Month: October 2006

RIA OREANDA
Economic News
October 27, 2006 Friday

Board of Directors Approves Acquisition of Additional Shares in
Armrosgazprom

Moscow. OREANDA-NEWS. The Board of Directors of Gazprom approved
Gazproms acquisition of additional shares in ArmRosgazprom.

As a result, the share of Gazprom in ArmRosgazprom will grow from 45
to 58 per cent.

ArmRosgazproms major business line is natural gas supply to Armenias
internal market. In addition, ArmRosgazprom is engaged in natural gas
transmission, storage, processing, distribution and marketing, gas
transmission system and UGS facility upgrading and expansion in the
Republic of Armenia.

The Board of Directors also agreed on Gazprom (UK) Ltds acquisition
of shares in UrdanetaGazprom-1 S.A. and UrdanetaGazprom-2 S.A.
(Venezuela).

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Oct 27 2006

SERGE SARGSYAN MET WITH NATO CONSULTATION GROUP

October 26 Secretary of the Security Council under RA President, RA
Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan met with the members of the NATO
international consultation group.
According to the information DE FACTO got at the RA MOD Press
Service, Slovenia’s Plenipotentiary FM Damian Bergant, Advisor to
Lithuania’s National Defense Minister James Gribovsky, the U. K. MOD
official John Drievinkievich, Baltic Defense College Senior
Scientific Worker Margus Colgan, Director of Latvia’s Foreign Affairs
Institute Atis Lejins and others are in the foreign delegation.
In the course of the meeting the representative of the U. K. noted
the consultation group approved all the provisions of the RA national
security strategy draft referring to the development of the state and
civil society. Touching on the security issues the delegation’s
members discussed the geopolitical situation in Armenia and stated
two of four neighbor states – Azerbaijan and Turkey had blockaded the
border with Armenia, while other vitally important ways passed via
Iran and Georgia, where the situation is complicated too. Speaking of
Armenia’s foreign political course the delegation’s members remarked
it was mainly conditioned by the two issues, which are very important
for any Armenian – Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenian Genocide in
Turkey. The guests stated under the circumstances Armenia had decided
to pursue a balanced policy.

Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire
October 27, 2006 Friday 5:34 PM EET

Russia’s Gazprom brd OKs increasing stake in ArmRosgazprom to 58%

Russia’s natural gas monopoly Gazprom’s board of directors has
approved increasing the company’s stake in Armenia’s ArmRosgazprom to
58% from 45%, Gazprom said in a statement Friday.

Gazprom plans to purchase additional shares of ArmRosgazprom, the gas
giant said.

ArmRosgazprom, created in 1997, has a monopoly on imports and
distribution of Russian natural gas in Armenia. It also specializes
in transportation, storage, processing, distribution and sales of
gas, as well as in reconstruction and expansion of underground
storage facilities and gas transportation systems in Armenia.

At the present time Armenia’s Energy Minister owns a 45% stake in
ArmRosgazprom, while Russian natural gas producer Itera holds 10%.

Lragir, Armenia
Oct 27 2006

FOR THE FIRST TIME WE WILL SEE VERY IMPORTANT PROCESS IN THE
POLITICAL SPHERE

Aram Karapetyan, one of the leaders of the anti-criminal movement
stated October 26 that the movement is likely to hold hearings on the
economic monopolies in Armenia. Soon penitentiaries will appear
within the orbit of the practical interest of the anti-criminal
because there are worrying facts about their activities.

`I think there are several very important problems, which interest us
as well. Namely, we want to know about the situation in the
penitentiaries, there is information that many people are released on
orders. There is information that well-known criminals are released
early after forensic and psychological examinations,’ says Aram
Karapetyan.

Besides released criminals, the anti-criminal will also deal with the
criminals at large, of course, if it continues to consider Prime
Minister Andranik Margaryan as a criminal. Aram Karapetyan announces
that they will inquire about how many people the prime minister gave
gift guns and whom he gave. `We would like to know how many these
are. We ask the police to provide this information to us, and we also
want to know how many of these guns were used. If there are cases of
murder, shooting, how many of them, and if it is true that he gave
500 gift guns. If it is true that he gave a gift gun to an
adolescent,’ says Aram Karapetyan.

He assured that the anti-criminal movement continues its activity,
everyone takes part. The leader of the Nor Zhamanakner Party says
that soon we will hear about interests things in the political sphere
and for the first time we will see a very important process. `The
opposition has not pursued such a process so far.’ According to Aram
Karapetyan, these are public hearings, round-table meetings replacing
the tactics of rallies, where clear professional evaluations are
given to all the questions.

Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire
October 27, 2006 Friday

Russian VTB expects to bring stake in VTB Armenia to 100% in 2-3 mos

Russia’s state-owned Vneshtorgbank, or VTB, expects to close a deal
to increase its stake in VTB Armenia Bank to 100% from its current
70% plus one share over the next two or three months, VTB’s Senior
Vice President Vasily Titov told reporters Friday.

The remaining 30% minus one share stake currently belongs to Mikhail
Bagdasarov, the owner of Mika Armenia Trading Company.

The shareholders’ equity of VTB Armenia Bank currently amounts to the
equivalent of U.S. $24 million, VTB Armenia Bank CEO Alexander
Vartanov said.

The bank ranks second in Armenia in terms of the individual account
balances, Vartanov said. The bank accounts for 10% of total
individual account balances in Armenian banks, he added.

VTB Armenia Bank has 100 branches in the country.

At the present time VTB Group consists of three Russian banks,
including VTB, Vneshtorgbank Retail Services and Industrial and
Construction Bank, or Promstroibank; seven banks in Western Europe,
namely in the U.K., France, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Cyprus and
Luxemburg; four banks in the CIS, namely, two in Ukraine, one each in
Armenia and Georgia; as well as two joint ventures in Angola and
Namibia.

Hayots Ashkar, Yerevan,
27 Oct 06, p 3

ARMENIAN NEWSPAPER SEES IRAN AS TRANSPORT ALTERNATIVE TO GEORGIA

Iran may be a solution to Armenia’s transport problems arising from
Russia’s blockade of Georgia, an Armenian newspaper has said. The
early commissioning of an Iran-Armenia gas pipeline has given Armenia
hope for more transport and energy options via Iran. Closer
cooperation with Iran would make Armenia’s positions stronger both in
talks on a Karabakh settlement and in relations with Georgia amid
Russian pressure on Yerevan to take a tougher stance. The following
is the text of an article by Sark’s Gevorkyan entitled "We need an
alternative and Iran maybe that alternative" and published in the
Armenian newspaper Ayots Ashkar on 27 October:

Two events that have occurred recently, such as the recognition of
Iran’s right to uranium enrichment by the director-general of
International Atomic Energy Agency, Muhammad al-Baradi’i, and the
publication of the programme on armed forces withdrawal from Iraq,
indicate that the world community recognizes the fact that our
neighbour Iran may turn its force into an independent factor, and is
ready to take this reality into account. In such conditions, Armenia,
which has found itself in a difficult geopolitical situation because
of events around Georgia, may take the edge off the need to make a
choice between the northern and western directions of its policy by
giving a new quality to Armenian-Iranian strategic cooperation.
Putting an Iran-Armenia gas pipeline into operation a month earlier
than expected and the prospects for an Iran-Armenia-Georgia energy
corridor is additional proof of that.

It is not hard to notice that, as Armenia gains a serious energy
alternative, it should not be in a hurry to sell the Iran-Armenia gas
pipeline to a third party or transfer it into trust management.
Moreover, Armenia may also consider the construction of a second gas
pipeline towards Europe, which may seriously strengthen its positions
in terms of energy exports.

Let us try to understand what Armenia can gain from the further
deepening of cooperation with Iran in the context of new developments
in efforts to settle South Caucasus conflicts?

Those developments obviously suggest that each of the "projects"
being offered to Armenia – the western and the northern ones –
contains such possible dangers that this country is in fact facing
the problem of choosing the lesser of the two evils. Thus, until the
geopolitical status of Georgia is clarified and the process of
Karabakh talks reaches its climax, Armenia is simply deprived of an
opportunity to make "sharp movements". But even after that the
obstacles between Russia and Georgia may increase the role of
southward communications via Azerbaijan for Russia. For Armenia this
is a deadlock in both cases at the Russian-Georgian and
Armenian-Azerbaijani borders. For this reason, the transfer of the
Russian southern transport corridor from Georgia to Azerbaijan augurs
badly for this country. But Armenia is also deprived of an
opportunity of making a choice between Georgia, which is turning into
a possible NATO base, and Russia. It turns out that Armenian-Russian
high-level talks, which are due to be held in Moscow, may discuss the
following options: either Armenia changes its policy towards Georgia
or Russia will have to consider using the Azerbaijan-Iran
communications system. We think that in such conditions Armenia needs
support from a third party, which also worries about the prospect of
foreign forces deploying not far from its borders. Moreover,
Armenia’s rapprochement with Iran would not damage Moscow’s efforts
to find a "black cat" in Armenian-Georgian relations as well as to
keep the Karabakh conflict settlement process in a deadlock. It is
obvious that by means of Armenian-Iranian cooperation we may balance
out the two mutually exclusive extremes we are facing in
Russian-Georgian relations and we may be able to talk to Georgia from
the positions of a country that has a specific transport alternative.
A further rapprochement with Iran will also allow Armenia feel more
confident in the context of the an accelerating Karabakh negotiation
process. The involvement of a third force will allow us to
counterbalance processes which may be at variance with our national
interests. The reason is evident as the Araz valley is also a
security zone for Iran, which would view any control of it by
international forces as a serious threat.

Thus, in the context of geopolitical processes taking place in our
region and the consequent isolation of Armenia, this country may
start consultations with Iran on all aspects of energy, communication
and military-technical cooperation and take it to a new quality
level.

Agence France Presse — English
October 27, 2006 Friday 4:44 PM GMT

Furore over Romania’s nominee for EU post

Paul Harrington

Romania’s candidate for a European Commission post fell under intense
scrutiny Friday, with the EU’s executive arm failing to endorse him
amid allegations of far-right leanings and links to the Soviet-era
secret police.

Diplomatic sources in Brussels said that the Commission’s president
Jose Manuel Barroso had rejected Varujan Vosganian’s candidature,
although a spokesman refused to be drawn on the question.

"Clearly there is a problem," said one source.

Both the Romanian and the Bulgarian candidates met Thursday with
Barroso, but only Bulgaria’s European Integration Minister, Meglena
Kuneva, walked away with the president’s blessing to join his cabinet
in January.

Bulgaria and Romania are to join the EU at the beginning of the year,
and each member state is entitled to one commissioner’s post at the
EU’s executive branch.

Romanian Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu said he supported liberal
senator Vosganian and dismissed doubts about his suitability as a
candidate.

"At the moment, normal procedures are under way in Brussels" to name
the next commissioner, Tariceanu told reporters in Bucharest.

Romanian President Traian Basescu also weighed into the controversy,
saying that Vosganian "does not have a dossier as an informer" to the
old Securitate secret police, despite claims by a former
Communist-era secret police official.

Vosganian himself echoed that he had "no link with the Securitate",
dismissing the furore over his nomination as "speculation".

Piling on the controversy, the Romanian daily Evenimentul Zilei
reported that Vosganian was currently a member of the extreme-right
group Rost, a charge the senator also denied.

"I have no link with the extreme right, it is an absurd accusation,"
he said.

However, Socialists at the European Parliament voiced concern about
Vosganian’s links with right-wing politics in the past as well as his
lack of EU experience.

"What is known is that he was very right-wing in politics and
financed by tycoons," said Austrian Socialist euro-deputy Hannes
Swoboda said.

According to Swoboda, the 48-year-old economist and poet set up a
party in the 1990s called the Union of Right-wing Forces that was
bankrolled by a wealthy and controversial Romanian businessman Sorin
Vantu, who owns several television stations in Bucharest.

Vosganian, who hails from the Armenian minority and speaks fluent
English and French, had until now been spared by the Romanian press,
which usually thrives on "incendiary" revelations about politicians.

European Commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger was bombarded
with questions on Vosganian at a daily press briefing where he
stonewalled with the line "consultations are ongoing and while they
are ongoing the Commission won’t pronounce on details".

Asked why the Commission backed Bulgaria’s Kuneva as EU consumer
protection commissioner while remaining silent on the Romanian
candidate, he replied: "Some consultations take more time and some
consultations take less time".

After Barroso names the two new commissioners, they will face
hearings before the European Parliament, which will then vote on
their nominations at a December 11-15 plenary session.

In October 2004, Barroso’s commission got off to a bumpy start when
Italy’s candidate for commissioner, Rocco Buttiglione, was forced to
withdraw due to opposition from the EU parliament over his views that
homosexuality is a sin and that women should stay home looking after
children.

Agence France Presse — English
October 27, 2006 Friday 4:44 PM GMT

Varujan Vosganian: a liberal economist and target of embarrassing claims

BUCHAREST, Oct 27 2006

Liberal senator Varujan Vosganian, a noted economist nominated as
Romania’s first European commissioner, has become the target of
accusations linking him to the far-right and the Communist-era secret
services.

Friendly and well-read, the balding 48-year-old Vosganian, who
graduated from the Economic Institute and Faculty of Mathematics and
is the author of several volumes on economics and poetry, always
backed Romania’s entry into the European Union.

Vosganian, who hails from the Armenian minority and speaks fluent
English and French, had until now been spared by the press, which
usually thrives on "incendiary" revelations about Romanian
politicians.

But his nomination for the post of European commissioner has
generated a wave of attacks against him, ranging from close ties with
the far-right to collaboration with the Communist-era secret police,
the Securitate.

A Bucharest daily said Friday the senator was a member of Rost, a
movement that promotes "Christian and national values," much like the
far-right and anti-Semitic Iron Guard did in the 1930s.

But speaking with AFP, Rost president Caludiu Tarziu denied any link
to far-right extremists, saying the organisation favoured "classic
conservatism."

The media also accused the senator of ties with a scandal-hit
businessman, Sorin Ovidiu Vantu. Vosganian has admitted his small
right-wing party received funds from Vantu in the 1990s but said
there was "nothing illegal," as all the money was declared to the
state audit court.

On Friday, comments by a former Securitate official were published,
saying Vosganian had been recruited by counter-intelligence while he
worked at a brewery.

"It is absurd to think an accountant who never left Romania before
1990 was recruited by a foreign intelligence service," the senator
said, adding "I never had any link with the Securitate."

Several politicians, led by liberal Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu,
defended Vosganian, saying he was the victim of a smear campaign
orchestrated by his political opponents or the secret service.

Calling the allegations "speculations" and "affabulation," Tariceanu
urged President Traian Basescu to "support this candidature" for the
post of European commissioner.

Vosganian’s nomination had been the subject of tense negotiations
between Tariceanu and Basescu, who have been at odds for months.
Sources close to the two men have said the president only agreed to
the nomination in exchange for Defence Minister Teodor Atanasiu’s
resignation following a row over the issue of Romanian troops in
Iraq.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The New Anatolian, Turkey
Oct 27 2006

Tefal third company named in boycott against France

Consumers Union named Tefal as the third company to be brought under
the boycott campaign against a new French company every week
following the French Parliament’s decision on October 12, 2006
concerning the so-called Armenian genocide. Consumers Union had
initiated the boycott campaign with
Total (Elf) petroleum retailer in the first week and brought L’oreal
under the boycott in the following week.
Consumers Union Chair Bülent Deniz called on the Turkish consumers
not to buy products by French company Tefal. Deniz said `From today
to the day that the unfortunate decision by the French Parliament is
withdrawn, we are not buying the products by French Tefal and its
subsidiaries Moulinex and Rowenta.’
Deniz expressed his confidence that the boycott against Tefal would
be supported by the consumers, like the Total and L’oreal boycotts
initiated in the first two weeks, and stressed that the boycott would
be decisively maintained until the legislation that criminalizes the
denial of the so-called Armenian genocide is withdrawn.

The New Anatolian, Turkey
Oct 27 2006

Linden: Reconciliation needs more freedom of _expression

The New Anatolian / Ankara

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) President Rene
van der Linden yesterday strongly criticized France’s lower house of
Parliament for passing a controversial bill that aims to ban
questioning of Armenian genocide claims.

"This is not in line with one of the basic principles of human
rights, freedom of _expression," Linden said during his visit to
Ankara yesterday. PACE head underlined that reconciliation efforts
among countries need more freedom of _expression among all involved
parties, not unconstructive moves to restrict people’s free
_expression of their ideas. Van der Linden also criticized those in
Turkey who are using the French bill as a pretext not to change
controversial Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) which sets
out penalties for "insulting Turkishness." The PACE head clearly
stated yesterday that the Turkish government has to amend the
article, which has been used to bring charges against dozens of
journalists, publishers and scholars.

Van der Linden, during his visit to Ankara yesterday, met with
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and Turkish deputies. Before
his departure from Ankara, the PACE president spoke to journalists.

Recalling his support for Turkey’s EU membership process and
highlighting the importance of continuation of the reform process,
Van der Linden underlined that this was in the interest of both
Europe and Turkey. He said that the second phase of the reform
process, the implementation was understandably much more difficult,
since it necessitated the change of mentalities and convincing
people.

Saying that Turkey seems overly frustrated by the criticisms of
Europe, Van der Linden said that most of these criticisms were in
fact aimed at assisting Turkey in the reform process. In a move to
further encourage Turkey on its EU accession process, he said that
Turkish people should not overestimate current discussions in Europe
and see that it will be EU in 15 years later which Turkey will join.

On the debates of so-called Armenian genocide, PACE head stressed the
necessity for all countries to come into terms with its history for a
better future, but he criticized France’s lower house of Parliament
passing a controversial bill to ban questioning of Armenian genocide
claims. "This is a back-step from the freedom of _expression, a bad
example," Van der Linden told reporters, and expressed hope that the
controversial bill will not be passed by the upper house.

On the possible "train crash" between Turkey and EU late this year
due to the Cyprus problem, Van der Linden said that this is in no
one’s interest and continuation of Turkey’s EU process was in the
interest of both Europeans and Turkey.

The PACE president will attend a roundtable discussion with legal and
human rights experts at Bilgi University in Istanbul today. On
Saturday he will lay a wreath at the Gallipoli War Memorial and visit
the war graves there as well as meet with a delegation from the
Canakkale Provincial Council.