YEREVAN (Tert.am), March 9–The draft law on making amendments and additions to the Republic of Armenia’s Land Code was presented in today’s Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs meeting.
“Under this draft law, the sale of border lands to juridical persons and organizations will be prohibited: they are only able to make use of the [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA), March 9–The number of tourists visiting Armenia in 2009 increased 3 percent from 2008.
According to the data published by the National Statistical Service of Armenia, the total number of tourists who visited the country in this period reached 575,300 people, up from 558,400 in 2008.
At the same time, as indicated by the statistics, over [...]
(Agence France-Presse), March 5–Turkey’s Parliament on Thursday ratified an accord to build the European Union’s flagship Nabucco gas pipeline, Anatolia news agency reported.
The deal, aimed at reducing Europe’s reliance on Russian gas, was signed by five countries – Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey – in Ankara in July.
The pipeline, spanning 3,300 kilometers, is planned [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), March 5—During the meeting with the delegation of Korean companies to Armenia, Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian expressed hope for successful cooperation between entrepreneurs of both countries.
The delegation consisted of senior representatives of Korea Resources Corporation (KORES), Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), DSME E & R and CORUS.
The prime minister expressed hope that [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA), March 3–Armenian RASKO insurance company will start providing health insurance services, CEO Ara Karian told journalists on Tuesday.
According to him, the company owns a license for the provision of health insurance and plans to introduce the service within the next two to three months.
“The contracts with various medical institutions, which have already been [...]
YEREVAN (Panorama.am), March 3–”Creating a wider national network is defined by the ‘procedure of forming an e-society in the Republic of Armenia,’” Vache Kirakosyan, the director of high and information technologies department of the Economy Ministry said at a news conference on Wednesday.
“It’s going to be a wide network and will be invested until the [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA), March 2– February 26–Armenian Ameriabank will sign three loan agreements this spring with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) worth $30 million, its development manager Tigran Jrbashian said today.
He said the first agreement, worth $10 million, will be signed in the first week of March. The loan will allow the bank [...]
YEREVAN (Aysor.am), March 2—In Armenia there is a potential for development of electronic commerce, but there is a lack for the necessary incentives.
Thanks to e-commerce the turnover can be quite effective for new businesses, with increased sales. Goods will be more accessible, and their costs will decline, since with store trade, the cost of goods [...]
YEREVAN (Reuters), March 1–A mountain pass between Georgia and Russia, closed since July 2006, will reopen, in rare sign of cooperation since the former Soviet neighbors fought a brief war in 2008.
The Upper Lars border crossing through the towering Caucasus mountains is effectively the only land crossing between Russia and Georgia, the others running through [...]
YEREVAN (Hetq), February 26—The Union of Information Technology Enterprises (UITE), as well as the Ministry of Regional Government and a number of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies have launched in the regions an exit fair-exhibition, called “DigiTec on Wheels.”
Under the program, the participating companies will visit the urban communities, stopping and making exhibitions in [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA), February 25—The volume of the renewed electric power produced in Armenia in 2009 has grown in 2.5 times and has made 300 million kWh, said Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Armenia Areg Galstyan on Wednesday in Parliament.
He said that 30 percent of all the electric power in Armenia should be [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA), February 24—Armenian economy minister Nerses Yeritsian shrugged off speculations that Armenia has given up the idea of making Dilijan into a regional financial center.
“The Central Bank of Armenia is doing some work, but to recover this idea we need more time and only then move ahead,” the minister said in a news conference [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA), February 23—Armenia considers the possibility of using the experience of Switzerland to develop the resort town of Jermuk.
“The mountains and harsh winter seems to be a problem for us, but for the Swiss it’s an opportunity to make billions, ” said the Minister of Economy Nerses Yeritsyan at the press conference on Monday.
Yeritsyan noted [...]
ANKARA (Hurriyet), February 19—The European Union’s special representative to Central Asia on Friday said he expected to see Armenia becoming a route for a future energy pipeline if Yerevan and Ankara quickly move to normalize relations and open their sealed border.
“There have been different options. Things have not been fixed up to now. The greatest [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA), February 22–Large infrastructure projects may act as a catalyst to boost Armenian economy, Armenian economy minister Nerses Yeritsian said Saturday during the 7th international economic forum “Bridge 2010″ in the resort town of Tsakhkadzor.
In his words, Armenia should substantially change the scale of its economy and begin thinking globally.
“In this context large infrastructure [...]
YEREVAN (Yerevan Report), February 19—According to research conducted by BuddeComm, which studies the world telecommunication market, in 2009 the number of mobile communication users in Armenia grew by 9 percent. In 2008, 85 percent (2.56 million) of the Armenian population was using mobile communications, and in 2009 that number reached 94 percent (2.9 million).
According to [...]
YEREVAN (PanARMENIAN.Net), February 18–EdgeArt Entertainment, Inc. (USA) developed a series of musical applications, imitating sounds of Armenian folk instruments.
