Author: Babken Chilingarian

Armenian leader recalls envoy to India
Mediamax news agency
26 Nov 04
Yerevan, 26 November: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan has signed
a decree dismissing Armen Bayburdyan from the post of Armenia’s
ambassador to India, the press service of the Armenian president has
told Mediamax.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Manifestazione degli armeni di Francia
La Padania, Italia
Nov 12 2004
PARIGI – Gli armeni di Francia manifesteranno il prossimo 17 novembre
per richiedere il riconoscimento del genocidio armeno da parte della
Turchia. Per 18 ore saranno a Marsiglia, al porto vecchio, e a Parigi,
davanti all’Assemblea nazionale (la camera dei deputati francese). Nel
corso della manifestazione i deputati francesi saranno invitati a
esprimere un proprio voto, simbolico, per dire sì o no all’entrata
della Turchia nell’Unione Europea.
–Boundary_(ID_eHKWKPMX8xzNJvnEvk9UzA)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN ENVOY TO NATO HANDS OVER CREDENTIALS TO SECRETARY GENERAL
BRUSSELS, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS: Armenia’s recently appointed envoy
to NATO, Samvel Mkrtchian, handed his credentials to NATO Secretary
General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on October 4 at NATO headquarters in
Brussels.
Armenian foreign ministry said following the ceremony NATO
Secretary General and Armenian envoy discussed the details of
Scheffer’s upcoming visit to Armenia, as well as issues on
NATO-Armenia cooperation, South Caucasian developments and regional
conflicts regulation. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said NATO will attach
bigger attention to the South Caucasus with the aim to increase its
stability and create new development prospects.
Samvel Mkrtchian was appointed new Armenia envoy to NATO by
president Kocharian on September 10, replacing Vigen Chitechian,
Armenian Ambassador to Belgium, who served simultaneously as envoy to
NATO. Before the appointmentSamvel Mkrtchian was head of the Foreign
Ministry’s European Department.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Xinhua News Agency – French
27 septembre 2004 lundi 11:01 AM EST
L’Arménie reconnaît le statut d’économie de marché de la Chine
BEIJING
L’Arménie reconnaît le statut d’économie de marché de la Chine, selon
une déclaration conjointe publiée lundi à Beijing par la Chine et
l’Arménie.
Cette déclaration, signée par le Président chinois Hu Jintao et son
homologue arménien Robert Sedrakovich Kocharyan, indique qu’une telle
reconnaissance est favorable au renforcement des relations
économiques et commerciales entre la Chine et l’Arménie.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Calcutta Telegraph, India
Sept 20 2004
Shakuntala misses out on a foreign groom
– Govt sits on rash of requests for trained elephants as animal count
goes up
SWATI SENGUPTA

Captive trained elephants taking tourists around a reserve forest.
File picture
Calcutta, Sept. 19: Shakuntala could have lived happily ever after
with Grandik in Armenia. But Komala will.
The six-year-old from Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary lost out to Komala
from Mysore Zoo because matchmaker Bengal took longer than the
elephants to rise from slumber.
Shakuntala is among 76 elephants bred and being reared in captivity
in the reserves of Bengal.
They are breeding fast and the government is finding it increasingly
difficult to afford so many. A forest department official said: `We
have to spend a lot of money on the elephants, and cannot use them
effectively unless they are about eight to 10 years old and around
six-foot tall. A lot of manpower is also essential to grow and train
them.’
The elephants live in Jaldapara, Buxa Tiger Reserve and Gorumara
National Park. Jhargram has two specially trained kunki elephants.
These are used for patrolling forests, taking tourists around and
capturing wild animals.
The forest department official said at least 14 out of the 76 in its
custody `can be sent elsewhere’.
But the Bengal government, which is flooded with requests from other
states and abroad to hand over some of them, is yet to take a
decision.
The official said: `Individuals are not allowed to exchange animals
against money, but governments can. The idea is to sell some of the
baby elephants and use the money for the others.’ But proposals from
several states and abroad are `pending’ with Writers’ Buildings.
The Central Zoo Authority wrote to the chief wildlife wardens of
Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Jharkhand saying
Delhi had decided to gift an elephant to Armenian President Robert
Kocharian and sought to know the possibility of `gifting a captive
born female’ between six and eight years old.
During his visit to India when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Prime
Minister, Kocharian had apparently discussed the possibility of
taking a female companion for Grandik, a resident male of Yerevan Zoo
in Armenia.
A senior official of the forest department said the Bengal government
had been told about the availability of such elephants in the state.
Shakuntala was named among the most eligible. `However, we did not
receive any response,’ the official said.
Komala, who is seven-and-a-half years old, would be in Armenia next
month. Bipul Chakrabarty, the scientific officer of the Central Zoo
Authority, told The Telegraph: `The Karnataka government responded
faster than Bengal, and so we are happy to send Komala to Armenia.
She will be airlifted from Bangalore by October 15.’
