Armenian National Assembly speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan received Tuesday Italian delegation headed by Italy’s deputy foreign minister Margerita Boniver.{BR} Both sides attached great significance to House of Italy to be open in Armenia. They said it would give a new impetus to further development of intergovernmental and inter-parliamentary relations. Margerita Boniver called for wider...

Armenian MPs discussed Tuesday a bill on the amendments to the National Assembly regulations.{BR} MP from Orinats Erkir party Artak Arakelyan proposed to raise parliamentary commissions chairs salaries. Culture minister Granush Hakobyan proposed to raise MPs pensions. The bill author MP Raphik Petrossyan objected saying such a step might prompt public anger and reminded that ordinary people...

Today Parliament has again discussed the bill on “Fighting against terrorism financing and legalization of money earned in a criminal way”. It is to remind that Parliament rejected the bill last week. The next day Government again discussed the bill and commending it sent back to Parliament. {BR} Central Bank Chairman Tigran Sargssyan who introduced the bill conditioned the urgency by...

The second round of the presidential election in Ukraine on 21 November did not meet a considerable number of OSCE commitments, Council of Europe and other European standards for democratic elections. As in the first round, state executive authorities and the Central Election Commission displayed a lack of will to conduct a genuine democratic election process, concluded the International Election Observation...

The report of Vahan Hovanisyan, Chairman of Temporary Commission on “Studying Efficiency of Usage of Credits, Relief and Transferring Received from Foreign States and Organizations”, was read up in Parliament. MPs assessed it positively. Let’s remind that the Commission had referred to the fact of receiving the grants and misuse of them in the water sphere. {BR} Commending Commission...

Today Parliament has started activity by voting of some legislative initiatives since last week. A few bills were passed. The bill on “Making changes and amendments to the” Law on Organization and Conduct of Checking in the Territory of Armenia” was more controversial. {BR} The discord between MPs and Government was that under the bill suggested sanitary and hygienic examination...

Armenian delegation intends to take part in Rose Road seminar to be held by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly from November 25 to 27 in Baku, Azerbaijan.{BR} Both Armenia and Azerbaijan are the CIS member countries. That’s why there shouldn’t be any problem with visa for Armenia. However, bitter experience, when Armenian officers weren’t permitted to set foot in Azerbaijani territory,...

Armenian delegates to NATO Parliamentary Assembly session held this week in Venice, Italy, gave a news conference upon their return to Armenia on Friday.{BR} As it became clear at a news conference the delegation hadn’t washed its dirty linen in public. Issues related to Armenian borders were discussed there. A German delegate used in his report such a wording as occupied territories of Azerbaijan....

Presidential adviser for state security Garnik Isagulyan responded Friday to the statements made recently by Levon Zurabyan, the republic former president Levon Ter-Petrossyan adviser, in his report on Armenian foreign policy.{BR} Commenting on the Levon Zurabyan’s statement that Russia stopped providing disinterested military assistance to Armenia after the republic leadership has changed,...

A report of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) made public today spells out a series of steps Armenia and Azerbaijan could take to fulfill their commitment to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict peacefully.{BR} In a draft resolution adopted at a meeting in Paris on Wednesday, PACE's Political Affairs Committee expressed concern at the creation of "mono-ethnic areas...

Devoted opposition activist and MP Arshak Sadoyan convened a news conference Friday to accuse a member of the government of taking a bribe from ArmenTel company again.{BR} Speaking at the news conference, Sadoyan said he had heard about the fact of bribe taking from two other officials, a conversation with which had been videotaped by these officials$ concent. The tape being kept in a reliable safe...

Armenia’s Democratic Liberal Union convened its third conference. At the conference, Armenian Ramkavar Azatakan party together with Mighty Motherland handed down their joint decision to unite with the Democratic Liberal Union and form a coalition.{BR} The Union leader Seyran Avagyan spoke angrily. He vented his anger at the ruling coalition accusing it of corruption and cronyism. He assured...

Draft on 2005 state budget became specific since for the first time in Armenia financing provided for Army will make less than that for education sphere. {BR} The hearings on financing for the force structures of 2005 budget draft in the standing commissions of Parliament were closed. Only the sitting over financing to Defence Ministry lasted for 1,5 hours. Then Defence Minister Serj Sargssyan didn’t...

According to Gurgen Arsenyan, Chairman of “United Labour Party”, Armenian Coalition Government has represented 2005 budget of costs management while it had to represent the budget of “final results”. {BR} He says it’s the “impromptu” assessment of the budget and ULP will soon introduce the analysis. Criticizing Coalition Arsenyan doesn’t criticize...

How does ULP Chair Gurgen Arsenyan view the calls over national revolution? He thinks that the 20th century was the one for revolutions and it has passed. The persons urging on revolutions now “are the representatives of special services of other states working for a miserable budget”, he labels. {BR} As a citizen of Armenia, Arsenyan says he wouldn’t like Armenia to reach the...

Gurgen Arsenyan, Chair of “United Labour Party” and member of Armenian delegation in PACE finds difficulty in assessing the report on Nagorno Karabakh represented by David Atkinson on November 17 since he is not aware of it in detail. According to Arsenyan, he didn’t like the report of ex Reporter Terry Davis since it was of much informational nature. {BR} Gurgen Arsenyan doesn’t...

On November 17 the sitting of PACE Political Committee took place in Paris. The report on Nagorno Karabakh conflict introduced by David Atkinson was on the agenda, too. Armenian Parliament Vice-Speaker Tigran Torosyan, who is as well the head of Armenian delegation in PACE partook in the sitting. {BR} The report mainly repeats the one by ex reporter Terry Davis taking into account the changes made...

On November 29 the EU and the CIS member countries’ ombudsmen will gather in Baku, Azerbaijan, for a two-day international conference focused on human rights, Regnum news agency reported Wednesday.{BR} Armenian ombudsman Larissa Alaverdyan told our correspondent she hadn’t received invitation. She said before attending the Baku conference all these countries’ ombudsmen will meet...

130 best students from Armenian universities were selected last week to be given a 25,000-dram scholarship set by Armenian-Russian business cooperation association and distributed by Pan-Armenian Youth Fund.{BR} These 130 were chosen from the 675 students aspiring to the scholarship. The ceremony of handing the scholarship took place Wednesday in the house of the government. Rewarded students...

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic president Arkady Ghukassyan, who is now in the U.S.A., met the U.S. Congress Armenian group co-chair Frank Palown on Wednesday and discussed ways for Karabakh conflict settlement.{BR} The congressman expressed deep concern about the uncompromising stance taken by Azeri side on the issue and bellicose statements being made by Azerbaijani officials frequently. Palown said...

On Wednesday, New Times party’s youth branch representatives, speaking at a news conference voiced alarm at increasingly deepening spiritual degradation among Armenian young people.{BR} They said Armenians lost their National values throughout the last decade. The head of the party branch Narek Malyan, formerly a military police officer, tried to portray himself as freethinker and rioter saying...

Dashanaktsutyun and Ramkavar parties together with France’s Armenian organisations staged Wednesday an action outside French parliament building demanding to include the vote on Turkey’s possible EU membership in parliamentary session agenda.{BR} The action’s aim is to put pressure upon French president and attract his attention to public opinion ahead of the European summit scheduled...

Organizing Committee established of Internet services for transferring sound data held a discussion in Cinema House. Employees of services and MPs were present. {BR} Org Committee Chairman Artyom Khachatryan used “ArmenTel- Monster” phrase, and blamed the Executive Power and President for its actions. “On the one hand, they say “Let’s work together!”, on the other...

Today Armenian Ombudsman Larissa Alaverdyan had to defend her own rights in Parliament. 154.219.000 drams were claimed for financing of Ombudsman staff in 2005. But Government considered the sum unacceptable and will allocate only 93.397.000 drams to Ombudsman Office next year. So, the number of Ombudsman staff employees won’t rise as planned. Government will finance only 36 employees. {BR} Ombudsman...