Armenia and Bulgaria to boost cooperation in transport
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
5 Oct 04
[Presenter] Armenian and Bulgarian businessmen discussed economic
cooperation between the two countries during a business forum held in
Yerevan today. The Armenian and Bulgarian presidents [Robert Kocharyan
and Georgi Purvanov] also took part in the forum. Robert Kocharyan
gave assurances that the Bulgarians would find reliable partners in
the form of Armenian businessmen. The president also stressed that
Armenia has a special attitude to the development of economic
relations with Bulgaria because of Bulgaria’s world position and its
experience along the road to European integration.
[Correspondent over video of forum] Several hundred businessmen
including the Bulgarian delegation today visited various Armenian
enterprises. The agreements signed during these meetings, as President
of the Armenian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Arsen
Kazaryan said, exceeded all expectations. Agreements were signed in
the spheres of machine building, the production of beverages,
cosmetics, pharmacology.
[Kazaryan] We attached great importance to the Bulgarian SOMAT [road
haulage] company’s intention. This company is supplying us with
ferries to transport vehicles between Georgia and Russia.
[Correspondent] The Bulgarian ports of Varna and Burgas are the main
road and window to the European markets for Armenia. Therefore the
Bulgarian company’s assistance is of great importance. They promise to
restore the ferry and to put it into operation from 15 to 25 October.
[Bulgarian Transport and Communications Minister, Nikolay Vasilev,
captioned, in Russian with Armenian voice over] This is also a part of
the TRACECA [Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia] programme which
is of great importance for the European Union, as this road is an
alternative road to Russia. I am sure that as a result the volume of
import and export will be increased.
[Correspondent] The Bulgarian minister said that with his Armenian
counterpart [Armenian Communication and Transport Minister Andranik
Manukyan] they agreed on the main issue, the opening of a direct
airline route between our capitals [Sofia-Yerevan], which will be
implemented next year.
[Passage omitted: Kocharyan and Purvanov interested in further
improving cooperation]]

Azeri foreign minister urges OSCE to stop sitting on fence over Karabakh
MPA news agency
6 Oct 04
Baku, 6 October: “The resettlement of Armenian families in occupied
Nagornyy Karabakh goes against international law, and the OSCE should
express its attitude to this fact,” Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov said at a meeting with the heads of the OSCE missions in
Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, Maurizio Pavesa, Roy Reeve and
Vladimir Pryakhin respectively. Mammadyarov hoped that that the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict would be settled peacefully with the
help of the international community, including the OSCE.
[Passage omitted: Mammadyarov met German expert]

Council of Europe urges Azerbaijan to honour commitments
Assa-Irada
6 Oct 04
Baku, 5 October: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
today discussed a resolution on Azerbaijan’s commitments to the
Council of Europe. The resolution says that serious reforms have been
conducted in the country following Ilham Aliyev’s election as
Azerbaijani president in 2003, and this was important from the
viewpoint of honouring Azerbaijan’s commitments as a member of the
Council of Europe. As far as foreign policy is concerned, the
resolution points out that Azerbaijan has been conducting a
pro-European independent foreign policy. At the same time, the
resolution stresses the possibility of tension within the government
which could lead to slowing down the pace of the current reforms in
the face of the president’s wish to have them speedily implemented.
In addition, the resolution demands that the government and parliament
resolve a number of issues. These demands include clearing up cases of
human rights violations during and after the presidential elections,
pardoning seven opposition activists arrested after the elections,
resolving the issue of political prisoners in full, eliminating
problems with regard to freedom of the press, publishing the
presidential election results in every polling station and punishing
those guilty of election fraud.
There was a discussion on the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict as
well. Rapporteur Mevlut Cavusoglu [Turkish MP] said that while being a
Council of Europe member, Armenia occupies one-fifth of the territory
of another Council of Europe member country, Azerbaijan. The Council
of Europe should take serious measures to address this issue, he
added.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Finnish foreign minister discusses disputed enclave during visit to Armenia
AP Worldstream
Oct 05, 2004

A disputed enclave whose status has prevented Armenia and neighboring
Azerbaijan from normalizing relations topped discussions between
Finland’s foreign minister and top Armenian officials, Armenia’s
foreign ministry said Tuesday.
In meetings with Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan, Erkki Tuomioja
also discussed Armenia’s efforts to strengthen economic and political
ties with Europe and Armenia’s relations with its giant neighbor and
historic adversary to the south, Turkey, according to the Armenian
ministry.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a war in the early 1990s that ended with
a cease-fire in 1994. No final settlement has been reached, however,
as the two countries remain at odds over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave,
which ethnic Armenians seized after heavy fighting.
Tuomioja and his Armenian counterpart, Vardan Oskanyan, also signed
new agreements on defense and investment, the ministry said.
Before coming to Yerevan, Tuomioja was in Baku, the Azerbaijani
capital, meeting with top officials for discussions on
Nagorno-Karabakh and bilateral trade.

PRESIDENT KOCHARYAN RECEIVES AGBU CONGRESS DELEGATES
A1plus
6 Oct 04
President Kocharyan received overseas delegates of 83rd congress of
AGBU, Armenian benevolent organisation, held in recent days in
Yerevan.
He welcomed the congress participants and stressed the importance of
such a kind of events.
The union chair Perch Sedrakyan, in turn, said positive changes are
visible in Armenia though there are many obstacles that are
successfully being overcome.

Armenian-US working group discuss wide-ranging issues
Mediamax news agency
6 Oct 04

YEREVAN
The ninth session of the US-Armenian Task Force on economic
cooperation took place on 4 October in Washington, the press service
of the Armenian Foreign Ministry told our agency today.
The session discussed issues pertaining to the implementation of a
poverty reduction strategy in Armenia, maintaining a higher rate of
economic growth, an improvement in social conditions, reforms in the
banking sector and the development of power, agriculture and water
systems.
The Armenian delegation included Finance and Economy Minister Vardan
Khachatryan; the presidential aide Vagram Nersisyants; the chairman of
the Central Bank, Tigran Sarkisyan; the chairman of the State
Committee for Water Resources, Andranik Andreasyan; and the Armenian
ambassador to the USA, Aram Kirakosyan.

Georgian border closure not to affect Russian-Armenian relations – paper
Hayots Ashkarh, Yerevan
6 Oct 04

Text of Vardan Grigoryan report by Armenian newspaper Hayots Ashkarh
on 6 October “Situation at Verkhniy Lars and around it”
The fact that hundreds of lorries bound for Armenia have been stranded
at the Verkhniy Lars checkpoint on the Russian-Georgian border is
being assessed differently.
The situation was created after the incredible terrorist act in Beslan
when the Russian leadership decided to close land borders with Georgia
and Azerbaijan. But this has affected Armenia more than the countries
mentioned. It turns out that due to limited communication
opportunities and the blockade imposed by Turkey and Azerbaijan,
Armenia has found itself in this situation “through no fault of its
own”.
It has nothing in common with the rumours disseminated recently that
allegedly by closing the Verkhniy Lars checkpoint on the
Russian-Georgian border, Russia is trying to punish Armenia along with
Georgia for cooperation with NATO or for the intention to send
Armenian servicemen to Iraq. If Russia had really wanted to punish
Armenia, it could undoubtedly have found more effective levers.
This forcible step taken by Russia in the context of the antiterror
fight has created a very contradictory situation in both
Russian-Georgian and Armenian-Georgian relations.
The speaker of the upper chamber of the Russian State Duma, Sergey
Mironov, who was in Yerevan recently, promised that the situation
would be settled. Moreover, he hinted that the problem of the
Transcaucasus railway link to Sukhumi would be also
settled. Certainly, it is a very pleasant piece of news for Armenia,
but at present the settlement of such a complex problem is coming up
against the political dispute about the return of Georgian refugees to
Gali District, as well as the fact that the Sukhumi-Zugdidi sector of
the railway is badly damaged.
A question arises: Are these measures of Russia fruitful while it is
evident that terrorists penetrate this country through mountains and
gorges? Georgia, which has sea ports and receives large western loans,
does not at all submit to Russia’s requests to capture and extradite
them [terrorists] to Russia. Thus, the problem is not in closing the
Verkhniy Lars checkpoint but in turning the measures against Georgia
into “targeted” ones. We think that in this context economic and
political steps could be taken which will not directly affect
Armenia’s interests. This gives us the hope that they will finally
find mutually acceptable solutions that will take Armenian cargo
transportation out of this misunderstanding.
By the way, the closure of the Verkhniy Lars checkpoint may be used by
some forces to call into question Russian-Armenian strategic
partnership. Certain political forces in Armenia are interested in
this, they are spreading incredible rumours about Moscow-Yerevan
relations and politicizing the problem. But the majority of the public
understand that the situation created at the Verkhniy Lars checkpoint
is not that problem which can cast doubt on Armenian-Russian strategic
partnership. Russia is not the country which Armenia can have problems
with because of this kind of incidents. Thus, we are sure that today’s
search for mutually advantageous options to resolve the situation
created around the Verkhniy Lars checkpoint will yield positive
results and thwart all attempts to discredit Armenian-Russian
relations.

Russia agrees to let cargo through Georgian border to Armenia
Noyan Tapan news agency
6 Oct 04

YEREVAN
Russia has given the go-ahead for the opening of the road through the
Verkhniy Lars border checkpoint [in Georgia] for cargo bound for
Armenia following a telephone conversation between Presidents of
Armenia and Russia Robert Kocharyan and Vladimir Putin on the evening
of 5 October. This checkpoint has been closed for a long time over the
Beslan events.
Our agency has learnt from the press service of the Armenian Ministry
of Transport and Communications that talks are under way with the
Georgian side to arrange unimpeded and quick delivery of goods to
Armenia.

CIS defence and security committee opens session in Armenian capital
Mediamax news agency
6 Oct 04

YEREVAN
A three-day session of the permanent defence and security commission
of the CIS Parliamentary Assembly began in Yerevan today.
The Mediamax parliamentary correspondent reports that those taking
part will discuss a number of proposals for basic model legislative
programmes for combating crime and illegal trading in narcotic and
psychotropic substances and also programmes for cooperation in the
military-technical spheres.
Not taking part in the forum are any representatives from Georgia,
Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The chairman of the permanent
defence and security commission of the CIS Parliamentary Assembly,
Viktor Voytenko, said he was sorry that colleagues from these
countries were absent.

Armenian nuclear plant back after major repairs
Arminfo
5 Oct 04

YEREVAN
The Armenian nuclear power plant was connected to the national power
grid today at 1419 local time [0919 gmt], the director-general of the
plant, Gagik Markosyan, has told Arminfo news agency.
He said that the Armenian nuclear power plant was closed for major
repairs and refuelling on 31 July 2004. The reactor is repaired once
every four years. The director-general said that the uniqueness of
the repairs in 2004 was that the amount of work was unprecedentedly
large.
[Passage omitted: Fuel was sent from Russia]