Author: Khoyetsian Rose

NEW VTB GROUP BRAND OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED IN ARMENIA

SKRIN Market & Corporate News
October 31, 2006 Tuesday 2:44 PM GMT

On October 27, within the framework of a visit of VTB Management
to Armenia, a press conference was held to mark the launch of a new
brand of the Bank Group – VTB.

Through developing its activities in Armenia, the VTB Group will
enhance the efficiency of servicing Russian customers business in
Armenia, effecting foreign trade settlement, and implementing foreign
trade cooperation programmes between Armenia and Russia.

To expand operations of the VTB Group in Armenia, VTB acquired in
2004 a 70% + one share interest in Armsberbank, which is currently
operating under the VTB Bank (Armenia) name. This financial institution
has gained solid positions in corporate business. As of 01.07.2006,
it is ranked 1st in the national banking system in terms of lending
volumes with a 14% share.

In the retail market, VTB Armenia is the second largest bank of the
country in terms of household deposits raised, with about a 10%
market share. The regional network of VTB Armenia is the largest
in the country; it consists of 100 branches and covers actually the
whole of the country territory.

Business development of VTB Armenia implies more finance to be
channelled into the national economy. The Bank plans to gain a
20% market share in lending to corporate customers and 15% – in
attracting new corporate customers. Moreover, a product line for
retail customers will also continue to develop, with simultaneous
efforts in SME servicing.

Citing Vassily Titov, Senior Vice President, Member of the Board,
transit of bank-members of the VTB Group in Russia, Europe, Asia,
Africa and the CIS to operating under a single brand is an important
step within the framework of further integration of VTB activities,
an instrument designed to strengthen competitive edge of the VTB
Group in national banking markets, including that of Armenia.

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
—————————————— —-
PRESS AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
Government House # 2, Republic Square
Yerevan 0010, Republic of Armenia
Telephone: +37410. 544041 ext 202
Fax: +37410. 562543
Email: [email protected]

PRESS RELEASE

31-10-2006

Armen Liloyan Appointed Consul General in Los Angeles

Armen Liloyan has been appointed by Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian
to serve as Consul General in Los Angeles.

Armen Liloyan was born in Yerevan in 1971. He graduated from the
Faculty of Oriental Studies of Yerevan State University, and received
his Master’s degree from the London Diplomatic Academy.

The newly-appointed Consul General joined the Ministry in 1995. He
worked in the European Department. From 1998 to 2002, he served
at the Armenian Embassy in Great Britain. Since 2002, he had been
head of the European Union Division of the European Department and
was instrumental in the process of developing Armenia’s Action Plan
within the European Neighborhood Policy.

RF IS IN SHAMEFUL THIRD PLACE IN ARMENIAN ECONOMY ON LINE OF INVESTMENTS, V.PUTIN DECLARES

Noyan Tapan
Oct 31 2006

MOSCOW, OCTOBER 31, NOYAN TAPAN. RA President Robert Kocharian who
is in RF on a working visit had a tete-a-tete talk with RF President
Vladimir Putin on October 30 in the Kremlin. According to the report
submitted to NT from RA President’s Press Office, V.Putin greeting RA
President’s visit to Russia expressed satisfaction with the fact that
the bilateral relations periodically continue at the highest level
and depth. He touched upon extension of Armenian-Russian economic
cooperation in the recent period emphasizing that only in the eight
months of this year the volume of mutual trade amounted to 278 mln
dollars, which exceeds the index of the same period of the previous
year by 60%.

Nevertheless, he considered as "shameful" fact that Russia takes the
third place in Armenian economy by the volume of investments. "We
are in the shameful third place, as it is strange that Russia does
not take the first place in the economy of its strategic partner on
the line of investments," RF President said. Meanwhile, he attached
importance to the circumstance that the Russian investments in
Armenia have a tendency of growing. Robert Kocharian, in his turn,
said that all agreements with Gazprom on energy projects start
to be implemented. "So, the investment component will essentially
change next year," he said. As an excellent example of bilateral
cooperation RA President mentioned launching of ArmenAl that has
been modernized lately and has increased the production volumes
for several times. At the meeting V.Putin also touched upon Year of
Armenia in Russia mentioning that it proceeds very well and is the
natural continuation of Year of Russia in Armenia. RA President also
mentioned that all events scheduled within the framework of Year of
Armenia in Russia have been implemented. He considered it interesting
that proposals of holding joint events were received from RF regions
during the year, which enriched the scheduled program. R.Kocharian
attached importance to further continuation of cooperation in the
humanitarian sphere and preservation of mechanisms already worked out
in this direction. Opinions on international and regional problems were
exchanged at the meeting. They touched upon perfection of cooperation
within the framework of CIS, Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO) and Eurasian Economic Cooperation. RA and RF Presidents also
discussed issues relating to combining the two countries’ efforts
in the direction of rehabilitation of the situation in the region,
revelation of the potential of bilateral cooperation, prevention of
new conflicts, in particular, the unsolved Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT STILL BELIEVES FRENCH GOVERNMENT WILL NOT LEGALIZE DOCUMENT ON SO-CALLED ‘ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’
Author: P. Kesamanski

