Author: Hambardsumian Paul

GROWTH IN EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA REGION ACCELERATES TO 6.8 PERCENT, WORLD BANK SAYS
YEREVAN, APRIL 7, ARMENPRESS: Economic growth increased in the
Europe and Central Asian region by 6.8 percent in 2004, while global
growth reached 3.8 percent-the fastest rate in four years, says the
World Bank’s Global Development Finance 2005: Mobilizing Finance
and Managing Vulnerability. In Europe and Central Asia, the growth
reflects a positive international trade and capital flows environment,
as well as the benefits of continued reform, including improvements
in investment climate and governance across much of the region.
The positive impact of EU accession in Central Europe and the Baltics,
and progress with candidacy for EU membership in Bulgaria, Croatia,
Romania, and Turkey are also contributing to growth. Other factors
include continued political stability in Southeastern Europe, and
the positive impact of high commodity prices in the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS).
“Europe and Central Asia’s growth is outpaced only by East Asia’s,”
comments Pradeep Mitra, Chief Economist in the World Bank’s Europe and
Central Asia unit. “Rising oil prices have certainly played a part, but
more important are continuing reforms, democratization, and increased
political stability, which underpin the continued surge in investment.”
Globally, developing countries outgrew high-income countries, and
the gains were widespread-all developing regions grew faster in 2004
than their average over the past decade. But global growth momentum
has peaked, and developing country gains are vulnerable to risks
associated with adjustments to ballooning global imbalances-especially
the $666-billion U.S. current account deficit.
Specifically, inflationary pressures are building in Europe and
Central Asia, which could lead to tighter domestic monetary policy,
which, in combination with expected increases in world interest rates,
should mean higher regional interest rates, slowing investment, and a
dampening of consumption demand. Coupled with the negative influence
of a strong real effective appreciation by a number of the region’s
larger economies, and a leveling off of oil incomes, regional growth is
expected to slow to about 5.5 percent in 2005 and 4.9 percent by 2006.
The strong global performance was underpinned by solid U.S. growth
and rapid expansion in China, India, and Russia. Record expansion of
6.6 percent in developing countries was encouraged by favorable global
conditions and supported by years of domestic policy improvements. As a
result, financial flows to developing countries during 2004 reached
levels not seen since the onset of the financial crises of the
late 1990s.
Net private capital flows, including debt and equity to developing
countries, increased by $51 billion to $301.3 billion in 2004. Of this,
net foreign direct investment (FDI) totaled $165.5 billion, up by $13.7
billion in 2004. FDI to Europe and Central Asia has stabilized over
the past three years at 23 percent of the developing-world total,
significantly above its 9 percent share in 1994. In 2004, FDI to
the region reached an estimated $37.6 billion, up from $35.6 billion
in 2003.
Developing countries themselves continued to increase their exports of
capital in tandem with their strengthening current account balances,
which reached an aggregate surplus of $124 billion in 2004. FDI
outflows from developing countries rose to an estimated $40 billion
in 2004, up from $16 billion in 2002; these outflows are coming,
for the most part, from the same countries receiving the bulk of
private capital inflows, namely Brazil, China, Mexico and Russia.
“This recovery of financial flows is a welcome sign of renewed market
interest in developing countries and a tribute to the substantial
strengthening in economic fundamentals achieved in many countries,”
says Francois Bourguignon, the World Bank’s Senior Vice President
for Development Economics and Chief Economist. “But we should also
keep in mind that current global financial imbalances pose risks-of
disorderly exchange rate movements, or of interest rate increases-that
could threaten these gains. Developing countries need to prepare
themselves for adjustments, some of which could be sudden.”
The report points to a baseline scenario in which tightening of
U.S. fiscal policy and higher interest rates-along with strong growth
among developing countries-starts to redress global imbalances and
reduce the U.S current account deficit. But it also highlights the
risks to this outlook, and argues that developing countries need to
reduce their vulnerability to shifts in market sentiment prompted by
higher-than-expected interest rate hikes, or a greater-than-expected
depreciation of the U.S. dollar.

PRESS RELEASE
GenocideEvents.com
3115 Foothill Blvd, Suite M-293
La Crescenta, CA 91214
Contact: Armen Vartanian
Tel: 818-581-6144
E-mail: [email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, April 7, 2005
The Genocide and the Armenian Response in the 21st Century
On the occasion of the 90’th anniversary of The Armenian Genocide,
the community is invited to a public lecture by Armen Ayvazyan,
PhD in political science and history, titled ” The Genocide and the
Armenian Response in the 21st Century ” on Tuesday, April 19, 2005 at
7:30 pm, at Glendale Royal Palace, located at 201 S. Brand Blvd., in
City of Glendale, California. The speaker will address the impact of
the Genocide on today’s reality, the Turkish denial of the Genocide,
its implications for Armenia’s security and the most effective way of
modern Armenian response. There is a general admission fee of $ 15.00.
Dr. Armen Aivazian is a Senior Researcher in the Matenadaran, the
Yerevan Institute of Medieval Manuscripts and an Assistant Professor
of Political Science at the American University of Armenia. He is also
the Team Leader of the European Commission’s sponsored Campaign Against
“Corruption-Freindly” Legal and Social Settings in Armenia program.
He holds doctoral degrees in History (1992) and Political Science
(2004). From 1992 to 1994 he worked as Assistant to the President
of Armenia, Adviser to the Foreign Minister of Armenia, and Acting
Head of the Armenian Delegation to the Conference (now Organization)
on Security and Cooperation in Europe at Vienna. He was a recipient
of an International Security Studies grant provided by the Carnegie
Corporation of New York, working in affiliation with the Program
on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflicts, Maxwell School of
Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University (1995). During the
1997-1998 academic year, he was a Visiting Senior Fulbright Scholar,
affiliated with the Center for Russian and East European Studies,
Stanford University, USA. He was a Visiting Alexander S. Onassis
Foundation Fellow at ELIAMEP, Hellenic Foundation for European and
Foreign Policy (2000-2001). Dr. Aivazian was also a Fellow at the
American University of Armenia’s Center for Policy Analysis and a
Guest Lecturer at the Yerevan State University. Dr. Aivazian is the
author of several books, book chapters, and many articles in Armenian
and international journals.
While visiting the United States, Dr. Armen Aivazyan has been scheduled
to appear on numerous media programs and series of lectures to be
announced in the near future. For further information, please contact
the organizing commitee: Friends of Armen Aivazyan at (818) 653-5516

Conflicting sides appeal to UN over ceasefire violations
AzerNews
6-15 April 05
Azerbaijan and Armenia have appealed to the United Nations over
the frequent ceasefire violations, according to Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.
The OSCE chairman’s special envoy Anzhei Kaspshik has said he is
concerned with the persistent ceasefire breaches. Another monitoring
will be held on the frontline in two weeks, he said. Kaspshik admitted,
however, that the OSCE is unable to prevent ceasefire violations,
as this is outside its mandate.
The ceasefire has been violated more than 50 times over the past two
months alone. The casualties on both sides have amounted to 40 for
the first time in seven years.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V. Rev. Fr. Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
THE CATHOLICOSATE OF CILICIA OFFERS CONDOLENCES TO THE PAPAL EMBASSY IN HARISA
A delegation representing His Holiness Aram I visited the Papal Embassy
in Harisa on April 5 to express condolences for the death of Pope John
Paul II. Bishop Kegham Khatcherian, primate of the diocese of Lebanon,
headed the delegation which also included Bishop Nareg Alemezian and
a group of priests.
The delegation offered condolences on behalf of the Catholicos and
praised the efforts of the late Pope to reform the church and revive
spiritual and moral values among the youth.
Bishop Khatcherian praised the Pope’s efforts to establish peace and
justice in the church and the world.
##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates
of the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the
Ecumenical activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer
to the web page of the Catholicosate, The
Cilician Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is
located in Antelias, Lebanon.

NKR [Nagornyy Karabakh Republic] Foreign Minister Arman Melikyan and
OSCE official discuss conflict’s settlement
Arminfo, Yerevan
6 Apr 05
Stepanakert, 6 April: NKR [Nagornyy Karabakh Republic] Foreign
Minister Arman Melikyan received personal a representative of the OSCE
chairman-in-office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, at the NKR Foreign Ministry on
5 April.
The prospects for settling the Karabakh conflict and the situation
on the contact line between the armed forces of Nagornyy Karabakh
and Azerbaijan were discussed during the meeting, the press service
of the NKR Foreign Ministry reported.
The sides discussed also a number of other issues of mutual interest.

