Author: Hakobian Adrine

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
May 8 2006

PRESIDENT ALIYEV RECEIVES A DELEGATION LED BY CHAIRMAN OF THE
PAKISTANI SENATE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS
[May 08, 2006, 22:08:07]

President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan on 8 May received the delegation
led by Chairman of the Pakistani Senate Committee on Human Rights
Senator Seyyed Muhammad Zafar.

Presenting the `Best Governed Moslem State’ Award to President Ilham
Aliyev, Senator Seyyed Muhammad Zafar said:

`Your Excellency Mr. President,

By Your permission, I wish to express to our Azerbaijani brothers
deep gratitude for high hospitality, rendered to delegation of
`Pakistan Observer’ since yesterday evening when we have arrived
here. It is a great honor to be here and on behalf of the newspaper
`Pakistan Observer’ to hand over to Your Excellency the authoritative
`Best Governed Muslim State’ Award which the President of the
Azerbaijan Republic has been bestowed on.

Dear Mr. President, this Award has been founded in 2005 by the
newspaper `Pakistan Observer’, possessing wide reader’s audience in
Pakistan, with a view of rendering assistance to development of
efficient management in the Islamic world. As a result of wide
discussions and consultations lead with participation of numerous
experts, analysts, researchers and of some other known people of
Pakistan, the editorial board of the newspaper `Pakistan Observer’
has made a decision on delivery of this Award to Your Excellency’.

Further the guest said:

`The Award is directed on development of efficient management among
the Islamic states. Correct management is the major factor and means
of realization of hopes and wishes of the people connected with more
safe life, skills to take a worthy place among nations of the world,
therefore, the establishment of such Award has been recognized
necessary.

Mr. President, in the internal policy you have undertaken such
grandiose work as reorganization of the state, have achieved
significant successes in strengthening democratic values and carrying
out of reforms in political, economic and social spheres. Among your
valuable merits it is possible to name attraction of people to
participation in the questions representing national interest,
upbringing the feelings of national pride, tolerance, education and
brotherhood. Owing to the steps undertaken by you, the people had
feeling of the unity, considered important for development and
tranquility of any people, established peace and stability.

Thanks to far-sighted policy of the great Heydar Aliyev, who headed
the recently established independent Azerbaijan state, your country
has achieved significant progress in political, economic and social
spheres’.

Senator Seyyed Muhammad Zafar further said:

`Today Azerbaijan can serve as a bright example of distribution of
idea of educational liberalism among the Islamic countries. Tolerance
existing in Azerbaijan between the Islam, Christianity, Judaism and
other religions is worthy admiration. Mr. President, one of Your
significant successes is that in Azerbaijan there are no such
problems as extreme measure and radicalism. It foretells tranquility,
which expects your country in the future. You managed to achieve
national unity in the country. You really deserve to be named as the
fair government.

Mr. President, for us it is great honor to hand over to You this
Award’.

President Ilham Aliyev has expressed gratitude for the Award. Having
noted, that Pakistan is one of the closest allies of Azerbaijan in
the world, he ascertained, that relations between two countries are
high level. President Ilham Aliyev has highly estimated complete
support by Pakistan of the fair position of Azerbaijan connected with
aggression of Armenia against the country and the Armenia-Azerbaijan,
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Projet de loi francais sur le genocide armenien: avertissements d’Ankara

Agence France Presse
3 mai 2006 mercredi 10:58 AM GMT

La Turquie a prevenu mercredi la France d’un risque de degradation
des relations bilaterales si le Parlement francais votait un projet
de loi permettant des poursuites penales contre les personnes niant
le caractère genocidaire des massacres d’Armeniens commis en 1915-17.

“Dans nos rencontres (avec des responsables francais), nous
soulignons que l’adoption de ce projet de loi pourrait conduire a des
dommages incalculables dans les liens franco-turcs et que cela ne
doit pas etre permis”, a declare a la presse le porte-parole du
ministère des Affaires etrangères Namik Tan.

M. Tan a ajoute qu’Ankara et le gouvernement francais faisaient de
leur mieux pour bloquer l’adoption du projet de loi.

Le texte, qui doit etre vote dans le courant du mois, prevoit un an
d’emprisonnement et une amende de 45.000 euros (57.000 dollars) pour
les auteurs de declarations niant que les massacres d’Armeniens
commis en Anatolie sous l’empire ottoman soient un genocide, selon la
presse turque.

