Author: Dabaghian Diana

Government makes “deal” with Russian company to get cheap gas – Armenian paper
Aykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
31 Mar 06
Excerpt from report by Ayk Gevorkyan in Armenian newspaper Aykakan
Zhamanak on 31 March headlined “Another crime”
Reliable sources say that Armenia and Russia have make another shameful
deal, according to which the fifth block of the Razdan power plant
and the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline will be handed over to Russia
[for management]. This took place to avoid a hike of the Russian
gas price for Armenia. The [Russian company] Gazprom delegation has
been in Armenia since yesterday [30 March], and this [deal] confirms
[Armenian Defence Minister] Serzh Sarkisyan’s statement that the gas
price will hike not that much as has been predicted.
The price for Russian gas remains the same on the [Armenian] border:
110 dollars per 1,000 cu.m. But the cost of the fifth block of the
Razdan power plant for the Russians will be almost equal to the hike
of the gas price. That is to say, Armenia sells the power plant’s
fifth block to Gazprom free of charge. Over a certain period, Gazprom
does not pay [for the fifth block] and sells gas cheaper than it was
predicted. As our source from the [Armenian] Energy Ministry says,
the figures will be finally settled in several days, and the fifth
block will be handed over to Russians for 250m dollars.
This is simply shameful as Armenia has been planning to reach an
agreement with Iran regarding the exploitation of the fifth block
of the Razdan power plant, according to which Iran would allocate a
150m-dollar credit for new equipment at the power plant and Armenia
would repay the credit with electricity produced by the fifth block. In
that case, the fifth bloc would remain Armenia’s property. [Passage
omitted: reiteration]
But now we give our property to Russia for having cheap gas during two
and a half years. Iran has also been planning to allocate a 400m-dollar
credit for the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline and the construction of a
new high-voltage Iran-Armenia power line without gaining the right
for property. All these projects are annulled now.
Theoretically, Iran may obstruct this deal with Gazprom, but in
fact, it would hardly do this. According to certain information,
Iran has agreed to stay neutral so that in future Russia not hinder
the fulfilment of Iran’s nuclear programme.
The agreement with Russians again shows that our authorities are
unprincipled and populist. The point is that the aforesaid two and a
half years come to an end precisely when [Armenian President Robert]
Kocharyan’s presidential term expires.

Delegation Headed by Bogdan Borusewicz, Senate Speaker of the
Republic of Poland To be in Armenia on an Official Visit
National Assembly of RA, Armenia
March 31 2006
On April 3-4 the delegation headed by Bogdan Borusewicz, Speaker
of the Senate of the Republic of Poland will be in the Republic of
Armenia on an official visit. Members of Senate, representatives of
Government, businessmen will be in the delegation.
On April 3 Robert Kocharyan, RA President, Andranik Margaryan, RA
Prime Minister, His Holiness Garegin II, Catholicos of All Armenians
will receive at Holy See Echmiadzin the delegation headed by Bogdan
Borusewicz, Senate Speaker of the Republic of Poland.
The same day the delegation members will put wreath at the memorial
complex of the Great Genocide will visit Matenadaran (depository of
manuscripts), will meet the representatives of Polish community.
On April 4 the delegation will have meetings in the National
Assembly with NA President Artur Baghdasaryan, NA Vice Presidents,
committee chairmen, heads of group-factions. A meeting is envisaged
with businessmen.
The official visit of Bogdan Borusewicz, Speaker of the Senate of
the Republic of Poland will be wrapped up with joint press conference.

KING VRAMSHAPUH AND SAHAK PARTHEV
Lragir.am
30 March 06
On the 1600th anniversary of invention of letters the Central Bank of
Armenia will issue two sets of silver coins on March 31, dedicated
to King Vramshapuh and Catholicos Sahak Parthev. The press service
of the Central Bank informed the news agency ARKA that the nominal
value of the coins is 100 drams. The coins are made of solid 925
silver and weigh 31.1 grams. Each set contains 500 coins.
On the one side of the coin the emblem of the Republic of Armenia
is pictured, beneath it the nominal value of the coin is. On the
other side of the coin King Vramshapuh and Catholicos Sahak Parthev
are pictured.

ARMENIAN FILMMAKER TO JUDGE EUROPEAN CINEMA
By Tamar Minasian
AZG Armenian Daily
31/03/2006
On March 28, filmmaker Harutyun Khachatrian received an invitation to
join the European Film Academy with a right of vote. The press release
of the Golden Apricot film festival informs that voting members of
the EFA are filmmakers renowned in Europe. The filmmakers vote for
the European Film Awards.
The EFA was founded in 1989 by Ingmar Bergman and 40 filmmakers. “It
will be honor to see you among our members. We are sure that your
presence will contribute to the progress of the European Film Academy
as well as will improve artistic value of the European cinema,”
the invitation letter reads.

KARABAKH CONFLICT FORGOTTEN IN EUROPE?
By Susanna Margarian
AZG Armenian Daily
30/03/2006
Erik Boel, chairman of the European Movement for Denmark, is visiting
Armenia these days. Before arriving in Yerevan he was in Baku where
he met Azeri diplomats, NGO representatives, the Commission for
European Integration and independent experts. Either in Armenia or
in Azerbaijan Mr. Boel sought to familiarize with pro-European forces.
The European official, who is in Armenia at the invitation of the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation, visited the Monument of Armenian
Genocide and the Genocide Museum and laid a wreath. Though recognition
of the Armenia Genocide by Turkey is not included in the so-called
Copenhagen criteria as a prerequisite for the country’s membership,
“it will be useful for Turkey to put up with its past as well as
reconcile with the Armenian people,” Mr. Boel stated reminding
Germany’s example. Speaking of Genocide recognition and double
standards that surround this issue, Mr. Boel underscored that his
state and he personally believe that what happened in 1915 was a
factual genocide. Nevertheless, Denmark is so far among the states
that have not officially recognized the Genocide. Perhaps this stands
for the Dane’s laconic inscription in the memory book: “Let us never
forget this tragedy.”
Speaking of Danish public opinion on Nagorno Karabakh issue,
Mr. Boel said: “To be frank, it is one of the forgotten conflicts in
the European environment. We have a close watch on conflicts in the
Middle East and Kosovo but unfortunately not in Karabakh.” The guest
will not visit Nagorno Karabakh this time, but he reads books on the
conflict and meets people in order to probe the issue.

FORMER PRIME MINISTER TALKS ON ARMENIA’S FUTURE AT U. MICHIGAN
By Michael Coulter, Michigan Daily; SOURCE: U. Michigan
Michigan Daily via U-Wire
University Wire
March 14, 2006 Tuesday
ANN ARBOR, Mich.
Some say the most important dates in Armenian history occurred
thousands of years ago, but the nation has also undergone important
changes in its recent history.
Hrant Bagratyan, the former Armenian prime minister, said Armenia now
needs to go through a second wave of political and economic reforms
to emerge as a modern nation.
University of Michigan students and professors filled the Kalamazoo
Room of the Michigan League Monday night to listen to Bagratyan
speak about his time as prime minister from 1993 to 1996 and about
the continuing work he says needs to be done in Armenia today.
Bagratyan became prime minister at the age of 35, and is considered
the architect of Armenia’s transition to a market economy after the
fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
His lecture, titled “Adapting to New Economic Values: Armenia in
Transition,” focused on progress and evolution in Armenia.
He also spoke about the problems that arose after the first wave of
reforms in the post-Soviet era, such as the difficulties stemming
from privatizing businesses and industry after years of heavy state
control over the economy.
Bagratyan explained some of those issues using amusing, yet informative
analogies.
“An empire should be like a cake that’s on the table until everyone
has a piece,” he said. “Once all the cake is gone, it should be over.”
He likened Armenia to a car that can only move forward if all the
pieces are working properly.
Since resigning as prime minister, Bagratyan has held a variety of
positions, but he is currently the vice president of an Armenia-based
brandy company, one of the oldest companies in Armenia.
“He has first-hand experience in changing a part of the 20th century,
and he will go down in history,” said History Prof. Gerard Libaridian.
Libaridian, who organized the lecture, said he expected a large and
diverse crowd of students to attend the event.
Attendee Christine Harper, a graduate student in the School of Public
Health, said she came to learn about how the country has recovered
since the collapse of the Soviet system.
Harper said her brother will be serving in the Peace Corps in Armenia
in June.
Another student who attended the event because of his interest in
the recovery of Armenia was RC sophomore Aram Sarkisian, who said he
came to get Bagratyan’s perspective on important governmental issues
facing Armenia.