NATIONAL SELF-DETERMINATION UNION CONSIDERS POSITION OF ARMENIAN AND
ARTSAKH AUTHORITIES IN ISSUE OF SETTLEMENT OF LIBERATED TERRITORIES
SERIOUS DIPLOMATIC FAILURE
YEREVAN, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN. During the April 2 session the
presidium of the National Self-Determination Union is to give
estimation to the “defeatist position” of the authorities of Armenia
and Artsakh in the issue of settlement of liberated territories.
Paruyr Hayrikian, Chairman of the National Self-Determination Union,
informed the journalists about this before the session. According to
him, submitting to anti-Armenian moods and dictates of propaganda,
the persons who by chance became the owners of important levers of
power in Armenia confirmed the “version of our predatory presence” on
international scale. According to Hayrikian, “instead of announcing
that we are immediately obliged to liquidate or reduce to minimum the
consequences of the Armenian Genocide, the obvious manifestation of
which became the extermination of Armenians in Nakhichevan, our
authorities, conceding to the appeals of anti-Armenian forces
heroically prove that Armenians aren’t engaged in the settlement of
territories, that they don’t care for pan-Armenian problems.” While,
according to him, the authorities should have called on the OSCE
fact-finding mission to check the situation also in the regions
formerly populated with Armenians, especially in Nakhichevan. Paruyr
Hayrikian also said that the National Self-Determination Union as an
organizer-initiator of settlement of territories estimates the
position of Armenian and Artsakh authorities in this issue as a
serious diplomatic failure.

ARMENIAN PM THANKS BELGIAN PARLIAMENT FOR A GENOCIDE RESOLUTION
   YEREVAN, APRIL 5, ARMENPRESS: Armenian prime minister Andranik
Margarian thanked today the parliament of Belgium for a resolution
condemning the Armenian genocide and told the speaker of the Belgian
House Representative, Herman de Croo that Yerevan expects Belgium’s
support in what is related to OSCE and NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s
reports on Armenia.
   Herman de Croo arrived in Armenia Monday on the first leg of his
regional visit. He will travel also to Georgia and Azerbaijan.
   Margarian was quoted by the government press office as saying that
Armenian president Robert Kocharian’s visit to Belgium in 2003 gave a
strong boost to development of bilateral relations.
   He also praised the Council of Europe, OSCE and NATO for their
efforts to bring peace and stability to the South Caucasus and
emphasized Armenia’s active participation in a range of projects,
supported by the European Union, which he said may have a positive
impact on the regulation of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict.
   Margarian and de Croo also spoke about the prospects for
normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations.
–Boundary_(ID_48r7BRNbekzT3Dae42gA2w)–