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Oct 30 2006

The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, stated in his interview
with the foreign media accredited in Russia that Azerbaijan’s
official position on the adoption of the legislation penalizing
for denial of the so-called ‘Armenian genocide’ was commented in an
official statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in this
respect. Azerbaijan is very much concerned on the initiatives on the
consideration of the issue and voting.

The President noted that Azerbaijan is satisfied with the statement
by French officials urging that the government will never support
this law. The position has been recently sounded in a meeting of the
Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and France in Paris, as well as the
French embassy in Baku.

"We are cooperating with the MPs, and the government of France on
this matter. We are satisfied with the standpoints by this country’s
officials. We believe that France will never allow the legalization of
such anti-democratic document, based on unfair shuffling of historic
facts, because ideas sounded at the French parliament violate the
democracy and its major principles. It would be very difficult for MPs,
who voted for this legislation, to speak about democracy and teach
democracy representatives of different countries," the Azerbaijani
Present assured.

"We negatively estimate the legislation and state that it does not
meet the truth. The so-called ‘Armenian genocide’ is an illusion of
the Armenian lobby. To justify their belligerent policy in respect
to Azerbaijan they introduce themselves as victims and consider they
are right in taking similar steps in respect to Azerbaijanis. The
Armenian committed genocide in Khojaly, where the Armenian armed forces
killed over 600 people, including children, women and elderly ones,"
Mr Aliyev said.

The Azerbaijani President also backed Turkey’s imitative in the
commencement of the talks with Armenian on the issue and publication
of the archive material.

AZERBAIJAN, PAKISTAN TIES STRENGTHEN

The Pakistan Newswire
October 28, 2006 Saturday

"Friendly Pakistan occupies a special place" in Azerbaijan’s foreign
policy, Novruz Mammadov, Head of Presidential AdministrationIs Foreign
Relations Department said."Pakistan was one of the first to recognize
independence of our republic, and it did not establish diplomatic
relations with Armenia occupying Azerbaijani territories," he noted.

Novruzov said visit by national leader Heydar Aliyev to Pakistan,
and that by Pakistani President Pervez Masharraf to Azerbaijan,
fostered strengthening ties, and created legal and contractual basis
for bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev’s successful visit to Pakistan has created new
opportunities to enhance in all fields and cooperation between two
countries demonstrating common stance on regional and global issues,
he said.

ITB ARMENIA OFFERS NEW "MULTICURRENCY" DEPOSIT

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 30 2006

YEREVAN, October 30. /ARKA/. The International Trade Bank (ITB)
offers its clients new "Multicurrency" deposit from October 1, 2006,
the bank’s press service reported that this type of deposits will allow
clients to make deposits in one or three currencies at the same time:
AMD, USD and EUR.

"The advantage of the multicurrency deposit consists in the fact
that over the entire period of validity of the contract, a client
has an opportunity to convert the funds on the deposit account from
one currency into another, and this decreases the risk connected
with exchange rate fluctuation," Executive Director of the bank
Ara Kitbalyan.

At the same time, there are other, very essential advantages besides
this one. Firstly, this is the opportunity of saving deposit funds,
secondly, the opportunity of partial withdrawal, and thirdly, even
the opportunity to fully withdraw the funds by canceling the contract,
without losing added interest.

"The bank provides three types of multicurrency deposits – ordinary,
accumulation and accumulation deposits with the right of partial
return.

In all the three cases, 90 days later, after placing money on the
deposit account, a client can withdraw all the money with added
interests and cancel the contract.

The minimal amount of deposit totals AMD 200,000 or USD/EUR 500 for
the ordinary and accumulation deposit, and AMD 400 AMD or USD/EUR
1000 for the accumulation deposit with the right of partial return.

International Trade Bank – ITB(Armenia) was founded on the basis of
"Bank-Menatep-Armenia" in 1992 as the Yerevan branch of the Russian
bank Menatep. In April 2000, the bank’s share were purchased by
foreign companies, later joined in the Makarios (MG) Holdings GMBH,
and bank itself was renamed to ITB – International Trade Bank. In 2005,
the bank’s 99.91% shares were purchased by Makarios (MG) Holdings GMBH.