ARMENIAN “ARMECONOMBANK”, EBRD IMPLEMENT JOINT PROGRAMS
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
March 28 2006
Yerevan, March 28. /ARKA/. The Armenian “Armeconombank” and the EBRD
are implementing five joint programs in Armenia, Ashot Hosipyan,
Executive Director of the “Armeconombank”, stated at the 1st
international banking conference on financing foreign trade opened
in Yerevan.
Hosipyan said that one of the programs is that of trade financing,
which was launched in December 2002 and has been successfully
implemented until now.
“We regard this as the most important stage of the strategic program
of our bank’s development. After receiving assistance from the
EBRD we started working with international commercial banks, using
international financial instruments without the EBRD’s assistance,”
Hosipyan said.
The conference has been organized by the EBRD and the Armeconombank .
Among the media sponsors are the “ARKA” News Agency, “Armnews” TV
channel, and “Republic of Armenia” newspaper.
Among the participants in the conference are representatives of the
Deutsche Bank, ABN-Armo bank, Citibank, Interstate Bank, as well as of
the Central Bank of Armenia, Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen,
large local and international companies and banks.

MILLENNIUM CHALLENGES CORPORATION SIGNS FIVE YEAR $235 MILLION COMPACT WITH ARMENIA
Armenpress
Mar 28 2006
WASHINGTON, D.C, MARCH 28, ARMENPRESS: On March 27 in a signing
ceremony at the State Department’s Benjamin Franklin room, Chief
Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, Ambassador
John Danilovich and Armenia’s Minister of Finance and Economy,
Vartan Khachatrian signed a $235.65 million Compact between MCC and
the Republic of Armenia.
MCC Chair Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice officiated and
witnessed the signing. She was joined by Armenia’s Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian. Over one million Armenians, about 35 percent of the
population, live in rural areas and are dependent on semi-subsistence
agriculture. Farmers operate on small plots of land and are constrained
by poor roads, inadequate irrigation and an under-developed market
economy.
To overcome these constraints, Armenia’s Millennium Challenge
Compact aims to reduce rural poverty through a sustainable increase
in the economic performance of the agricultural sector. The Compact
consists of two investments: a Rural Road Rehabilitation Project and
an Irrigated Agriculture Project. The program will directly impact
75% of the rural population and is expected to significantly increase
the annual incomes of rural poor.
“I congratulate the people of Armenia for developing a results-focused
and transformational program that will improve the lives of the
poor,” said MCC CEO John Danilovich. “MCC assistance will be used
to rehabilitate roads needed for Armenians living in rural areas to
access social services such as healthcare and markets to sell their
products. The Compact also includes funding for projects that will
increase the productivity of farm households through improved water
supply, higher yields, higher-value crops, and a more competitive
agricultural sector.
Armenia is a valued partner and we look forward to supporting
their efforts to build a better life for all Armenians.” Ambassador
Danilovich added, “Continued eligibility for Millennium Challenge
Account funds depends on adherence to our indicators measuring
performance in ruling justly, investing in people, and encouraging
economic freedom. MCC will continue to monitor Armenia’s policy
performance in these three categories throughout the life of the
Compact.”
Since its establishment in 2004, MCC has signed Compacts totaling more
than $1.5 billion with eight nations: Madagascar, Honduras, Cape Verde,
Nicaragua, Georgia, Benin, Vanuatu, and Armenia. MCC is also actively
engaging with other eligible countries in Compact negotiations. The
Armenia Compact is focused on one goal: the reduction of rural poverty
through a sustainable increase in the economic performance of the
agricultural sector. Armenia plans to achieve this goal through a
five-year program of strategic investments in rural roads, irrigation
infrastructure and technical and financial assistance to improve
the supply of water and to support farmers and agribusinesses. The
Program will directly impact approximately 750,000 people, or 75%
of the rural population, and is expected to reduce the rural poverty
rate and boost annual incomes.
Rural Road Rehabilitation The Compact includes a $67 million project
to rehabilitate up to 943 kilometers of rural roads, more than a
third of Armenia’s proposed Lifeline road network. When complete,
the Lifeline road network will ensure that every rural community has
road access to markets, services, and the main road network. Under
the Compact, the Government of Armenia will be required to commit
additional resources for maintenance of the road network.
Improved Irrigation The Compact also includes a $146 million project
to increase the productivity of approximately 250,000 farm households
(34% of which are headed by women) through improved water supply,
higher yields, higher-value crops, and a more competitive agricultural
sector. This project consists of two activities: An infrastructure
activity that aims to increase the amount of land under irrigation by
40% and will improve efficiency by converting from pump to gravity-fed
irrigation, reducing water losses and improving drainage; and A
water-to-market activity that will improve the efficiency of water
delivery to farmers and boost farm productivity and profitability
through technical assistance and credit support.
Administrative and monitoring and evaluation costs of the Program
are budgeted at approximately $23 million.
Engaging Civil Society In preparing its proposal for Millennium
Challenge Account assistance, Armenia engaged in a comprehensive
consultative process that reached out to a broad cross-section
of constituents, including rural community members, NGOs and the
private sector.
Meetings were held outside of city centers to seek input on
potential program components and various media outlets were used
to reach remote areas. To increase transparency, the Government
of Armenia sponsored a process that resulted in three NGOs being
named as observers to the Government’s MCA Board of Trustees –
an inter-governmental body, chaired by the Prime Minister, and
responsible for overseeing the Compact development process. Going
forward under the Compact, a Stakeholders’ Committee will be formed
to represent the beneficiaries of the Program. The Stakeholders’
Committee will be entitled to nominate voting members from Armenia’s
NGO sector to serve alongside the government’s representatives on the
Governing Council of MCA-Armenia, the entity that will be established
to oversee and implement the Compact.
Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S.
government corporation designed to work with some of the poorest
countries in the world, is based on the principle that aid is most
effective when it reinforces good governance, economic freedom, and
investments in people that promote economic growth and elimination
of extreme poverty.

ARMENIA TO PARTICIPATE IN NATO EXERCISE
Lragir.am
27 March 06
Armenia will participate in the NATO exercise in the framework of the
Partnership for Peace program in Moldavia, on September 11-29. The
press secretary of the Ministry of Defense Seyran Shahsuvaryan told the
news agency ARKA about this. He mentioned that in 2006 the Cooperative
Best Effort and Best Partner exercises were held in the framework of
the Partnership for Peace Program as Collaborative Arrow exercise. From
Armenia participated two commissioned officers, a doctor, a signaler,
as well as а squad of eight soldiers of the peacemaking battalion
of the Armed Forces of Armenia. Seyran Shahsuvaryan informed that two
officers from Armenia participated in the opening and main conferences
of these exercises, held in Moldavia in March. The press secretary of
the defense ministry of Armenia informed that the Armenian servicemen
will participate in the closing conference in May and the working
consultation of the exercise that will take place in September.
–Boundary_(ID_on0D0AhOG+qiz6SOcRmmrw) —

Glendale News Press, CA
March 24 2006
Schiff names Women of the Year
Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat who represents Burbank and Glendale,
named Tuesday his women of the year from the cities in the 29th
District in honor of Women’s History Month.
They are: Beth Marcus of Burbank, Seta Simonian of Glendale; Angie
O’Brien of Pasadena; Betty Wang of South Pasadena; Helen Hancock of
Alhambra; Nancy Donohue of Temple City; Pat Maguire Freeman of San
Gabriel; Sandra Thomas of Altadena and Sharon Martinez of Monterey
Park.
Marcus is a family physician who practices in La Cañada Flintridge,
where she has practiced for more than 10 years on the medical staffs
of Verdugo Hills Hospital and Glendale Adventist Medical Center.
After completing her family medicine residency, she went on to
complete a fellowship in adolescent medicine, where she worked with
adolescents struggling with poverty, family estrangement, drug abuse,
homelessness, and other issues.
As Burbank Temple Emanu El’s social action chair, Marcus has
coordinated numerous efforts to help others in the Burbank, Glendale,
North Hollywood area. She has arranged blood drives, collected shoes
and clothing for impoverished children, gathered donations for
tsunami victims and hurricane victims, filled backpacks with school
supplies, assembled items for homeless women, and made sandwiches for
the hungry.
She also volunteers her time to help the PTA at Emerson Elementary
School in Burbank, and is planning to implement a nutrition program
at the school called Food is Elementary.
Simonian, a math teacher at Wilson Middle School in Glendale, was
born in Aleppo, Syria, and at age 11 moved to Beirut, Lebanon.
Upon graduating from the American University of Beirut at the age of
22, she married Hratch Simonian.
The Simonians lived and worked in Saudi Arabia for eight years, then
moved to California in 1985. Since 1987, Seta, her husband, and their
two children, Karin and Sebouh, have resided in Glendale.
Simonian co-founded and chaired the Hamazkayin Educational and
Cultural Society of Pasadena.