Month: November 2006

DEFENSE EXPENDITURE TO RISE IN LINE WITH GDP GROWTH IN ARMENIA
Panorama.am
15:30 06/11/06
Expenditures on defense will make up 3.5% of GDP annually, Serzh
Sargsyan, defense minister of Armenia told reporters today saying this
is an agreement reached with the Armenian government. In his words,
defense expenditures will grow in line with economy.
According to the draft state budget, defense expenditures will surpass
100.4 bln drams with 96.6 bln to military needs, 3.8 bln to other
costs, 26.9 mln on organization of alternative military service.
Sargsyan said 48% of expenditures will be used on salaries. He said
the average salary for officers will be 165,000 drams.
Speaking about increase in military expenditures of Azerbaijan,
Sargsyan said, “Of coarse, you cannot compare $1 bln with $300 million
but much can be accomplished even with that money if used purposefully
and efficiently.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL REPORTS CLOSE TO 3 POINT FOR ARMENIA
Panorama.am
15:35 06/11/06
Armenia is among the group of countries which have lower than
point 3 level of corruption which means that corruption is quite
widespread. Amalia Kostanyan, head of Armenia office of Transparency
International, said, “Armenia has received 2.9 points which has not
changed since last year despite of anticorruption strategy launched
for three years.”
One hundred sixty three countries were included in the rating
against 159 last year. The rating is done on 1-10 points. Countries
which receive close to 1 are considered more corrupt. No country has
received 10 points with Finland, Island and New Zealand having close
to 10 – 9.6 points. Countries like Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uruguay,
India and Japan reported progress whereas Brazil, Cuba, Jordanian,
Israel and USA reported regression to more corruption.
Armenia is at the 93rd place together with Argentina, Syria, Eritrea,
Tanzania and Bosnia Herzegovina. Our neighbor – Georgia, Iran and
Azerbaijan are at 99, 105 and 130 places respectively.

MORE MONEY TO BE RELEASED FOR NATURE PROTECTION
Panorama.am
18:18 06/11/06
Nature protection minister, Vardan Aivazyan, happily noted that the
state budget will release 1 bln 482 million more money to environment
totaling 3 bln drams.
The state will release 10 million dram for fish protection in
Sevan. The minister said this money is not enough and he would like
to receive some 30-40 million for that purpose.
The state will release 39 mln drams for geological studies. Another
401 mln is appropriated for special areas of nature protection.
Aivazyan said also international organizations provide money for
nature protection totaling 1 bln 3358 million drams.

BRUSSELS SET TO GIVE TURKEY MORE TIME ON CYPRUS
By Mark Beunderman
EU Observer, Belgium
Nov 7 2006
The European Commission is unlikely to recommend a partial suspension
of Turkey’s EU membership talks over the Cyprus issue in a key report
on Wednesday, with individual commissioners reportedly divided over
the matter.
The Financial Times wrote on Tuesday (7 November) that Brussels is
set to postpone a recommendation on whether or not to freeze the
talks until a later date ahead of an EU leaders summit in December.
The commission had been considering whether to already make this
recommendation in Wednesday’s progress report on Turkey, according
to the UK daily.
But a draft report endorsed by chiefs of the commissioners in a
meeting on Monday merely says that “The commission will make relevant
recommendations ahead of the December European Council.”
The paper writes that the commission itself is divided over the
strategy towards Turkey, which launched EU accession talks last year,
but still refuses to open its ports and airports to trade from Cyprus.
The Cypriot, Greek and French commissioners – whose countries are
among the most sceptical about Turkish membership – have argued
Brussels should already on Wednesday propose concrete consequences
for Ankara’s defiant stance.
But other members of the EU executive – including commission chief Jose
Manuel Barroso and enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn – reportedly
want to give more space for the Finnish EU presidency to broker a
deal between Turkey and Cyprus before the December summit.
The draft still needs to be rubber-stamped by commissioners on
Wednesday.
Debate in Germany, Italy The divisions within the commission reflect
a similar rift within the German ruling coalition which is being
highlighted by German media.
Edmund Stoiber, the leader of the Bavarian conservatives and a staunch
opponent of Turkish EU membership, has urged a halt to the talks,
but social democrat members of the German government – notably foreign
minister Frank Walter Steinmeier – have said that “everything” needs
to be done to find a compromise before the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Italian prime minister Romano Prodi has warned against
stopping the negotiations with Turkey altogether, telling the Financial
Times that the process will take time but “certainly you must not
stop it.”
“There is an idea in some parts of Europe to stop it all,” he said.
“But I think this is a great historical challenge.”
Free speech concession In another development, the European Commission
on Monday cautiously welcomed a fresh concession by Turkish prime
minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on freedom of expression – an issue
which is set to be one of the main concerns in Wednesday’s progress
report along with the Cyprus issue.
Mr Erdogan over the weekend said his government is willing to revise or
lift the notorious article 301 of Turkey’s penal code, which penalises
insults against “Turkishness”.
“We expect this stated intention to be followed by concrete deeds and
we are thus waiting for concrete decisions,” a commission spokeswoman
said.
On the basis of article 301, charges were brought against several
journalists and novelists who raised the Kurdish issue or the Armenian
genocide including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk.
Turkish NGOs have in the past few weeks pressed the government to
reform the article.

