Month: October 2006

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT INCREASES INVESTMENTS IN EDUCATION

ARMINFO News Agency
October 6, 2006 Friday

The Armenian Governmentl is going to give more attention to IT
education than production, says Armenian Prime Minister Andranik
Margaryan.

For this purpose the Government is going to increase IT financing
and to attract soft loans. Margaryan says that presently two
big world renowned companies need good specialists. He says that
foreign companies consider Armenia as the best country in the region
for personnel training. However, it is necessary to train not only
students but also teachers. At the same time, the biggest problem in
the IT sphere in Armenia is copyright.

EU TO DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE FOR SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT: EU SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE

ARMINFO News Agency
October 6, 2006 Friday

Alan Wadams, Special Representative of the European Commission in
Azerbaijan, declared at a conference dedicated to the co-operation
between Azerbaijan and the EU, to do everything possible to resolve
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Trend reports. He noted that an Action
Plan of the European Neighborhood Policy will be signed in Brussels
in November. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will also attend the
ceremony, who will sign a memorandum on the energy sector.

Wadams stated the EU offers Azerbaijan its co-operation in the
economic, social and political fields. The Action Plan of the European
Neighborhood Policy will be an agreement between Azerbaijan and
the CE. The settlement of frozen conflicts was also included in
the Agreement. The EU is signing a similar document with Armenia
and Georgia.

HEAD OF VENICE COMMISSION: CE PLANS TO APPROVE ACTION PLAN ON ELECTION IN ARMENIA

ARMINFO News Agency
October 6, 2006 Friday

The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers is to approve an
Action Plan on election in Armenia next week. Secretary of CE Venice
Commission Gianni Buquiccio said in an interview with ArmInfo.

He said under the Action Plan, the CE plans a number of measures
to help Armenian citizens conduct fair elections in 2007-2008. In
particular, a great attention will be paid to the role of Mass Media
in the course of pre-election campaign and elections. In addition,
a great role is assigned to judges in the process of consideration
of complaints against election rigging. The Council of Europe
plans also training for officials of election commissions. Thus,
we exert much efforts to help Armenia conduct democratic elections,
the expert said. The official implementation of the Action Plan will
start at the end of the current year and will continue throughout the
year 2007. Besides, the Venice Commission expert said the political
will of Armenia’s authorities is a basic principles for free and
fair elections.

INVESTMENTS IN IT-SPHERE IN ARMENIA IN 2005 TOTAL $100 MILLION

ARMINFO News Agency
October 6, 2006 Friday

According to rough estimates, investments in the sphere of information
technologies in Armenia for 2005 made up about $100 million, Armen
Grigoryan, Secretary of Prime Minister’s Council for Promotion of IT
Development, told journalists, Friday.

He said the USA and Europe are the largest investors in the sphere.
These countries make big orders of information products in Armenia.
He said computer programs worth $100 million are created in Armenia
yearly. He believes that IT- market in Armenia develops and has good
prospects given the entry of such companies as Microsoft, Synopsys,
Lycos, Alcatel and others into the country. Almost all these companies
intend to create new jobs and need professional programmers. Thus,
Synopsys-Armenia alone intends to increase the number of its employees
from the present 500 to 5,000.

A. Grigoryan said the monopoly of ArmenTel CJSC, lack of e-control
system and the outdated system of education are obstacles to the
growth of IT-sector. He hopes that ArmenTel’s problem will be solved
soon. As regards the e-management, it requires unification of the
e-management programs of different ministries and departments, he said.

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
October 6, 2006 Friday

PRESSURE ON ILHAM ALIYEV IS INCREASING;
Effectiveness of Karabakh talks questioned in Baku

by Sohbet Mamedov

PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV IS URGED TO SEND AN ARMY TO LIBERATE THE
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES; Azerbaijani hawks demand a military solution to
the Karabakh problem. The authorities are coming to see it as the
only option.

Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk group for Karabakh conflict resolution
came to Baku yesterday when the Russian-Georgian relations were at
their all-time low, the crisis fomented by the situation with
Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In Azerbaijan itself, dissatisfaction is
mounting concerning the Europeans’ efforts as mediators. Voices in
Baku urge President Ilham Aliyev to send an army to liberate the
occupied territories. Promoters of this solution refer to the lack of
results in the negotiations dragging out for over a decade already
and to sharply-worded statements made by official Yerevan. Telling
Al-Jazeera TV-station the other day, "As I see it, relations between
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh will continue their development and we
will form a federation one fine day. As for the relations between
these two countries, let the future generations decide the matter…"
President of Armenia Robert Kocharjan made Azerbaijani hawks happy.

Made on the eve of OSCE Minsk Group chairmen’s arrival, Kocharjan’s
statement added fuel to the fire and strengthened the positions of
the circles in the Azerbaijani establishment that had never believed
in negotiations. Matthew Bryza of the United States, Yuri Merzlyakov
of Russia, Bernard Faciet of France (three chairmen), and OSCE
Chairman’s Envoy Andrzej Kaspcik met with Foreign Minister Elmar
Mamedjarov and Aliyev himself, yesterday. The meetings took place
with anti-Armenian actions of the opposition unfolding in the
streets. Activists of the non-governmental organization Karabakh
Liberation Organization (KLO) undertook to stage a protest action in
front of the Foreign Ministry when the negotiations were taking place
inside. It made a statement demanding no more visits of OSCE Minsk
Group chairmen to the region as pointless and disbandment of the OSCE
Minsk Group itself. KLO leader Akif Nagi said. "Since the UN General
Assembly is discussing conflicts in GUAM countries, Azerbaijan should
demand that the UN force Armenia to fulfill all four resolutions and
that it contemplate sanctions against Armenia. Azerbaijan should
launch a war and liberate the occupied territories all on its own
otherwise." Practically all parties of the opposition and even some
deputies of the national parliament agree with Nagi.

The possibility of the use of military might as a solution to the
problem is even discussed in official structures of Azerbaijan and
mentioned by Aliyev himself. Azerbaijan has been upping war spending
for years. Defense expenditures in the 2007 budget, will top this
years figure by 26.7%. Already endorsed by the Cabinet, the draft
budget was forwarded to the presidential administration. A source in
the government of Azerbaijan says that sum total of war spending will
reach $900 million ($200 million more than in 2006).

Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, October 3, 2006, p. 6

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
October 6, 2006 Friday

AZERBAIJAN WILL REMAIN AT THE NEGOTIATION TABLE

by Sohbet Mamedov

OSCE MEDIATORS CONVINCED BAKU OF THE NECESSITY TO CONTINUE CONTACTS
WITH YEREVAN; Azerbaijani-Armenian contacts will continue.

President Ilham Aliyev’s consent to continue contacts with Armenia
became the principal result of the latest round of negotiations
between chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group and Azerbaijani leaders in
Baku.

Russian, American, and French diplomats elicited from official Baku
an agreement to organize a meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian
foreign ministers. Yuri Merzlyakov, Russian Chairman of the OSCE
Minsk Group, said at the press conference that "renewal of direct
contacts over the Nagorno-Karabakh resolution was the subject of the
negotiations in Baku. We consider the mission accomplished."
According to the Russian diplomat, after similar consultations with
the Armenian leadership the involved parties will be able to discuss
the place and the time of a meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian
foreign ministers and of a summit after that. A source in the
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry claims that meetings like that may
already take place in late October.

Bernard Faciet of France acknowledged that the international
mediators would find organization of new meetings difficult because
their respective capitals "do not put up with a military solution to
the problem." Matthew Bryza of the United States said that GUAM’s
recent initiative to have the problem of suspended conflicts
discussed by the UN "might have a positive effect on the process of
Karabakh resolution."

