Author: Jalatian Sonya

USAID AND EBRD COMBINE FORCES TO PROVIDE USD 1.64 MILLION TO SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZE ENTERPRISES IN ARMENIA

armradio.am
16.07.2007 13:59

July 16, 2007, Ambassador Rudolf Perina, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of
the US Embassy, signed an agreement between the US Agency for
International Development (USAID) and European Bank for Reconstruction
and Development (EBRD) in support of the EBRD’s Business Advisory
Services (BAS) program. The BAS Program has two main objectives:
(1) to assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in their business
development and (2) to support the professional development of local
business consulting service-providing companies. A minimum of 180
projects are expected to be undertaken with the help of USAID’s
financing. BAS has been operating in Armenia since May 2003 and has
carried out over 365 projects.

Ambassador Perina lauded this new level of cooperation between EBRD
and USAID, highlighting the main goals of the USAID/EBRD three-year
program, which include increasing the number of small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) in Armenia’s rural and poor areas and improving
business productivity and turnover. USAID’s grant will help the
program through 2010.

–Boundary_(ID_qn93uWprEqg54IGRxjwrdg)–

ARMENIAN LEADER MEETS FRENCH COUNTERPART IN PARIS

Mediamax news agency
12 Jul 07

Yerevan, 12 July: The meeting of Armenian President Robert Kocharyan
and French President Nicolas Sarkozy is under way in the Elysee Palace
in Paris, Armenian president’s press secretary Viktor Soghomonyan
has told Mediamax by telephone from Paris.

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan and the chief of the
presidential administration and National Security Council secretary,
Armen Gevorgyan, are also attending the meeting.

NATION AND PERSON SHOULD HAVE IMPORTANCE

Lragir.am
11-07-2007 14:17:07

When the presidential election of Karabakh has an outcome that leads to
a change in the country, the election may affect the talks on Karabakh,
especially regarding the engagement of Karabakh in the talks. If
not, nothing will change, stated the former adviser to NKR president,
expert of the Caucasus Analytical Center Manvel Sargsyan on July 11 at
the Friday Club. According to him they talk differently to different
people, it depends on what the person is like. "The language in which
they talk to you depends on what you are like, both the nation and the
person. I told once, the government of Karabakh were offended when I
said it is wrong to say all the time that Armenia and Azerbaijan are
to blame that we did not participate in the talks for ten years. It
is not so. If you are important enough, they talks to you in the
right language. The world was made so," says the expert.

He reminds that in 1994-1995 Karabakh participated in the
talks. Moreover, they talked to Karabakh. "Only Karabakh," says Manvel
Sargsyan who represented Karabakh to the talks.

"The talks were three-party. If they do not talk today, we must think
why," Manvel Sargsyan says.

"If the country changes, the talks will change. If the same
conservative line continues, everything will remain the same. Isn’t
it clear? It is clear because it is not a coincidence. The internal
and the external are correlated," Manvel Sargsyan says.

OPPOSITION SLAMS GOV’T ON PETKIM SALE

Turkish Daily News, Turkey
July 9, 2007 Monday

Opposition parties accused the government of selling the majority stake
in Petkim, Turkey’s strategic petrochemicals giant, to a Russian-Kazakh
consortium whose owners are as yet unknown.

"If elected, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) will stop the selling
process", the CHP’s Deniz Baykal said Saturday during his election
campaign in Adiyaman.

A consortium of Kazakh and Russian companies on Thursday made the
highest bid to buy a 51 percent stake in Petkim. TransCentralAsia
Petrochemical Holding, a Kazakh-dominated group, agreed to pay $2.05
billion for the company, in a televised tender. The consortium outbid
seven other conglomerates.

The criticism leveled at the government increased when media discovered
the owner of the Russian member of the consortium, Troika Dialogue,
is an Armenian Ruben Vardarian who actively works for the recognition
of Armenian genocide claims during the Ottoman Empire.

The consortium later said it would take on new Turkish and Kazakh
partners to buy the Turkish petrochemical firm in a move to reduce
the critical approach toward them.

CHP to stop the process

However the political parties here, already facing a tense climate
ahead of the general elections, seem not to reduce the criticism aimed
at the government. Baykal, addressing his electorate in Adiyaman,
underlined that the buyers are really not known adding, "Petkim is
very important to Turkey. We don’t know who bought it. The seller
is known but the buyer is not." Emphasizing that the government sold
almost all institutions that make up Turkey’s economic infrastructure
Baykal noted, "I announce that, if elected, the CHP will stop Petkim’s
last minute sale."

Bahceli in similar mood

Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), during
his election campaign in Konya, criticized the AKP for speeding up
Petkim’s sale before the elections. "Is it moral. There are elections
15 days later."

Bahceli argued that one of the buyers is also the financer of the
Armenian Diaspora saying, "How can you sell Petkim to those who accuse
Turkey of committing genocide?"

Fitch: Petkim on negative watch

Meanwhile, international Fitch Ratings said Saturday it has put
its ratings on Turkey-based Petkim Petrokimya Holding AS on negative
watch on concerns that the sale of 51 percent of Petkim by the Turkish
Privatization Administration to TransCentralAsia Petrochemical Holding
for $2.05 billion may negatively affect its credit profile.

Fitch has long-term local and foreign currency issuer default
ratings of ‘BB’ and national long-term rating of ‘AA (tur)’ on the
petrochemicals company. Fitch said TransCentralAsia Petrochemical
Holding is likely to depend on Petkim’s cash flow to service the
acquisition debt.

ARMENIA AND CHINA LAUNCH COOPERATION IN THE SPHERE OF ECOLOGY.

arminfo
2007-07-10 09:05:00

Cooperation is launched between Armenia and China in the sphere
of ecology.

As ArmInfo correspondent was informed in the press service of RA
Ministry of Nature Protection, this was mentioned at today’s meeting
between Minister Aram Harutjunyan and China’s Ambassador Hong Jiuyin.

According to the source, the Ambassador emphasized that China’s rapid
pace in economic development brought to serious nature protection
problems, which they try to solve in China nowadays. "The air in
Yerevan is much cleaner than that in Beijing. And, until it’s not too
late, measures should be taken in order to protect the biodiversity
of your country. We are ready to cooperate in this matter and share
our experience with you",- Hong Jiuying stated.

For his part, RA Minister of Nature Protection presenting the results
of Armenia’s cooperation with international structures in the sphere of
ecology, suggested that a joint action plan be worked out with China
in that sphere. The cooperation project will already be presented to
the Ecology Ministry of China in the nearest future.

ARONIAN: THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SHOULD BE DECIDED IN A MATCH

Chessbase News, Germany
wsid=3978
July 9 2007

09.07.2007 – Levon Aronian is one of the hot favourites for the world
championship in Mexico City this September. What does he think of
his chances, what does he think about the format? In an article in
the German broadsheet Neues Deutschland, born in Armenian and now
living in Berlin, speaks about these and other subjects relating to
the inclusion of Veselin Topalov in the FIDE cycle. Interview.

More chess in school classes

ND interview with Levon Aronian, candidate for the World Championship
2007

A Berliner by choice, Levon Aronan, 24, born in Armenia and playing
for the Bundesliga team SC Kreuzberg, is one of the top favourites
at the World Championship which is being held from September 11 to
October 1st 2007 in Mexico City. ND author Rene Gralla spoke to the
world championship candidate.

World championship candidate Levon Aronian

Neues Deutschland: At the Chess Olympiade 2006 you won Gold with the
Armenian team. Do you want to crown this achievement with a world
championship title in 2007?

Levon Aronian: I will do my best and hope to be successful.

During the recently ended Candidates Tournament in Elista you
convincingly managed to qualify for the world championship. Is that
a good sign?

I don’t think about it. I am in training to increase my form for the
world championship. Then I will see how things proceed.

You were able to beat world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia
4:2 in a match played just two months ago in the Armenian capital
of Yerevan. Does that make you feel optimistic about the world
championship?

