CENN Weekly Digest – April 13, 2006

April 13, 2006 04:45:06 PM | <;
Archive | <; Russian |
< ot_news.html> Hot News |
<; Vacancies in Georgia |
<; CENN |

13.4.2006

News From Georgia < > >>

What Is this: Criminal Lobbyism or Incompetence?

Under such title on April 5, 2006 Entrepreneurs Party held press conference
in the building of State Parliament of Georgia.

The theme of press conference was duty on natural resources usage.

On December 29, 2004 Georgian Law on Duty for Natural Resources Usage
entered into force. At the same time the parallel amendment was made in the
Law on Basis of Duty System (06.02.1998) that was necessary as the law
forbids any kind of duty that is not listed in it.

On March 25, 2005 from the basis law sub item on Duty for Natural Resources
Usage was removed. Now, under the government initiative parliament was
presented proposal on amendment in Law on Basis of Duty System. To the fifth
article of the mentioned law will be added sub item on – Natural Resources
Usage that as it was already mentioned has been removed in 2005 year.

As Zurab Tkemaladze, leader of the opposition Industrialists party, declared
all the dues (that makes several million GEL) collected during this one year
are illegal and should be returned to entrepreneurs

All these amendments doubts that government either is lobbing certain
business or this is just results of Georgian government incompetence. Any
way, all this is at the expense of business, said Mr. Tkemaladze.

2006-04-06

Prepared by CENN

13.4.2006

News From < jan> Azerbaijan >>

Azerbaijani expert: BTC pipeline potential miliTary target for Iran

Source: The Messenger, 2006-04-06

“In case of US attack on Iran, says Egypt Al-Ahram newspaper, Iranian
missiles could strike the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. The statement was
made by Azerbaijani military expert Uzeir Jafarov, re-ports Day.az. He added
that in case of US military operation against Iran Azerbaijan will not be
able to remain aloof.

“Even if Azerbaijani gives no consent to using its territory by US troops,
it should be not ruled out that Tehran, being in a desperate situation,
would strike objects of US economic interests in Azerbaijan: works in the
Caspian Sea, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline,” believes the military
expert.

It should be mentioned, last week the UN Security Council gave a month to
Iran for curtailing its nuclear program. Tehran responded immediately that
it would not stop uranium enrichment.”

13.4.2006

News From Armenia < > >>

ARMENIA AND “GASPROM” COMPLETE NEGOTIATIONS FOR TARIFF OF RUSSIAN GAS

Source: ArmInfo, 2006-04-05

Armenia and “Gazprom” completed negotiations for tariff of Russian gas. As a
result, they signed relevant agreement. An official of “Gazprom”, who wanted
to remain unknown, said this in the interview to “Liberty” Radio Station,
today.

According to him, Armenia agreed to hand 40 kilometers of Iran-Armenia gas
pipe line and the fifth energy block of Hrazdan TPP to “Gazprom” in exchange
to considerable decrease of tariff for Russian gas. The source refused to
tell the new tariff for gas, stating that “Gazprom” will make relevant
statement in the morning.

It’s worth mentioning that since April 1, 2006, “Gazprom” began selling gas
to Armenia at the new price that totaled to $110 for 1 thousand cubic
meters, but according to Aleksander Medvedev, deputy chairman of “Gazprom”
board, the given price is no final for Armenia. The unofficial sources State
that the tariff of gas for Armenia will amount to $68 for 1 thousand cubic
meters.

13.4.2006

International < tional> News
>>

CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR, LEGISLATURE TAKE AIM AT CLIMATE CHANGE

Source: ENS, 2006-04-04

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is ready to do battle with climate change.
Today he directed the California Environmental Protection Agency to host a
series of public presentations statewide to discuss recommendations to
combat global warming in the state’s Climate Action Team’s report, released
Monday. New legislation would set the nation’s first statewide limit on
greenhouse gas emissions.

13.4.2006

International < nce> Seminar /
Conference / Meeting >>

Annual Meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Develo pment
(EBRD)

We hope that you have received your invitation to attend the European Bank
for Reconstruction and Development’s Annual Meeting on 21-22 May in London.