Artashes Sevada, program developer, told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter that iDuduk, iShvee applications are already available for users all over the world, while iZurna, iBlulj and iDhol will be in Apple Internet-store in the nearest future. “Music by [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA), February 16–The National Fund of Competitiveness of Armenia and Armenian Tourism Development Agency developed a strategy for tourism development in Armenia that will increase the annual flow of tourists by 20 percent.
“The new strategy envisages expansion of marketing policies in such countries as Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy directed at the attraction [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA), February 16 — After the first parliamentary hearing of a Central Bank-designed draft law on mandatory insurance of motor vehicles last Friday, Gagik Minasian, chairman of a parliament committee on finance, budget and credit issues, said before sending the bill to lawmakers, it had been discussed by the commission and experts.
“We have in [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA), February 16 — Mark Lewis, who headed an IMF delegation’s visit to Armenia, said in an interview with a local daily Kapital that Armenia possesses certain advantages in hi-tech sector. He said the IMF does not have a concrete analysis of Armenian IT industry, but one can say that its share in the [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA), February 12—The ninth international exhibition “Healthcare and Pharmacy EXPO 2010” will take place from March 5-7 in Yerevan’s Karen Demirchyan Sports Complex.
The aim of the exhibition, which is organized by the Armenian Ministry of Health and LOGOS EXPO Center, is to demonstrate medical goods and services as well as establishing new business relations.
The [...]
YEREVAN (Panorama.am) –CeBIT, one of the world’s largest exhibitions of the ICT industry, will get underway from March 2-6. Three Armenian companies will attend the event, according to the Union of Information Technologies Enterprises.
CeBIT is the largest ICT event in the world, attracting over 6,000 exhibitors and 500,000 visitors last year.
CeBIT Hannover brings together organizations [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), February 9—The Armenian Information Technology (IT) sector accounted for 1.1 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009, the Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF) reported in a study.
According to the EIF, Armenia’s software and services segment grew annually by 27 percent over the last decade. By comparison the IT sector had a 1.4 [...]
YEREVAN (ArmeniaNow.com)–Foreigners of Armenian and non-Armenian origin, who live in Armenia for a long time, will not have to prove any more that they have close relatives here in order to get a free of charge permanent residence status.
The National Assembly of Armenia in a second reading approved earlier this week draft amendments submitted [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA), February 4–On Wednesday Bruno Dyutua, General Director of Orange said that the company plans to bring the Apple iPhone to the Armenian market.
“Our plans have not changed and very soon you will see the iPhone in the Armenian market, but I cannot tell the exact date. It will be a surprise for our [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA), February 4–Armenian Card (ArCa) payment system will introduce American Express credit card services this year.
ArCa Executive Director Shahen Hovhanesian said that ArCa has received all necessary certificates and implemented several pilot transactions planing to start issuing these cards in the first half of 2010.
He said the introduction of the new payment system is expected [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA), February 4–VTB Bank Armenia funded the delivery of the famous Italian fashion brand Marina Rinaldi and Maxmara in January 2010 for the Italian partners of the Armenian company Modamaks, the press office of the bank reported.
“In accordance with the bank’s strategic development program for 2008-2010, as well as paying particular attention to financing [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), February 3–The Turkish organization “East Anatolia Exporters Union” that operates in Erzrum urged Turkish officials to open the land border between Armenia and Turkey, the Armenian newspaper “Haykakan Zhamanak” reported.
The Turkish businessmen think that it’s better to leave the history of Armenians and Turks in the past and to move forward.
They also declared [...]
YEREVAN (Armenianow.com), February 3–A representative of a hostel in Yerevan that claims to be one of the first to start promoting its services through popular social networks online says that having a fan page on Facebook has helped advance the business at home and abroad and make Armenia more recognizable as a travel destination to [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia), February 2–The first Armenian entertainment television broadcast channel, known as TV Armenia RU, will go on the air in Russia beginning September 1, 2010.
As the official site of TV Armenia RU states, the global purpose of the channel is to cover the social, cultural, political and economic life of Armenians living in Armenia, Russia and [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA), January 29–Iran has expressed willingness to help in the construction of the Iran-Armenia railway, Armenian energy minister and co-chair of Armenian-Iranian intergovernmental commission Armen Movsisyan, said last Wednesday after the commission’s ninth session.
At that meeting, both countries arranged to embark on the construction simultaneously.
Iran, who has a rich experience in exploiting railways, also [...]
YEREVAN (Tert.am), January 27–According to Arayik Vardanyan, this year the Armenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) will organize two trade fairs featuring products from India. In addition, there are plans to showcase Armenian products in Riga and Aleppo.
Furthermore, the CCI representative noted that those doing business in Armenian provinces are lacking information and are [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA), January 27–Armenia’s largest mobile phone operator VivaCell-MTS announced in a statement that the number of its subscribers rose by 2.8 percent in 2009 to 2.07 million. The statement said the clientele base grew by 0.6 percent in 2009, rising, particularly, by 1.3 percent in December 2009.
According to MTS, a Russian telecommunications operator that owns 80 [...]
