Month: June 2005

GERMANY ALLOCATES 3,9 MILLION EUROS TO ARMENIA FOR CREATING DEPOSIT GUARANTEEING SYSTEM
YEREVAN, JUNE 17, NOYAN TAPAN. The German Government will provide
to Armenia a credit of 3,5 million euros and a grant of 400 thousand
euros for the purpose of creating a deposit guaranteeing system. The
agreements on the credit and the grant will be signed between RA
Minister of Economy and Finance, the German bank KfW and the Armenain
Fund for Guaranteing Deposits. According to the RA Government’s
Department of Information and Public Relations, the credit will be
provided to Armenia for 30 years (2015-2045) at an annual interest
rate of 0.75%.

AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA AND ARMENIA SIGN TRIPARTITE MEMORANDUM ON CREATION OF INTER-PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF SOUTH CAUCASIAN COUNTRIES
TBILISI, JUNE 17, NOYAN TAPAN. Yesterday a tripartite memorandum on
creation of Inter-parliamentary Assembly of South Caucasian countries
was signed at the Georgian parliament. After the ceremony of signing
negotiations were conducted among Georgian Parliamentary Speaker
Nino Burjanadze, Milli Majlis deputy Siyavush Novruzov and RA NA
Vice-Speaker Tigran Torosian. In her interview to the APA agency Nino
Burjanadze called the signing of the memorandum an important event. “We
took an important step on the way of creation of an Inter-parliamentary
Assembly of South Caucasian countries. I am glad that both Azeri
and Armenian parties signed this memorandum. We are sure that the
Inter-parliamentary Assembly of South Caucasian countries created on
the basis and positive experience of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly
of Baltic countries will assist to formation of our relations, will
play a key role in solution of problems among our countries, as well
as will assist to come up with a united front in solution of some
problems at international organizations.” Nino Burjanadze called the
signing of the document by Azerbaijan and Armenia a positive step
in spite of the fact that both states are at war. “In a one word,
the Inter-parliamentary Assembly of South Caucasian countries will
create conditions for all of 3 states to come up with a united
front in negotiations with the European Union, NATO and European
structures. With this we can show the countries of the world that
in spite of existence of problems among South Caucasian countries,
we can come up with a united position.” Siyavush Novruzov said:
“Our today’s meeting once more showed that in order to solve the
problems existing in the South Caucasus and first of all the Karabakh
conflict important for Azerbaijan we should hold joint discussions
and find ways of solution of the problems.” Tigran Torosian reminded
in his interview that deputies of all of 3 countries have declared
about their readiness for cooperation for several times: “We worked
jointly within the framework of the South Caucasian Parliament
during the last 3 years. I am sure that we have done much during
this period. I want to especially mention that we achieved turning
of the idea of South Caucasian Parliament into the idea of creation
of an Inter-parliamentary Assembly of South Caucasian countries. The
common goal within the framework of the assembly is integration to
Europe. And joint activity can bring a large profit here. I want to
mention that our parliaments still have much to do in order that the
Inter-parliamentary Assembly created today on paper shouldn’t remain
only an idea but turn into an organization doing a concrete work. And
as for difficulties and misunderstandings existing in our region,
I am sure that they can be solved no matter how difficult they are.”

SOUTH CAUCASUS TO HAVE ITS PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY
TBILISI, JUNE 17, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. According to a
memorandum signed in Tbilisi, the Parliamentary Assembly of the South
Caucasus will start its activities from January 1, 2007. According
to the RA National Assembly PR Department, at June 16 meeting of
the South Caucasus Parliamentary Initiative (SCPI) Presidency in
Tbilisi, alongside with the issue of the next plenary session as
well as some other issues, the further development of SCPI was also
discussed. Based on the results of the discussion, it was decided
to continue the SCPI activities by yet another stage, during which
each country will in turn assume the rotating Presidency every six
months. At the same time, the memorandum says that the delegations
of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia will put more efforts into making
SCPI a more efficient organization. Measures will be taken in order to
create an opportunity for transforming the South Caucasus Parliamentary
Initiative into the South Caucasus Parliamentary Assembly in January
1, 2007. The Secreatariate and Special Advisor of SCPI have been
instructed to submit to the Presidency, within 18 months, the draft
documents to regulate the powers and activities of the Parliamentary
Assembly. The memorandum was signed by the heads of the delegations
of the three countries. The Armenian delegation was composed of
the delegation head Tigran Torosian and Mher Shahgeldian. The NA PR
Department reminds that for quite long, the Armenian parliament and
its President Artur Baghdasarian were consistently supporting this
initiative as an important mechanism for ensuring the discussion of
regional problems. An agreement on this was reached at the meeting
of the RA National Assembly President Artur Baghdasarian and the
Georgian parliament’s President Nino Burjanadze in Tbilisi. Heads
of the European Union and the European Parliament expressed their
support for the creation of this organization during their meetings
with Artur Baghdasarian.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

