Armenian News

TURKEY VS. ARMENIA MATCH TO BE HELD IN BURSAArmInfo2009-07-21 13:29:00ArmInfo. Turkey vs. Armenia qualification match will be held atAtaturk stadium in Bursa, Tuirkey, on October 14, FIFA reported.


FIRST VENTURE FUND MAY START OPERATING IN ARMENIA
THIS YEARARKAJuly 21, 2009YEREVAN, July 21. /ARKA/. The first venture fund may start operating inArmenia before the end of this year, Hovhannes Avoyan, the presidentof Armenian Union of Information Technologies Enterprises and thegeneral director of Sourcio Company, said on Friday.In his words, negotiations with Russian funds over the matter areunder way now.The United States and the World Bank have expressed interest in thatas well.The World Bank is elaborating a relevant program now."I think it will be possible to speak about particular results inthree or four months", Avoyan said.He said that the venture fund's budget can be not so large to Armenia,taking into account $20,000 to $200,000 financing of startup companiesimplying low expenses and relatively low risks, but high prospectsfor good results.Local experts say at least $10-million venture capital is needed fordeveloping science intensive economy in Armenia.Armenian Government's concept of IT-sector development impliesattraction of $700 million as venture capital for ten years. However,as experts say, local IT companies are not able to invest even $10million in long-term projects.


POLITICAL DERBY OF THE PRESIDENTSKarine Ter-SahakyanPanARMENIAN.Net18.07.2009 GMT+04:00Almost no one doubted that the Sargsyan-Aliyev meeting could not endup without an apparent result. However, that in no way influencedthe so-called political scientists from Armenia and Azerbaijan,who spoke of some agreement to be signed in Moscow on "disloyalty toone's national interests", "putting one's native land on the market"and so forth. A very interesting, if not a serious thing happened:neither the Presidents, nor the Foreign Ministers of Armenia andAzerbaijan gave an interview to the press.All this leads to certain conclusions, which, by the way, are rather
uncomforting. Judge yourselves: for the first timeafter the last six meetings between the Presidents nothing was declaredeven by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, who, as a rule, vigorouslyand with optimism used to speak of the "progress, advancements andconstructivism". And even optimistic Bryza was rather careful in hisestimations of the meeting. It can be assumed that some resolutionwas carried, which, to all appearances, was rather fundamental andabout which it is still early to speak. Judging by the gloomy faceof Ilham Aliyev, the course of negotiations was not quite satisfyingfor him. Quite probably the gas did not become a trump card: underequal conditions the essential thing is strategic partnership, whichRussia needs in the region as the breath of life, because ousting ofMoscow occurs at full speed and it is pretty noticeable. The questionis whether RF will go on open aggravation of situation in the SouthCaucasus and whether the latter will be reflected on Armenia andNKR. And if we also add to this the increasing in frequency visitsof the American servicemen and diplomats to Armenia, the situationbecomes totally depressing. Europe tries not to fall behind either:the visit of the CSTO Secretary General into Baku and the regionalvisit of the EU Three immediately after the Moscow meeting suggestsomething. Judge yourselves: Armenia obtains defense technology withCSTO shares; Azerbaijan is hastily and intensively arming herself,although it seems she is already armed to the teeth and for the"return" of Karabakh so much weapon and technology is unnecessary;Georgia waits for the arrival of US Vice President Joseph Biden,and all this against the background of intensifying propagandisticwar of Baku against Yerevan.Against this background stood out the "calm" meeting of the Presidentsof Armenia and Azerbaijan under the wakeful eye of Moscow. It means,breakthrough has actually occurred in Moscow and now it is time tocalculate its effect on Nagorno Karabakh. In a broader sense, thereare two outcomes and both can end in a war: either the NKR is finallyconfirmed as an independent state, or the world community returns thesafety zone to Baku. And here it will already be unimportant how manyregions we'll have to give; the only important thing is that by thedomino principle NKR will change into NKAO (Nagorno Karabakh AutonomousOblast). And this is exactly what Azerbaijan has been seeking for thelast 15 years. As we already stated, alas, war is inevitable in bothcases. And this war is first of all beneficial to Russia so that shewould not be sacked out from the region. It is natural that at firstMoscow will maintain friendly relations with her traditional ally,but what will come next is difficult to predict. And when the USAand Europe speak of the catastrophe that awaits the region in caseof renewal of military operations, they are right. They don't need awar; they solve their problems in a totally different way. Especiallybecause neither Georgia nor Azerbaijan or Iran (however strange itmay sound at first glance, Iran too) will be looking back at Moscow,if they value themselves. Remains Armenia which may actually appearin complete isolation for purely objective reasons. No matter howunpleasant it may be for the Russians, no one loves them in theregion. Other nations put up with them, but at any moment theyare ready to turn to the West as Georgia did, or as Azerbaijan wasready to do. Even the Iranian opposition has already begun to shout"death of Russia!", "death to China!". And this is already serious:change of guidelines in the foreign policy of Iran is just round thecorner, and evidence to it is the appointment of a new chief for thecountry's nuclear program Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's former envoy to theU.N. nuclear watchdog agency. He is also known to have been againstthe war with Israel and support opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi.In a word, somehow we don't have to speak of an "unproductive"meeting. Once again the region is on the verge of a war and, as usual,attempts are made to reshape it. And if we also recall the problemswith the Kurds, with the oil pipeline Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, and withthe gas pipe Nabucco, which is a bone stuck in the throat of Russia,we can assume that to all appearances serious changes may occur byautumn. By the way, the next Sargsyan-Aliev meeting is due in autumn.Press Review21.07.2009Aghasi Yenokian`Hraparak' writes that after another meeting between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow `some took a sigh of relief as no document was signed and no agreement was reached.'`Those who think this way say - signing nothing is better than signing a bad document. This seems a healthy approach, but for one shortcoming - this situation cannot last forever, the problem must be resolved sooner or later. If the delay produces a favorable solution for us, no doubt this tactics is justified. But if it is all about delaying a solution that will eventually be the same, there is no justification for the tactics.'`Taregir' continues on the same subject: `While patriotic preachers are looking for new phrases to accuse the public of indifference, the same public shows a skeptical approach to both these patriots and the future of the Karabakh negotiations... This is what the tactics of delaying a solution may lead to.'`Golos Armenii' expresses concern over Turkish diplomacy in the context of the latest Armenian-Azerbaijani talks: `Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian has clearly stated that he is going to pay a visit to Turkey only to fulfill the wish of soccer fans. He will attend the game of the [Turkish and Armenian national] soccer teams only if at that point the Armenian-Turkish border is either opened or is close to opening. Now it is time for Ankara to decide... It is clear in this view that the absence of progress at the Moscow meetings in no way suits Ankara and Baku. And these two will make a great noise and will again start to flex their muscles.'`Haykakan Zhamanak' suggests that Armenia `has chosen a way to overcome the crisis that no other country in the world has.'`Cash remittances, foreign investments and budget revenues in Armenia have sharply decreased in consequence of the crisis. Unlike other countries, Armenia decided not to cut the state expenses, and since revenues have declined and expenditures have remained the same, to fill in the gap the state decided to borrow large amounts of money, up to $1.5 billion, from different sources. Now everybody wonders what will be the result. The interest is so great that even these international financial institutions as well as different countries began to lavishly finance Armenia's experiment. If the experiment is successful, it is good, if it fails, not a great loss -- 3 million people living in a territory of only 30,000 square kilometers, only 0.02 percent of the world population.'
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