Author: Kalantarian Kevo

Armenian opposition parties oppose plans to send troops to Iraq
Associated Press Worldstream
November 25, 2004 Thursday 3:34 PM Eastern Time
YEREVAN, Armenia — Armenia’s opposition parties said Thursday they
would interrupt their boycott of parliamentary sessions to oppose a
government plan to send troops to Iraq during its expected discussion
in parliament.
Armenian President Robert Kocharian pledged 50 troops in September,
but the final decision on sending troops is to be made by the
Constitutional Court and parliament.
The Constitutional Court is expected to rule within the next few
days. In case of the Court’s positive conclusion, it will be up to
parliament to decide whether to dispatch a team of bomb disposal
experts, doctors and transport specialist to Iraq.
Deputy leader of the opposition National Unity party, Aleksan
Karapetian, said Thursday that by sending troops to Iraq, Armenia
would endanger the 25,000-person Armenian community living in the
Middle Eastern country.
Leader of the Justice opposition alliance Viktor Dallakian said
they would break their boycott of parliament sessions and would
“categorically” oppose sending Armenian soldiers to Iraq.
Two dozen opposition deputies have been boycotting parliamentary
sessions since February to protest last year’s re-election of
Kocharian, a vote the opposition charges was marred by widespread
irregularities.
Pro-government parties make up a majority in the 131-member
parliament. However, the leader of one of the pro-government factions,
Galust Saakian, also expressed opposition on Thursday to the plan to
commit troops to Iraq. He said the idea would not be backed by the
Armenian people.
The former Soviet republic has sought to portray the decision to send
troops to Iraq as a way to boost ties with Europe.

Azerbaijan urges UN intervention
tvnz.co.nz
Nov 24, 2004
Azerbaijan urged the UN General Assembly to intervene in a long and
bitter territorial dispute with neighboring Armenia over its breakaway
Nagorno-Karabakh region.
But France, Russia and the United States, which have been trying to
resolve the dispute on behalf of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, asked the assembly to stay on the sidelines
and not interfere with their efforts.
Talks “can only progress in an atmosphere of confidence between
the parties. Anything in the direction of building confidence and
of avoiding a division of the General Assembly is helpful,” said
U.S. envoy Susan Moore, speaking on behalf of the OSCE initiative
led by Paris, Moscow and Washington.
Rival claims have hung for years over tiny, mountainous
Nagorno-Karabakh, a mainly ethnic Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan suffered a humiliating defeat in a 1988-94 war with Armenia
over the region after its inhabitants tried to break from Azeri rule.
An estimated 35,000 people were killed and one million refugees fled
to Azerbaijan, where they remain. At the same time, thousands of
ethnic Armenian refugees fled to Armenia.
A cease-fire ended the conflict but the dispute persists despite
international efforts to broker a deal.
Azerbaijan’s foreign minister, Elmar Mammadyarov, said his government
had decided to take the issue to the General Assembly because Armenia
was pursuing an “illegal settlement policy” by flooding the disputed
area with Armenians, with an eye to annexing the enclave.
He called on the assembly to adopt a resolution affirming its
“continued strong support” for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity
and the right of Azeri refugees to return to their former homes in
the enclave.
But Armenian Ambassador Armen Martirosyan said Azerbaijan’s proposal
was aimed at torpedoing the OSCE-sponsored negotiations.
The assembly put off a vote on the draft resolution until an
unspecified later date.