JICA JAPANESE COMPANY TO ORGANIZE TRAINING COURSES FOR ARMENIAN SMEs
YEREVAN, JUNE 17, NOYAN TAPAN. Training and consultation courses
on marketing, management, accountancy, financial management and
bank resources will be organized in Armenia by an agreement signed
lately between the “National Center for Armenian SMB Development”
fund and JICA Japanese company. Noyan Tapan was informed about this
by Rshtun Martirosian, Head of the “National Center for Armenian SMB
Development” fund. According to him, not only Japanese specialists, but
also specialists from Cambridge and Oxford will visit Armenia within
the framework of the 3-year program. It was mentioned that Armenian
specialists that participated in retraining courses in their turn
will organize courses for SMEs working in the sphere of production,
rendering of services, trade and other spheres.

TWO ISSUES CONCERNING AZERBAIJAN PUT ON PACE SUMMER SESSION
YEREVAN, JUNE 17, NOYAN TAPAN. The summer session of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe will be convened in Strasbourg on
June 20-24. No issue directly concerning Armenia is envisaged by the
draft agenda. But the PACE Beauru gave a positive conclusion on the
initiative to put the issue concerning the constitutional reforms
in Armenia on the agenda as an immediate one. It must get necessary
number of votes to be put on the agenda of the plenary sitting. As
Shavarsh Kocharian, a member of the PACE Armenian delegation,
a representative of the NA “Ardarutiun” (“Justice”) bloc informed
the Noyan Tapan correspondent, among the South Caucasian problems,
two issues concerning Azebaijan, about political prisoners and
formation of democratic institutions, are on the agenda of the
session. Malcolm Bruse, a British Deputy appionted as a special
rapporteur will present the first one, and co-rapporteurs on the
Azerbaijani issue at the Monitoring Commission of the Assembly will
present the second one. At the final part of the draft resolution
to be presented to the PA adoption it is particularly mentioned that
if the parliamentary elections to take place in Azerbaijan early in
November do not correspond to international standards and are not
free and just the PA will not recognize the Azerbaijani delegates’
powers at the January session. Besides the plenary sittings, the
representatives of the Armenian delegation will participate in the
discussion of the edited draft of constitutional amendments of Armenia
to be held jointly with the working group of the Venice Commission
on June 23-24. The Ad-hoc Committee on Nagorno Karabakh Issue will
also convene its first sitting during the days of the session of the
Assembly. It was created two months ago according to the demand of the
January resolution of the Assembly concerning Nagorno Karabakh. Heads
of the national delegations to the Assembly of the OSCE Minsk Group
member countries, Armenia and Azerbaijan, rapporteurs on the issue
of Armenia and Azerbaijan at the Assembly are particularly in the
committee headed by Lord Rassel Johnstone. It is envisaged to involve
one additional representative of opposition in the delegations of
Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Committee. The only mission of the
Ad-hoc Committee is to gather information got from the each member
about steps taken by the own country in the direction of supporting
a peace settlement of the Karabaklh conflict, and, summing up the
mentioned information to present an annual report to the Assembly.

A LOT OF PROBLEMS WILL BE SOLVED IN SPHERE WITH PASSING THE LAW ON ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION, RA JUSTICE MINISTER ASSURES
YEREVAN, JUNE 17, NOYAN TAPAN. After passing the RA Law on Electronic
Communication, a lot of problems will be solved in the sphere,
Armenian Justice Minister David Harutyunian stated at the discussion
of the draft law on June 17. At the same time he did not rule out
the possibility that the application of the law may lead to some
controversy among various departments, which in turn will cause
the necessity to make amendments and additions to the law. The
Ministry of Justice started to develop the draft law as far back as
2000. It was passed by the National Assembly in the first reading
and is expected to replace the RA Law on Communication adopted in
1998. According to D. Harutyunian, the main purpose of the law is
specify the distinction between the functions of the executive power
and the communication sphere regulatory bodies. It is envisaged that
the main 6-7 regulatory powers will be reserved for the government,
while the remaining functions will be transferred to the Public
Services Regulatory Commission on January 1, 2006. D. Harutyunian noted
that in connection with ArmenTel’s monopoly, an attempt was made to
regulate the operation of the wire infrastructures. Some contradictions
between the provisions of the draft law and ArmenTel’s license were
pointed out as well. According to the minister, if for this reason
some problems with the company arise in the future, these problems
will discussed separetely. As regards the definition “the tariffs
shall be reasonable and fair” the draft contains, the minister said
that it is intended to ensure the maximum possible competition in the
sphere which will decrease the tariffs. The discussion was organized
by the initiative Partnership for Open Society.