VIMPELCOM SNAPS UP ARMENTEL
St. Petersburg Times, Russia
Nov 7 2006
MOSCOW – VimpelCom, Russia’s second-largest cellular company, said
Friday it agreed to buy 90 percent of an Armenian phone company for
341.9 million euros ($434.2 million), as it looks to expand beyond
the saturated Russian market.VimpelCom has signed an agreement with
Greece’s Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA, the Moscow-based
company said Friday in a PRNewswire statement. The company will also
assume about 40 million euros in net debt and obligations.
“With approximately 40 percent of the mobile market share, Armentel
occupies a strong position in the Armenian market and we will work to
enhance this position,” VimpelCom Chief Executive Officer Alexander
Izosimov said in the statement.
VimpelCom, and its domestic competitors Mobile TeleSystems, Russia’s
biggest cellular operator, and MegaFon, the third-largest wireless
company, are looking to expand beyond Russia, a country with 143
million people and more than 146 million mobile phones. Buying Armentel
will make Armenia the sixth former Soviet country aside from Russia
where VimpelCom will have operations.
Armentel has about 600,000 fixed-line subscribers and 400,000 GSM
subscribers, the statement said.

SERZH SARGSYAN: GOVERNMENT TO APPROVE 90% SALE OF STOCK OF ARMENTEL
Panorama.am
14:53 06/11/06
The government will approve the deal on 90% sale of stock of ArmenTel
to Vimpelcom (trade mark Biline), Serzh Sargsyan, defense minister
of Armenia who is also co-chair of Russian-Armenian international
economic committee, said. In his words, the government will learn
about the details of the deal and the price for stock.
He also said he sees no danger that the Russian capital is increasing
in Armenia. “There had been no case when Russia would abuse its
economic power,” he said. He said neither Russian nor any foreign
companies imposed pressures on the Armenian economy.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GOVERNMENT OF GEORGIA INTERFERES TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF MONUMENT TO ARMENIAN GENERAL, GEORGIAN CULTURE MINISTER
Author: A.Ismayilova
TREND, Azerbaijan
Nov 7 2006
Georgiy Gabashvili, the Georgian Culture Minister told Trend
exclusively that Tbilisi will take every effort not to allow
the establishment of a monument to the Armenian General in
Samkhe-Javaheti. It can affect the relationships with Azerbaijan.
An initiative on the establishment of a monument to a Georgian
general Dalbandian, who participated in Karabakh war, was put in
Samkhe-Javahetti Region densely populated with Armenians. The new
executive power of the region, where the Armenians are represented,
said that there resolution would be enough to open the monument.
The Georgian Minister also said that in accordance with the laws of
Georgia the local authorities take a decision on the establishment
of monuments. However, when the issue gains a political color, we
should take into consideration the neighboring Azerbaijan’s interests,
Gabashvili stressed. Georgia has very good relationships both with
Azerbaijan and Armenia, but will certainly deliberate in issues of
our friends’ concern.

