Once Armenia was known for one fruit only – the apricot. Imported from Armenia into Greece still by Alexander III of Macedon, it was named ‘fructus armenica’. From there it spread throughout Europe. Today the world is going to know another Armenian “fruit” – the powerful drug Armenicum.

2010 promises to be the year of rebirth of Armenian cinematography, according to Gevorg Gevorgyan, director of the Armenian National Film Center. “The ANFC will present 35 movies at Cannes festival movie market,” he told a news conference in Yerevan. As he stated, 8 animated films, 4 documentaries, 12 debuts, 3 short and 8 full length films will be screened at Cannes International Film Festival on May 12-23.

Prices for Internet services may go down in 2010, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said during the 10th anniversary congress of the Union of Information Technologies Enterprises (UITE) on April 14. He said the government will address problems persisting in the field.

More and more frequent become Baku’s indications on replacing the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs. This has become especially evident after the Washington summit, when Azerbaijan finally realized that however important a role oil may play for Baku, it has nothing to do with settlement of the Karabakh conflict. Moreover, Azerbaijan cannot even proceed with blackmail and threats, as Turkey does. After the Turkish Foreign Minister’s visit to Baku, for some unknown reason Azerbaijani politicians concluded that Turkey is ready to undertake the role of a mediator and regulate the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Weightlifting: Armenia came forth at the European Weightlifting Championships, winning 19 medals – 7 gold, 8 silver and 4 bronze. Tigran Martirosyan (w.c. up to 77kg) and Gevork Poghosyan (w.c. 85 kg) won gold; Smbat Margaryan (w.c. 56 kg), Ara Khachatryan (w.c. 85 kg), Ruben Aleksanyan (w.c +105 kg) and Meline Daluzyan, (w.c. 69kg) won silver; Hripsime Khurshudyan (w.c. 75 kg) won bronze.

It was found out that under the crisis conditions the Armenian small and medium enterprises (SME) have assumed the basic load of tax payments, as numerous complaints were received from them with respect to the increased number of inspections by tax services. The government’s image was undermined once again and it caused Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan’s concern. He addressed his discontent to the RA Ministries of Finance and Economy, which have not fulfilled their obligations properly. Thus, the reforms implemented by the government to minimize personal relations between tax bodies’ and business’ representatives have not yielded results. Is it possible that the reformers do not hurry to implement them, aiming to line their own pockets in the end?

Main political events of last week started with April 5 interview of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to Der Spiegel.