Tehran Times, Iran
Aug 1 2004
Iran Exchanges 922KW Of Energy With 2 Central Asian States
ARDABIL (IRNA) – Azarbaijan Regional Electrical Company (AREC)
Managing Director Fattah Qarabagh announced that Iran has exchanged
922 kilowatts of electricity with Azerbaijan and Armenia since
January 2004.
On the sidelines of an induction ceremony for the new managing
director of the Ardabil Power Distribution Company, he told IRNA that
of the above-stated amount of energy that was exchanged, 280 million
KWh were transferred to Azerbaijan and Armenia while the remainder
was delivered to Iran by the two Central Asian states.
“Electricity exchanges take place due to the increased rate of energy
consumption in Iran during summer and the high demand for it in
Azerbaijan and Armenia during winter.
“Energy is currently transferred from the following four points in
northwestern Iran to the specified destinations: from Parsabad to
Imsheli in the Azerbaijan Republic, from Ahar to Agarak in Armenia,
from Julfa to Ordubad in the Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan and
from Aras dam to Nakhichevan,” he added.
He noted that a 154-kilovolt power transmission line had become
operational between the Iranian-Turkish border and Dogubayazit in
Turkey but that for the time being it is closed.
“Construction work on a 400-kilovolt transmission line connecting a
power station in the city of Khoy, in West Azarbaijan Province, to
Bashkaleh in Turkey is almost finished and is expected to be fully
operational in the near future.
“Besides, the Iranian Power Development Organization and AREC are
jointly constructing a 330-kilovolt transmission line between
Parsabad (Iran) and Imsheli (Turkey),” he informed.
Qarabagh pointed out that Ardabil Province is suitably located for
the transit of power to Central Asian republics and Russia.
At the close of the ceremony, Qarabagh expressed his appreciation for
the sincere efforts of the outgoing managing director of the Ardabil
Power Distribution Company and his substitute Rashid Shomali, who
were both presented to the participants.

Zawya.com
July 31 2004
IFC Makes First Investment in Armenian Bank

Armenia, Yerevan, July 31, 2004–Today, the International Finance
Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank group,
provided a $2.0 million senior loan to Armeconombank to broaden the
Bank’s funding base for on-lending to SMEs and for financing
residential housing projects.
By providing financing to Armeconombank (AEB), IFC will enable the
Bank to expand its lending operations and provide commercial
financing to businesses in a variety of sectors, therefore fostering
economic growth. In addition, as the first IFC investment in Armenian
commercial banking sector, the project will have an important
demonstration effect for other potential investors.
At the signing ceremony Mr. Edward Nassim, Director of the IFC’s
Central and Eastern Europe Department, commented: “We are very
pleased to start our investments in the Armenian banking sector with
such a reliable partner as Armeconombank. Our loan, apart from the
commercial financing, will allow the bank to substantially expand its
mortgages financing program, which will play an important role in
raising living standards of Armenian citizens.”
Mr. Saribek Sukiasyan, Chairman of the Board of Armeconombank,
commented, “I am proud today to see the International Finance
Corporation as a lending partner to Armeconombank. Diversification of
funding sources for our bank was a priority in our strategy. I hope
that we will continue to deepen our cooperation with IFC in future.”
Mr. Ashot Osipyan, Chief Executive Officer of Armeconombank said, “By
signing this loan agreement we will be able to offer to our corporate
clients financial resources with longer maturities and substantially
increase our outstanding portfolio in mortgages to individual
clients. Dedicated and effective work of the teams engaged in
negotiations, enabled us to reach to this agreement in a short period
of time.”
Armeconombank (AEB) is one of the largest, privately controlled banks
in Armenia. It is the 4th largest bank in Armenia in terms of assets,
with 24 branches across the country and 450 employees. Today the Bank
focuses on serving SMEs, retail clients, and financial institutions.
AEB had the net worth of approximately $5.3 million and total assets
of approximately $33.4 million equivalent as of the end of 2003.
The mission of IFC, part of the World Bank Group, is to promote
sustainable private sector investment in developing countries as a
way to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives. IFC finances
private sector investments in emerging markets, mobilizes capital in
the international financial markets, helps clients improve social and
environmental sustainability, and provides technical assistance and
advice to governments and businesses. From its founding in 1956
through FY03, IFC has committed more than $37 billion of its own
funds and arranged $22 billion in syndications for 2,990 companies in
140 developing countries. IFC’s worldwide committed portfolio as of
FY03 was $16.8 billion for its own account and $6.6 billion held for
participants in loan syndications.
Armenia became an IFC member in 1995. The Corporation began investing
in the country in 2000. As of July 2004, IFC has invested $9,09
million in 3 projects including the loan to Armeconombank. IFC
continues to explore the investment opportunities in partnership with
strategic investors in both the financial and real sectors of the
country. In addition to the investment program, IFC has been
providing advisory services on corporate governance, improvement of
the investment climate and small and medium enterprise development.
-Ends-
In Washington:
Irina Likhachova
Phone: (202) 473-1813
Email: [email protected]

