. The Azerbaijani government’s defense spending is due to soar further, to over $3 billion, next year. The Armenian defense budget for 2011 is projected at only $405 million.

Armenia has so far been able to at least partially offset the widening spending gap with close military ties with Russia. Its membership in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) allows it to receive Russian weapons at cut-down prices or even free of charge.

According to Baghdasarian, these “privileged terms” were reinforced by one of the documents adopted the latest summit of the CSTO member states held in Moscow late last week. The official also announced that Armenia will host a CSTO military exercise in October 2011.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2247291.html

[Newropean]

Armenia Confirms Possession Of Sophisticated Missiles

Armenia officially acknowledged on Monday that its armed forces are equipped with Russian-made surface-to-air missiles widely regarded as one of the world’s most potent anti-aircraft weapons.

The Defense Ministry in Yerevan said Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian visited one of the Armenian army’s anti-aircraft units and “familiarized himself with the work of the state-of-the-art S-300 air-defense systems” over the weekend. A ministry statement said he also inspected new facilities built there.

Originally designed in the Soviet Union in the late 1970s and repeatedly upgraded since then, the systems have a firing range of up to 200 kilometers. Their radars can simultaneously track up to 100 targets, including both aircraft and cruise missiles.

Russia deployed at least one battery of S-300s in Armenia in the late 1990s, significantly beefing up its military base stationed there. Russian and Armenian forces have since been jointly protecting Armenia’s airspace. Their integrated air-defense system was given a “regional” status by the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in early 2007.


Russia -- S-300 anti-aircraft system at Ashuluk firing range in the Astrakhan Region, 03Sep2008
Top Russian military officials said at the time that Moscow has further upgraded Armenia’s anti-aircraft capacity and trained Armenian specialists to operate S-300s. The Armenian military confirmed that, saying the training process began in 2005. It would not clarify until now whether the Russians have actually transferred such weapons to their Armenian ally.

Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Defense Ministry spokesman Davit Karapetian confirmed that the Armenian army now has S-300s in its missile arsenal. He declined to specify their number and dates of delivery.

According to the Defense Ministry statement, Ohanian inspected the Armenian S-300s after inaugurating a new Russian-Armenian “air-defense command point” possessing “state-of-the-art equipment.” The statement quoted him as saying that the development raised Russian-Armenian military cooperation to a “qualitatively new plane.”

The announcement follows media reports that Moscow is planning to sell two batteries of S-300 to Azerbaijan, in a deal worth $300 million. The reports, not denied by Russian officials, have raised concern in Armenia and Karabakh.

Opposition groups there say the long-range missiles would seriously limit the Armenian military’s ability to hit strategic targets in Azerbaijan and would thereby encourage Baku to try to resolve the Karabakh dispute by force.

Ohanian dismissed such concerns in an August interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “We are very familiar with those systems, we have been exploiting them for quite a long time, and we know the possibilities of reducing the effectiveness of such systems,” he said.

“Even in case of acquiring those systems, Azerbaijan will need quite a lot of time to develop an integrated radio-technical system catering for them,” added the minister.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2254125.html

New Armenian Power Plant Set For Launch



The Armenian government announced on Tuesday the impending end of the two-decade-long construction of a new major thermal-power plant located in the central town of Hrazdan.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Armen Movsisian said the Fifth Block of the Hrazdan power plant owned by Russia’s Gazprom energy conglomerate will go on stream by next April.

Movsisian said that work on the facility is essentially complete and that its inauguration was deliberately delayed until after this winter. “Since we don’t know just how cold the winter will be, this could create some difficulties,” he told reporters.

The construction work began in the late 1980s and ground to a halt following the Soviet collapse. The government tried unsuccessfully to finish it in the late 1990s.

Gazprom acquired the incomplete facility in 2006 as part of a complex agreement with Yerevan that also raised its controlling stake in Armenia’s gas distribution network. The Russians pledged to spend more than $200 million on completing the protracted construction by 2011.

The Fifth Block will be more powerful and efficient than the four other operating units of the Hrazdan plant that are owned by another Russian energy giant, RAO Unified Energy Systems (UES). Its launch will thus significantly boost Armenia’s power generating capacity.

The Armenian government already inaugurated last April another state-of-the-art plant that was built in Yerevan in place of an obsolete facility with a $247 million loan provided by a Japanese development bank. The long-term loan was disbursed to the Armenian government on concessional terms in 2007.

The new gas-powered plants should pave the way for large-scale Armenian imports of natural gas from neighboring Iran through a pipeline constructed in late 2008. Armenia began receiving modest amounts of Iranian gas in May last year. With Russian gas essentially meeting its domestic needs, the bulk of that gas is due to be converted into electricity and exported to the Islamic Republic.

The Armenian energy sector has had a surplus capacity ever since emerging from a severe post-Soviet crisis in the mid-1990s thanks to the reopening of the nuclear power station at Metsamor. The plant’s sole operating reactor accounts for about 40 percent of Armenian electricity production.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2255270.html

Armenian Rail Operator Reassures Angry Staff

The Russian management of Armenia’s national rail network on Wednesday reassured workers of a railway depot in the northern Lori province that none of them will lose their jobs as a result of its upcoming restructuring.

The depot located near historic Sanahin village has also been one of the country’s main railway stations for more than a century. It currently employs 135 local residents. Another 100 or so people work for various auxiliary services supporting the facility.

The company called the South Caucasus Railway (SCR) announced last month that its cargo and passengers will no longer stop at Sanahin and that the depot will be merged with a bigger facility existing in Armenia’s second largest city of Gyumri. It said the measure is part of a broader restructuring of the SCR.

The depot employees reacted angrily to the announcement, saying that it is a prelude to mass layoffs. The SCR has since been at pains to assure them that there will be no staff cuts and that some of them will only be required to perform different tasks.

The company’s Russian chief executive, Shevket Shaydulin, insisted that the number of depot employees will actually grow by 12 as he again met with the angry staff. “This place is like my home,” he said. “I didn’t visit the local school by chance. Why did I do that? Because we need this facility.”

Most of the workers remained unconvinced, however, walking out of the meeting room mid-way through Shaydulin’s speech. They returned only after company executives pledged to sign new five-year employment contracts with them.

The SCR has not yet specified what will happen to the other people working at the Sanahin station.

The SCR is run by Russia’s state-rain railway, RZD, in accordance with a long-term management contract signed by it with the Armenian government three years ago. The deal committed the Russians to investing $230 million in Armenia during the first five years of operations and another $240 million in the following years.

The government repeatedly accused them last year of failing to honor this and other contractual obligations. RZD responded by promising to fully honor its investment commitments by the end of 2010.

Shaydulin said on Wednesday that the Armenian rail network is gradually ceasing to be loss-making. “We will get stronger and become one of the best national companies,” he said.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2249464.html

[Newropean]

EU Hails ‘Significant’ Progress In Association Talks With Armenia


Armenia has made substantial progress towards the signing of an “association agreement” that would upgrade its political and economic ties with the European Union, a senior EU official said on Wednesday.

Gunnar Wiegand, head of a department on Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus at the EU’s executive Commission, praised the Armenian government during the third round of negotiations in Yerevan on the agreement.

The EU plans to sign similar deals with five other ex-Soviet states, including Georgia and Azerbaijan, included in its Eastern Partnership program. They all would be entitled to a permanent free trade regime with the EU and simpler visa procedures for their citizens traveling to Europe. The scheme also envisages a harmonization of their laws, regulations and government policies with the EU standards.

Armenian and EU officials began the first round of association talks in July. The two sides have to reach agreements on 14 concrete “chapters,” including trade, migration and human rights. The negotiating process is expected to take several years.

“I see that Armenia is significantly better prepared, and it has now become an effort not only by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but all relevant ministries and agencies,” Wiegand told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “We are very pleased with this because it’s a very comprehensive undertaking.”

“Eight negotiation chapters have already been closed,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Karine Kazinian, Armenia’s top Eastern Partnership negotiator. “Today, for example, we are negotiating over political dialogue as well as justice and liberties,” she said.

The association talks are expected to run parallel to a reform of Armenian state agencies -- most of them dealing with external trade and immigration -- as well as changes in various Armenian laws. The European Commission has already earmarked at least 32 million euros ($42.5 million) for financing those reforms.

The EU says democratization, human rights protection and a stronger rule of law are a necessary condition for Armenia’s participation in the Eastern Partnership. Yet just how aggressively it plans to press for political reforms in the country is still an open question.

Wiegand on Wednesday refused to comment on the course of such reforms which the Armenian authorities claim to be already implementing.

Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Kazinian insisted that EU officials pay “serious attention” to human rights protection during the talks. “We have received their appreciation of the fact of the six Eastern Partnership countries Armenia was the first to start a constructive human rights dialogue with the EU,” she said.

The most recent session of that dialogue took place in Brussels last week. It is not clear if the meeting discussed the fallout from Armenia’s 2008 post-election unrest and, in particular, the fate of about a dozen opposition figures remaining prison.

Wiegand also said that the European Commission expects to receive early next year a formal “mandate” for the launch of negotiations with Yerevan on the facilitation of EU visa procedures for Armenian citizens. “I hope that we will be able, in the course of next year, to conclude negotiations on visa facilitation,” he said.

Kazinian told RFE/RL's Armenian service late last month that said some groups of Armenia’s population such as students, academics and businesspeople will be the first to qualify for less cumbersome visa requirements. The same simplified rules will eventually be applicable to all Armenian nationals, she said.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2249477.html

[Newropean]

Happy New Year guys!

Armenian Highway Project Falls Behind Schedule



A multimillion-dollar project designed to upgrade most of Armenia’s main highways and enhance its transport communication with neighboring Iran and Georgia has still not been launched almost one year after being approved by the Armenian government.

Transport and Communications Minister Manuk Vartanian on Friday blamed the delay on the government’s failure so far to find foreign contractors offering reasonable prices.

The project, estimated to cost around $1 billion, envisages the expansion and repair of roads stretching from the Armenian-Iranian border to one of the two main Armenian-Georgian border crossings.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) agreed in September 2009 to finance it with a $500 million loan to be disbursed to the Armenian government. It said the rest of the sum will be raised by Yerevan and “other development partners.”

Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian’s cabinet gave the final green light to the scheme in January 2010. The then Economy Minister Nerses Yeritsian said up to $120 million worth of construction work will be carried out in the course of this year.

The government subsequently called an international tender for the right to upgrade the first highway section.

“A tender took place [in November] but we declared no winners because the submitted bids were quite expensive,” Vartanian told journalists. He said the government will call another tender this spring.

Vartanian also revealed that he has personally written to two dozen “authoritative foreign construction firms” urging them to bid for the project contracts. “Local builders can not construct such a highway,” he said. “It’s going to be a new highway meeting higher standards.”

The ADB also approved in 2009 $500 million in funding for road construction in southern Georgia and the Black Sea region of Ajara in particular. The Armenian and Georgian governments had earlier agreed to jointly seek external assistance for rebuilding highways in those areas to substantially shorten travel between Armenia and the Georgian Black Sea coast.

Armenian officials have said that another aim of the infrastructure upgrades in the two South Caucasus states is to make it much easier for neighboring Iran to use Armenian territory for freight shipments to and from Georgia and other countries.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2258406.html

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