Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary and Romania signed "A Joint Declaration" on the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romanian Interconnector (AGRI) project in Bucharest.

In a while the world will see a new Middle East, which will be fraught with more threats than the former one with its old and sick presidents, corruption and total poverty. It is quite possible that there will be new presidents if the military allows, but corruption and poverty will linger on. They may even increase due to the fact that the new heads of state should secure their old age in case of unforeseen resignation.

While the population is expecting the regular rise in prices for natural gas, Armenian government assures it continues negotiating with Russia to prevent upsurge of energy resources tariffs. The results are expected to be announced in late February.

Saint Valentine’s Day, although not an Armenian national holiday, takes root in Armenia. The romantic tradition to present ‘heart’ gifts is gaining popularity among young people, although majority of them do not have any idea of who Valentine was and why the holiday is celebrated.

The National Security Strategy of Armenia describes low birth rate as one of the threats to the country’s national security.

Armenian IT field registered 15% growth in 2010. The turnover in the field totaled $150mln against $129.9mln last year. The field employs 5 thousand specialists, with 197 companies operating. At that, government financing of the IT field totaled AMD 80mln (as in 2010), what is 60% less than in 2009, when AMD 200mln was assigned.

Chess: Levon Aronian finished 3rd at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk Aan Zee. Hikaru Nakamura of the United States won the tournament with 9 points, followed by Viswanathan Anand of India. Gabriel Sargissian came 5th in tournament B, which was won by Luke McShane (England).