US MILITARY IN AZERBAIJAN
PanArmenian News
Nov 22 2004
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ As reported by Independent Military Observer Russian
newspaper on November 19, over 50 NATO servicemen, mostly Americans,
were quartered in the village of Chukhanly of the Salyani region
of Azerbaijan in a training center belonging to Azeri the Defense
Ministry. According to the newspaper, beginning with the next year, the
US military are going to implement in Azerbaijan a program analogous
to the one carried out in Georgia. Member of the Azerbaijani Defense
Ministry press service Ilgar Verdiyev confirmed the information to the
journalists, stating, however, that the foreign servicemen are arriving
in Azerbaijan only for the participation in concrete projects aimed at
Partnership for Peace NATO program realization. Yet head of the press
service Ramiz Melikov completely refuted the information and said that
he does not possess any data of the US instructors who are allegedly to
train Azeri soldiers. At the same time Azeri Foreign Ministry Deputy
Araz Azimov does not rule out the possibility of stationing US mobile
forces in Azerbaijan. Former high rank official of the Azeri Defense
Ministry Uzeir Jafarov holds the opinion that the Azerbaijan-NATO
cooperation long ago exceeded the limits of Partnership for Peace
program. In Jafarov’s words, the program similar to the Georgian
one is in active preparation in Azerbaijan at present and will to
all appearances be launched in 2005. However Azerbaijani FM Elmar
Mamedyarov stated that “Azerbaijan is not negotiating on dislocating
foreign military bases in its territory”. “A military base is a
stationary object that cannot be deployed during one night. Multi-stage
negotiations are needed for it”, the Minister noted. As expert of
the East-West Center of Political Research Azer Rashidoglu told the
newspaper reporter, the EU is expected to unanimously speak against
the US anti-Iranian operation. (The complete version of the article
read at ). To remind,
the hearsay on using the Azeri territories for probable US military
operations against Iran revived recently. As for stationary military
bases in Azerbaijan, according the Pentagon new military doctrine
on mobile bases, there will be no need in them. Thus, nominally,
military bases in their classical meaning might not exist.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TROUPE OF SUNDUKIAN THEATER COMES BACK FROM U.S. WITH NINE VALUABLE DIPLOMAS
OF GRATITUDE
YEREVAN, November 19 (Noyan Tapan). From October 23 to November 7,
the National Academic Theater after Sundukian was on a jubilee tour in
the US in connection with the 80th anniversary of its foundation. The
Sundukian troupe performed Levon Shant’s “Old Gods” and American
playwright Ray Coon’s “Night Feast” plays at the famous “Alex” and
“Academy-Police” auditoriums of Los Angeles.
Vahe Shahverdian, Artistic Director and head producer of the theater,
said during a press conference that the tour was a great success, and
nine valuable diplomas of gratitude, including the diplomas given by
the US Senate, the Governor of California, the municipal authorities
of Los Angeles to the troupe are the evidence of this fact. “Old Gods”
received an especially enthusiastic welcome, that’s why Levon Shant’s
this work was performed instead of two announced performances of
“Night Feast”.
V. Shahverdian noticed that the tour was finished with the jubilee
celebration held at “Academy-Police” on October 29. Representatives
of foreign embassies, two members of the Armenian higher orders of
clergy, the RA Minister of Culture and Youth Affairs, the American
high-ranking officials, Armenian philanthropists from the Diaspora
were also present there. It was also noticed that the tour was widely
covered by the Diasporan and American press.
According to V. Shahverdian, the tour was held at the private
invitation of the Armenian- American Cultural and Musical-Theatrical
Union, but then it turned to an arrangement of state level due to
its quality and good organization. The organizers also invited the
troupe of the theater to give performances in th e US next year.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Priority objective for economic development
Editorial
Yerkir/arm
November 19, 2004
During the recent period, Armenia has been experiencing economic
and political stability which enables development of a mid and long
term strategies.
However, there are some obvious arguments here. Supporters of active
constructive policy, justly referring to the failures of the market,
unjustly propose increasing of role of the government, especially in
branch industry policy. On the opposite side, neo-liberals propose
to continue liberalization of the market.
These parties have more in common than they admit. Both stand on the
role of institutes (in the first case Рstate, in the second ̢~@~S
market). However, both views are dubious from practical policy
standpoint for the reasons of actual need to change the available
policy or lack of resources.
Anyway, how can we contribute to proportional development of the two
institutions? Note that only in case of successful balance we can
have prosperous and competitive economy.
We single out the following basic approaches: first, unification
approach of government and market. This means a strategy that would
enable establishment both of the state and the market. Second,
effective use of knowledge. Institutional reforms take time. If
knowledge is properly used, the reforms may speed up.
Third, approach of institutional innovations. It takes turning
knowledge into behavior of economic stakeholders and the society to
make the knowledge work, to make it demanded by the market. This is
about social education.
In other word, issues number one for the development of the Armenian
economy is the development of the knowledge “industry”. This is a
pledge for transition to a competitive market.
Creative usage of market and technological knowledge enable solution
of many transitional issues. On the other hand, without development
of the knowledge “economy” it will be difficult to provide desired
economic and consequently strategic-political security level.
–Boundary_(ID_QYWEuljQON7+/igX58r43Q)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Le Monde
19 novembre 2004
Giresse et Casoni ne regrettent rien de leurs difficiles exils
caucasiens ;
par Paul Miquel
RIEN NE les prédestinait à s’expatrier là-bas, dans le Caucase. Ils
ont pourtant choisi l’exil. Fin avril 2004, c’est Alain Giresse qui a
ouvert la voie en acceptant le poste de sélectionneur de la Géorgie.
« Les tractations ont commencé l’année dernière, se souvient-il.
J’étais en stand-by, et Michel Platini m’a mis en contact avec le
président de la Fédération géorgienne, Merab Jordania. » Quelques
mois plus tard, Bernard Casoni l’imitait en devenant entraîneur de
l’Arménie. « J’ai signé un contrat d’un an au début de l’été,
explique l’ex-défenseur de l’Olympique de Marseille. Ici, il y a tout
à construire, c’est une expérience passionnante. »
Eloignés l’un de l’autre de seulement 300 kilomètres, Alain Giresse
et Bernard Casoni ont un cahier des charges relativement similaire :
aider leur jeune équipe à se comporter honorablement lors des
qualifications du Mondial 2006, responsabiliser les joueurs du cru,
insuffler un soupçon de professionnalisme auprès des dirigeants
fédéraux locaux, accélérer le mûrissement footballistique des
esprits. Et, si possible, gagner des matches. Des défis que d’aucuns
jugent insurmontables. Après son match nul (2-2), face au Danemark,
mercredi 17 décembre, la Géorgie pointe à la 6e place du groupe 2 ;
l’Arménie, tenue en échec (1-1) par la Roumanie, est dernière du
groupe 1.
« LA VIE Y EST DIFFICILE »
« La Géorgie n’est pas le Qatar, s’amuse Alain Giresse, en faisant
référence aux nombreux Français qui ont récemment signé dans les pays
du Golfe. Ici, il n’y a pas de pétrole. Les conditions économiques
sont dures. La vie y est difficile. » Alain Giresse confesse qu’il a
« longtemps réfléchi avant d’accepter ce poste », mais qu’il « ne
regrette rien ». « Parler de qualification est assurément prématuré,
observait-il avant le match face au Danemark. Si la Géorgie gagnait
son ticket pour le Mondial allemand, ce serait un miracle.
Personnellement, j’ai surtout été embauché pour faire progresser
l’équipe. »
En Arménie, où il réside environ quinze jours par mois, Bernard
Casoni avoue avoir les mêmes visées. « Il a fallu tout remettre à
plat, indique le technicien méridional. Avant d’entrer dans le vif du
sujet, j’ai voulu instaurer un certain état d’esprit dans mon groupe,
faire comprendre à mes joueurs que porter le maillot national était à
la fois un honneur et une charge. »
Pendant tout le mois de septembre, Casoni a aussi épluché les
effectifs de L1, L2, National et CFA, à la recherche de joueurs de
qualité ayant une ascendance arménienne. Résultat des courses ? «
Rien, répond-il dans un soupir. Il y avait bien une petite colonie du
côté de Valence, mais aucun joueur ne répondait à mes exigences. J’ai
donc décidé de composer mon équipe avec des locaux. Je préfère des
gars rugueux qui se battent à 130 % plutôt que des stars de la
diaspora qui jouent les divas en Russie ou en Pologne. »
Ainsi, les deux tiers de sa sélection sont issus du championnat
arménien, composé de huit équipes et dominé par le Pyunik Erevan, où
évoluent ses deux joueurs-clés : le gardien de but d’origine
camerounaise Edel Apula Edima Bete et le buteur Edgar Manucharian,
qui serait suivi de près par les recruteurs de l’Ajax Amsterdam.
« Contrairement à Bernard Casoni, 90 % de mes hommes jouent dans des
championnats européens de qualité, souligne Alain Giresse. C’est une
chance, car les douze équipes du championnat géorgien ont un niveau
médiocre. » L’ancien joueur du carré magique des Bleus a décidé, lui
aussi, de jouer sur la corde patriotique. Il est aidé en cela par
Guia Gourouli, son traducteur qui a porté le maillot du Havre dans
les années 1990. « Même si beaucoup viennent du Dinamo Tbilissi, mes
joueurs sont exilés partout en Europe, explique- t-il. Quand ils
reviennent ici, ils veulent participer balle au pied à la
reconstruction de l’identité nationale. »
Alain Giresse peut aussi compter sur l’expérience de Kakha Kaladze,
défenseur au Milan AC, pour tirer son groupe vers le haut. En
attendant, la plus belle victoire de la sélection géorgienne (7-0)
date de 1997. C’était face à l’Arménie. « Je compte bientôt organiser
un match amical face à l’Arménie de Bernard Casoni », glisse Alain
Giresse. Sur le banc, ce jour-là, les deux Français pourront parler
du pays.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Nov 18 2004
Settlement of Armenians in Garabagh may rekindle conflict – Foreign
Minister

Armenians are being illegally settled in the occupied Azeri lands,
which may provoke a conflict in the future, Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov said.
“Armenians are being illegally settled in the occupied territories of
Azerbaijan. The aggressor regime provides loans and financial aid to
these settlers so that they stay there and official Baku is
well-aware of this.”

The minister also said that after all this lawlessness Azerbaijan has
finally achieved putting the issue on discussion at the United
Nations. However, the extensive settlement of Armenians in Upper
Garabagh signals that another conflict may be in the offing, he
underlined.
“Presume that real results are achieved in peace talks and displaced
persons are returning to their lands, while these areas are populated
by Armenians.”
Mammadyarov added that this represents a threat of rekindling the
conflict.

Transport problems restrict trade with Russia, says Armenian PM
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Moscow
11 Nov 04

The cost and unreliability of road transport are holding back the
expansion of Armenian-Russian trade, Armenian Prime Minister Andranik
Markaryan has said. Talking about the difficulties caused for Armenia
by Russia’s recent closure of the border crossing to Georgia,
Markaryan said that in negotiations “we got the feeling that Russia’s
leadership had a definite appreciation of this problem”. Markaryan
told Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta that Russian investment was
now present in almost all sectors of the Armenian economy. He noted
that Armenia had met all its obligations to transfer property to
Russia in repayment of its debts, but that “for a number of technical
reasons connected with domestic procedural issues, the Russian side
has to this day not written off Armenia’s indebtedness for the sum of
the transferred property”. The following is the text of Viktoriya
Panfilova’s interview with Andranik Markaryan in Russian newspaper
Nezavisimaya Gazeta on 11 November headlined “Armenia on list of
debtors: Armenia suffers losses due to Russian fight against
terrorism”; subheadings inserted editorially:
In the last few years, Russia has significantly expanded its
investment presence in Armenia. Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan
spoke to NG [Nezavisimaya Gazeta ] about the dividends Yerevan has
seen from collaboration with Moscow.
Transport restrictions hold back Armenian-Russian trade
[Nezavisimaya Gazeta] Mr Prime Minister, Iran and Belgium lead in the
volume of trade with Armenia, even though in recent years entire
branches of local industry and major enterprises have become Russian
property. What is the reason for this?
[Markaryan] From my point of view, the problem lies in the market’s
accessibility. Today the only type of transport linking Russia and
Armenia is motor vehicle transport, which is expensive and dependent
upon several subjective factors out of our countries’ control.
As for the volume of trade, Russia is one of Armenia’s leading
partners in its foreign economic activity. In the period 2002-03,
Russia came second after Belgium in the export of Armenian output,
although Russian output continues to account for the largest volume of
imports into Armenia. For example, results from the first nine months
of this year show Russia leading in the total trade between our
countries with 12.6 per cent. And among CIS [Commonwealth of
Independent States] countries, this index was 62 per cent. At the same
time, I would like to note that the Armenian enterprises that have
transferred to Russian ownership are still operating only at a
fraction of their production capacities and cannot have a substantial
influence on the level of foreign trade between Russia and Armenia.
Actually, at a recent meeting of the co-chairmen of the international
economic cooperation commission held in Yerevan in mid-October it was
decided to draw up proposals for so-called urgent measures to ensure
the full functioning of enterprises transferred to Russian ownership.
[Nezavisimaya Gazeta] Recently Armenia found itself almost completely
isolated due to the closing of the Russian-Georgian border. And there
are no guarantees that a similar situation won’t recur. Under these
kinds of conditions, can we really talk about prospects for developing
bilateral relations?
[Markaryan] I don’t think we need to draw any far-reaching conclusions
from situations like the closure of the Verkhniy Lars border
crossing. Especially if we bear in mind that the Russian side had not
made a political decision to damage relations with Armenia. We know
that the Russian-Georgian border was closed due to the stepping-up of
the antiterrorist struggle. It remains to be seen how all this will
affect Armenia’s economy and how much the Russian side, having decided
to take this step, took the interests of our republic into
consideration or how the economic losses are being borne and will be
borne by Armenia, which is already under a tough transport
blockade. On this subject I can say that during the negotiations we
got the feeling that Russia’s leadership had a definite appreciation
of this problem. We conducted active negotiations simultaneously with
the Georgian authorities as well as Russia’s leadership in order to
find alternative communication routes. Fortunately, the situation was
settled very quickly and today everything has fallen into place. This
hardly means we are satisfied, though. As we speak, we are continuing
to search, in concert with the region’s states, for mechanisms for
creating new, mutually advantageous, efficient transport schemes.
Conflict settlement key to regional development
[Nezavisimaya Gazeta] What needs to happen to establish lasting peace
and stability in the Caucasus?
[Markaryan] First of all, I would say, the peaceful settlement of all
the conflicts in our region, including the one in Nagornyy
Karabakh. It’s no secret that a fair solution to this problem would
create the prerequisites for opening all communications routes and
lifting the transport blockade around Armenia and Nagornyy
Karabakh. This would allow all the states in the region to establish
normal economic relations among themselves so that they can develop
and allow others to develop as well. I’m convinced that the
restoration of peace and stability in the Caucasus would be
facilitated as well by the implementation of regional programmes in
which all the countries of the region participate equally.
Russian capital has most effect in Armenia’s energy sector
[Nezavisimaya Gazeta] In what branches of the Armenian economy is the
presence of Russian capital most tangible today? Are there spheres
that Russian business would like to invest in but cannot for various
reasons?
[Markaryan] Today Russian investments in Armenia have a very
diversified structure and are present in virtually every branch of the
economy. It’s noteworthy that as of 1 January 2004 there were 589
companies registered in Armenia that had some Russian capital – nearly
24 per cent of the total number. As for any possible subjective
reasons why investments might not be able to be made in specific
spheres of the economy – there aren’t any. The government has an open
door policy with respect to foreign investments. The legislation of
Armenia offers the most favourable conditions possible for all
investors and also ensures the protection of all forms of property. So
that Russian enterprises, just like the enterprises of other
countries, are free in both their economic activity and the
decisionmaking process.
As for the branches in which the presence of Russian capital is felt
the most, this would be primarily enterprises in the fuel and energy
complex, which is strategic from the standpoint of the republic’s
development. In particular, this is the ArmRosgazprom
[Armenian-Russian gas industry] enterprise and the Razdan heat and
power station. The Armenian nuclear power station has been handed over
to the Russian side for safe operation. There is Russian capital as
well in Armenian industry: Mars, the machine-building enterprise; and
Armenal, which produces aluminium. I would point out that our states
have a mutual interest in rapidly restoring those scientific and
production sites which have been transferred to Russian
ownership. Some of them – the scientific research institute of the
military-industrial complex, for example – are functioning actively
today. The problem is to get them operating at full capacity in the
near future – by attracting much more investment and orders and by
increasing the productive potential of these enterprises. Both Armenia
and Russia stand to gain from this, I’m sure.
Armenia seeking to encourage foreign investment
[Nezavisimaya Gazeta] Which Russian financial and economic groups are
most active in Armenia? Do they have problems in their relations with
local authoriti es?
[Markaryan] Through legislation, the government of Armenia is
stimulating foreign investments in all spheres of the country’s
economy, both in the practical and the financial sectors. Thus, of the
20 banks now operating in Armenia, nine involve Russian capital.
As for relations with local authorities, we take a unified approach to
both Armenian and foreign business. Moreover, we are trying to
stimulate foreign investments. In addition, attesting to the
favourable atmosphere for business and the absence of any
differentiated approach is the continuing increase in the presence of
Russian capital in Armenia. In particular, in early 2004, Russia’s
Vneshtorgbank acquired the controlling packet of shares in Armenia’s
Sberbank [Savings Bank]. And if enterprises in their current activity
do run into any problems, then they are the same for everyone,
including Armenian enterprises.
[Nezavisimaya Gazeta] Armenia’s economic legislation is considered to
be fairly liberal. How does this affect foreign investments? Does more
money come to the country from Russia or from the West? And which
investments are given preference?
[Markaryan] Indeed, the economic and especially the financial
legislation of our country is one of the most liberal and, even more
important, one of the most stable in the post-Soviet states. True, the
mere presence of liberal legislation is not enough for foreign
investments. I want to point out that the country’s leadership is
working specifically to support political stability in the country,
develop market infrastructures, and reform the structures that operate
directly with entrepreneurs, as well as on several other efforts
included in the strategic programme to combat corruption and reduce
various risks.
We can judge the favourable investment climate from the increase in
investments in the country’s economy. For example, in the first six
months of this year total investments in Armenia’s economy rose by 41
per cent, while direct foreign investments rose by nearly 80 per
cent. If we compare this to previous years (1997-2003), then among the
10 partner countries making investments in Armenia’s economy, nearly
26 per cent came from Russia. As for the issue of preferences, we
welcome all investments that will stimulate the country’s economic
development.
Armenia has met all obligations to transfer property to Russia
[Nezavisimaya Gazeta] In 2002, an agreement was signed between our
countries on repaying Armenia’s state debt by transferring shares in
Armenian enterprises to Russian Federation ownership. However, the
Russian draft budget for next year once again includes as Armenia’s
debt the same sum that Armenia already repaid when it transferred
those factories to Russia. How are we to interpret this?
[Markaryan] Indeed, Armenia has met all of its obligations to transfer
property (on 5 August 2003, property worth US 63 million US dollars
was transferred to Russian ownership and in January 2004 property
worth 31 million dollars). However, for a number of technical reasons
connected with domestic procedural issues, the Russian side has to
this day not written off Armenia’s indebtedness for the sum of the
transferred property. Before the end of this year, an
intergovernmental commission is supposed to hold joint consultations
during which this issue should be resolved.
Parliament to decide on sending Armenian contingent to Iraq
[Nezavisimaya Gazeta] Recently Yerevan decided to send 50 military
medics and sappers to Iraq to assist the coalition forces. However the
leaders of Iraq’s 20,000-strong Armenian community, concerned that in
that event Armenians would become the next target of international
terrorists, sent an appeal to Yerevan to reject this decision.
[Markaryan] As we know, the final decision on sending an Armenian
military contingent to Iraq will be taken by the National Assembly of
Armenia. The problem is that there was a preliminary agreement with
Poland about our participation in Iraq as part of the military group
of this country. Lately, though, Poland itself seems to have had
doubts about the wisdom of its military presence in Iraq. Naturally,
we will have to keep changes in this and several other conditions in
mind as we make corrections to our position and clarify certain issues
before the matter is submitted to parliament. Of course, in
discussions of this issue, we are also keeping in mind the interests
and security issues of our state and the opinion of Iraq’s Armenian
community of many thousands. In any event, I can say that if such a
decision is taken, then a small number of military drivers, medics and
sappers will be sent to Iraq but will not take part in military
actions.

Cairo ‘Barely’ Held Arafat’s Ceremony
Zaman (Turkey)
11.13.2004
Cumali Onal
CAIRO — Due to a lack of organization, Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat’s funeral ceremony ended as fiasco in Cairo yesterday.
A Finnish Representative, an Arab Foreign Minister and top levels of a
Turkish delegation including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and opposition Republican People’s Party
(CHP) leader Deniz Baykal as well as Organization of Islamic Conference
(OCI) Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Islamoglu had trouble entering the
tent set up for the ceremony. After a hustle, the dignitaries were
finally let in. Delegates from Germany, Malaysia and Armenia missed the
ceremony altogether due to heavy airport traffic.
Slovak Foreign Minister Eduard Kukan, who was visiting Turkey, was also
included in the Turkish delegation to Cairo. The Palestinian Ambassador
to Ankara, Fuat Yasin, also missed the funeral ceremony. Yasin expressed
his sorrow saying, “This is a big scandal. This is such a bitter thing.”
While Turkish top levels were lucky ones to gain entrance to the
ceremony, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fisher missed the ceremony, as
his plane was kept waiting in the air for an hour. Similarly, Armenian
delegation also missed the ceremony due to airport traffic.
The Finnish Representative, meanwhile, was not permitted to enter the
ceremony since he “did not have an identity tag”.
When the Egyptian protocol, caught unprepared by the funeral, forgot
accreditiation, protocol officials of guest delegations and their chief
bodyguards were not let into the ceremony. World leaders in the
procession who had followed Arafat’s casket for nearly 400 meters were
surprised when they were told, “the ceremony is over here.” Some leaders
waited in the cars while others chatted in groups.

ArmenPress
Nov 15 2004
PARLIAMENT OPENS DEBATE ON 2005 DRAFT BUDGET
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS: The Armenian parliament began
today debates over 2005 draft budget, that has set revenues at 327.9
billion drams, including also official transfers and expenditures at
375.4 billion drams. The budget deficit is projected at 47.5 billion
drams.
The draft budget foresees an 8 percent GDP growth for next year
and a 3 percent GDP deflation and inflation. The exchange rate of one
US Dollar is set at 535 US Dollar.
Presenting the draft budget to lawmakers, prime minister Andranik
Margarian said it did not differ from 2004 budget in terms of its
logic, essence and strategic approaches, being based on the
fundamentals of the Poverty Reduction Plan and approved medium-term
expenditures.
He said the projected volume of the deficit is 3.3 billion less
that the 2004 deficit. “We are working to get rid of the practice to
cover the deficit from foreign credit sources and trying each year to
decrease its volume in view of the GDP growth and domestic
resources,” he said.
He said 55. 4 billion drams are earmarked fro education, which is
a 21.7 percent increase against 2004 funding. In 2005 secondary
school teachers average salary will be around $100. Also 45.4 billion
drams are earmarked for social security sector, a 26.5 percent
increase against 2004. The budget envisages bigger old-age pensions
(around $20) and other social allowances. The health care system is
set to receive 33.3 billion drams, a 31.9 percent increase against
2004.
Margarian said the 2005 draft budget does not include the money
Armenia hopes to get from the Millennium Challenges Account (MCA)
Corporation and also possible funds from the US-based Lincy
Foundation.
He said a team of MCA is in Armenia now working with respective
ministries. Another team is due in a couple of weeks to examine the
projects Armenia is going to submit to MCA. Margarian said by the end
of the year the government may learn how much the US government may
release to Armenia within the frameworks of MCA.
Regarding possible funds from the Lincy Margarian said
negotiations are being held with its managers. “If the Foundation
decides to release new funds to Armenia before the end of the year
they will be included in 2005 budget,’ he said. The 2005 budget
includes a $20 million loan from the World Bank.