YEREVAN (Novosti-Armenia)–In January, Armenia exported to Russia about six tons of trout and Armenian river trout, the chairman of Association of Fish Breeders of Armenia, Arkady Gevorkyan, revealed at a press conference on Thursday.
The trout was exported at a price of $4.24 per kilogram, and the Armenian river trout was exported at the price of [...]
YEREVAN (Tert.am)–Armenian Transport and Communications Minister Gurgen Sargsyan yesterday welcomed the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Armenia Seyed Ali Saghaeyan, who presented the process of the North-South highway and Iran-Armenia railway construction projects.
Ambassador Saghaeyan, in particular, noted that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has promised a loan of $500 million, of which [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA)–In December 2009 Armenian power engineering specialists working in “Hrazdan-5” finished a nine-month training course at Kirish power station in Russia.
During the five stages of training, 25 Armenian power engineering specialists studied the turbine and boiler equipment as well as part of the operations of the station. The participants demonstrated high potential along with [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA)–Armavia is offering discounts for passengers of Yerevan-Moscow-Yerevan flights, the press office of this Armenian air company reported on Monday.
Male passengers can enjoy a 15 percent discount from January 28 till February 23 for all direct flights. Females can buy their air tickets at a 20 percent discount from March 8 till April 7.
Armavia was [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA)–Armenian economy minister Nerses Yeritsyan, Microsoft Armenia Representation Office director Grigor Barseghyan and rector of the State Armenian Engineering University (SAEU) Vostanik Marukhian signed today an agreement on the establishment of Microsoft Innovation Center at SAEU.
Before putting his signature on the agreement minister Nersesyan described it as a unique example of a partnership between [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA)–Henceforth, all subscribers of mobile operator Orange Armenia will have the opportunity to pay for or fill in their accounts in real time via bank plastic cards ArCa, Visa and MasterCard through nearly 300 ATMs around the 18 Armenian banks.
As it was reported to ARKA News Agency on Friday by the press service of [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA)–About 70 percent of the work on doubling the 3G network of ArmenTel telecommunications company have been completed in Armenia, General Director of CJSC ArmenTel (Beeline trademark) Igor Klimko told the reporters on Wednesday.
Klimko noted that the project will be completed before December 25-28.
According to him, the doubling will lead to a substantial improvement in [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA)–The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is lending $3 million to Saranist, an Armenian producer of glass bottles and jars, to help the company increase its production capacity and diversify its product range.
“The company was founded in 1989 as a small-scale bottle plant. Saranist has since become one of the leading glass manufacturers [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA)–ARMENAL Armenian-Russian foil-rolling plant has produced and sold this year over 20,000 tons of aluminum foil, twice as much as in 2008.
Alexander Burdin, ARMENAL Packaging Department head, said labor productivity has doubled this year. He added that modern equipment and skilled labor force helped the plant to produce this much of product. The company [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA)–Mobile operator Orange has doubled the capacity of international channels of data transmission in Armenia.
As the press service of the company reported, the increase is due to the growing number of subscribers of Internet service companies, as well as the unprecedented large volumes of data.
The company also noted that increasing the capacity of international [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA)–ArmenTel (Beeline brand) has received 5,000 applications for Hi Line service since it announced the special offer “Internet to Every Home” 10 days ago, the company’s press office reported on Wednesday.
The company is doing whatever necessary to provide clients with Internet service no later than in 24 hours after submission of applications.
“Despite the growing [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA)–”Dell can actively participate in state programs of Armenia,” said Vache Kirakosyan, Head of Department of Management of Information and High Technologies of the Ministry of Economy of Armenia to the journalists on Thursday.
Dell decided to strengthen its presence in the Armenian market.
“It is the right time for activeness in the local market as [...]
YEREVAN (ARKA)–An Armenian-Spanish consulting firm Barbera-Lupicinio-Z. Megrhryan Investment Advocacy opened today its office in Yerevan. According to a deputy economy minister Ara Petrosian, the opening of the company’s office in Armenia is the follow-up of an Armenian-Spanish business forum held last September.
According to the minister, this office has opened at a time when the government [...]
YEREVAN (Tert.am)–By November of this year, there were 298 places for exchanging foreign currency in the Republic of Armenia, including 97 places in the regions. Compared to November 2008, the number of foreign exchange locations have increased by 15, reports local business paper Capital Daily.
According to the Central Bank of Armenia’s public relations service, between [...]
(TeleGeography)–Armenian mobile start-up Orange Armenia, part of the France Telecom (Orange) group, has announced the signing of its 100,000th customer, barely a month after launching services in the country on November 5. In a statement, the company said it would welcome Ejmiatsin resident Veronika Arustamyan, who bought the 100,000th SIM card, to its head office [...]
YEREVAN (Public Radio of Armenia)–The USAID-funded Competitive Armenian Private Sector (CAPS) Project is hosting the 3rd Annual Armenian Information Technology (IT) Conference on November 24 in Yerevan.
The event is being organized in collaboration with industry representatives, including the Ministry of Economy, Armenian Development Agency, Microsoft Armenia, Enterprise Incubator Foundation, D-Link, Arminco and IT business associations, [...]