That was rapid chess, 25 minutes per player and game. But I also lost
to Kramnik before that. So it is difficult to make any prognosis for
the world championship.

After the loss in Yerevan shouldn’t the world champion be afraid
of you?

You will have to ask him if that is the case. In addition I am not
sure that fear is the right word. Kramnik knows that I can cause him
some problems.

The other big world championship favourite is Viswanathan Anand of
India, who won the title in 2000 and is currently the number one in
the world rankings. What do you think of your chances against him?

Vladimir Kramnik and Levon Aronian in Yerevan in May 2007

What I said about Kramnik also applies to Anand. I look forward to
our encounter, it will be quite interesting.

You have publicly wondered how you were able to reach the top of the
world rankings in spite of what you call your "chaotic" style on the
board. Do you still agree with this assessment?

Yes, I love unclear positions in which nobody can predict the
outcome precisely. In such positions I have the necessary scope for
my creativity.

Considering that around 800 million people in the world play chess,
do you think that chess is receiving adaquate publicity?

Naturally I would be glad if chess was more popular. The game should
be used more intensively in the school curriculum, because it trains
the faculty for reasoning. Studies in the USA and in Russia have
proved that conclusively.

In your home country of Armenia you are a superstar. What is the
reason for this chess enthusiasm?

It is not so much chess as the success of our national team. The
country has gone through a difficult phase, and people long for a
taste of glory. That explains the enthusiasm we saw when our team
returned for the Chess Olympiade in Turin with the Gold medal.

Tigran Petrosian, the world champion from 1963 to 1969, was from
Armenia. Do you consider yourself a possible successor of Petrosian?

Some people in Armenia confuse our first names and call me Tigran.

But seriously: the question is premature. We must wait for the world
championship to take place.

If you win the title then the deposed world champion Kramnik gets a
second chance. The World Chess Federation FIDE has given Kramnik the
right to challenge the winner of the world championship. It this a
fair privilege?

The world championship 2007 in Mexico City is a round robin
tournament. In my opinion the world championship should actually be
decided in a match between the title holder and a challenger. That
is the traditional way of deciding the world championship. We are
returning to that when the winner of the world championship tournament
has to play a match against the former world champion.

The reunification world championship match in Elista in 2006 between
the two world champions Vladimir Kramnik and the Bulgarian Veselin
Topalov specified that the loser would be left out of this year’s world
championship tournament. Both sides agreed in advance to this article
of the contract. Now the Bulgarian side is trying to get Topalov into
the 2007 world championship cycle. What do you think of this?

Both sides knew full well under what conditions the world championship
in Elista was being staged, and what the consequences of defeat for
one of them would be. They accepted these conditions. For this reason
I do not like what the Topalov camp is doing.

Armenian leader, Council of Europe officials discuss reforms

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
3 Jul 07

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan today received a delegation of the
Ago monitoring group of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers
led by the Swedish ambassador to the Council of Europe, Per Sjorgren.

The Austrian, French, German, Russian, Romanian and Latvian ambassadors
to the Council of Europe, as well as officials of the secretariat of
the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers are also included in the
delegation.

Highly rating the delegation’s regular visits, the sides expressed the
opinion that Armenia has gone an important way towards honouring the
obligations it undertook on entry into the Council of Europe and has
achieved success in carrying out reforms.

Kocharyan said that the reforms carried out in all spheres of life,
first of all, are important to ourselves and we have no other way to
develop our country. Armenia is not rich in natural resources and our
main resource is the human factor that can be demonstrated only with
the implementation of large-scale reforms, Kocharyan said.

The sides also touched on the current stage of the negotiations on the
settlement of the Karabakh conflict and the meeting held between the
Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in St Petersburg. They also
exchanged views on the results of the 12 May parliamentary elections
and preparations for the forthcoming presidential elections in Armenia.

During the meeting, the sides also discussed issues concerning freedom
of the media. The ambassadors to the Council of Europe touched on the
amendments to the law on TV and radio which are being discussed at the
National Assembly. The Armenian president briefed them on the
government’s initiative regarding the amendments.

