In October 2010 Djorkaeff will start his career of coach.

July 19 marked the beginning of negotiations on Associative Agreement between Armenia and the European Union. The beginning of negotiations clearly outlines the frames and format of the upcoming cooperation of Brussels with Yerevan, Tbilisi and Baku. Of course, it will seem strange to an average citizen that parallel with its recent and rather ambitious initiative of “Eastern Partnership” the EU suddenly decides to start another project in the region. However, the associative agreement never means that Europe opens up its gates and hurries to accept new members. Taking into account the post-recession condition in the EU member-states, Brussels alertly treats its eastern neighbors’ aspiration for joining the “European club”.

Mr Jean-Claude Trichet: the reached agreements are a landmark achievement to strengthen banking sector resilience in a manner that reflects the key lessons of the crisis.

Armenia’s banks expect 26.94% and 6.7% growth in volumes of loans and deposits respectively.

GNC Alfa has completed the first stage of IP/MPLS network construction with 10Gbps network capacity. Networks in Yerevan and 16 Armenian towns have been put into operation. Coverage of 29 towns is envisaged till yearend. GNC-Alfa is a telecommunications network services operator in Armenia. The Company owns a fiber-optic network passing along the Armenia-Iran gas pipeline. GNC-Alfa network, built on technologies of American Juniper Networks, is designed to provide wholesale transport network services to fixed and mobile operators and ISPs, as well as transit services via Armenia.

Wrestling: on July 21, Armenia’s Greco-Roman wrestler Arthur Alexanyan (weight class 84kg) won the champion’s title at Junior World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Earlier, Armenia’s Alexan Mikaelyan (weight class 60kg) won bronze.

The political week in Armenia started with congresses of the Armenian National Movement and Armenakan Ramkavar-Azatakan party. On July 17, Yerevan hosted the 16th congress of the Armenian National Movement. In his remarks, Armenia's first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan said that Armenia’s economic development is impossible without resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and normalization of relations with Turkey. Ter-Petrosyan also voiced confidence that the key to Armenian-Turkish reconciliation is in Russia’s hands.

The results of the first half of 2010 indicate that global economy is growing at a slow pace, including markets of the U.S., Europe, Russia and China. Meanwhile, 15% unprecedented growth was recorded in China. Indices of stock exchanges also prove the growth in global economy. Moreover, anti-crisis governmental programs are implemented consistently.