Freedom House (press release), DC
Nov 3 2006

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Amanda Abrams

Millennium Challenge Corporation Should Hold Countries to Higher
Standards of Democratic Governance

Washington, D.C.,November 2, 2006
The American government should withhold foreign assistance under the
Millennium Challenge Account from countries which fail to meet
reasonable standards of political rights and civil liberties, Freedom
House said today.
On November 8, the MCC Board of Directors will select governments
eligible to apply for assistance in fiscal year 2007. Freedom House
urges the MCC to bypass those countries with low scores on political
rights and civil liberties that otherwise meet the eligibility
criteria – namely Armenia, Bhutan, Egypt, Jordan, Maldives, Tunisia
and Vietnam – during this year’s selection process.
Additionally, Freedom House urges the MCC to rigorously follow up
with those countries, like Armenia, that have been awarded compacts
but have not met promised benchmarks in the area of democratic
governance. Armenia is an important test case of MCC policy, as it
signed a compact with the MCC earlier this year but has been
backsliding on promised reforms since the agreement was signed.
“Freedom House strongly supports the MCC’s efforts to reduce poverty
by rewarding sound policies,” said Jennifer Windsor, Executive
Director of Freedom House. “However, because democratic governance
plays such a key role in enabling broader social and economic
development, it is vital–if the fund is to be truly effective–that
only those governments that have demonstrated commitment to democracy
and human rights be eligible to receive MCC funds,” she added.
Currently, countries qualify for MCC funding based on their
performance on three baskets of indicators that measure “ruling
justly,” “investing in people,” and “economic freedom.” At a minimum,
a country needs to perform above average in half of the indicators in
each of these three categories to qualify for the funds. However,
because the agency views corruption as such a serious obstacle to
development, a score below average in corruption automatically
eliminates a country from consideration for the pool of eligible
countries.
Freedom House encourages the MCC to consider officially amending the
eligibility process to automatically disqualify any country that
falls below the equivalent of a 4 (out of a worst possible 7) on
Freedom House’s index of civil liberties and political rights, which
is used by the MCC to determine a country’s level of democratic
governance.
“Democratic governance is fundamental to development and can have an
enormous effect on a country’s future growth. Like anti-corruption
efforts, therefore, it should be treated as a priority among
priorities by the MCC,” said Christopher Walker, Director of Studies
at Freedom House. “On occasion, the MCC Board has exercised
discretion to eliminate from consideration some of the worst
democratic underachievers, and Freedom House would like to see this
prioritization formalized as an official standard,” he added.

Based on the published MCC scorecards for 2007, Armenia, Bhutan,
Egypt, Jordan, Maldives, Tunisia and Vietnam officially pass the MCC
criteria even though they fall below the equivalent of a 4 on Freedom
House’s index of political rights and civil liberties.
Armenia
Armenia has failed in its pledge made to the MCC to improve its
institutional commitment to democracy and tolerance of opposition.
Allegations of fraud in the November 2005 constitutional referendum
have not been investigated, as called for by Ambassador Danilovich,
Chief Executive Officer of the MCC. Implementation of the
referendum’s tepid reforms stalled in 2006, and the opposition
expects upcoming parliamentary elections to once again be marred by
fraud. Multiple anti-democratic methods are used to maintain a hold
on power, including the following:
Election fraud characterized both the presidential and parliamentary
elections of 2003 and the constitutional referendum of 2005.
Harassment of opposition supporters, ballot box stuffing, and
inflated turnout figures were among the methods used, and the
elections were denounced by European observers.
The judicial branch remains subject to political pressure from the
executive branch and suffers from considerable corruption, while
proposed reforms have not been implemented.
While new legislation to improve media independence was passed, the
Armenian media climate has not improved and violent attacks on
journalists continue.
Freedom in the World 2006: Armenia
age=22&year06&country=6912
Countries at the Crossroads 2006: Armenia
age=140&edition=7&ccrpage=31&ccrcountr y=109
For other countries, click on the link
=70&release=435

PRESS RELEASE
Junior Achievement of Armenia
Hanrapetutyan 62, apt.#89
c. Yerevan, Republic of Armenia
Contact: Anahit Manukyan
Tel: /+37410/ 54 22 39
Fax: /+37410/ 54 22 39
E-mail:[email protected]
Web:

JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF ARMENIA STUDENTS DISCUSS ETICAL ISSUES WITH THEIR
INTERNATIONAL PEERS
Two of Junior Achievement of Armenia’s outstanding students participated
in a two day workshop on business ethics in Almaty, Kazakhstan from
October 27 to 28. They were joined by students of Georgia, Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The
students, Naira Mkhitaryan of Etchmiatzin school #4, and Ani Simonyan of
school #1 of Nor Kharberd were selected among their peers based on an
essay they wrote addressing ethical issues in the business world.
They were accompanied by Anahit Manoukyan, program coordinator of Junior
Achievement of Armenia.
The program included workshops, lectures, meetings with notable
businessmen and an activity called `Global Business Village’ which asked
the students to present their national business practices. `The
conference was very interesting and allowed us to present our cultural
similarities and differences as we were asked to prepare skits on our
national business culture’ noted Naira Mkhitaryan. For Ani, it was
meeting people and listening to speakers representing the business world
that was the most educational part of the workshop, ` We got to hear
successful businessmen and educators such as Yelena Ussova and Arman
Ospanov. I learned much in those two days that will help me in my
future career.’
During the 12 week of the Global Business Ethics program, the
participating students learn about the common and individual values,
character development and business ethics. The program connects
students of the participating countries through the Internet and
provides them with the opportunity to discuss ethics related issues
involving international experiences. The exercises also provide an
opportunity for the students to widen their range of interest. The
students are challenged to make decisions on presented cases which call
for ethical judgments.
This is the second year that Junior Achievement of Armenia is partaking
in this educational program organized by the Junior Achievement program
of the CIS countries. Currently, 200 schools are embraced in the
program. `Given the realities of today’s business world, we think it
is imperative to teach students not only how to start and manage their
business but also to be aware and abide by accepted ethical standards.
In this respect, we are very pleased that our students have a chance to
be exposed to the experiences of other countries’ commented Armine K.
Hovannisian, Executive Director of Junior Achievement of Armenia.
Established in 1992, Junior Achievement of Armenia is dedicated to
promoting free-market economics, democratic governance, social
responsibility and ethical business practices in the Republic of Armenia
through economic and civic education. JAA’s work is financed by the
United States Agency for International Development. With courses in all
1,359 high schools in the country, JAA-trained educators now teach
170,000 students each year. Nearly 20% of Armenia’s total population
has taken a JAA course. For more information, please go to

Election issues spark political passion in Bee readers
Nov. 6 2006

Keep the pressure up

Your “Political Notebook” section on Oct. 28 was absolutely correct in
stating that Armenian-Americans are accustomed to empty promises from
presidential candidates in accurately terming the events of 1915 as
genocide. Both President Clinton and President Bush attempted to gain
Armenian-American support by saying they would recognize the genocide
if elected. However, under pressure from Turkish officials, both
immediately changed their positions.

Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, has not allowed President Bush to
get away with it easily. Despite being from the same political party,
the congressman has continually opposed the president, vice president
and House speaker on this issue.

He has sent a letter drafted by him and his colleague, Rep. Adam
Schiff, D-Pasadena, to the administration, making sure it understands
this issue will not be allowed to go on the back-burner. They have
been soliciting the support of other members of Congress to put
pressure on the administration as well.

Sevag Tateosian, Fresno