Call to lift bar on prisoners voting
Guardian, UK
Press Association
Monday April 4, 2005
A national campaign launched today to give prisoners voting rights
has won high-level political backing.
Former Tory home secretary Douglas Hurd and the Liberal Democrat
president, Simon Hughes, are supporting the Barred from Voting
campaign, which is demanding a review of 135-year-old laws stripping
inmates of their voting rights.
Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, which is jointly
running the campaign with ex-offenders’ organisation Unlock, said:
“People are sent to prison to lose their liberty not their identity.
“Prison has an important job to do to prevent the next victim and
release people less, not more likely, to offend again. “Prisoners
should be given every opportunity to pay back for what they have done,
take responsibility for their lives and make plans for effective
resettlement and this should include maintaining their right to
vote. It’s time to stop pretending that people in prison don’t exist.”
Campaigners said the law was a relic from the 19th century – dating
to the 1870 Forfeiture Act – which is based on the notion of civic
death, a punishment that involves the withdrawal of citizenship rights.
The European Court of Human Rights last year ruled that the ban
violated article three of the European Convention on Human Rights
after British prisoner John Hirst took a case to Strasbourg. A
government appeal against the judgement is to be heard on April 27,
with a final ruling later this year.
The Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy, was accused by his
political opponents of being “soft on crime” four weeks ago when he
backed giving the vote to all prisoners, saying: “We believe that
citizens are citizens, full stop.”
The Barred from Voting campaign is also supported by Labour peer
Lord Corbett of Castle Vale, Liberal Democrat peer Lord Dholakia,
barrister Baroness Kennedy QC and former chief inspector of prisons
Sir David Ramsbotham.
Supporters argue that the right to vote is an “inalienable human
right” and that a voting ban does nothing to deter inmates from
crime. In fact, giving prisoners the vote would encourage them to
become responsible, law-abiding citizens, they add.
The chief executive of Unlock, Bobby Cummines, said: “Giving
prisoners the vote is a question of moral conscience, not political
conscience. If prisoners are excluded from voting then we don’t have
a democratic society, we are just paying lip service to one.
“The government must accept that prisoners remain citizens of this
country with legitimate human rights, including the right to vote.”
A campaign spokesman said only seven other European countries
automatically disenfranchise sentenced prisoners – Armenia, Bulgaria,
Czech Republic, Estonia, Luxembourg and Romania.
But Tory MP Ann Widdecombe said she was opposed to the move. “When
a judge has taken the decision that somebody’s crimes are of such an
order of magnitude that they need to be taken out of society then it
does seem perverse to hand that same person a say in how society is
governed,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
But Mr Ramsbotham said the law was anachronistic.
He said: “Prisoners remain citizens of this country. They have had
their liberty removed, that is the punishment, nothing else. They
haven’t had their citizens’ rights removed.”

AAA LEADER: US WILL DO WHAT OTHERS HAVE DONE IN ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
02.04.2005 03:50
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In the issue of acknowledgement of the Armenian
Genocide the US will do what other countries have done some time or
later, Armenian Assembly of America Executive Director Ross Vartian
stated, the Milliyet Turkish newspaper reported. `France has
recognized the Genocide, however it did not damage the Turkish-French
relations at all,’ he added. He considered senseless the proposals to
submit the genocide issue for discussion, grounding it with the
historians having discussed it long ago and have come to a certain
conclusion. Answering the question that `genocide is merely the
problem of the Diaspora,’ Ross Vartian noted, `the acknowledgement of
the Genocide is one of priority tasks of Armenia’s foreign policy.
Some 1 million people visit the Memorial of the victims of the
Genocide victims April 24 each year ` this makes 1/3 of the population
of Armenia. We ` the Diaspora representatives ` are not hostile
towards the Turkish people.’ Answering the questions referring to the
territorial integrity of Turkey and the Armenian-Turkish relations,
Ross Vartian did not deny that the acknowledgement of the Genocide
will have certain consequences for Turkey. Simultaneously, he noted,
`however the definition of the consequences of the acknowledgement of
the Genocide does not concert the Diaspora. It is the affair of
Yerevan and Ankara. As of the land demands, the authorities of Armenia
have made an unilateral statement on respecting the territorial
integrity of Turkey.’ `Armenia and Turkey should be able to discuss
all problems available. It is necessary to open the borders. The
acknowledgement of the Genocide is not a precondition to settlement of
the relations between Yerevan and Ankara and it cannot be. The sound
dialogue is important. The Genocide will be recognized when the
Turkish people themselves want it and make the Turkish Government do
it, but not under pressure from the outside. Turkey is being gradually
reconstructed, challenges the history, otherwise Orhan Pamuk! would
ha ve not been able to make a public statement on the murder of 1
million Armenians,’ he stated.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Civil Georgia, Georgia
Armenian President Visits Georgia
Georgia, Tbilisi / 2005-04-01 12:49:49
President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan will pay an unofficial visit to
Georgia on April 1, Secretary of the National Security Council of Georgia
Gela Bezhuashvili told reporters.
He said that bilateral and regional issues will be discussed during talks
between Armenian and Georgian Presidents.
Gela Bezhuashvili also said that the issue of Armenian community living in
Georgia, mainly in south-western region of Samtskhe-Javakheti will also be
discussed during the meeting between the two Presidents.