Author: Khondkarian Raffi

Harold Doan and Associates, CA
Feb 24 2005

OPEC FUND AND ARMENIA SIGN INVESTMENT ENCOURAGEMENT AND PROTECTION
AGREEMENT

Feb. 24 2005

Press Release – The OPEC Fund

An agreement for the encouragement and protection of investment has
been signed between the OPEC Fund for International Development and
the Republic of Armenia. Drawn up within the framework of the Fund’s
Private Sector Facility, the agreement was signed by HE Mr. David
Lokyan, Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Armenia, and by
Mr. Suleiman J. Al-Herbish, Director-General of the OPEC Fund.

The Fund’s Private Sector Facility is a financing window, endowed
with its own resources, through which the Fund channels support
directly to the private sector in developing countries. Its
objectives are to promote economic development by encouraging the
growth of productive private enterprise and supporting the growth of
local capital markets. Under the Facility, loans are made to
financial institutions for on-lending to small, medium and
micro-enterprises, as well as directly to specific projects. Equity
participation in private enterprises is also undertaken. The
investment protection agreement accords the OPEC Fund the same
privileges as those normally given to international development
institutions in which the country holds membership. To date, the Fund
has concluded such agreements with over 60 countries.

With a population of just 3.1 million and a GNI per capita of US$950
in 2003, Armenia ranks among the lower middle income group of
countries. In recent years, government has pushed ahead with
structural reform and trade liberalization, together with a raft of
financial sector reforms. Economic performance has been encouraging,
with GDP growth reaching a record 13.9% in 2003. The private sector
accounts for 91% of GDP. Over two-thirds of small and medium
enterprises have been privatized, as have 75% of large companies and
most agricultural land. Government is committed to creating an
enabling environment for further development of the private sector.

The OPEC Fund’s cooperation with Armenia commenced in December 2004,
with the approval of a public sector loan in support of a rural areas
economic development project. On a cumulative basis, since 1976, the
Fund has approved more than US$5,795.7 million in public sector
lending to over 100 countries in all developing regions of the world.

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Feb 23 2005

KINGDOM OF MOROCCO ADHERENTS FOR SOLUTION CONFLICTS OVER
NAGORNO-KARABAKH ON THE BASE OF PRINCIPLE TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY
[February 23, 2005, 21:11:16]

As reported AzerTAj, on February 23 speaker of the Azerbaijani
Parliament Murtuz Aleskerov has received the newly appointed
Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco Abdullah Zagur.

Murtuz Aleskerov congratulated the Ambassador on the new appointment
and said that Azerbaijan is having committments on expanding a
relations with the all countries, including with Kingdom of Morocco.
In 1994 the national leader of Azerbaijanis Heydar Aliyev visiting
the capital of Morocco for participation in the work of ICT Summit
and held a talks here which were forming a base for expanding of
relations. Now in the Azerbaijani Parliament are functioning a
friendsip group with Parliament of Morocco, said speaker.

Head of Milli Mailis has informed the Ambassador on political,
economics and social reforms, activity on perfection of legislation.
He said that Azerbaijan is rapidly integrated into European
structures. Speaker also touching upon the Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, its causes and bitter consequences.
He expressed a hope that Morocco will support a stance on restoration
of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

Ambassador Abdullah Zagur noted that the Kingdom of Morocco also have
commitment to developing a relations with Azerbaijan which after
gained an independence had been a great achievements. He said that at
the United Nation’s discussion of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem
Morocco is gave a support for Azerbaijani stance and his country
adherent for peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem on
the base of the principle of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
Murtuz Aleskerov for his part invited a members of Parliament of
Morocco visiting Azerbaijan.

Armenian Donors Needed Immediately to Aid Rare Bone Marrow Disease

Ararat Home to Host Bone Marrow Drive, Sunday March 6th, 2005

PRESS RELEASE
Armenian Bone Marrow Registry Program
February 23, 2005
Contact: Armen Titizian
Phone: 818/753.9121
Email: [email protected]

CHATSWORTH, CA — Arlene Titizian, 56, has recently been diagnosed with
a rare disease, Myelofibrosis. Myelofibrosis is a proliferation of
fibroblastic cells in bone marrow, causing anemia and sometimes
enlargement of the spleen and liver. The only treatment for survival is
a bone marrow transplant. Doctors have told the family that the chances
of finding the correct match are from those of Armenian decent.

There is no time to waste. Two bone marrow drives have been set up in
the greater Los Angeles area to help find a match for Titizian. On
Sunday, March 6th, 2005 from 1pm-5pm, volunteers can donate at the
Ararat Home (15105 Mission Hills Road, Mission Hills) or Sunday, April
3rd, 2005 from 12:30 pm – 5:30 pm at the United Armenian Congregations
Church (3480 Cahuenga Blvd. West., Los Angeles). The donor drives are
sponsored by the Armenian Bone Marrow Registry Program and the City of
Hope, respectively.

There is no cost to donate and to be included on the Armenian Bone
Marrow Registry. In joining this program, your donated blood/platelets
will be available for any needed patient. If you would like to become a
Patient Direct Donor (ie: donate specifically for Arlene Titizian) or
are out of town and unavailable for either drives, visit
or

Please visit: for more information about bone
marrow testing, the transplant for this rare disease, bone marrow
locations and donor requirements.

Arlene Titizian is the wife of George Titizian for 37 years and mother
of Sonia Mikaelian, Martin and Armen Titizian. She is the proud
grandmother of three grandchildren, Nicholas, Kristopher and Alexa
Mikaelian.

The Easterner, WA
Feb 23 2005

Armenian educators head to university March 1

By Thomas Coghlan, News Assistant
February 22, 2005

Six Armenian educators will be coming to EWU in March to participate
in a social science curriculum development program.

`It is a new program for Eastern, previously housed at George Mason
University,’ said Earl Gibbons, junior executive director of
Educational Outreach.

EWU received the $63,900 grant from the Bureau of Educational and
Cultural Affairs (ECA) in collaboration with the International
Research and Exchange Board (IREX).

The ECA, part of the State Department, is aimed at creating
international education and training programs that help the U.S. and
other countries promote a mutual understating of each, while
presenting the historical, social and cultural aspects of America.

The IREX, founded in 1968, is an international nonprofit organization
that specializes in education, independent media, Internet
development and civil society programs. The grant that EWU received
was part of their educational outreach program designed to contribute
to other countries.

In May 2004, IREX won the 2004-2007 High School Social Science
Development and Teacher Education Project for Armenia (HST). Their
goal with this program is to provide professional development for
educators and expose them to new ideas and programs that they can
take home with them and apply to their school system.

The Armenian school system has suffered since the fall of the Soviet
Union. Since Armenia has not been an independent country for a long
time, they lack the infrastructure and experience to provide the
level of education that they need.

The HST program is one of the ways in which they are trying to
rebuild their education system.

Although this program is specifically designed for the social studies
program, which includes areas like history, government, global issues
and others, it will have a reverberating effect on other aspects of
the Armenian education system.

The programs that these educators take back home will be piloted and
adapted to fit the needs of their school system. These educators will
then share what they have learned with other educators.

Gibbons and Gary Varella, the principal investigators who have been
working in Armenia for a number of years, traveled Feb. 1 to Armenia
to meet with the candidates and then select the six-member team.

They performed field assessments of the needs and priorities of the
high schools then later gave a two-day workshop in Yerevan, Armenia,
focusing on the results of what they discovered in their assessments.
This initial meeting helps the American side of this program prepare
the training program at EWU.

The Armenian educators will arrive at EWU March 1 to begin the
program. They will participate in a 12-week workshop focusing on
researching and creating a Handbook for Training High School
Teachers.

The Armenians will also work on a new curriculum for their high
school social studies program as well as beginning the preliminary
training for the high school pilot representatives that will help
other educators in Armenia benefit from the information learned at
EWU.

At the conclusion of the 12-week program there will be another
workshop in Yerevan and the final scheduling of the pilot-testing
program will begin.

This program represents EWU’s devotion to cultural diversity here on
campus, as well as a continued support for the international
community. Each program that EWU hosts opens doors for future
developments and will be sure to attract similar programs and grants.

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Feb 23 2005

Baku demands to amend document to be adopted by OSCE PA

Baku, February 22, AssA-Irada

The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper Garabagh will be discussed
at the summer session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) due in
Washington on July 4-9.
Sattar Safarov, chairman of the permanent parliamentary commission on
economic issues, head of the Azerbaijani delegation at OSCE PA, says
that there are some provisions in the report prepared by the
Assembly’s special envoy on the Upper Garabagh conflict Goran
Lennmarker which don’t fully meet the national interests of
Azerbaijan.
`Official Baku demands that amendments be made to some provisions of
the document to be adopted by the OSCE PA and Armenia be recognized
as an aggressor,’ Safarov stressed.
Some issues will be reconsidered during the planned visit by
Lennmarker to the region before the OSCE PA session.*

OSCE rapporteur tells Azeri agency about “growing” interest in Karabakh issue

Trend news agency
22 Feb 05

BAKU

Trend correspondent A. Raufoglu: “The objective behind preparing the
report of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly [OSCE PA] is to attract the
attention of the international community and push the conflict to the
top of the agenda,” Goran Lennmarker, the OSCE PA rapporteur on
Karabakh, has told Trend news agency.

In his view, the settlement of the conflict is taking so long “because
the international community does not have enough information regarding
the conflict, so it attracts less attention”. However, the ultimate
resolution of the conflict depends on the two sides themselves,
Lennmarker said. “I hope that the OSCE PA discussion of this issue
will speed up the resolution of the conflict,” he said.

At the same time, the rapporteur said that it is not the aim of his
mission to intervene in the work of the OSCE Minsk Group. “Like in the
PACE [Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe], the OSCE PA
report on Karabakh will be for familiarization purposes. It will state
the origins of the conflict, the current situation and prospects for
its settlement. Right now I am seriously studying the situation. I may
draw some conclusions on the basis of my observations,” Lennmarker
said.

He said that the OSCE PA has recently increased its interest in the
Karabakh issue: “This has to do with the organization’s growing
interest in the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict, since both states
closely cooperate with the OSCE”. The rapporteur declined to answer
questions about the process of settling the conflict and said that
both Armenia and Azerbaijan will benefit from its resolution. In his
opinion, the problem should be resolved “exclusively through
negotiations and peaceful means”.

“At any rate, the problem must be resolved soon, so that we could
tackle deeper problems of the South Caucasus in the future,”
Lennmarker said.

DISCUSSION OF KARABAKH CONFLICT DURING FORTHCOMING MEETING OF
PRESIDENTS OF RUSSIA AND USA CONFIRMS SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROBLEM

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22. ARMINFO. The planned discussion of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict during the forthcoming meeting of the
presidents of Russia and the USA in Bratislava on Feb 24, confirms the
significance of the problem. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Arman Melikian stated during the news
conference in Yerevan, Tuesday.

According to him, the discussion of these issues at such a high level
confirms their importance. “If the presidents of the USA and Russian
Federation discuss this issue, it is obvious that it has more than
regional or bilateral importance. In this connection we, of course,
must take into account the interests of the super-powers in the region
and the matter concerns not only Russia and the United States”, the
minister mentioned.

KARABAKH JOINS INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS

A1+
22-02-2005

Recently the NKR parliament appealed to Azerbaijan to recognize its
independence and in this context called the world community to welcome
thisstep of Nagorno Karabakh.

«I do not rule out that Armenia will recognize Karabakh’s
independence, however it not a priority», NKR Minister of Foreign
Affairs Arman Melikyan stated during today’s press conference in
Yerevan. In the course of his first press conference the Minister
decided to get acquainted with the Armenian journalists, thus no
expected statements were heard.

Nagorno Karabakh is going to join a number of international
conventions including the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations
and Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. According to the Minister
though other states have not recognized the NKR, it does not impede
the republic to join international agreements and laws.

The NKR leadership have another legislative initiative . According to
Melikyan the residents of Karabakh feel responsible for the refugees
from Azerbaijan. Presently the law on «On NKR Citizenship» is being
considered by the parliament. The bill will come into force in two
month and all the refugeeswill have the right to receive the NKR
citizenship.

Honda to use DNC to reach out to minorities
By Hans Nichols

The Hill, DC
Feb 15 2005

Rep. Mike Honda plans to use his new high-profile role as a vice
chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to tap the
Asian-American community for more than $5 million and cultivate new
immigrant communities for his party, all while serving as a “bridge”
between Chairman Howard Dean and House Democrats.
File photo
Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.), new DNC vice chairman

Honda bested Alvaro Cifuentes, the outgoing DNC Hispanic Caucus
chairman, for the one remaining DNC executive slot available to a
male. In the campaign, Honda earned endorsements from two of his
onetime rivals, fellow Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Nelson Diaz, a
Puerto Rican political operative.

Honda’s election to the executive committee also marked a victory for
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who offered an early
endorsement for the third-term Californian and then redoubled her
efforts on his behalf once it became clear that Dean had secured the
chairmanship.

That reenergized effort by Pelosi to insinuate herself into a DNC
process she had mostly skirted led party strategists and delegates to
conclude that the House’s top Democrat wanted a trusted loyalist on
an executive committee chaired by Dean.

Both Pelosi’s office and Honda downplayed any suggestion that Honda
was intended to be a check on Dean’s power. But that view was
widespread among Democratic strategists, both by backers of
Cifuentes’s candidacy and by nonaligned operatives.

Honda said that he understood that he would spend much of his time
acting as a liaison between Dean and elected lawmakers in part
because he owed his election to the support he received from his
House colleagues, particularly Hispanics and African-Americans.

“The fact that other members of Congress were very helpful and they
called their delegates … that the Hispanic members, the
African-American members went to work for me and they all went to
their base really worked in the end, that interconnectivity helped my
candidacy,” said Honda. “That’s why I’ll be a bridge.”

He said that he did not expect any friction between Dean and Pelosi
to arise but that, if it did, he would serve as a mediator.

“I think Pelosi and Dean have their personal relationship. I am
committed to making sure that I do my part, in communicating what the
DNC is doing to my colleagues,” Honda said.

Despite Honda’s fluent Spanish, some prominent Hispanics said his
election would complicate the Democrats’ efforts to stanch the flow
of Hispanic voters to the Republican Party.

“The fact that that position is not held by a Hispanic makes it more
difficult to reach out. Fortunately, Congressman Honda does speak
Spanish,” said the leader of the Puerto Rican Senate, Kenneth
McClintock, a strong Cifuentes backer.

Honda said that he would be aggressive in reaching out to the
Hispanic community, though he admitted he was “concerned” by recent
Republican gains among Hispanic voters.

“It concerns me that they are working so hard,” Honda said. “We have
to make sure that our message is clear. If you look at their actions,
and their words, there’s a disconnect.”

In addition to focusing on Hispanic outreach, Honda, who is
Japanese-American, said that he plans to scour the Asian-American
business community, especially on the West Coast, for donations.

The DNC should raise more than the $5 million it raked from
Asian-Americans last cycle, Honda said, adding that it was “hard to
say” what the ceiling was because “we haven’t really energized that
community.”

Honda said he also will target other communities: “I want to look at
developing new groups, like the Ethiopians and the Armenians, and
connecting these folks with our party.”

Pelosi will meet with Honda today when she stops by the Asian Pacific
Islander American caucus retreat. Honda chairs that group, giving him
one of the most demanding briefs in the Democratic caucus.

“All the hats that I wear, they have the same ends — increasing the
visibility and raising the profile of [the minority] community,”
Honda said.

“Mike has the proven experience of working with the many
constituencies that are critical to the future success of our
Democratic Party, and will be a bridge-builder between the important
communities we rely on to secure progress and victory,” Pelosi said
in a statement. “Mike knows what it takes to restore Democrats to
majority status, and is prepared to take on that challenge with his
typical enthusiasm and resolve.”

–Boundary_(ID_XAhzp9ZEx+3iorON0mlmNA)–

Azeri civilian wounded in ceasefire breach

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Feb 15 2005

Baku, February 14, AssA-Irada — At about 5 p.m. on Sunday, Armenian
units, from their positions in the occupied Jeysulanli village of
Azerbaijan, fired at the Gapanly village in the Terter district for
one hour. As a result of the shooting, a resident of the village
Farman Mirkishiyev, 38, was wounded in his shoulder, local ANS TV
reported. Mirkishiyev, who was rushed to the hospital, underwent a
surgery and is currently in satisfactory condition.

Mirkishiyev was ploughing soil when he was fired at. It was impossible
to remove him from the area for an hour.*