Il complète une loi votee en 2001 dans laquelle la France reconnaît
caractère genocidaire des massacres.

Les Armeniens affirment que jusqu’a 1,5 million des leurs ont peri
dans un genocide orchestre par l’empire ottoman entre 1915 et 1917.

Ankara soutient que 300.000 Armeniens et au moins autant de Turcs ont
ete tues au cours de troubles suscites par des soulèvements
d’Armeniens et leur ralliement aux armees russes en guerre contre
l’empire ottoman, et lors des deportations qui ont suivi.

–Boundary_(ID_jTxVhlx/YAwcv0deutkv2g)–

“ARMENFILM” DOESN’T EXIST ANY LONGER

A1+
[05:21 pm] 04 May, 2006

The state non-governmental organization “ArmenFilm” studio after
“Hamo Beknazaryan” was renamed a state non-governmental organization
“Armenian National Film Centre.” Amendments and additions were made
on this score in the Government’s resolution N417 on “the Creation
of State Non-Governmental Organizations” of April 17, 2002.

PRESS RELEASE

Armenian Engineers and Scientist of America
417 W. Arden Ave.Suite 112C
Glendale, CA 91203
Contact: Misak Zetilyan
Tel: (626) 376-7420
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

AESA STUDENT MIXER

Armenian Engineers and Scientist of America (AESA) Inc. invites all
engineering and science college students, and recent graduates to a
mixer at the Glendale Public Library. The agenda for the evening will
include an introduction to AESA, networking between Armenian Engineers,
Scientist and fellow students.

When: Saturday, May 27 @ 5:00PM

Where: Glendale Central Library

222 E. Harvard St.

Glendale, CA 91205.

Details: pizza and refreshments will be served

Business Casual Dress

Bring your resume

FREE ADMISSION

Event Sponsors:

CitiPrime, Inc. – Real Estate Services – (818) 500-0708

MetroPrime, Inc. – Loan & Financial Services – (818) 500-1470

Mission of AESA Armenian Engineers and Scientists of America, Inc. is
committed to address the professional, technical, and scientific
needs of fellow Armenians throughout the world.

Goals of AESA * Technical and social interaction among Armenian
engineers, scientists, industrialists and architects.

* Establishing communications and promoting technological exchange
with experts in science, engineering, industry and architecture
from Armenia.

* Dissemination of the knowledge of these fields.

* Conducting educational activities and assisting Armenian educational
communities in these fields.

* Recognition of outstanding technical achievements by Armenian
professionals.

PRESS RELEASE
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address: Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact: Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel: (374 10) 517 163
Fax: (374 10) 517 301
E-Mail: [email protected]
Website:
May 3, 2006

His Holiness Karekin II to Preside at Requiem Service in Yerevan

On Saturday, May 6, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and
Catholicos of All Armenians, will preside during a Repose of Souls
Service in the Saint Gregory the Illuminator Mother Cathedral of
Yerevan. The requiem service will be offered in memory of the 113
victims of today’s Yerevan-Sochi Armavia flight airliner disaster. The
service will commence at 6:00 PM.

Earlier today, His Holiness offered his sympathies and prayers for
rest for the souls of those that perished, as well as comfort and
consolation for the families and friends of the victims.

##

ARMENIAN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION GROWS BY 3.5% IN FIRST QUARTER OF 2006

Noyan Tapan
May 02 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 2, NOYAN TAPAN. In January-March 2006, the RA gross
agricultural output made 40.2 bln drams (about 89.3 mln USD) in current
prices, which exceeds the index of the same period of last year by
3.5%. As of April 1, 6,763 ha was sown with spring cultured plants
against 3,209 as of the same day of last year, 4,585 ha of which was
sown with grain crops and groats (in 2005 – 900 ha), 1,397 ha – with
potato (1,473 ha), 722 ha – with truck crops (765 ha), and 59 ha was
sown with fodder crops (in 2005 – 66 ha). The production volumes of
main agricultural foodstuffs, except eggs, increased in January-March
2006 compared with the same period of last year. Meat and poultry
production exceeded the index of the same period of 2005 by 2 thousand
tons or 11.3%, milk production – by 5.8 thousand tons or 7.5%. Fish
catch amounted to 261.4 mln drams (131.7 tons) in January-March 2006,
exceeding by 8.4% the respective index of 2005 (in comparable prices).

AIRLINER CRASHES OFF RUSSIA: REPORTS

Reuters
Tuesday, May 2, 2006; 9:07 PM

MOSCOW (Reuters) – An Armenian Airlines aircraft carrying about 100
people on a flight from Yerevan to the Russian seaside resort of Sochi
has crashed into the Black Sea, Russian media reported on Wednesday.

RIA news agency said the emergencies ministry had sent an amphibious
plane to the scene of the crash, and that fragments of the plane were
visible on the surface of the sea.

Ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov was quoted as saying the plane was
an Airbus 320 and had vanished from radar screens at 2.15 am (6:15
p.m. EDT Tuesday) near Sochi, a Russian resort near the Georgian
border.

He said the plane was carrying at least five children, and that
difficult weather conditions were complicating the search for
survivors.

NKR President and RA Foreign Minister attach importance to the
deepening of interagency ties

ArmRadio.am
29.04.2006 14:00

April 28 NKR President Arkadi Ghukasyan received the Armenian
delegation headed by Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan. NKR
President’s Office informs that the interlocutors turned to
prospects of development of interagency cooperation between Foreign
Ministries of the two countries. Attaching importance to the programs
of deepening the existing ties, Arkadi Ghukasyan confirmed that this
will promote the reinforcement of the positions of the Armenian side
in the negotiations process.

Arkadi Ghukasayn had a separate meeting with RA Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanyan. The parties discussed the current situation of the
talks on settlement of the Karabakh conflict and exchanged views on
the recent suggestions of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

TREND Info, Azerbaijan
April 29 2006

PACE reporter on disappeared persons in Armenia, Azerbaijan and
Georgia arrives in June

Source: Trend
Author: R. Abdullayev

29.04.2006

PACE reporter on disappeared persons in Armenia, Azerbaijan and
Georgia, Leo Platvoet arrives to Azerbaijan in June to Azerbaijan,
Platvoet told at the press-conference in Baku on April 28, Trend
reports.

«My visit will be a part of PACE report preparation on situation in
South Caucasus, issues of displaced persons will be discussed in its
frames,’ Platvoet said.

Platvoet reminded about his visit to the head of office of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva, where he
discussed the report with ICRC leadership.

`I will visit the region to gather information which will be later
used in my report,’ Platvoet said.

Orange County Register, CA
April 29 2006

Foreign trade offices could make comeback

A Register investigation exposed how the offices inflated accounts of
their economic impact.

By BRIAN JOSEPH
The Orange County Register

SACRAMENTO – Three years after they were written out of the state
budget, foreign trade offices are back, with lawmakers and Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger working to revive the programs even though
they’ve never been able to prove their value.

The California Legislature in 2003 eliminated the Technology, Trade
and Commerce Agency and its 12 trade offices across the globe after
an Orange County Register investigation exposed how the offices
inflated accounts of their economic impact. The Register found
offices taking credit for any business deal in which they were even
remotely involved, resulting in at least $44.2 million in false or
overblown claims in one report alone.

Since then, legislators and private trade groups annually have tried
to resurrect the programs to no avail, but this year could be
different. Three bills in the Senate and another in the Assembly have
emerged from hearings this month with some momentum as legislators
from both parties are signaling renewed support for trade offices.

“This is a big push,” said Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian, R-Stockton,
who was carrying a bill for the governor that would have opened one
office in Mexico and two in Asia. It died in the Assembly Committee
on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy this week along with
three other trade office bills.

He is now co-authoring, with committee chair Juan Arambula, D-Fresno,
and several other Assembly members, a bill that wouldn’t directly
establish trade offices, but rather calls for the state to develop an
overall trade strategy, then determine whether trade offices could
play a role.

“The goal is to re-establish trade offices, but do it the right way
this time,” Aghazarian said.

Schwarzenegger has not taken a position on Arambula’s bill, but his
deputy assistant press secretary, Darrel Ng, said expanding trade
remains a priority for the governor and “He believes trade offices
are a component of that.”

In the Senate, the three bills there call for the private funding of
trade offices, with public disclosure of contributors on the Web and
a $10,000 limit per quarter. Like many lawmakers, Sen. Kevin Murray,
D-Los Angeles, who has two bills that would establish offices in
Seoul, Korea and Johannesburg, South Africa, views private funding as
a solution to the concerns about the previous programs.

“The problems we had previously had to do with cost effectiveness,”
he said. “This is not an issue because we’re not using state funds.”

Trade experts, however, see potential problems with privately funded
offices carrying California’s stamp of approval. With someone else
controlling the purse strings, they worry private contributors could
control offices bearing California’s name. Lawmakers counter a trade
office without the California seal would carry no weight with
potential business partners.

Said trade consultant Jock O’Connell: “If they’re producing a public
good, they should be publicly financed.”

O’Connell and other experts aren’t convinced trade offices produce
any public good. California exports increased by nearly $7 billion
last year, to $116.8 billion, the second-highest on record, according
to the Public Policy Institute of California. Howard Shatz, a
research fellow for the institute, said closing the offices has had
little impact.

“Somehow trade offices are viewed as being very important, but
there’s just not evidence that they are,” he said, noting academic
research is inconclusive on what trade offices accomplish. It appears
they don’t have much an economic impact, good or bad.

“The jury is out as to the value that these offices have,” said
Michael White, editor of the CalTrade Report, an online magazine
covering international trade as it relates to California. He said
lawmakers don’t understand the dynamics of international trade.

“They’re going to produce a mandate to reopen trade offices,” White
said, “and they’ll think they’re accomplishing something.”

What the Legislature should do, experts say, is create an
international trade agency in California that would coordinate all of
the state’s programs. Otherwise, the trade offices are on their own,
without direct oversight or leadership. O’Connell said Arambula’s
bill, which first examines the state’s role in international trade,
then considers trade offices, is a “big” step in the right direction.

Experts are also concerned the Legislature hasn’t solved all of the
problems under the previous program. Before they were shut down,
trade offices were broadly taking credit for any deal in which they
were even remotely involved under criteria that “but for” the
involvement of the trade office, the deal would not have taken place.

“Has the ‘but for’ problem been solved yet?” Shatz asked. “If we’re
not solving that up front, we’re probably setting ourselves up for a
repeat.”

Other questions remain. When the trade offices were eliminated in
2003, the Legislature reserved the power to establish a privately
funded office in Armenia as part of a political move by a lawmaker
facing re-election in a district with a large Armenian population. It
took from 2002 to 2005 to collect the necessary funds and it won’t be
until 2007 when the Legislature receives a report on the success of
the Armenian office and its oversight.

There’s also the question of whether the Legislature is duplicating
efforts by Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, who, in his role as chairman of
the California Commission for Economic Development, has established
nine unofficial trade offices, in places like Mexico City and Taipei.

These offices, which are financed and staffed by local organizations
under an agreement with the lieutenant governor, were some of the
first efforts to fund trade offices with private dollars.

THE DEBATE

Proponents want to start state-backed trade offices that are
privately funded, with full disclosure of funders on the Internet.

Opponents say it’s risky to put California’s stamp of approval on
something it does not control through funding.

Déjà vu

The state’s 12 foreign trade offices were eliminated in 2003, but
bills proceeding through the Legislature now could lead to new ones.

AB 2601: By Assemblyman Juan Arambula, D-Fresno, and several other
Assembly members of both parties. In the process of being amended.
Would require the Secretary of Business, Housing and Transportation
to study the state’s potential role in international trade then
develop an overall trade strategy, including, possibly, trade
offices.

SB 1513: By Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles. Would require the
Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing to study the
desirability of trade offices, then produce a strategy for the
Legislature if there is a need. Stipulates private funding for trade
offices, with donations limited to $10,000 per quarter. Requires
donations to be posted on the Web.

SB 1525: By Sen. Kevin Murray, R-Los Angeles. Would create a
privately funded trade office in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Donations limited to $10,000 per quarter. Donations posted on the
Web.

SB 1529: By Sen. Kevin Murray, R-Los Angeles. Would create a
privately funded trade office in Seoul, Korea. Donations limited to
$10,000 per quarter. Donations posted on the Web.