ATTEMPT OF SMUGGLING BY CITIZEN OF TURKEY PREVENTED
YEREVAN, JUNE 17, NOYAN TAPAN. As a result of operative-intelligence
measures carried out by RA National Security Service bodies on
June 17 in Zvartnots airport a large batch of literature of 17-20
centuries representing high historic and cultural value (including
books on traditional Armenian parties published in 19-20 centuries)
was revealed in the luggage of citizen of Turkey Yektan Turkilmaz,
passenger of Yerevan-Istanbul flight. It was confiscated. Yektan
Turkilmaz made an attempt to export the literature from RA concealing
it from customs control. As Noyan Tapan was informed by the Press
Service of RA National Security Service, a criminal case was instituted
on the fact, the preliminary investigation is carried out by the
Investigation Department of National Security Service.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IN ISSUE OF WIDENING TIES BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES, RA PRESIDENT AND
AMBASSADOR OF INDONESIA CONSIDER CREATION OF LEGAL CONTRACTUAL FIELD
FIRST AND FOREMOST
YEREVAN, JUNE 17, NOYAN TAPAN. Alexander Laturiuw, the newly appointed
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Indonesia to Armenia
(residence in Kiev) handed his credentials to RA President Robert
Kocharian on June 17. The President of the Republic expressed
satisfaction with the active cooperation between the two countries
within the framework of international organizations. As Noyan Tapan
was informed by the RA President’s Press Office, touching upon the
possibilities of widening the Armenian-Indonesian ties, the parties
mentioned the creation of a corresponding legal contractual field
as an immediate task. Information exchange and active contacts were
attached importance in the sense of business ties. Robert Kocharian
wished success to Indonesia in liquidation of consequences of the
destroying tsunami shocked the world few months ago.

“RADIO ARMENIA” OF URUGUAY CELEBRATES ITS 70TH ANNIVERSARY
MONTEVIDEO, JUNE 17, NOYAN TAPAN. “Radio Armenia” of Uruguay, the
first Armenian radio program in the Diaspora, celebrated its 70th
anniversary on June 16. Harutiun Rubenian, born in the town of Aintap,
who saw the Armenian Genocide, in 1935 founded in Uruguay a radio
program, so that the Armenians could communicate with each other and
keep the ties with the Armenian culture and Mother land. Afterwards he
became the owner of the radio station “Indipendentia” for the purpose
of creating more secure conditions for the “Radio Armenia”. After
the founder’s death, the management of the “Radio Armenia” passed
to Araksi Roubenian, his wife. Today the “Radio Armenia” is already
online, at 21:00-23:00 Yerevan time one can listen to the Armenian news
in English and Spanish, cultural programs and Armenian music. News,
announcements about the life of the Armenian community in Uruguay are
broadcast as well. According to Diego Karamanoukian, director of the
“Radio Armenia”, RA President Robert Kocharian sent his congratulation
message concerning the anniversary. The online address of the “Radio
Armenia” is

FIVE WOMEN CHESS PLAYERS LEAD EUROPE’S CHAMPIONSHIP
YEREVAN, JUNE 17, NOYAN TAPAN. The fifth and the sixth tours of
Europe’s Individual Chess Championship of Women that takes place
in Kishinev, were not very successful for the Armenian players. The
Grand Master Lilit Mkrtchian, who had been in the group of leaders
before, gained only 0,5 points during the two meeting and yielded her
position. Now she is in the 14th place with her 4 points. The other
Grand Master from Armenia, Elina Danielian, has 3,5 points, and the
international masters Siranuish Andreasian and Lilit Galoyan – 3 and
2,5 points respectively. Five players, that have gained 5 points each,
lead the table of the championship. Five tours remain before the end
of the matches that are taking place in Moldova’s capital.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress