Author: Emil Lazarian

IN OPINION OF RA DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER, NO DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION PROCESS IS POSSIBLE WITHOUT PUBLIC CONSENT

Noyan Tapan
Dec 05 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 5, NOYAN TAPAN. "The process of joining the European
Union in many respects depends on the public and demands much efforts
from it."

Ambassador of Poland to Armenia Tomasz Knothe declared this at the
December 5 press conference dedicated to the process of Armenia’s
integration to European structures and Poland’s experience in the issue
of joining the European Union. He said that almost all political forces
of Poland and the prevailing majority of the country’s public held
the same opinion in the issue of Poland’s membership to EU and this
factor became one of the most important ones in the process of Poland’s
joining EU. In the Ambassador’s words, the process of joining EU is not
limited to negotiations between the authorities of this or that country
and Brussels: the whole public is involved into the process. "The
issue is not solved at the level of the authorities, nothing will
be achieved without the involvement of the whole public," T.Knothe
said. In this respect he drew a special attention to the process of
bringing a legislation of this or that country in correspondence with
the European one. Another participant of the press conference, RA
Deputy Foreign Minister Armen Baibourtian agreed to this opinion. "No
development of the European integration process is possible without
the public consent." The Deputy Minister said that both Armenia’s
geographical position on the crossroad on the West and the East and
its centuries-old cooperation with both Europe and Asia left a lasting
impression on the consciousness of the Armenian people. Besides,
as A.Baibourtian estimated, strong influence of European values on
the Armenian people is explained with presence of Armenian colonies
in different European countries. He said that participation in the
New European Neighborhood Policy should not be considered as a way to
the European Union: participation in this program gives no guarantees
for joining EU. Meanwhile, in his words, each country cooperates with
EU within the framework of the New European Neighborhood program and
passes a path of reforms in this context.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

STATE DUTY COLLECTION GROWS BY 11.6% IN ARMENIA IN JANUARY-OCTOBER 2006 ON SAME PERIOD OF LAST YEAR

Noyan Tapan
Dec 05 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 5, NOYAN TAPAN. In January-October 2006, the RA
state budget’s state duty revenues made 16.1 bln drams (about 37.9
mln USD), which ensured 85.4% of the annual program on state duty
collection. According to the RA Ministry of Finance and Economy,
the total amount of state duties grew by 11.6% or 1.7 bln drams on
the same period of 2005, which was mainly conditioned by an increase
in revenues from consulate services and state registration activity,
payments for provision of legal documents to natural persons and
payments from licensing of activities. In January-October 2006, non-tax
revenues of the state budget made 27.7 bln drams, exceeding by 51.5%
the programmed annual index, which was mostly due to the payment made
for the right to conduct negotiations as a result of privatization of
the Zanagezur Copper and Molybdenum Plant CJSC. Non-tax revenues grew
by 10.2% on the same period of last year. It is noteworthy that funds
of extrabudgetary accounts opened by the decision of the RA government
for state institutions were included in non-tax revenues. In the first
ten months of 2006, the budgetary revenues from capital operations
made about 12.4 bln drams, 11.1 bln drams of which was received from
alienation of lands representing state property and 1.3 bln drams –
from sale of fixed assets. Revenues from capital operations secured
94.2% of the programmed annual index.

MINISTER: ARMENIA REMAINS ONE OF MAJOR ENERGY PLAYERS IN THE REGION

Regnum, Russia
Dec 5 2006

Despite the fact that 80% of Armenia’s energy capacity is under
control of Russian companies, the country lost nothing, moreover,
it gained, Armenia’s Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan said in an
interview to Golos Armenii newspaper. According to him, Armenia
depended on Russian energy carriers on 80% even before, so it depended
on Russia’s policy. "Our nuclear power plant was functioning thanks
to the nuclear fuel delivered from Russia, and thermoelectric power
stations were directly dependant on supplies of the Russian gas,"
the minister noted. He added that all Russia’s profit completed on the
border with Armenia: it was not interested in anything further. "Now
we have made their profit closer to our power generating facilities
and tied it to solution of our problems," Armen Movsisyan believes.

The energy minister said that if before only two of the four energy
reactors of the Hrazdan NPP could be enacted, today, after handing
the NPP over to Russia, all the energy reactors can be launched due
to works carried out by the new owner. If the Russian side was only
delivering nuclear fuel for the NPP, now, after receiving it under
its financial control they need to provide for its profitable and
sustainable functioning.

Besides, Armen Movsisyan noted that "whoever owns our power generating
facilities and other energy facilities, one cannot act in contradiction
to our national policy, as one will have no ways of influencing
our national interests," the minister said adding that according
to the national energy policy, the NPP, power lines and control
over electricity supply networks are owned by the state and cannot
be privatized.

The energy minister also said that Armenia was and is one of major
independent energy players in the region. "The region, let me remind,
where from year to year deficit of electricity is only increasing,
and Iran and Georgia, and even Russia need electric power. There is
no deficit in Armenia only," Armen Movsisyan concluded.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SERBIAN FM ACCUSES WEST OF DOUBLE STANDARDS

Serbianna.com, MI
Dec 5 2006

BRUSSELS, Belgium-Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic accused the
international community of applying double standards in its dealings
with Kosovo and urged the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe not to trample over its own principle of respecting the
territorial integrity of its members.

Draskovic told a meeting of foreign ministers from the OSCE’s 56
member states that Serbia will not accept independence for Kosovo
and complained that all proposed solutions of the final status of
the province ignore Serbia’s interests.

"We are victims of double standards. Serbia is being considered
a unique case. No borders can be changed except those of Serbia,"
Draskovic said. "This summit should send a clear message that Serbia
is a state like any other state and that its internationally recognized
borders cannot be altered or renamed against its will."

The two-day conference of the trans-Atlantic security group focused
on Europe’s "frozen" conflicts in ex-Soviet republics and Kosovo,
which has been run by a U.N. administration as an international
protectorate since 1999, after NATO airstrikes ended a crackdown by
Belgrade on separatist ethnic Albanian rebels.

The United Nations has been mediating talks on the province’s
future status. A solution has been postponed until after Jan. 21
parliamentary elections in Serbia for fears a decision unfavorable to
Serbia could bring radical forces back to power, but Draskovic said
U.S. undersecretary of state Nicholas Burns told him there would be
no more delays.

The meeting also centered on long-running disputes in ex-Soviet
countries, the so-called "frozen" conflicts in the breakaway Georgian
regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where Russian peacekeepers are
accused by Georgia of siding with the separatists; on the pro-Russian
separatist Trans-Dniester province of Moldova; and on the disputed
Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

Russia clashed with the United States and western European nations over
its military involvement on Georgian and Moldovan territories, refusing
to discuss its commitment to withdraw troops and effectively ruining
chances of a common declaration at the security conference Tuesday.

The OSCE also assessed Kazakhstan’s candidacy for 2009 chairmanship
of the trans-Atlantic security group, but was likely to recommend that
the Central Asian country takes over the rotating annual presidency a
year or two later to have more time to implement democratic reforms,
despite Kazakhstan’s refusal to accept a delay to its bid.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the OSCE of one-sided
efforts to push through what he called "politicized solutions" to
conflicts in former Soviet republics where the Russians are heavily
involved.

"They don’t like to be nailed down and told by others what to do," an
OSCE official said, adding that Russia refused to discuss withdrawal
from Trans-Dniester and the two Georgian regions despite being
pressed by many countries to do so. The official spoke on condition
of anonymity because the meeting continued.

Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht, whose country holds the
Vienna, Austria-based OSCE’s rotating presidency this year, also said
a possible solution was emerging on the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"We have made substantial progress, if not a breakthrough," De
Gucht said. "Trust between the two countries has grown considerably,
therefore it is highly possible that next year you will see a solution
to Nagorno-Karabakh."

Armenia and Azerbaijan are discussing terms of holding a referendum
on the status of the mountainous region in Azerbaijan that has been
under control of Armenian and ethnic Armenian Karabakh forces since
the 1994 end of a separatist war.

De Gucht said no agreement was possible on the situation in Georgia
at the current conference.

"There is a clear refusal on the Russian side to even discuss it,"
he told reporters.

The OSCE, a leading international security organization founded in
1975, is concerned particularly with conflict prevention, election
observing, crisis management and rehabilitation of post-conflict areas.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT HOLDS ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN IN A STATE OF "NO PEACE-NO WAR" – AMERICAN EXPERT
Author: A.Ismaylova

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Dec 5 2006

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict holds Armenia and Azerbaijan in a state
of "no peace-no war, R. Nicholas Burns, the U.S. Secretary of State
Assistant for Political Affairs, Head of the U.S. Delegation at the
OSCE Ministerial Meeting, stated, Trend reports.

Similarly, the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict prevents the
return of hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced persons,
he added. Regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh, we thank Russia and France,
our Minsk Group Co-Chairs. We have developed with the leaders of
Azerbaijan and Armenia a reasoned approach which promises to lead
to a negotiated settlement. Our organization should now call on the
leaders to turn these ideas into an agreement, Burns said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SEVERE INTOXICATION FROM TINNED VEGETABLES

A1+
[01:38 pm] 06 December, 2006

On December 5, at 10:50 resident of Shirak region village Hovuni
Karine Ayvazyan (b. 164) was taken to hospital with severe food
intoxication. The reason of the intoxication was tinned tomatoes she
ate earlier that day.

According to the doctors, the situation of the patient is grave.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN OFFICER WOUNDED IN IRAQ RECUPERATING

Armenpress
Dec 05 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 5, ARMENPRESS: Armenian defense minister Serzh
Sarkisian said today senior lieutenant Georgi Nalbandian, who had
been wounded while on duty in Iraq in early November, was recuperating.

Nalbandian was transported to Germany for treatment in an American
military hospital.

The 25-year-old senior lieutenant of the Armenian peacekeeping
contingent in Iraq lost his right leg below the knee in a mine
explosion and received fragmentation wounds to his left leg.

The minister said today that after recuperation Nalbandian will return
to Armenia to continue his service to the homeland. The minister said
Nalbandian may recuperate in 2-3 weeks, but added that he may go to
another country for prosthesis. He also said Nalbandian’s brother
may soon fly to Germany to see him.

Sarkisian went today to parliament to ask the lawmakers to extend
the presence of a small Armenian peace-keeping contingent in Iraq
for another 12 months. Yerevan’s small contingent of 46 non-combat
servicemen operates in a multinational division headed by Poland. It
comprises military trucks drivers, sappers and medics.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA HARVESTS 483,000 TONS OF POTATO

Armenpress
Dec 05 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 5, ARMENPRESS: Potato growers in Armenia have
harvested 483,000 tons of potato, 6 percent down from what they
gathered last year, agricultural ministry said.

Arsen Avakian, a senior official of the ministry, said the bulk of the
potato crop , almost 54 percent-was gathered in Gegharkunik province,
followed by Armavir where 44,000 tons of potato were harvested and
Lori with 38,000 tons.

Growth of 13 percent was reported in Gegharkunik, 41 percent in Kotayk
and 10 percent in Ararat, whereas in all other provinces the amount
of harvest fell down.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GUAM OPPOSE TO NK’S CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM
By Aghavni Harutyunian

AZG Armenian Daily
06/12/2006

The Brussels sitting of GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova)
Foreign Ministers’ Council ended by a statement in which along
with other issues GUAM touched upon constitutional referendum in
Karabakh labeling it as "violation of the Azerbaijani constitution,
international laws and principles".

Moreover, GUAM Foreign Ministers voiced concern about the
constitutional referendum violating the present peace process.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

STILL CONSTRUCTING
By Aghavni Harutiunian

AZG Armenian Daily
06/12/2006

The construction of the Kars-Akhalqalak-Tbilisi railway will start
in the spring of 2007. According to Prime Minister of Georgia Zurab
Noghaideli, workgroups are already being formed and the negotiation
process is to be finished by late March 2007 with signing a trilateral
intergovernmental agreement. The first part of the railroad will
be reconstructed in eh spring and the second – built in the end of
the year.

Azerbaijan will put up $150 million for the construction of the
Georgian 30 kilometer-long part.

The sum is to be repaid with the incomes from goods transportation. The
sum necessary for the construction of the rest of the Georgian part
($220 million) will be invested by Turkey.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress