Author: Babken Chilingarian

Business Line
July 27, 2004
CCEA OKAYS TAXATION PACT WITH ARMENIA
New Delhi, July 26 – THE Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)
on Monday gave formal approval to the signing of a ‘Double Taxation
Avoidance Convention’ with Armenia.
The approval will enable the Government to ratify the ‘Convention for
Avoidance of Double Taxation’ and the ‘Prevention of Fiscal Evasion’
with respect to taxes on income between India and Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
July 25, 2004 Sunday
Armenian premier to discuss electricity in Tbilisi
By Tengiz Pachkoria
TBILISI
Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan will arrive in Tbilisi on
Sunday evening on a two-day visit. He will discuss “smaller charges
on the Armenian electricity supplied to Georgia,” Georgian Energy
Minister Nika Gilauri told the press.
“Armenian electricity charges for Georgia are higher than prices on
Russian electricity,” the minister said. “We will also discuss
parallel functioning of the Georgian and Armenian energy systems, and
Georgia’s affiliation to the Armenia-Iran energy grid. We would like
to deliver electricity to Iran via Armenia in summer and receive
Iranian electricity via Armenia in winter.”
The Armenian delegation led by Margaryan will attend a session of the
Armenian-Georgian intergovernmental commission for economic
cooperation on Monday, July 26. Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili will receive Margaryan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ITAR-TASS, Russia
July 21 2004
Georgia FM Salome Zurabishvili to visit Yerevan to discuss
cooperation prospects and regional problems

YEREVAN, July 21 (Itar-Tass) – Prospects for cooperation between
Georgia and Armenia and regional problems will be the focus of
attention at talks that are to be held between the Armenian
leadership and Georgia’s Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili, who
arrives here on Wednesday. This will be the new Georgian Foreign
Minister’s first visit to Armenia.
Zurabishvili is to meet with Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and
other members of the State leadership of the republic, and hold talks
with her Armenian counterpart Vartan Oskanyan.
The ports of Poti and Batumi on the Black Sea coast and Georgia’s
railway are the only way for the delivery of goods, specifically fuel
and food, to Armenia. “It is very important to Armenia that Georgia
be a stable and dynamically developing state,” Robert Kocharyan
pointed out.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Xinhua News Agency – French
July 19, 2004 Monday
Le Parti socialiste francais “favorable” a l’entree de la Turquie
dans l’UE
PARIS
Le Parti socialiste de France a reaffirme lundi, premier jour de la
visite en France du Premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan, qu’il
etait “favorable” a l’entree de la Turquie dans l’UE a condition que
les “criteres d’adhesion” soient respectes par Ankara.
“Nous sommes fideles aux engagements de la France qui remontenta tres
loin. Ce n’est pas l’entree de la Turquie qui fait l’actualite
d’aujourd’hui, c’est plutot la discussion sur les criteres
d’adhesion. Nous, nous y sommes favorables, a condition que ces
criteres soient respectes” par Ankara, a declare a la presse la
porte-parole du PS Annick Lepetit.
Elle a indique que le Premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan
“sera recu a sa demande” mercredi (10h30) par le premier secretaire
du PS, Francois Hollande.
“Il faut saluer les efforts qui sont faits par la Turquie, memesi
tous ces criteres ne sont pas encore atteints. Je pense notamment a
la question des droits de l’Homme et a la reconnaissance du genocide
armenien”, a-t-elle poursuivi.
La porte-parole a souligne “l’embarras qui doit etre celui de Jacques
Chirac” sur ce dossier. “C’est quand meme le parti chiraquien, l’UMP,
qui n’a rien trouve de mieux pendant la campagne des europeennes que
de faire voter sa direction contre l’entree de la Turquie en Europe”,
a rappele Mme Lepetit.
Erdogan entame lundi une visite officielle de trois jours en France.
Il doit evoquer la candidature de son pays a l’UE avec lesplus hautes
autorites de la France et les dirigeants des principaux partis
politiques francais.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Eurofunding.com, France
July 5 2004
Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia included in the European
Neighbourhood Policy.
Commissioner Janez Potoènik will visit Georgia, Azerbaijan and
Armenia on 5-8 July. The visits follow the decision by the Council to
include this countries in the European Neighbourhood Policy.
Commissioner Janez Potoènik will visit Georgia on 5-6 July,
Azerbaijan on 6-7 July and Armenia on 7-8 July. The visits follow the
decision by the Council on 14 June to include the three Southern
Caucasian countries in the European Neighbourhood Policy. Mr Potoènik
will welcome the countries into the European Neighbourhood Policy and
explain the significance of the initiative to his counterparts.
Commissioner Potoènik will meet with the Presidents and the Prime
Ministers of the three countries. He will also hold meetings with
other government members, members of Parliament and opposition
leaders. He will take the opportunity to address wider audiences,
including civil and business societies, on the ENP and its
significance for the Southern Caucasus.
Mr Potoènik will explain the objectives of the ENP initiative to his
counterparts and set out the next steps to be made by the countries
in order to follow-up on the Council decision. The bilateral talks
will also touch on the EU’s relations with these countries more
generally. Mr Potoènik will encourage the partners to put special
emphasis on conflict resolution and prevention and underline the
importance of strengthening regional cooperation.
The visit takes place in the context of the EU’s continuing efforts
to strengthen political relations with the region and to be more
actively involved in conflict prevention, confidence-building
measures and post conflict rehabilitation.
On 14 June the Council decided to include Georgia, Azerbaijan and
Armenia in the European Neighbourhood Policy. At the same time, the
Council endorsed the Commission’s strategy for putting the ENP into
action.
The objective of the European Neighbourhood Policy is to share the
benefits of the EU’s 2004 enlargement with neighbouring countries –
i.e. stability, security and well-being – in a way that is distinct
from EU membership. It is designed to prevent the emergence of new
dividing lines between the enlarged Union and its neighbours and to
offer them an increasingly close relationship with the EU involving a
significant degree of economic integration and a deepening of
political cooperation.
The ENP will also help address one of the strategic objectives the
European Union set in the European Security Strategy in December
2003, that of building security in our neighbourhood.
Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia all have Partnership and Cooperation
Agreements in force with the EU. The EU will consider the possibility
of developing jointly agreed Action Plans, as foreseen by the ENP
strategy, with the three countries on the basis of their individual
merits.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Interfax
July 2, 2004
Armenian police target sex slave trade
Yerevan. (Interfax) – Two people are under arrest following a joint
operation undertaken by Russian Interior Ministry and the Armenian
police service, aimed at curbing the activities of criminal groups
involved in selling girls in Armenia into sex slavery in the United
Arab Emirates.
“After the abduction the girls were moved to Russia where documents
were made to move them to the United Arab Emirates to be exploited as
sex laborers,” Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev told a news
conference in Yerevan on Friday.
Two Russian citizens have been arrested one of whom was in charge of
sending the girls on their way from Moscow’s Domodedovo airport and the
other rented “decent apartments” in Moscow where they were kept before
flying to their destination.
Nearly 100 cases of abduction have been documented, he said.
Asked about the so-called Armenian Mafia, Nurgaliyev said that it would
be wrong to believe that just one ethnic group is involved in criminal
activities. But he admitted Armenians are in command of about five
criminal mobs in Russia. The work aimed at stopping them is being
carried out with the aid of the Armenian police, he said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian opposition holds new protest
Associated Press Worldstream
June 16, 2004 Wednesday
YEREVAN, Armenia — Opposition leaders in Armenia held the latest
in a series of anti-government protests on Wednesday and accused the
authorities of trying to fool European human rights representatives
by easing a crackdown against opponents during their visit.
About 5,000 people gathered in the capital for a protest in central
Yerevan, the capital of the former Soviet republic, where speakers
denounced the foreign and economic policies of President Robert
Kocharian and his government.
Opposition leader Stepan Demirchian said the authorities “imitated
democratic reforms” during a recent visit by representatives of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, or PACE.
An opposition party leader was released from jail the day the
envoys arrived in Armenia, and prosecutors dropped a criminal case
against official of the same party the day they left, speakers said.
Wednesday’s protest was the first this year to be held with government
permission.
Opposition leaders in the small, poverty-plagued Caucasus Mountain
country have organized a series of protests this spring aimed at
forcing the resignation of Kocharian, who won a second term last year
in an election they claim was marred by fraud.