Under pressure from enemies of negotiations with Armenia, Aliyev
addressed the first meeting of the autumn session of the Milli Mejlis
or national parliament. He said that not everything of what
international mediators were suggesting was acceptable for
Azerbaijan, the country that had lost 20% of its territory to
Armenia. "We are condemned for the alleged lack of interest in
finding a solution to the Karabakh problem. They say we are not
solving it. We are not solving it because what options of resolution
are offered do not answer national interests of Azerbaijan. Whatever
pressure may be applied, I will never sign any such document," Aliyev
said.

Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, October 4, 2006, p. 5

Translated by A. Ignatkin

Duma ratifies agreements on Russian military presence in Georgia

RIA Novosti
October 06, 2006

MOSCOW, October 6 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s lower house of parliament
ratified Friday agreements on the transit of Russian military cargo
and personnel through Georgia, and on the terms, order of operation
and withdrawal from Russian military bases in Georgia.

The agreements were ratified in line with documents signed by Russia
and Georgia in March 2006 in Sochi.

After four Russian officers were detained in Tbilisi and charged
with espionage last week, Russia suspended travel, postal links
with Georgia, and threatened to freeze banking transactions with the
southern neighbor.

The sanctions remain in force despite Georgia’s release of the Russian
officers Monday.

The first ratified agreement defines transit procedures through
Georgian territory of military cargo and personnel in support of the
102nd Russian military base in Armenia.

The Russian 102nd military base in Gyumri, about 120 kilometers
(75 miles) from the Armenian capital Yerevan, is part of a joint air
defense system of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which was
deployed in Armenia in 1995.

The base operates under the authority of the Russian group of forces
in the South Caucasus, and is equipped with S-300 (SA-10 Grumble)
air defense systems, MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters and 5,000 personnel.

Under the agreement, the Russian military transit through Georgia may
be conducted by road, air or rail transport. Russia cannot deliver
through Georgian territory, including its air space, nuclear, chemical
or biological weapons, as well as other weapons of mass destruction,
including its components.

The term of the agreement is five years, but it may be extended if
there are no objections from either side.

The ratified agreement on the terms, order of operation and
withdrawal of the Russian military bases in Georgia states that two
Soviet-era bases in the western city of Batumi and the southern city
of Akhalkalaki will remain operational during the gradual process of
removing troops and hardware.

Under the 2006 agreement, Russia must withdraw from the southern city
of Akhalkalaki by October 1, 2007, but the deadline can be extended
until December in the event of complications.

The withdrawal from Batumi in the west of Georgia must be completed
by late 2008. Russian military officials said they have been kept on
schedule in 2006.

Since Mikheil Saakashvili came to power in Georgia on the back of
the 2003 "Rose Revolution," both the government and parliament have
sought to remove Russian peacekeepers from the conflict zones with
two self-proclaimed republics, and to force the withdrawal of Russian
troops from the two Soviet-era bases.

Russian military slam Georgia over restricted transit

RIA Novosti
October 06, 2006

MOSCOW, October 6 (RIA Novosti) – Only 10 percent of the applications
Russia made to Georgia concerning troop and hardware transit through
the country in 2006 were approved by Tbilisi, a high-ranking Russian
military officer said Friday.

Under a bilateral agreement signed in March 2006 in Sochi, Russia
transits its military cargo and personnel through Georgia in support
of the 102nd Russian military base in Armenia.

"Only nine out of 88 applications for overflights were approved in
2006," Colonel-General Alexander Skvortsov, deputy chief of the General
Staff, said, adding the remaining requests were ignored by Tbilisi.

The Russian 102nd military base in Gyumri, about 120 kilometers
(75 miles) from the Armenian capital Yerevan, is part of a joint air
defense system of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which was
deployed in Armenia in 1995.

Skvortsov told Russian lawmakers that at the moment the Russian base
in Armenia is being supplied exclusively by air.

"Russia does not use land routes through Georgia, but only air transit
to deliver troops and hardware to the 102nd military base," he said.

He said the situation is not extremely urgent, because previously
stored supplies allow the base to function normally for now.

But the situation could change in the future if the need for supplies
grows, he said.

Part of the military equipment being removed from Russian bases in
Georgia will be transferred to the Gyumri base when Russia completes
its withdrawal from Akhalkalaki and Batumi by the end of 2008.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RUSSIAN GENERAL TELLS DUMA IT MAKES NO SENSE TO KEEP GEORGIA BASES

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
Oct 6 2006

Moscow, 6 October: Given the new political reality, the presence of
Russian military bases on Georgian territory no longer makes sense,
the chief commander of the Ground Troops, Aleksey Maslov, said in the
State Duma today. He called on the deputies to ratify the agreement
with Georgia on the timeframe and the procedure for the provisional
operation and withdrawal of Russian military bases and other military
facilities of the Group of Russian Troops in the Transcaucasus.

After the new Georgian authorities came to power, the Russian military
bases effectively "found themselves on the territory of an unfriendly
state with a clear anti-Russian political orientation and they have
only been able to carry out functions such as protecting their own
facilities and ensuring their operation", Maslov said.

"The agreement aims to protect the rights and dignity of Russian
servicemen on Georgian territory, is in keeping with the interests
of the Russian Federation and makes it possible to pull the Russian
military bases out of Georgia within the set timeframe. Failure to
ratify the agreement would give the Georgian leadership another
reason to stir up the situation concerning the Russian bases, to
create conditions for various sorts of provocations against Russian
servicemen and members of their families," Maslov said.

The Duma earlier today ratified an agreement with Georgia on the
transit of Russian troops and armaments via Georgia.

[RIA Novosti, Moscow, in Russian 0849 gmt 6 Oct 06 quoted an excerpt
of its interview with head of the State Duma’s CIS Affairs Committee
Andrey Kokoshin, who warned that the Russian troop withdrawal from
Georgia would lead to a deterioration of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict.

"There are concerns that the troop withdrawal will result in a
deterioration of the Georgian-South Ossetian and the Georgian-Abkhaz
conflicts. A propitious situation is also being created for the
emergence and escalation of a conflict in the Akhalkalaki area where
the Russian military base is stationed, which is mostly populated by
Armenians," Kokoshin told RIA Novosti. Nonetheless, the CIS Affairs
Committee recommended that the Duma should ratify the agreement on the
withdrawal of the Russian bases from Georgia, he said. Kokoshin noted
that the troop pullout would weaken Russia’s strategic positions in
the Caucasus and would change the balance in the southern flank of
the CFE Treaty area. He urged the Russian Defence Ministry to carry
out a thorough analysis of possible repercussions.

Interfax-Military News Agency, Moscow, in Russian 0826 gmt 6 Oct 06
quoted head of the Federation Council’s Defence and Security Committee
Viktor Ozerov as saying that the Russian military bases in Akhalkalaki
and Batumi "are in fact only dealing with reinforced protection of the
base and the headquarters of the group in Tbilisi and other facilities
being used by the troops. I believe that given such a situation,
there is no need to wait till the end of 2008, and that our troops
should be withdrawn from Georgian territory ahead of schedule".]

AZERI-ARMENIAN TALKS IN MOSCOW PRODUCTIVE – RUSSIAN MINISTER

Public Television of Armenia
Oct 6 2006

The meeting between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan
is under way in Moscow. The agreement to hold the meeting between
Oskanyan and Mammadyarov was reached during the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs’ visit to the region.

Earlier, the Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Yuriy
Merzlyakov, said in Yerevan that another meeting between the foreign
ministers will probably be held within 10 days of today’s meeting.
The co-chairmen did not rule out that a meeting between the Armenian
and Azerbaijani presidents will probably be discussed after the
discussions between the foreign ministers of the two countries.

The Russian foreign minister has highly rated the results of today’s
meeting in Moscow with his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts.
Lavrov said that the meeting was productive.

The Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers also attended a
trilateral meeting at Smolensk Square [Russian Foreign Ministry].
According to a Russian diplomatic source, Moscow was not chosen
as the venue for the trilateral meeting by chance because Russia
has played an important and historical role in the South Caucasus,
especially in the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict.

[Video showed Lavrov speaking in Moscow]