ITB’s total assets made up AMD 5.1bln as of 30 June, 2006, the credit
portfolio totaled AMD 2.98bln. The bank currently operates four
branches The Makarious Group Holdings GMBH joins about 60 companies
that are registered in Austria, Great Britain, Ireland, Switzerland,
Cyprus, and in a number of CIS countries. The group consists of banks,
leasing, investment and consulting organizations, the activity of
which is aim at implementing large-scale investment programs in the
spheres of construction, metal mining, timber, woodworking and textile
industries, and also trade and high technologies.

The economic interests of the Makarios group are not limited in Armenia
only by the banking sphere. The group has made large investments for
$22.5mln in the program of construction of the Northern Avenue of
Yerevan.

NATIONAL FINAL FOR ARMENIA

esctoday.com, Netherlands
Oct 25 2006

Officials at ARMTV, the national broadcaster of Armenia, have told
esctoday.com that they plan to hold a national final to select their
Eurovision Song Contest entry for 2007. The process will consist
of two semifinals and a national final. They are now in the final
process of deciding the rules and the format, and an announcement
will be made next week.

Armenia will be competing at the Eurovision Song Contest for the second
time in 2007 after a successful debut this year. They finished sixth
in the semifinal and eighth in the final in Athens with Without your
love sung by Andre.

Speaking to esctoday.com this morning, ARMTV said "We hope to hold
a national final this time. We are finalising the plans now and we
will announce the details next week. We hope to have a three phase
selection, with two semifinals and a final. This is our second time
at the competition and interest will be higher now. We really want
to make a national final with information about the lives of the
participants. We want to do this for the viewers, to get them involved
in selecting their song".

If the plans go ahead, the selection will take place in December. It
is likely that this year’s first Eurovision Song Contest entry to be
selected will be from Armenia, and not as expected, from Albania.

The shows will not be broadcast on the Internet due to technological
issues. We were told "We want all shows to be broadcast live, but
they will not be available on the Internet. We hope that maybe for
2008 it will be possible".

Under current rules, Armenia are assured of a place in the final of
the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007 after finishing in sixth place
in Athens.

SENATE GROUP HEAD: "WE WILL NOT APPROVE IT"

Sabah, Turkey
Oct 25 2006

The dominant name of French senate guaranteed: "Armenian bill is a
mistake, we will prevent it."

Senate Group Head of the ruling party UMP Josselin Rohan said:
"If the Armenian bill comes to the senate, we will reject it."

Our relationship of ages can not and should not be taken in pawn

Senate Group Head of the ruling party UMP Josselin Rohan said: "If
the Armenian bill comes to the senate, we will object to it with all
our might. Our relationship with Turkey can not be taken in pawn."

New reactions against the denial bill are growing from all Europe
including France. Senate Group Head of the ruling party UMP Josselin
Rohan said: "The bill has not come to the Senate yet. However, if it
happens, we will do our best to reject it as a group. Considering our
a hundred year friendship with Turkey, this draft is a diplomatic
mistake. It is really depressing and sad. It does not have any use
to anybody, but it is harmful in many aspects."

DISCUSSION OF FRESH IDEAS

Aravot, Armenia
Oct 25 2006

The imagination of the OSCE MG cochairmen, which was expired a few
months ago, nowadays freshly operates. RA Foreign Minister Vardan
Oskanian told "Azatutiun" b/s after his meeting with Elmar Mamedyarov
in Paris, yesterday that they had discussed "fresh ideas" sounded in
the previous meeting in Moscow. In Oskanian’s words the dialogue will
be continued in Brussels on November 14, after which the MG cochairmen
will arrive the region.

ARCHBISHOP MUTAFIAN, AGAIN TURKEY’S SPOKESPERSON
By Murad Muradian, Oct. 14 editorial of The Armenian Mirror Spectator

AZG Armenian Daily
26/10/2006

It is hard to figure out if Archbishop Mesrob Mutafian, Patriarch of
Istanbul, is running scared of the Turks for whom he obviously has
deep affection, or whether he simply opposes anything favorable for
Armenia and Armenians in general.

What is galling is the honor he is given in some newspapers as the
"leader" of Armenians in Turkey. A leader of Armenians hopefully does
not undermine leaders of the Armenian community, Armenian history
or friends of Armenia. What the Turkey-fawning Mutafian fails to
understand is that his words impact upon Armenians and non-Armenians
around the world.

The Turks do not hesitate to splash his comments in international
newspapers because Mutafian has become one of the favored
Ankara-sponsored spokespersons in the world. Unfortunately, his title
receives attention because most persons outside of Turkey do not
know him or his style and assume that he really has deep concerns for
Armenians and Armenia. It is assumed in too many places that because
Mutafian bears an Armenian name that he lives Armenian pain, Armenian
hopes and Armenian dreams as verbalized by most Armenians in general.

That he is now a lobbyist for the Turkish government has become very
obvious. He has indicated many times that the 1.5 million Armenians
slaughtered in the 1915 Genocide share responsibility with the butchers
for their own deaths.

Upon the departure from Armenia of French President Jacques Chirac,
one of Mutafian’s comments as he again kissed the Turkish hand was,
"If Armenians did not lead separation actions… at least 10 million
Armenians would live in Turkey today." He went on to say that Turkey
would win a lot with that population.

It is interesting that he did not profess sorrow for the Genocide
of Armenians. His main interest was that Turkey would have gained
a lot if the murderers did not butcher the Armenians. It is hard to
imagine that any honest person, much less an Armenian clergyman, has
the audacity to state that the slaughtered Armenian babies, women,
old people, young, sick, etc., were equally responsible with Talaat,
Enver, Djemal and Nazim for the 1915 Genocide.

Of course, Mutafian does not have the courage, or perhaps even
the belief, to state that 1915 was genocide. Keep in mind that he
castigated the Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II for having done
so during the latter’s visit to Turkey some weeks ago.

Mutafian objected that Jacques Chirac advanced the Armenian Genocide
as a pre-condition for Turkey’s entrance into the European Union
(EU). Mutafian stated that even if that is what President Chirac wants,
"One must not forget that Louis Michael, the minister of Foreign
Affairs of Belgium, decisively said that one must not put new political
standards before Turkey for membership to the European Union."

Is this person, Mr. Mutafian, supposed to be a religious leader or
Turkey’s lobbyist? Recalling that he traveled around Europe lobbying
European politicians to allow his masters into the EU, he fits the
description of a lobbyist. Being a political lobbyist for Turkey,
Mr. Mutafian said that Jacques Chirac’s comment that "Turkey must
recognize the Armenian Genocide for membership to the European Union"
might be a "political precept." In his comments to the Turkish press,
Mr. Mutafian advanced himself as a spokesperson for the Armenians
of Turkey.

One wonders who or what gives him the right to say that it would have
been preferred if the French president attempted to create dialogue
between Armenia and Turkey. For the most part, Armenians to whom I have
spoken who were from Istanbul and now live in the US are embarrassed,
dislike, or find excuses for the comments made by Mutafian.

The excuses are generally that he is frightened of the repressive
government in Turkey and says such things to protect the Armenian
flock. My comment usually is, if this is fact, then Mutafian should
say nothing outside the realm of being a clergyman. A clergyman does
not denigrate proven Armenian/world/genocide history. When anyone says
that the slaughtered Armenians were responsible for their own deaths,
that is abominable and a disgrace. He has become the David Irving
(Holocaust denier) of the Armenian Genocide.

Mutafian’s position and spoken words have even more appalling impact
than David Irving’s books.

Mutafian’s words were spoken to international outlets and will appear
in English, Turkish and German languages, perhaps on TV as well as
in written form. I do not blame Mutafian for wanting Turkey in the EU.

Perhaps he recognizes that the EU will stick by their demands that
Turkey must be a democracy before being allowed into that prestigious
body. And if Turkey does become a democracy and is allowed into the
EU all citizens of the country will benefit, including the Armenian
flock. But it is not necessary for Mutafian to join the Genocide
denier club for that to happen.

Mutafian wants Turkey to be able to write its own rules for entrance
into the EU instead of Turkey complying with rules set up for
Turkey. The Turks object to rules that specifically apply to them. If
one of the leading Europeans (Jacques Chirac) wants to satisfy the
demands of 400,000 French Armenians and countless non-Armenians in
France and Europe for Turkey to recognize 1915 as genocide, it is
unseemly for a wannabe Turk like Mutafian to object.

Why is it appropriate to have rules specifically applicable to Turkey
to join the EU? Point out another wannabe nation to the EU that has
as abysmal a human rights history as Turkey does. What other nation
that aspires to the EU currently threatens to invade northern Iraq to
get its way, and particularly to get oil that is in short supply? Let
us not overlook that Foreign Minister Gul of Turkey threatened to
invade northern Iraq because of comments made about Kurds by President
Talabani of Iraq.

Perhaps Mutafian has lived so long in Turkey under pressure from the
government that he has forgotten what truth and human rights are. One
does not have to be an Armenian to understand these things. So much
the greater shame for the current Patriarch sitting in Istanbul.