The Economic Times
July 31, 2004
NOT BY BREAD ALONE
Adam Smith may not have got it exactly right when he observed in The
Wealth of Nations that “No society surely can be flourishing and
happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and
miserable.”
Flying against the face of that argument is the conclusion of a World
Values Survey conducted in 65 nations from 1999-01 by social
scientists and first reported by the British magazine New Scientist.
The survey indicated that poverty-stricken Nigeria had the world’s
highest percentage of happy people. When Cervantes stated in the 16th
century that “There are but two families in the world, the haves and
the have-nots”, he may never have anticipated that the 21st century
have-nots would have it in terms of happiness! Nigeria was followed
by Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador and Puerto Rico, in that order.
At the bottom was Romania, just below Armenia and Russia. India was
ranked 21, not too bad for a nation which used to believe that
everything was maya!
The country whose Declaration of Independence describes as sacrosanct
“life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” did not figure in the
top ten, despite being the unrivalled economic and military
superpower.
The US was ranked 16th. The 19th century American writer Nathaniel
Hawthorne had enough wisdom to observe that “Happiness in this world,
when it comes, comes incidentally. Make it the object of pursuit and
it leads us to a wild goose chase.”
Richard Layard of the Centre for Economic Performance of the London
School of Economics may have put his finger on it when he was
recently quoted in Newsweek as stating that satisfying relationships
had a greater bearing on happiness than income.
What better way of forging such relationships than in nations like
Nigeria where community trust has helped people survive hard times?
Conversely, a single-minded pursuit of individual happiness could end
up in what the American writer Norman Mailer once called “an
air-conditioned nightmare.”

The Guardian (London) – Final Edition
July 31, 2004
Weekend: Relationship Spirit: WAIT TILL YOUR MOTHER GETS HOME
by MIL MILLINGTON
Ten-year-old First Born has a school project to do. He’s been doing
it for about three weeks. Well, when I say he’s been doing it for
three weeks, that’s overstating the tenacity of his application a
tickle. The other day I called home from something that had taken me
away, to see how everyone was courageously struggling on in my
absence. FB answered the phone.
Me: “Have you done some more of your project?”
FB: “Yes.”
Me: “Have you really? Or is that an outrageous lie?”
FB: “It’s an outrageous lie.” (He pronounces “outrageous” as though
there’s a diaeresis over the “e”: I imagine him saying it, then
taking a puff on a cigarette that’s smouldering in a long black
holder, like Noel Coward.)
Me: “I see.”
FB: “Yeah . . . So, do you want to speak to Mama, or what?”
Anyway, today I forced him to do some more work, and he again wailed
about the shocking cruelty of it all: how it was brutal, and brimming
with wrong, and – to be blunt – couldn’t help but call to mind the
massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915. In response, I
told him to do a word count. He did.
“Pft,” I commented. “I have to do twice that number of words every
day.”
He gave me a contemptuous look. “But you chose to do your stupid
job.”
First Born has never forgiven me for becoming a writer. When I was an
IT manager, his child-eyes looked up at me and gleamed with pride. I,
in his words, “played on computers all day”. I was like a cross
between Nelson Mandela and Batman. When I switched to writing novels
for a living, it went beyond disappointment for him, and into
betrayal. Even this very column is 306 daggers in his heart.
The guilt tortures me.
From: Baghdasarian

The Mirror
July 31, 2004, Saturday
GERS GO BAKU TO THE FUTURE
EXCLUSIVE BY LAURIE HANNA
RANGERS LOY-_OIL: Travelling Gers fans can look forward to a scenic
trip to Baku
RANGERS fans in far-flung Azerbaijan last night urged supporters to
ignore scare stories and support their team in the terror hotspot.
Graeme Johnstone, 43, a member of the Baku Rangers Supporters Club in
the Azerbaijani capital, says he’s got his fingers crossed PFC
Neftchi beat CSKA Moscow to claim a tie against the Ibrox giants in
the Champions League qualifiers.
And he said that Rangers fans should make the trip to his adopted
homeland if Neftchi get through.
Celebrating yesterday’s draw, he said: “It’s excellent news, really
brilliant.
“I know it depends on the next game but it would be fantastic news
for all the fans over here.
“I know that Azerbaijan may have its problems but it is a great place
and is well worth visiting.
“I am from Glasgow and I’m sure we would see a lot of the boys from
back home if the team were to come over.”
The supporters club has more than 60 members and enjoys the banter
with their rival Celtic supporters club in Baku.
Graeme, who has spent the last year working for an oil firm in
Azerbaijan, said: “We get to watch a few games a season, usually all
the Old Firm and European ones, plus some other league games.”
Scots visiting the country are sure of a warm welcome from the UK’s
official representative there – as he is from Glasgow.
But Vice-consul Derek Lavery admits he’s not a bluenose – he’s a
Partick Thistle fan.
Derek, from Bearsden, has spent the last two years in the country
with his wife, having worked in Germany and Pakistan.
And he revealed that he misses his beloved Thistle and would much
prefer the Jags to be heading to Azerbaijan.
He said: “Whenever I lived in Glasgow, I went to Firhill all the time
and I still go when I am back.
“However, I don’t get much time to go home any more.
“I would love to see them again soon.”
Derek added that, although the country is volatile and still in
dispute with neighbouring Armenia, fans would be made welcome by
locals.
He said: “The Armenian military forces protect the area while the two
governments are still trying to negotiate some sort of settlement.
“There is occasional firing, even though there is a ceasefire, but
any fans coming out here should be OK.
“There are a lot of Scots here working for oil companies. BP are
building a massive oil pipeline through the country and on to Georgia
and Turkey.
“There is somewhere in the region of 3,000 Brits in the country and
the majority are Scots.” Closer to home, bar owners in Newcastle have
boarded up their windows as the city prepared for an invasion of
17,000 Scots football fans this weekend.
Police have held a summit in a bid to head off football hooliganism
as Rangers arrive for a pre-season tournament involving Feyenoord.
Strathclyde Police Supt Kenneth Scott, a football intelligence
officer said: “We have been liaising with Northumbria Police in
connection the forthcoming tournament.
“Strathclyde Police officers will also be attending to offer advice
to the host force.”
The last time Rangers played in the region, three men were stabbed
after a friendly game with Sunderland.

Guardian/Observer, UK
Aug 1 2004
Iraq violence as puritans ban alcohol
Radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his army of devotees blamed
for campaign of intimidation
Rory McCarthy in Baghdad
First came the warning: a sheet of paper stuck to the door of Na’aman
Khalil’s shop ordering him to close his off-licence. ‘You are
corrupting the people of the Earth and you should stop,’ said the
message, signed by a group calling itself the Monotheistic Movement
of Jihad.
Five days later, a parcel of explosives detonated just outside the
building, smashing the windows and gutting the shop. Four other
alcohol stores along the same street in Baghdad’s largely Christian
al-Ghadir district were bombed that same night.
No one was injured, but the message was clear. After the bombings and
a spate of other attacks across Baghdad, most of the city’s alcohol
shops closed.
‘They have achieved their aim. Whatever they wanted, they have got
it,’ said Khalil, 24, who says the bombing cost him seven million
dinars (around £2,600) in destroyed stock. ‘If I open the shop again
I don’t know what action they would take. Probably they would kill
me.’
There have been no arrests, but police and many Iraqis blame the
attacks and explosions on supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr, a radical
Shia cleric. A few days before the warning letter arrived, several of
al-Sadr’s followers met around 30 Shia tribal leaders in the al-Hekma
mosque in Sadr City, the slum area in eastern Baghdad which forms the
cleric’s powerbase.
They produced an edict, obtained by The Observer, in which they
listed nine crimes punishable by death. These included theft,
kidnapping, robbery, spying ‘for the Wahabis, al-Qaeda and
Saddamists’, trafficking in women, and selling alcohol, pornographic
CDs and drugs.
The edict, it states, was drawn up because of the ‘critical and
sorrowful situation and lack of security and to serve the common
good’. Most of the tribal leaders who signed were from Amara, Kut and
Nasiriyah, towns in southern Iraq where a Shia uprising in April was
strongest.
‘After the end of the dispute between our army and the Americans, our
army is working on stability and controlling the looters and other
violent groups,’ said Sheikh Raed al-Kadhimi, one of al-Sadr’s aides
in Baghdad. He boasted of a number of checkpoints and patrols in Sadr
City, and said one had captured several hundred tonnes of stolen
sugar, which he said were returned to the government.
The movement, made up largely of young, unemployed urban men, has
easily moved into the power vacuum left by the absence of properly
trained and equipped Iraqi police and security forces.
‘Neither the government nor the police are controlling the
situation,’ said al-Kadhimi. ‘The al-Sadr tide is the only active
tide in the country.’ He denied that his men took part in the attacks
on alcohol shops: ‘We have never taken such action. All this has been
done by fanatical individuals.’
Much of the movement’s strength is in its organisation. The group has
its own religious police, the al-Amur bil Ma’arouf, or Promotion of
Virtue. They have divided Baghdad into three areas: east, west and
the central Kadhimiya area, home to the biggest Shia shrine in the
city. Each area has its own unit. In Kadhimiya it numbers around 40;
in the eastern sector, around Sadr City, it is at least 100 according
to Sayed Adnan al-Safi, an al-Sadr official and editor of one of the
movement’s newspapers. He said the groups are unarmed and co-operate
on patrols with the regular police, although the Interior Ministry
has denied any involvement.
‘In Kadhimiya we have minimised and controlled places where alcohol
is sold. We have controlled the sale of immoral CDs and we have
stopped fraud,’ said al-Safi. ‘People have begun to understand and
are co-operating with us to control the general violence. We are not
issuing any punishments ourselves, otherwise we would be considered a
state within a state. We pass cases on to the police for punishment.’
There is little doubt that the movement is about more than
controlling crime. In the past week al-Sadr’s followers have
proselytised among Iraq’s minority faiths. A group of them delivered
a video of speeches by al-Sadr to the Armenian Orthodox church in
Baghdad. A priest, who asked not to be named, said the speeches
criticised the Christian faith. ‘We have been living in Iraq for 100
years and have never had a problem between Muslim and Christian,’ he
said. ‘These people are explaining the Koran in the wrong way. Islam
is a religion of peace and humanity.’
Until now al-Sadr has boycotted the political process in Iraq,
reviling the government as ‘illegitimate’. But according to
al-Kadhimi, the movement could develop a political dimension if its
leader ordered one. ‘From the beginning we have been asking for fair
and honest elections,’ he said. ‘We will have to see what happens [at
general elections] in January.’

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
July 30 2004
Opposition party’s protest actions not sanctioned
Mayor’s Office of Baku has not sanctioned the protest actions of the
opposition Whole Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (WAPFP) scheduled to
be held outside the embassies of NATO member-states in Baku,
ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense.
The party chairman, MP Gudrat Hasanguliyev says the issue will be
considered at the WAPFP board meeting on Monday.
The WAPFP plans to hold up to 10 pickets starting August 2 in protest
against the participation of Armenian officers in NATO training
sessions due in Baku in September.*

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
July 30 2004
Armenia may send troops to Iraq

Armenia may send troops to Iraq, Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency has
reported.
The Armenian government has approved the decision by the country’s
defense ministry to join the memorandum `On commanding and regulating
the work of the multi-national stabilization force in Iraq’.
Earlier, Armenia announced that it was ready to send trucks, ten
field engineers and three military doctors to Iraq.*

Iranian, Azeri foreign ministers discuss ties, Caspian Sea, Karabakh
IRNA web site
31 Jul 04
Tehran, 31 July: Iran and Azerbaijan discussed here Saturday 31 July
possible avenues for bolstering of bilateral ties in various fields.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, in a meeting with his
Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharrazi, expressed his country’s
determination and interest in further expanding ties with Iran.
He stressed the importance of the upcoming visit by President Mohammad
Khatami to Azerbaijan and said the visit would be a major stride
towards expansion of mutual relations.
The Azeri minister expressed satisfaction with growing economic
relations between the two sides and hoped new economic agreements
would be signed during President Khatami’s visit to Baku.
Mammadyarov assessed talks on legal regime of the Caspian Sea as
positive, adding: The Caspian Sea should be the sea of friendship and
cooperation among the littoral states.
He hoped littoral states would reach a consensus on the legal regime
of the sea.
He voiced Azerbaijan’s interest in joining the North-South Corridor
and stressed the role Baku plays in materializing the projects to this
effect.
Kharrazi, for his part, said Iran attaches special importance to
expansion of ties with neighbouring states, adding: President
Khatami’s future visit to Azerbaijan would be an indication of high
level of ties between the two countries.
“Tehran regards as important its ties with Azerbaijan Republic
particularly both from economic and geopolitical points of view and
considers the common borders as borders of friendship and peace,” he
said.
He outlined the background of relations between Tehran and Baku since
the independence of Azerbaijan, saying: “Iran attaches great
importance to a powerful Azerbaijan which safeguards national and
regional interests in this sensitive and strategic region.”
He urged the two sides to further try to achieve high level of
cooperation.
Kharrazi termed trade and economic cooperation between the two
countries as “progressive” and added: “Iran and Azerbaijan have
launched good cooperation in various fields including transfer of
electricity, development affairs, road-building, construction of power
plants and energy. “Such cooperation can further expand.”
He said Iran regards strengthening of popular bonds as very important
and underlined the importance of continued supportive policies and
easing travels of Iranian and Azeri nationals within framework of
policy to further expand mutual transactions.
The two sides also exchanged views on regional issues, including
Karabakh.
Kharrazi stressed that, as a friendly country, the Islamic Republic of
Iran is ready to contribute to settlement of Karabakh dispute.
He said: Tehran pursues settlement of Karabakh dispute within
framework of the charters of the UN and of the Organization of the
Islamic Conference (OIC).
The Azeri foreign minister arrived here early Saturday on a two-day
official visit to discuss bilateral ties.
Azerbaijan’s special envoy for Caspian Sea affairs accompanies
Mammadyarov in the current visit.
Mammadyarov is also to visit the northeastern city of Tabriz. He is to
return to Baku through the autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NKR PRESIDENT GETS ACQUAINTED WITH COURSE OF ENTRANCE EXAMINATIONS TO
ARTSAKH UNIVERSITY
STEPANAKERT, July 30 (Noyan Tapan). On July 30, NKR President Arkady
Ghoukassian got acquainted with the course of entrance examinations to
the main higher school of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic – Artsakh
State University (ASU). According to the Head Information Department
attached to the NKR President, the examiners and applicants, who did
not expect the visit of the President, got an unexpected possibility
to ask questions to him connected with the current examinations. The
president gave corresponding instructions to members of the admission
commission on ensuring fair and transparent examinations of knowledge
of applicants. The President was accompanied by the Secretary of the
NKR Security Council Karen Baburian.