"POLITICAL MURDERS IN TURKEY NEVER FULLY REVEALED," HISTORIAN ARSEN
AVAGIAN BELIEVES

YEREVAN, JULY 4, NOYAN TAPAN. According to Arsen Avagian, a candidate
for historical sciences, political murders have never been fully
revealed in the history of Turkey so far. As he mentioned during the
July 4 debate with Khachatur Ter-Ghukasian, a lecturer at the American
University, the same is being repeated in the trial of the murder case
of Hrant Dink, the former editor-in-chief of the Weekly Akos. Arsen
Avagian agrees with a number of other political scientists, according
to whom, Hrant Dink was killed on account of being an Armenian democrat.

In Kh. Ter-Ghikasian’s conviction, the reason for the murder of the
editor of the Weekly Akos was, first of all, his nationality, as Dink
was dangerous for Turkey with his very nationality. He also mentioned
that relations of rulers and those ruled were established even in the
18th century, which gave rise to a deep hatred and hostility. The
feeling of hatred, according to Kh. Ter-Ghukasian, is currently being
displayed in the relations between the two countries.

Arsen Avagian added, in his turn, that this hatred and hostility should
be eliminated as soon as possible, otherwise, in his opinion, "we will
not have good results."

ACCORDING TO ROBERT KOCHARIAN, POSSIBILITIES TO SOLVE ISSUES OF
REFUGEES INCREASE YEAR AFTER YEAR IN PARALLEL WITH ECONOMIC GROWTH

YEREVAN, JULT 4, NOYAN TAPAN. Robert Kocharian, the RA President, who
received Bushra Halepota, the newly-appointed representative of the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, on July 4,
mentioned that there has always been practical and productive
cooperation between the RA government and this international
institution. He expressed conviction that it will, henceforth, have a
successful future as well.

According to the information provided to Noyan Tapan by the RA
President’s Press Office, during the meeting the interlocutors spoke
about the social-economic problems of refugees, the solution of their
apartment problems, as well as their census.

Robert Kocharian mentioned that the complete integration of refugees
into society is of primary significance for the RA government.
According to him, greater possibilities are being created year after
year for solving the problems of refugees in parallel with the economic
growth and development of Armenia.

DELEGATION OF AGO’S COMMISSION IS TROUBLED WITH POSSIBLE LIMITATION OF RA CITIZENS’ ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Noyan Tapan
Jul 03 2007

YEREVAN, JULY 3, NOYAN TAPAN. Vardan Oskanian, the RA Minister of
Foreign Affairs, received the delegation of Ago’s monitoring commission
of the Committee of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Council
of Europe headed by Perry Sjogren, the Ambassador of Sweden to the
Council of Europe.

Officials of the Secretariat of the Committee of EU Ministers,
the Ambassadors of Australia, France, Germany, Russia, Romania,
and Latvia to the Council of Europe are included in the delegation.

According to the message provided to Noyan Tapan by the Press and
Information Department of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vardan
Oskanian gave a positive remark about the usefulness and productiveness
of the cooperation with Ago’s monitoring commission of the Committee
of the Ministers of the Council of Europe within the framework of
performing duties since the RA membership in the Council of Europe.

During the meeting the interlocutors also touched upon the current
negotiation stage of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the results of the
May 12 parliamentary elections, and international remarks, as well as
preparatory issues of the forthcoming presidential elections. As for
the elections and the Electoral Code, the members of Ago’s group gave
a positive mark to the previous elections and attached importance to
the improvement processes of elections and electoral legislation.

Speaking about the free press, the Ambassadors to the Council of
Europe particularly stressed the RA government’s initiative concerning
amendments envisaged to make in the RA Law on "Television and Radio",
which is currently being discussed in the RA National Assembly. They
expressed their anxiousness with the fact that in case these amendments
are made, the free access of RA citizens to information may be
limited. The Ambassadors listened to Vardan Oskanian’s clarifications
and reaffirmed their request to the RA authorities to remain true to
the obligations assumed with regard to this issue.