The Armenian Revolutionary Federation – Artsakh Region held its 19th Regional Convention from December 9 and 10.

On December 11, the European Parliament gave its consent to the participation of Armenia in EU agencies and programs, adopting the report drafted by Member of the European Parliament Tomasz Poreba on this issue, which represents the first tangible step in cooperation after the EU-Armenia declaration at the recent Vilnius Summit, European Friends of Armenia (EuFA) reports.

USAID presented its 2013-2018 assistance strategy for Armenia at a public event in Yerevan on December 11. Dr. Karen Hilliard, Director of USAID/Armenia, introduced the main strategic directions of bilateral cooperation in the areas of economic growth, governance, health care and social reform. Senior officials of the Armenian government, representatives of local and international donor organizations, the private sector and civil society attended the event.

Ankara officially announced that Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had not plans to visit the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex while visiting Yerevan on Thursday, reported Hurriyet Daily News.

On December 10, 1991, the people of Artsakh voted on a referendum to proclaim the Nagorno Karabakh Republic independent. The referendum was ratified by a 98.9 percent of voters. The message of the Armenian people, who once again were confronted with massacres and ethnic cleansing, was clear. They would stand no more. Thus began Karabakh’s struggle for independence. 15 years later, agaon on December 10, Artsakh ratified its state constitution, reaffirming the people’s belief in freedom and cementing their commitment to democracy.

Armenian officials and representatives of the Customs Union have all but worked out a “roadmap” for Armenia’s membership in the trade bloc comprising Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said on Tuesday.

The peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict requires political commitment at the highest level, American Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick said in an interview with APA.

The collection of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute has been completed with the addition of new cartographic materials. Armenpress reported from the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute that these American, German, and British cartographic materials are of great interest, as the borders of Turkey already declared Republican exist there. Accordingly, the eastern boundary of Turkey runs along the border which was laid out by the arbitral resolution of the USA’s 28th President, Woodrow Wilson.

The Armenian government slammed Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu for undermining the peace process in the South Caucasus by continuing to precondition the resolution of the Karabakh conflict with normalizing of Turkey-Armenia relations.

Every Armenian on the planet remembers the moment they heard the news.
On December 7, 1988 at exactly 11:41 AM the ground beneath our homeland shifted. When the earth stopped moving, 25,000 people were dead, tens of thousands were injured, and hundreds of thousands were left homeless as villages, towns and cities were devastated by an earthquake that was felt around the world.

On September 19, Armenia completed its first issuing of Eurobonds. The volume of the issue was $700 million, with a maturity period of 7 years, and yield of 6 percent. The main underwriters of the issue were Deutsche Bank, London Branch, HSBC Bank and J.P.Morgan Securities. According to the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Armenia, the demand for Armenia’s first US dollar-denominated Eurobonds crossed $3 billion during the very first days of their issuing. In his interview with Arka News Agency, Investment Banking Director at Ameriabank Arno Mosikyan talked about the Armenia’s pioneering Eurobonds.

Preliminary examples of smartphones and tablets set to be produced in Armenia by 2014 were presented during Friday’s meeting of Armenia’s Industrial Council by the Prime Minister of Armenia.

Twenty five years ago, on December 7, 1988, a catastrophic earthquake ripped through Armenia, decimating the town of Spitak and surrounding areas. The quake left more than 25,000 people dead, 15,000 injured, 517,000 homeless, and $14.2 billion in economic damage.

It was around 7 a.m. on December 7th, 1988. Our telephone woke me up. Our assignment editor at the Associated Press in New York was calling me.