Four officials from the Mysore zoo – a vet, a range officer, a
supervisor and an animal keeper – will accompany Komala to her new
home and stay there for a month, by when she is expected to get
acclimatised.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GEORGIAN PM SAYS RUSSIA WILL NOT IMPOSE RESTRICTIONS ON AIRLINES
Prime-News news agency
15 Sep 04
Tbilisi, 15 September: Air services between Russia and Georgia will not
be stopped and a previous agreement exists which precludes restrictions
on road traffic between the two countries, the prime minister’s office
said after a meeting between Zurab Zhvania and his Russian counterpart,
Mikhail Fradkov, in Astana (Kazakhstan).
During the meeting Zhvania expressed his surprise at the statement
sent to Georgia on 11 September informing them that Russia would be
imposing restrictions on air and bus services from 1 October.
Zhvania reminded Fradkov of an agreement reached several months
ago at a meeting in Moscow under which the two countries pledged
to improve the flow of traffic at the Larsi checkpoint in Qazbegi,
the only official border crossing between Georgia and Russia.
Instead, restrictions are being unilaterally imposed on traffic at
Larsi and unofficial checkpoints are operating on the borders with
Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Zhvania said.
He said that the Russian Transport Ministry was imposing unwarranted
restrictions on aviation and road traffic.
The prime minister’s office told Prime-News that an agreement had been
reached with Russia that air services would not be suspended despite
this threat. However, they also said that another possible reason
for this, as independent experts claim, is that Georgia threatened
to close its airspace (to Russian aircraft), which would have had an
impact on Armenia.
According to Zhvania, Georgia is prepared to grant an operating
license to any Russian bus company that asks for one and to establish
new routes.
The prime minister’s office said that it had been necessary to make
this statement because Russia had been trying make out that Georgia
did not want Russian bus companies to compete in the transport market.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Russian energy chief laments Georgian “aggression”
By Keti Sikharulidze
Tuesday, September 14, 2004, #174 (0698)
The head of RAO-UES in Georgia Andrei Rappaport says that he is
no longer comfortable in Georgia owing to the “aggression” of the
Georgian government.
RAO-UES owns Telasi, the energy company which distributes electricity
in Tbilisi, but Rappaport, who is a deputy head of the Russian company
and head of its activities in Georgia, says that he is opposed to
further investment in the Georgian energy sector owing to the current
situation.
“In Armenia, they are very kind to us. If there is any problem it
is solved at once,” Rappaport said in a wide-ranging interview with
the Russian paper Gazeta concerning the company’s activities. The
interview was also published on RAO-UES’s website.
“I cannot say that we are broadening exports [in Georgia], we are
just stabilizing the situation,” Rappaport said
He added that income from RAO-UES’s Armenian utility is about USD 80
million but only USD 15 million in Georgia. “They have problem paying
money in Georgia and Georgia has about 53 million lari in debts. We
also have problems with local authorities, there is some aggression
toward us, but it is unclear what the cause of it is since Georgia
is eager to welcome new investors in the country,” Rappaport said.
“As I have declared at my last negotiations with Georgian authorities,
I am not feeling very comfortable, so I am not planning any serious
investment in Georgia. Our position is based on business logic –
if you want energy pay for it, and if there is not any money to pay,
then good-bye,” he told Gazeta.
Last summer, RAO-UES took over the Telasi electric company from the
American firm AES.
As for specific examples of aggression, Rappaport said, “for instance
the tax police tries to block our account numbers of the company. The
situation is as follows. The budget owes us about GEL 5 million for
the import of energy but we also have to pay to the budget the amount
of 3 million lari for tax payments.”
“We will not pay taxes until Georgia will pay us what they
own. Moreover, some authorities of the Georgian government try to
revise the negotiations that was signed before. We have already paid
all debts in the amount of 40 million dollars and we are going to
appeal to the court of London,” Rappaport said.
Analysts forecast that Rappaport’s statements could reflect major
problems within the Georgian energy sector, as he is chairman of the
supervisory boards of both the biggest electricity company Telasi
and the joint Georgian-Russian company Sakrusenergo.
Furthermore, he is the only person entrusted by Russian electricity
companies to resolve difficulties in Georgia; and intended this
week to hold negotiations with the Georgian government regarding
Georgia’s debts to Russia, although later he postponed his meeting
and now intends to meet the representatives of Georgia during the
CIS Summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Part of this debt is due to rehabilitation work carried out on
high-voltage lines in Abkhazia in 2000. The Ministry of Energy
agreed that the work would be partly financed by Sakrusenergo, which
contributed USD 180,000, and partly by the Abkhaz Energy Company
ChernomorEnergo, which received USD 600,000 from the Russian Energy
Ministry towards the project of rehabilitating the lines that connected
Enguri and Sochi.
The head of Sakrusenergo Gia Maisuradze told Georgian television that
“the Georgian side agreed during negotiations with the Abkhaz side to
help to restore the electricity lines that were destroyed during the
war. The then-Minister of Energy David Mirtskhulava issued a decree
and I was obliged to follow it, though these lines did not belong to
the company .”
This restored line is now a subject of controversy, as it is believed
by Georgia that it is being used to illegally move electricity from
Georgia to Abkhazia.
“The energy that is used by Abkhazia is equal to the energy that is
used by nearly the whole of Georgia. Then the Abkhaz sell this energy
in Russia and afterwards we buy the same energy back at much higher
prices,” the president Mikheil Saakashvili told members of the Abkhaz
Supreme Council on Friday.
As reports Rustavi-2, a General Prosecutor’s Office investigation
found that much of the energy produced by Enguri Hydroelectric station
was being moved to Russia through Abkhazia, after which Georgia was
buying it back at higher prices.
The investigation found that several intermediary firms, headed by
Georgian and Russian officials, were exploiting this difference in
price to make very high profits. Among these companies, the most
famous is Winfield, which was founded in 2000 (the year the Georgian
government contributed to rehabilitating the electricity lines in
Abkhazia) and is headed by Ilia Kutidze, who now lives in Moscow
where he works for RAO-UES.
Meanwhile, there are unconfirmed reports on Rustavi-2 that the
director of Sakrusenergo Maisuardze may be dismissed from his post
when Rappaport next visits Tbilisi, and replaced by former Premier
of Tbilisi Gia Sheradze.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenia to Join Polish-led Troops in Iraq
Voice of America
sept 6 2004
VOA News
Armenian military officials say their country will send 50 troops to
Iraq to join a Polish-led multinational force patrolling the country’s
central and southern regions.
The troops will be deployed under a security cooperation agreement
signed Monday in Warsaw by visiting Armenian President Robert Kocharian
and Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski.
Poland’s defense minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski says Armenia is planning
to send specialists in logistics, bomb disposal experts and doctors
in late November or early December.
Poland commands a 6,500-strong multinational contingent in Iraq. It
has been one of Washington’s staunchest allies, providing 2,500 of
its own soldiers for the force.
The French news agency reports that both presidents, at a joint news
conference, expressed their sadness and solidarity with Russia over
the school hostage tragedy.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Central Asian and Southern Caucasus Freedom of Expression Network
(CASCFEN), Azerbaijan
Aug 31 2004
Protest action of Armenian journalists
Yerevan, 28 Aug 2004 — Representatives of mass media of Armenia
today held an action of protest in the resort town of Tsakhkadzor,
which was aimed against the building of elite cottages in the forests
near the town.
ARMINFO’s correspondent informs from Tsakhkadzor, Advisor of the
president of Armenia for fight against corruption Bagrat Yesayan joined
the journalists on the way. Yesayan said that he had come to get
acquainted with the situation in the place. Talking to journalists
he did not exclude that the trees are cut down for carrying out
construction works there. But he mentioned that this process must
be regulated by a relevant legislation. Yesayan expressed hope that
similar actions will promote increase of awareness of the society
about the processes taking place in the republic. The advisor of the
president condemned the recent incident when the guard of one of the
elite cottages beat journalists who had tried to take a photograph
of the territory guarded.
During the journalistic “round” a group of policemen headed by the
Head of the Police of Hrazdan district Hunanian, tried to drive the
“uninvited” guests out of the territory. After a talk of Bagrat Yesayan
with the policemen tete-a-tete the employees of the police desponded
to clear the territory from the journalists, and the shoot was resumed.
It should be noted that these villas belong to high-ranking officials
of the country (Deputy Head of the Service of Police Armen Yeritsian,
Head of the Administration of Kotayk region Kovalenko Shahgaldian,
Head of Customs Committee Armen Avetisian) and deputies of the National
Assembly of Armenia Levon Sargsian and Gagik Tsarukian.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WINNERS OF ARMENIAN TENDER OF QUALITY HENCEFORTH TO PARTICIPATE IN
ANALOGOUS TENDERS OF CIS
YEREVAN, August 4 (Noyan Tapan). From 2004 the enterprises that won at
the annual tender on provision of quality of production and services
will participate in analogous tenders of the CIS countries. To recap,
upon the decision of the government prizes on provision of quality of
production and services have been handed since 1998 for the purpose of
encouraging the native producers.
Melkon Gasparian, the Head of the Department on Standardization and
Metrology of RA Ministry of Trade and Economic Development, told Noyan
Tapan that this year the conditions of the Armenian tender were
specified and at the same time strengthened. According to the changes,
the criteria of handing prizes at the Armenian tender are brought into
a line with the criteria of handing prizes in the CIS
countries. According to M.Gasparian, reception of bids for
participation in the tender has already begun. The names of the
organizations submitting bids will be published in late October. The
Ministries of different branches, Health, Agriculture, are proposed to
represent their opinions regarding the claimant organizations. The
organizations that won at the tender of quality will become known in
November.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress