Relocating to Armenia from Arab countries

[gegev]

I think this is high time for Armenians to relocate to Armenia and start enjoying safe life at homeland. It may seem you difficult at the beginning, but we Armenians confronted all the difficulties during the course of history in Diaspora, where they at the beginning came for security reasons, had no property at all and due to their diligency and hard work made it gradually.

I call my Armenian brothers and sisters to come home where you and your children will be, at least, in full safety. The rest will be settled gradually. And those who have money to invest in nowadays Armenia can do it easily and reaping rewords in no time.

Today's Armenia is one of the best places in the world to invest, don't get afraid, don't believe the people that claim the contrary.

[Mos]

Re: Relocating to Armenia from Arab countries

If they have stable and good paying job, they will move. It's tough to convince Armenians living in the West, but those living in the Middle East should be greatly encouraged to move to Armenia.

Population increased by 13,000 in Armenia

April 22, 2011 | 17:10

YEREVAN. – Armenia’s national statistical service says population of the country makes 3, 262,000 as of January 1, 2011.

Population has increased by 13,000 as compared to the previous year. 64% reside in cities, while 36% - in villages.

Population of Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, has increased by 6,000 making 1, 200,000 in 2011.

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Relocating to Armenia from Arab countries

I call my Armenian brothers and sisters to come home where you and your children will be, at least, in full safety. The rest will be settled gradually. And those who have money to invest in nowadays Armenia can do it easily and reaping rewords in no time.

Today's Armenia is one of the best places in the world to invest, don't get afraid, don't believe the people that claim the contrary.

Have the Armenian mafiosi so empoverished the native population, and emptied the bank accounts of all the gullable diaspora Armenians from America and Canada, that they now have to seek new victims from Syria or Egypt?

[Yedtarts]

Re: Relocating to Armenia from Arab countries

I think this is high time for Armenians to relocate to Armenia and start enjoying safe life at homeland. It may seem you difficult at the beginning, but we Armenians confronted all the difficulties during the course of history in Diaspora, where they at the beginning came for security reasons, had no property at all and due to their diligency and hard work made it gradually.

I call my Armenian brothers and sisters to come home where you and your children will be, at least, in full safety. The rest will be settled gradually. And those who have money to invest in nowadays Armenia can do it easily and reaping rewords in no time.

Today's Armenia is one of the best places in the world to invest, don't get afraid, don't believe the people that claim the contrary.

It’s very nice what you say, inviting Armenians of Diaspora to home land is a very good idea, but I will suggest one thing though, let us try to create an environment over there so people that already there won’t leave or even think of leaving.

[Mos]

Re: Relocating to Armenia from Arab countries

It’s very nice what you say, inviting Armenians of Diaspora to home land is a very good idea, but I will suggest one thing though, let us try to create an environment over there so people that already there won’t leave or even think of leaving.

Situation is improving, of course there are problems, things are not perfect, but the country is growing and developing. Just look at how much country has improved in the past 10 years. Given our situation (landlocked, blockaded), we are doing very well.

[haysip]

Re: Relocating to Armenia from Arab countries

great idea... our gov't should defenetly create an environment comfortable for them so they can fit in easily...
(btw i suggest we just ignore the cat)

[UrMistake]

Re: Relocating to Armenia from Arab countries

Well armenian in in arab nations were life there is so much harder,should enter into program of repatriation giving them free home and a job,ministry of diaspora should make some initiatives!!

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Relocating to Armenia from Arab countries

Today's Armenia is one of the best places in the world to invest, don't get afraid, don't believe the people that claim the contrary.

Really? One of the best places in the world to invest? Below are three news items, all just from last Friday's Groong. Check any day of the week and you will always find similar news reports. And there are the never-ending ongoing scandals, like non-tax paying millionaire Dodi Gago's theft of small shareholders' shares in Yerevan Brandy, or the American-Armenian property developer conned out of the appartment he paid to be constructed, and then conned again out of the money he paid to "buy" it back - and all the criminality is supported and defended by the Armenian justice system of course.

Tax Collection In Armenia Still Poor, Says IMF

Armenia -- Guillermo Tolosa, the IMF representative in Yerevan, at a
news conference, 15Apri2011.

15.04.2011
Ruben Meloyan

Tax collection in Armenia remains `appallingly' poor despite
government efforts to combat widespread fiscal fraud, a senior
official from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday.


Guillermo Tolosa, the IMF's resident representative in Armenia, said
the authorities in Yerevan are still not doing enough to improve tax
administration and the broader business environment. `Tax revenues as
a share of the economy continued to be in 2010 as appallingly low as
in 2009,' he told a news conference.

According to official statistics, the Armenian government's total tax
revenues rose by more than 13 percent to 591 billion drams ($1.58
billion) last year. They were equivalent to just over 17 percent of
the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

`This ratio, this share is the lowest in ... the former Communist
countries, with the only exception of Tajikistan,' argued Tolosa. He
said it shows that `positive steps' taken by the authorities are not
enough to tackle the problem.

`Tax collections have not increased. So that has to mean that the
shadow economy has not decreased,' he added.

Finance Minister Vache Gabrielian admitted earlier this year tax
collection has yet to improve significantly. He downplayed the 2010
rise in tax revenues and said more needs to be done to reduce tax
evasion.

Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian regularly describes improved tax
administration as a top government priority, having pushed through
parliament numerous changes in Armenian tax legislation. The most
recent legal amendments approved by the National Assembly in December
envisage a major simplification of the country's cumbersome taxation
requirements and procedures.

Both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund consider
radical tax reform as well as an improvement of the investment climate
essential for Armenia's sustainable economic development. Tolosa
reaffirmed this view on Friday.

Armenia No Longer Eligible For U.S. Aid Program

Armenia -- Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian (L) and U.S. Ambassador
Marie Yovanovitch (C) meet with beneficiaries of U.S. assistance
provided under the Millennium Challenge Account program, 15Apr2011.

15.04.2011
Sargis Harutyunyan

Armenia is currently not eligible for receiving additional
U.S. economic assistance under a program designed to reward good
governance and reforms around the world, U.S. Ambassador Marie
Yovanovitch said on Friday.


She said the approaching parliamentary and presidential elections in
the country will be an opportunity for the Armenian government to
improve its democracy and human rights record and thus again qualify
for the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) program.

The U.S. government approved $236 million worth of MCA assistance to
Armenia in 2006 to finance a rural development plan submitted by
Yerevan. In June 2008, Washington scrapped a $67 million segment of
the aid package, which envisaged the reconstruction of hundreds of
kilometers of rural roads.

The decision was widely attributed to a disputed presidential election
held in February 2008 and a harsh government crackdown on the Armenian
opposition that followed it.

The aid cut did not affect the rest of the MCA funding which is being
mainly channeled into Armenia's battered irrigation networks. Their
ongoing refurbishment is due to be completed this September.

Yovanovitch and Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian visited on
Friday the central Aragatsotn province to inspect local irrigation
canals that have been rehabilitated with MCA funds. They also met with
farmers that have received training as part of the same scheme.

`We hope that this program has made and will continue to make a real
impact on the rural community in terms of increased wealth,'
Yovanovitch told journalists there.

The U.S. diplomat made clear that Yerevan can not apply for more MCA
aid for the time being. `Perhaps at some point in the future, there
might be a possibility,' she said. `Every year, every country is
reviewed for eligibility. At this point, Armenia is not eligible for a
second compact due to where it stands on the [MCA] indicators.'

Yovanovitch specified that President Serzh Sarkisian's administration
should, among other things, hold more democratic elections. `As
Armenia enters into an election cycle, with parliamentary elections
next year and presidential elections the year after, there is an
opportunity to boost these indicators,' she said.

`Obviously, conduct on the day of elections is an important thing but
so is freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, the many other things
that go into general good governance,' she added.

Yovanovitch urged the Armenian authorities to hold free elections,
respect civil liberties and embark on other 'deep and difficult'
reforms in a recent speech at Yerevan State University. In particular,
she stressed the importance of 'ensuring that peaceful, lawful
assemblies will not be harassed or broken up.'

CLAIM AND COUNTERCLAIM: FUND OFFICIAL ACCUSES DIASPORA MINISTRY OF WRONGDOING
By Gayane Abrahamyan

ArmeniaNow reporter
14.04.11

A former culture minister has accused current Diaspora Minister
Hranush Hakobyan of "money laundering" and making "illegal decisions"
claiming it has resulted in a situation where a fund involved in the
organization of a well-known festival is on the verge of liquidation.

The claim by Tamar Poghosyan, who today is executive director of the
"One Nation, One Culture" Fund, is vehemently denied by the Diaspora
Ministry and its head.

Poghosyan has turned to the Prosecutor's Office asking it "to reveal
illegalities".

The "One Nation, One Culture" festival first held in 1999 in the last
five years has been organized and managed by Poghosyan, the fund's
executive director and Armenia's culture minister in 2003-2004. It
was her job, on decision by the Board of Trustees, to manage the
financial means transferred to the fund by the state.

However, last year a decision was made that the festival should be
organized in cooperation with the Ministry for the Diaspora and
Diaspora Minister Hakobyan was elected chairperson of the Fund's
Board of Trustees. Poghosyan claims Hakobyan was "single-handedly
taking illegal decisions."

The problem arose last December when Hakobyan requested that a sitting
of the Board of Trustees be convened to present accounts.

"I was against the demand for hastily convening a sitting, but the
issue was not discussed, the entire staff (eight persons) got down
to preparing the reports, but the tension, after a year's strenuous
work, the stressful and psychologically tense situation led to my
illness and I had to get hospital treatment for a month and a half,"
says Poghosyan.

Despite the absence of Poghosyan the meeting did take place and,
according to her, taking advantage of her absence, made a decision
to give part of the funds to some other organizations.

"I say and repeat that implementing activities through some other
organizations is a classical mechanism of money laundering, and I
could not sign that," says Poghosyan.

A total of 12.7 million drams (about $35,000) out of some 18.6
million allocated to the fund's president and staff from the budget
under a relevant government decision, have been allocated to several
organizations, which, according to Poghosyan, are organizations headed
by members of the Fund's Board of Trustees.

"These organizations have nothing to do with the organization of
the festival and the Fund, but for some reason they were called the
fund's strategic projects," says Poghosyan. "I certainly could not have
signed such unlawful contracts, which ruined the whole money laundering
scheme of the Ministry. I am saying this. What do I have to lose?"

According to Poghosyan, because of that decision the salaries' stock
of the fund's staffers was reduced from 1 million drams (approx.

$2,700) to about 300,000 drams (about $810) and a demand was presented
to her to hastily reduce the number of personnel.

Officials at the Ministry for the Diaspora deny the accusations,
considering them to be "groundless talk".

Tevos Nersisyan, head of the Ministry's Press and Public Relations
Department, clarified to ArmeniaNow that at Poghosyan's request the
Prime Minister's control service had examined the case revealing
no violation.

"The Prime Minister's control service found out that the December 28
decision of the Board of Trustees was in full conformity with the
statutes of the "One Nation, One Culture" Fund and the letter of
Armenia's Law "On Funds"," said Nersisyan.

Poghosyan counters that the examination by the Prime Minister's control
service was not complete and concerned only the data presented by
the Ministry for the Diaspora.

The case is due to be examined by the Prosecutor's Office soon.

Poghosyan says she does not pin much hope on law enforcement.

"I have no expectation. I'm going there knowing there is a wall there.

I'll go as far as I can, but someone must know what is happening in
this kitchen," she says.

[gegev]

Re: Relocating to Armenia from Arab countries

great idea... our gov't should defenetly create an environment comfortable for them so they can fit in easily... (btw i suggest we just ignore the cat)

If the cat is against the relocation we can't do anything. He decides where we should live. He is able finding crap arguments to support his rulings.

There is no place in the world where everything is perfect (especially in nowadays world you know and see it every day) come and build our future PERFECT country. Armenians are used, for centuries, building and creating everything they need in foreign countries, regardless of difficulties encountered. Lets do it, for the last time, in our own country for coming centuries and generations.

Arab world unrest is threatening Armenians/strangers most, because at dealing with alienating factions we have no other choice, but taking sides. At the end the alienating factions are getting united against “strangers” and we loose our belongings and/or we are discriminated, as usual.

For instance recently Armenians in Syria have been supporting president; Bashar Asad, but now he is in very difficult situation, what will happen next ...

Armenia is the only country where this can't happen with you and your kids.

[UrMistake]

Re: Relocating to Armenia from Arab countries

All residents of Yerevan know about Dody Gago,the tax problem and the oligarchs.

Secondly we already analysed the IMF, MCA ,Yovanovitch and connection they have with Rafick Hovanesyan,and Levon ,please the lack of america in armenia dose not mean less democracy,we know what is good for us with out the US thank you very much!

And what has to do the bad management of Ministry with Armenians of Arab world coming home,its totally internal issue !!