If you have not received the official invitation, please let us know and we
shall be happy to make the necessary arrangements in order for you to
register.

As always, NGO participation is free for two persons per organisation.
However, the Bank does not provide any financing related to participation.
Travel and accommodation costs are the responsibility of each organization.

Likewise, participants are responsible for their own travel arrangements.
Please remember to take the original letter of invitation with you to the
British Consulate when applying for a visa to United Kingdom. Information on
application forms, photographs and any other documents required for
applications is available at the various consulates.

This year the Annual Meeting will take place at the Hilton London Metropole
on Sunday 21 May and Monday 22 May, with the Business Forum starting at
09:00 on Sunday and the Board of Governors Session at 10:00 on Monday.

The deadline for pre-registration is 5 May, however we strongly recommend
that you register as soon as possible to avoid delay upon arrival at the
Annual Meeting venue in London. NGO representatives can register also online
at

We invite you to acknowledge by 21 April any specific topic or project you
would like to discuss at the Annual Meeting. This will help both you and
the Bank prepare for productive meetings, especially since the Annual
Meeting is spread over only two days. Since the Annual Meeting is in London
more EBRD staff will be available for one-to-one meetings and we are happy
to arrange these meetings for you.

Please let us know by 21 April, if you would like to have such a meeting and
on which particular topic or EBRD project. Please refer to the NGO
newsletters and our web pages for more information on projects and other
NGO-related topics at the following link

In order to help you plan your schedule at the Annual Meeting, the
provisional NGO programme is as follows:

Saturday: 14:00-16:00 – Sakhalin II, Phase 2 project

Sunday:

08:00-09:30 – Political Counsellors

10:00-11:00 – Public Information Policy

11:15-12:45 – Environment

12:45-13:30 – Working lunch

13:30-15:00 – Energy

15:30-17:00 – Board of Directors

17:30-18:30 – NGO reception

Monday

08:00-09:00 – Revenue Transparency and Production Sharing Agreements

10:00-11:30 – Infrastructure (Transport, Water and Waste)

12:00-13:00 – Project Evaluation

13:15-14:00 – Sandwich lunch

14:30-15:30 – Turnaround Management & Business Advisory Services

Tuesday

09:30-11:30 – Meeting with the President at EBRD Headquarters

Along with the main thematic panels, the Bank is holding a “Scenario
building” session which is designed to spark debate and identify drivers of
change that will affect the future of the EBRD region. It will be an open
exchange of ideas in small group discussions as well plenary, to allow
participants to network actively and engage with each other, while
contributing thinking that will help the EBRD plan ahead. The other panels,
which will most certainly benefit from your interest will be “Transition of
transition” and “Conserving the future: financing to fight climate change”.

The 2006 Country Promotion Programme will include for the first time a new
type of event: country update and networking sessions. Six countries have
chosen to hold country update and networking sessions (Albania, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia and Kazakhstan).

Your contact in London is:

Doina Caloianu

Manager of Outreach & NGO Relations, EBRD

Tel: +44 20 7338 6620 / Fax: +44 20 7338 6102

We look forward to meeting you and welcoming you to the EBRD’s Annual
Meeting 2006.

Outreach and NGO Relations team, European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development

13.4.2006

< ; Job / Internship / Study
Opportunity >>

Master Programme

The School offers two Master Programs for the academic year 2006 / 2007:

The 10th International Master Program in Cooperation and Development;

The 6th International Master Program in Cooperation and International
Economic Integration.

For more detail information, please see – I
< df> taly-2006-2007.pdf.

13.4.2006

Grant/Tender < gt; >>

Municipal Development Fund of Georgia

Invitation for National Bidding Trade (Bidding)

Municipal Development Fund of Georgia announces tenders on the following
activities:

1. Kharagauli District Village Vani Secondary School Repairs;
2. Shuakhevi District Village Chvana Secondary School Repairs
3. Kharagauli District Village Ghoresha School Construction;
4. Kazbegi District,v. Kobi Water Supply System Reconstruction;
5. Kharagauli District Village Lashe School Repairs;
6. Ozurgeti District Village TV Tower Installation;
7. Shuakhevi District Village Shubani Secondary School Repairs;
8. Shuakhevi District Village Uchamaba Secondary School Repairs;
9. MDF Project II: Consulting Service (Expressions of Interest).
10.

MDF invites all interested persons to participate in the tenders.

For additional information, please see Tender
< oucement%20.zip> Announcement.

Municipal Development Fund of Georgia

Address: 7b, Yetim Gurjy st. 0105

Tel: (99532) 94 32 40, 94 29 47, 92 34 69, 92 34 70

Fax: (99532) 94 04 39

E-mail: [email protected]

web site: <;

13.4.2006

Announcement < ement> >>

Only Two Days!

Source: The Messenger, 2006-04-12

The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Georgia
would like to inform you on the 8th Internationals Tourism Fair of Silk Road
Countries, organized by Exhibition Center ExpoGeorgia on April 12-14, 2006.
On the event will be presented once inaccessible but now opened to everyone
the Georgian protected areas that for travelers looking for a new outdoor
destination is truly unique.

The Georgia protect areas offers everything for the savvy traveler-from
ancient village life, as it has been for hundred of years, to hospitable
mountain people serving glorious Georgian food and wine to old Georgian
architecture to an amazing array of truly untouched nature such as
mountainous landscape, rivers and the only badlands in all of Europe.

For more information, please visit:

<;

<;

Address: 118, Tsereteli ave.,

0119a, Tbilisi

Georgia

13.4.2006

Subscribing Information

CENN lists are created to maintain e-mail discussions of Caucasus
Environmental NGO Network members. CENN has been distributing information
since 1998.

All the published digests and bulletins issued in both English and Russian
languages present incredibly rich environmental information base that give
the reader the whole picture of the environmental process taking place
during the recent 5 years in the South Caucasus region as well as abroad.

To subscribe or unsubscribe from CENN mailing list service, please send an
email to <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] and place the “subscribe” or
“unsubscribe” command as the first line of the message body.

If you would like the information about your organization and activities to
be distributed via the CENN mailing lists (the current number of CENN
mailing list members represents 11049), if you want your voice to be heard
around the world, please send your information at the following email:
[email protected].

For more information about the program, please visit CENN web-page:

Caucasus Environmental NGO Network 2006

< l?abkhazia&0&digest>
BannerDots Network
< pl?digest>

CENN INFO

Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN)

Tel:+995 32 75 19 03/04

Fax:+995 32 75 19 05

E-mail: <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]

URL: <;

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

http://digest.cenn.ge/archive.html&gt
http://digest.cenn.ge/index_ru.php&gt
http://www.cenn.org/announcements/hot_news/h
http://digest.cenn.ge/vacancy.php&gt
http://www.cenn.org&gt
http://digest.cenn.ge/digest_en.php?ca=Georgia
http://digest.cenn.ge/digest_en.php?ca=Azerbai
http://digest.cenn.ge/digest_en.php?ca=Armenia
http://digest.cenn.ge/digest_en.php?ca=Interma
http://digest.cenn.ge/digest_en.php?ca=Confere
http://www.ebrd.com/new/am/register/index.htm
http://www.ebrd.com/oppor/ngo/index.htm
http://www.ebrd.com/oppor/ngo/new/index.htm
http://digest.cenn.ge/digest_en.php?ca=Jobs&gt
http://digest.cenn.ge/docs/Italy-2006-2007.p
http://digest.cenn.ge/digest_en.php?ca=Grants&
http://digest.cenn.ge/docs/Tender%20Ann
http://www.mdf.org.ge/&gt
http://digest.cenn.ge/digest_en.php?ca=Announc
http://www.moe.gov.ge/&gt
http://www.gpadc.org/&gt
http://www.bannerdots.com/cgi-bin/bd/adcrdst.p
http://www.bannerdots.com/cgi-bin/bd/adcclick.
http://www.cenn.org/&gt
www.mdf.org.ge
www.moe.gov.ge
www.gpadc.org
www.cenn.org.
www.cenn.org

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS