Author: Emil Lazarian

GEORGIA READY TO EXCHANGE TERRITORIES WITH AZERBAIJAN
PanARMENIAN.Net
01.11.2006 17:03 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Within the framework of talks on delimitation
and demarcation of borders with Azerbaijan the Georgian side
is ready for exchange of nearborder territories, said Georgian
Deputy FM Georgy Mangajaladze. Tbilisi is interested in return of
David-Gareji, a Georgian architectural complex a part of which has
been on Azerbaijan’s territory since the soviet period. Some 20 cave
monasteries of David-Gareji situated 60 km southeast from the Georgian
capital city was founded in early 6th century. Frescoes with portraits
of historical figures have been preserved in them for 8-14 ages.
Georgian sources do no announce which territories can be given in
exchange for David-Gareji. According to Georgy Mangajaladze, the
state committees achieved agreement on 300 km out of 460 km of the
border. At the same time he remarked that it’s premature to speak of
the terms of signing an agreement of delimitation and demarcation of
borders yet, reported Lenta.ru.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RA PRESIDENT MET FIRST RUSSIAN VICE PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER OF ENERGY
PanARMENIAN.Net
01.11.2006 18:30 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian President Robert Kocharian met
in Moscow with First Russian Vice Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev
and Energy Minister Victor Khtistenko. The details of the meetings
are not announced. Robert Kocharian returned to Yerevan tonight,
reports RFE/RL.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN CHURCH CONSECRATED IN NORTH WESTERN RUSSIAN CITY
Armenpress
Nov 01 2006
KALININGRAD, NOVEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS; The Primate of the Armenian Church
Diocese in Russia, Bishop Ezras Nersisian, was in the north-western
town of Kaliningrad lately to consecrate a newly built Armenian Church
of Saint Stepanos.
The Armenian Bishop also consecrated an Armenian cross-stone (khachkar)
presented to the Smolensk-Kaliningrad Diocese of the Russian Orthodox
Church and erected in front of its headquarters. After the first
liturgy in the Armenian Church Bishop Nersisian addressed the present
flock calling on them to rally around the church to serve the Armenian
nation and its Church.
The church was built on a donation of Yuri Kajoyan, Armenia’s honorary
consul in Kaliningrad and chairman of the board of trustees of local
Armenian cultural autonomy. Kajoyan was awarded by Catholicos Karekin
II the Armenian medal of Saint Gregory the Illuminator.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NEW DRINKING WATER PIPELINE INAUGURATED IN ARAGATSOTN PROVINCE
Armenpress
Nov 01 2006
ASHTARAK, NOVEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS: A new water pipeline was inaugurated
today in Tsakhkahovit village of Aragatsotn province. Its construction
was funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD), while the government contributed to the purchase of pipes.
The water pipeline is fed by springs on Armenia’s highest Mountain
of Aragats taking water to several villages situated on its foot. The
construction cost was $270,000.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

LAW-ENFORCEMENT BODIES REPORT 12 PERCENT CRIME RISE
Armenpress
Nov 01 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS: Armenian law-enforcement agencies
reported a 12 percent rise in the number of crimes committed in
January-September of 2006 against the same time span of the past year.
According to fresh data, released by Armenian national statistical
committee, overall 7,529,000 crimes were reported in the first nine
months of the year, of which 68 were committed with use of firearms.
The rise from a year ago was 15.3 percent. The committee said 54
murders and 20 murder attempts were committed. Overall 837 crimes
were committed against individuals, an unprecedented 42 percent rise
from a year ago. The committee said 588 crimes against individuals
were disclosed.
The national statistical committee said also 1,677 crimes against
public security and population’s health were reported, of which 1,320
were traced down and disclosed. It also said 420 cases of road traffic
were reported, which killed 145 people. A fall in the number of crimes
against public property was reported.
Overall 258 such cases were revealed, 14.3 percent down from a year
ago. Also 215 corruption crimes were reported.
The number of crimes rose 32.9 percent in Yerevan, where 3,535 crimes
were registered. Crime rates went up also in Aragatsotn (15 percent),
Lori (23.3 percent) and Tavush (5.8 percent) provinces. In other
provinces it was down. The number of juvenile crimes was 379, by 8
more from a year ago, 149 were reported in Yerevan.
Out of 14,406 wanted criminals police tracked and arrested 1,332.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE PRIME MINISTER PREPARES GROUND FOR EFFICIENT WORK
A1+
[07:08 pm] 01 November, 2006
RA Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan promised to confirm a budget
which will allow the Prime Minster, be it him or someone else, to
work efficiently next year. After the 2007 Parliamentary elections
a new Government will be formed, and as Andranik Margaryan is not
sure about the results of the NA elections, he can’t say if he will
be Prime Minister again or not.
Today the Prime Minister represented the draft budget.
NA Standing Committees started the discussions of the 2007 state
budget; they will last two weeks. According to the draft, the income
is supposed to be 489.5 billion AMD, the expenses are supposed to be
about 557.8 billion AMD, and the deficit will be about 68.3 million
AMD. The draft budget calculates one USD as equal to 357 AMD.
The Government will improve the tax and customs legislation. As a
result of the reforms about 50 billion AMD will be gathered. The
Government hopes that import will grow by 13.5%, and export – by 16%.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA WISHES TO MAINTAIN EQUAL RELATIONS WITH ALL STATES
PanARMENIAN.Net
01.11.2006 17:13 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia wishes to build relations with all states on
the equal terms, RA Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan told reporters
on Wednesday. In his words, with establishing the principal policy of
European integration Armenia wishes to maintain equal relations with
the other states. “The commodity turnover and the level of investments
from the EU members states exceeds that from the other countries.
I think this is a natural process and do not want to change anything
either artificially or administratively,” the Prime Minister said. In
this context he remarked that Russia rates three among Armenia’s
trade partners, reports newsarmenia.ru.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WILL THE MONEY BE ENOUGH FOR SUBSIDIZING?
Lragir, Armenia
Nov 1 2006
ARG is likely to bid for increasing the tariff of natural gas. The
chief executive officer of the company Karen Karapetyan stated October
31 that he is not satisfied with the present tariff. But Karapetyan
reassured that the tariff for industries will increase.
Karen Karapetyan declined to say how much they are likely to increase
the tariff saying that they will tell when they offer the bid to the
Public Services Regulatory Commission.
The news reporters asked why, in that case, the Armenian government
assured that the tariff of gas would not grow for at least three
years. Karen Karapetyan said these statements were on the price of
gas on the border, in other words, the 110 dollars. It means that the
industries of Armenia will have to pay more. It is possible that the
government will lend a hand, which relieved the consequences of the
increase in the price of gas by using the money from the sale of the
fifth generating unit to subsidize gas. But it is foreseen for three
years, whereas when ARG increases the price of gas in the country,
it is natural that the estimations for subsidy are disrupted, and the
money may not be enough. Therefore, first the government had better
inform the enterprises whether it has more property to sell or they
have to think for themselves.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA IS UNIQUE BY ACCIDENT
Lragir, Armenia
Nov 1 2006
No small country had ever been reported to build a gas pipeline for its
market, stated Karen Karapetyan, CEO of ARG (Armrusgasard) October 31,
who told news reporters what will the fate of the Iran-Armenia gas
pipeline be. “The Republic of Armenia, its market, its volumes are,
unfortunately, so small that there is not a precedent when a small
country builds its own gas pipeline. The Republic of Armenia is unique
in this sense because it has assumed the whole burden, return of the
investments, and so on and so forth,” stated Karen Karapetyan.
But his following words make it clear that the Republic of Armenia is
unique by accident. Karen Karapetyan says a transit gas pipeline would
be possible to consider in case there was a buyer. Karen Karapetyan
does not deny, of course, that Armenia can become a country of transit
of gas, but he does not know when it will happen.
“When the gas seller and the gas buyer arrange that the first sells
and the second buys, and in deciding the transit route via Armenia is
beneficial. It is not clear when this will happen. A transit pipeline
is three times more expensive. When the market, the buyer and the
seller, does not work, one has to compensate fot this money. In this
case, only our consumer compensates. If we built a transit pipeline,
and the tariffs were set to compensate, each of you would ask why do
you build the pipeline on my expense, if there is not a market for
it?” says the chief executive officer of ARG.
In this case, of course, Armenia remains unique because when the
possibility of transit occurs, we will have to build a new pipeline
because the one under construction, which will be operated in December
cannot supply the volume required for transit. Meanwhile, this shows
that the government does not have wish rather than market for transit,
or more exactly, courage. The point is that the Georgian prime minister
had proposed to Armenia to turn the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline into a
transit pipeline, but the Armenian government did not respond. And
now the Georgians are considering the possibility of transporting
gas via the territory of Azerbaijan.
On the other hand, it may be good that it is not a transit pipeline,
because Armenia is even unable to deal with the existing small one
independently. No Armenian official has stated so far what they are
negotiating with the Russians in connection with the Iran-Armenia gas
pipeline. Karen Karapetyan is not an exception. It only became clear
from his words that Gazprom is likely to buy it but Karapetyan does
not know whether the government will agree to sell it or not. The
chief executive officer of ARG only knows that the right thing to do
is to have ARG take up the management of the pipeline. “There are two
ways of giving the pipeline to ARG: combining the share capital, and
management. It depends on the decision of the Armenian government,”
says Karen Karapetyan.
He says even if a separate company is set up to manage the
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline, the engagement of ARG is inevitable in
supplying the demand in Armenia. The point is that the 40 km section
under construction can transport an annual 400 million cu m of gas,
whereas Armenia is likely to get about 2 billion cu m gas from Iran
annually. Therefore it is necessary that ARG expands its network and
boosts the capacity of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline. “Independent
from who the investor is, it needs to reach agreement with ARG to
make investments in our gas transportation system,” states Karen
Karapetyan. According to Karapetyan, it is preferable that the owner
of the company attends to this expansion rather than the new investor
because it will cost the consumer cheaper. The CEO of ARG states that
there is already agreement with Gazprom, the owner of ARG.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISH EDUCATION MINISTER HUSSAIN CHELIK: WE ARE GRATEFUL TO AZERBAIJAN’S REACTION TO FRENCH BILL
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Nov 1 2006
The students studying at higher educational institutions in Turkey
have opportunity to collect important information on all genocide
facts against the Turkish and Azerbaijanis, APA reports.
Turkish Education Minister Hussain Chelik said that in order
to propagandize the genocide against the Turkish people widely,
special books were distributed among the universities. There are
books about the Khojali tragedy among them. The Minister is pleased
with the Azerbaijan’s position on the French Parliament’s bill making
Armenian genocide denial punishable. Chelik noted that Azerbaijan
supported Turkey on this problem and Turkish government is grateful
to Azerbaijan for this.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress