ARMENIA FOREIGN MINISTER BLAMES AZERBAIJAN FOR OBSTRUCTING REGIONAL PROGRESS
Arminfo
22 Jul 04
YEREVAN
Armenia wants to coordinate its actions with Georgia in integration
into Europe, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan told a press
conference today with Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili
at the end of her visit to Yerevan.
He said that political relations between the two countries are very
good and can be further improved during the rapprochement with
European structures. “It would be better if we took a single position,
so to speak, acted in unison”. However, Azerbaijan is getting in the
way of this, the minister believes. “There are regional tasks and the
main obstacle to their implementation is Azerbaijan. However, Georgia
and we shall try to coordinate our actions, and if Azerbaijan wishes
to join in, it can do so,” the Armenian foreign minister said.
Speaking about Armenian-Georgian economic relations, Oskanyan said
that those issues will be debated during Prime Minister Andranik
Markaryan’s upcoming visit to Tbilisi.

US ENVOY TO ARMENIA DENIES WORKING AGAINST IRAN
Arminfo
22 Jul 04
YEREVAN
“Working as a US ambassador to Armenia, I did not perform a so-called
anti-Iranian task at all,” the outgoing US ambassador to Armenia, John
Ordway, told a final press conference today while speaking about the
construction of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline.
He said that he had not issued any harshly-worded statements regarding
the gas pipeline. At the same time, he said that US actions concerning
Iran are dictated by the sanctions that stem from the Iran law
approved by Congress which has not been repealed yet. “However, I did
not perform any anti-Iranian task in Armenia during my tenure,” John
Ordway said.

HEALTH MINISTRY TRYING TO STOP INFECTIOUS DISEASES FROM GETTING INTO ARMENIA
Arminfo
21 Jul 04
YEREVAN
Cases of malaria have lately been registered by the sanitary services
of Armenian districts bordering on Azerbaijan.
Artavazd Vanyan, chief of the state epidemiological and hygiene
inspectorate of the Armenian Health Ministry, told an Arminfo news
agency correspondent that flies from the neighbouring republic are
presumably spreading the disease, and epidemiologists are unable to
fight the natural migration of the insects.
At the same time, the inspectorate is developing an action plan which
will make it possible to control the epidemiological
situation. Sanitary and quarantine services will soon be set up at the
customs checkpoints on the border with Georgia and Iran, including at
the airports, to check the medical certificate of every citizen
entering and leaving Armenia in order to find out whether they carry
or not infectious diseases.
Armenian citizens who wish to leave the country must be vaccinated
against a number of diseases they might contract abroad.
These measures will be productive in preventing bird flu, malaria,
cholera and other diseases that have affected many countries of the
world from getting into Armenia, Vanyan said.

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT MAKES DECISION TO ESTABLISH STATE NONCOMMERCIAL
ORGNAIZATION “NATIONAL EXPERT LABORATORY”
YEREVAN, JULY 22, ARMINFO. Today the Armenian Government made a
decision to establish a state noncommercial orgnaization “National
Expert Laboratory” attached to the National Academy of Science of
Armenia.
The Governmental Press-Service told ARMINFO that the decision is
motivated by an agreement of cooperation in the law-enforcement sphere
earlier signed between the USA and Armenia, by control over drugs, as
well as by the RA Law On state noncommercial orgnaizations. The
Government also made a decision to provide a three-storeyed building
(1.092 sq/m) to the new organization. The building earlier belonged to
the state noncommercial orgnaization “Scientific Center for Soil
Science, Agrichemistry and Melioration after G.Petrossyan.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA FOR COORDINATION OF ACTS WITH GEORGIA IN EUROPEAN INTEGRATION ISSUES
YEREVAN, JULY 22. ARMINFO. Armenia is for cooperation of acts with
Georgia in the issues of integration into Europe. Armenian Foreign
Minister Vardan Oskanyan told journalists as a result of the visit of
his Georgian counterpart Salome Surabishvili to Yerevan.
He said that political relations between the two states are very good
and they can be even more improved in the course of rapprochement to
European structures. It would be better if we come out with the same
positions i.e. with a single vote, he said. However, Azerbaijan
prevents this, the minister said. There are regional tasks and the
main obstacle in their solution is Azerbaijan. But together with
Georgia we will try to coordinate our acts, and if Azerbaijan wants to
join us, we will do it, Oskanyan said. As regards the
Armenian-Georgian economic relations, Minister Oskanyan said that
these issues will be discussed during the forthcoming visit of
Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan to Tbilisi.

POWER IN ARMENIA MUST BE CHANGED IN PEACEFUL WAY
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 — ListProcessor(tm) by CREN
YEREVAN, JULY 22. ARMINFO. Power must be changed in Armenia in a
peaceful way, Chairman of the opposition bloc “Justice” Stepan
Demirchayn stated at his meeting with representatives of the Armenian
community in Los Angeles.
According to him, the rumors that the Armenian opposition has
exhausted its potential do not correspond to the facts. S. Demirchyan
claimed that even in the summer the opposition is not resting, but is
actively preparing for its struggle against the Armenian authorities
this autumn. During the meeting, S. Demirchayn once more addressed
the issue of mass violations during the presidential and parliamentary
elections in Armenia in 2003. Speaking of the Armenian authorities’
struggle against corruption, he stressed that it can only be effective
after fair elections are held in the country, as the people that were
involved in election rigging are unable to battle
corruption. S. Demirchyan also stated that the Armenian authorities’
claims on an extremely high economic growth do not correspond to the
facts, as this economic growth has not improved the social conditions
in the country. “If a few persons got rich and filled their pockets
with money, it does not mean that economic growth has taken place in
the country or the population’s well-being has improved,”
S. Demirchyan said.
It should be noted that the Armenian community in Los Angeles
supported Stepan Demirchyan in the presidential election in Armenia in
2003.

BIG CHANGES EXPECTED IN EASTERN AZERBAIJANI OPERATION DIRECTION OF ARMENIAN
ARMED FORCES
YEREVAN, JULY 22. ARMINFO. Armenian President Robert Kocharyan held a
working session today with Head of the General Staff of the Armed
Forces, Deputy Defense Minister of Armenia, Lt.General Mikael
Haroutiunyan.
Talking to journalists today, Haroutiunyan said that with President
Kocharyan he discussed the situation in the region and the General
Staff’s conclusions based on its analysis, operative and tactical
preparation of the country’s Armed Forces. Besides, they discussed the
issues regarding material and technical provision of the Armed Forces
and their financing, discipline and legal order at the armed forces,
as well as the results of the Interstate Armenian-Russian Commission
on Agreement on functioniong of the 102nd Russian military base in
Armenia. President set several tasks on improvement of operative and
tactical preparation of the armed forces, especially orgnaization of
large events at one of the units of Armenia’s Armed Forces of eastern
operation (Azerbaijani ed.) direction, Haroutiunyan said.

YEAR OF RICE
Azg/am
23 july 2004
Rice was a vital herb for the South-Eastern Asia for
centuries. Indo-China is the fatherland of rice. Even the soldiers of
Alexander the Great saw Indians growing rice. Today also the major
countries of rice growing are India, Chine, Japan, Burma, Indonesia
and the Middle East. The Armenians used to grow rice on the bank of
the Arax river, in the Ararat valley. Rice growing is not productive
in Armenia because of the unique natural and climatic conditions.
Considering the fact that rice is the main food for more than the half
of the world’s population, The UN declared 2004 to be the year of
rice. And the slogan of this year is “Rice is Life” which underlines
the importance of rice for the human kind. Rice is the only crop plant
that endures floods. Thousands sorts of rice are grown in the world.
Today 100 million African and Asian families are engaged in rice
growing and it is the main means of survival for them.
By Marieta Makarian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GALA CONCERT INITIATES NEXT FESTIVAL
Azg/am
23 july 2004
The gala-concert of the Second Competition-Festival for Young
Musicians after Emin Khachatrian took place on July 21 at Aram
Khachaturian concert hall. The festival, organized by RA Ministry of
Culture and Youth Affairs, Ra Philharmonic Orchestra and Yerevan
Chamber Orchestra was not only directed to revealing the talented
young singers but also has the aim to support them in their education
process. The Competition-Festival began a month ago. There were 4age
groups that included 7-18 years old pianists, viola, violin, and cello
players. The 50 of these young musicians were awarded diplomas,
prizes and souvenirs. “The results of the competition held last year
were so promising that we decided to continue it,” said Vartan
Hakobian, organizer of the competition, chairman of the jury,
conductor of Yerevan Chamber Orchestra. He is sure that such festivals
are very important for the children, where they can display their
abilities and perform for the audience.
Garnik Gulumjian, Chairman of the Organizers’ Committee, stated with
joy that the festival showed once again that we have many talented
children. “Iâ=80=99d like to congratulate all the participants, as I
consider them all winners,” he said.
Anahit Ananian-Galstian, American Armenian philanthropist, greatly
contributed to the realization of the arrangement. The best
participants ofthe festival were given the chance to perform with
Yerevan Chamber Orchestra. Vartan Hakobian, encouraged with the
results of the competition, promised the participants to secure the
annual continuation of the festival.
By Tamar Minasian

ORDWAY’S FAREWELL TO ARMENIA
Azg/am
23 july 2004
The US ambassador to Armenia John Ordway opened his last official
press conference with a hearty speech. He spent 3 years in Armenia,
learnt Armenian, and appreciated “the beauty of the land and people’s
kindness.” The Armenian-American relations during his tenure could be
called positive in its main features. The ambassador is sure that the
opening of all borders is the only way for the region’s
development. He noted development in the military sphere between the
two countries during these 3 years. Armenia established relations with
the state of Kansas, Armenia was granted military equipments and
relations withthe NATO get tighter.
The fact that the territory of the US embassy is one of the largest in
the world John Ordway considered a guarantee for stable and
everlasting relations between the countries. The dynamics and the
quality of the relations will depend on the developments in Armenia
and the Caucasian region as a whole. But the main interests of Armenia
and the USA will remain unchanged.
According to Ordway, the spheres of mass media and freedom of speech
are the ones with less progress. He thinks that establishment of
democratic institutes demands time and a new generation with new ideas
and values should come to bring the change.
Speaking of the Karabakh issue, John Ordway mentioned that he believes
in the peaceful settlement of the conflict. Azerbaijan’s complaints of
theMinsk group do not sound strange to Ordway. “Both Armenia and
Azerbaijan used to complain of certain things on different stages of
the conflict settlement process but the two presidents are loyal to
the peaceful end. The Minsk group co-chairs want to engage more
actively in the settlement process only believing in this
fact. Renewal of a war will be a tragedy for the region itself, and
the sides comprehend that.”
The ambassador considers this period the most suitable one for the
conflict settlement as the two presidents have enough time on their
posts. The co-chairs also think so.
Concerning the present state of Nagorno Karabakh, John Ordway said
that it is unacceptable for him if the probability of a lasting peace
and normal relations are on the other side of the scales. “But if we
have no other option but the current state or war then the former is
preferable.”
“My memories of Armenia consist of two parts: its nature and the
kindness of people living in this nature. I don’t think that I will
ever forgetArmenia. I have a big collection of Armenian souvenirs but
the best souvenirs are my recollections”, said Ordway.
Only bad roads made ambassador’s stay in Armenia uncomfortable.
By Karine Danielian