Author: Toganian Liana

"ART WITHOUT BORDERS" EXHIBITION AIMS TO MITIGATE HOSTILITY

YEREVAN, AUGUST 4, NOYAN TAPAN. An exhibition "Art without Borders"
opened on August 4 at the Innovatory Experimental Art Center. The
exhibition features works of 25 artists from Armenia and three
neighboring countries: Iran, Turkey and Georgia. Paintings,
photos, videos, installations and mixed technics are on display. 6
participants are from Armenia, 7 – from Iran, 5 – from Georgia and
7 from Turkey. Azerbaijan also received an invitation to participate
in the exhibition but its delegates refused to come to Armenia. The
project head Eduard Balasanian said that the event aims to promote
contacts among artists of the neighboring countries and to mitigate
hostility by means of art.

"All works on display have a certain social, sometimes also political
implication," E. Balasanian said. Sonya Balasanian’s "The Playground
of Crosshairs", which is a combination of video art and installation,
impresses by its unpredictablity. At first, some people’s faces appear
above the small houses in a dark room, then a terrible crash is heard,
after which all the people are taken at aim. Sonya Balasanian said
that people should raise their voices against political, economic
and religious oppression. The painting of Iranian artist Khosrov
Hasan Zade depicts 16 prostitutes killed in Mashad, Iran’s religious
capital. The pictures were made based on police photos. The work
"Stop: You are Surrounded" by Berat Isik (Turkey) is an example
of video art. It is a tragicomedy about the oppressed and their
oppressors. The exhibition will last until August 25, then it will
be held in Iran, Georgia and Russia.

Internet down in Armenia due to accident in Georgia – agency

Arminfo
4 Aug 06

Yerevan, 4 August: There has been no Internet connection in Armenia
for two and a half hours now.

Internet connection failed due to an accident that occurred in Georgia,
the press service of ArmenTel has told our Arminfo correspondent.

However, the Georgian side promised ArmenTel that the concequences
will be eliminated within just three hours. Taking this into account,
ArmenTel hopes that Internet connection in the republic will be
restored within an hour.

[In a separate report at 1327 gmt, Arminfo said that Internet
connection had just been restored in Armenia and it took six hours
to fix the problem.]

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION INCREASES IN CIS

RosBusinessConsulting Database
August 3, 2006 Thursday 11:08 AM EST

The industrial production of the CIS countries grew by an average
of 5.5 percent in the first half of 2006 compared to 4.5 percent in
the same period of 2005, the Interstate Statistical Committee of the
CIS reports. The highest industrial production growth rates were seen
in Azerbaijan (41.1 percent), Belarus (12.6 percent) and Turkmenistan
(22.14 percent). Industrial production dropped by 1 percent in Armenia,
by 6.8 percent in Kyrgyzstan and by 6.4 percent in Moldova.

The average industrial output of the CIS countries in June 2006 stayed
at the same level as May 2006 against the growth of 6.3 percent in
June 2005. Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova showed an increase
in output of 2.5 percent, 3.9 percent, 8.3 percent, 19.9 percent and
8.5 percent respectively.

OSCE MG MAY SUGGEST NEXT ROUND OF TALKS TO FMs

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.08.2006 17:44 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Consultations are held in Paris today with
participation of OSCE MG co-chairs Matthew Bryza (U.S.), Yuri
Merzlyakov (Russia) and Bernard Fassier (France) and Personal
Representative of the OSCE CiO Andrzej Kasprzyk. US Ambassador,
who was in the region on a familiarization visit July 29 – August
1, will report to his colleagues on the outcomes of the visit, as
well as further steps of the mediators for settlement of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict will be discussed. It is expected that the co-chairs
will suggest that Armenian and Azeri FMs Vartan Oskanian and Elmar
Mammadyarov hold another round of talks within the Prague Process.

Armenia’s Banking System Serves 745 thousand clients

ArmRadio.am
02.08.2006 11:15

In May 2006, the number of clients served by Armenia’s banking system
increased by 9,955 and reached 745,075. The RA Statistical Service
reports that legal entities numbered 37,884 and individuals707,191,
ARKA news agency reports.

By May 31, 2006, 919,292 accounts had been registered at Armenia’s
commercial banks, 865,056 of them individual accounts. The combined
accounts of the Armsavingsbank involve 3,469.5ths people.

By June 30, 2006, the balance of deposits attracted from the population
had amounted to AMD 102,748 – an AMD 860 or 0.8% increase. It increased
by AMD 25,243mln or by 32.6% compared to the corresponding period of
last year.

Immigrant from Armenia Becomes Turkish Armed Forces Staff Chief

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.08.2006 13:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Erdoghan’s government has appointed Ground Forces
Commander, Army General Yashar Boyukanit Armed Forces General Staff
Chief on 31 July without waiting for the meeting of the Supreme
Military Council held on 1-4 August annually. Yashar Boyukanit was
born in 1940. His family is Azerbaijani Turks, who moved to Turkey
from Amasiya region in Armenia in early 1920s. Boyukanit was promoted
Army General in 2000, held the post of the 1st Army Commander and then
Ground Forces Commander. He was secretary general in the Armed Forces
Staff in 1992. Prior to this, he was the chief of counter-intelligence
office during the Cyprus Truce Movement, reports APA.

BANK SYSTEM INFLUENCE ON THE ECONOMY IN ARMENIA S THE LOWEST AMONG THE CIS STATES

Yerevan, July 31. ArmInfo. The most important problem of the Armenian
banking system is the low level of finance mediation and in order
to solve it crediting volumes are to be increased. Regretfully the
head of the Central Bank Tigran Sarkisian stated that the influence
of bank mediation on economy in Armenia is the lowest among the
CIS states. One of the reasons for that is the shadow economy: the
significant cash assets of the shadow economy are avoiding the bank
mediation because of the adoption of European accounting system.

The next problem is that the companies are presenting the banks
balance-sheets, which often considerably vary from those presented to
the Tax Service. This matter was also considered with the KfW bank,
Germany, running a number of programs in Armenia, and it was made
agree that the Armenian banks will receive from the companies the
same documentation as the Customs Service.

Speaking of the measures taken by the Central Bank for the reduction
of shadow economy, the head of the bank said that first of all
rating of Armenian enterprises was held. 10 of 48 enterprises,
submitted for rating, received rather high rates, which allows
them to issue obligations subjects to REPO transactions. In order
to increase the number of enterprises functioning out of the shadow
field, finance supervision has been started and the Central Bank is
regularly publishing of the biggest debtor-enterprises. At present the
Credit Register, which receives about 1000 queries monthly, has made
possible 100% refundability of credits. Mr. Sarkisian said that at
present only one private crediting bureau is functioning and added
that soon the necessity of new such bureaus will become obvious.
Opening of new crediting bureaus will provide the opportunity of
applying the scoring system in Armenia.

The head of the Central Bank said that the monitoring of corporate
management system, only recently applied in Armenia, will be held
in the next 6 months, most probably by the Armenian Banks’ Union.
According to Mr. Sarkisian, more and more attention is being paid to
the reduction of money-laundering level in Armenia, as the republic
would not be able to integrate with international finance structures
without it. In connection with that Money Laundering Elimination
Commission has been established by the order of the President of
Armenia. Representatives of the Tax and Customs services, Police,
National Security Service, Interpol are included in the new structure.

MEETING AT THE NKR MFA

Lragir.am
27 July 06

On July 27, Nagorno Karabakh Republic Foreign Minister Georgy
Petrossian received Vice Speaker of the British Parliament House of
Lords Baroness Caroline Cox and a delegation, which had arrived with
her in Stepanakert.

On the request of the guests the Head of the NKR Foreign Office dwelt
upon the process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement in the
context of recent regional and world events.

Â"The Nagorno Karabakh conflict is a complicated one, as a great
number of interests are coming into collision here, which acquire
a special urgency from the standpoint of the recent events in the
region and in the world on the wholeÂ", – Georgy Petrossian said.

The Minister noted that the existing format of the negotiations on the
Karabakh conflict settlement did not reflect the core of the conflict.

Â"Unfortunately, today, the mediators focused their attention not on
the essence of the conflict but on the liquidation of the conflicts’
consequences. We emphasize once more that without the participation
of Nagorno Karabakh – the most suffered party to the conflict, the
achievement and realization of any agreements are impossibleÂ", –
Georgy Petrossian said.

Having noted that the negotiations for Nagorno Karabakh are not an
end in itself, the Minister expressed the NKR authorities’ readiness
to discuss any issues, which do not infringe upon Karabakh people’s
rights and do not threaten their security.

The interlocutors also touched upon the issues of democratic
development of Nagorno Karabakh and its integration into international
processes.

Â"Today, we face a task of development but not a survival. In this
connection we attach great importance to democratization processes.
The freer are the people, the more protected are their rights in our
country the stronger we shall be. It is a strategical way for usÂ",-
Georgy Petrossian emphasized.

Baroness Cox and the delegation members, headed by her, expressed
their readiness to assist Nagorno Karabakh in asserting its interests
on the international scene and in announcing truthful information to
the world community.

PRESS-SERVICE OF THE NKR MFA

–Boundary_(ID_QU35q0eKiVeYR54CRqGLSw)–

RESULTS OF COOPERATION WITH IMF OBVIOUS FOR ARMENIA, RA PRIME MINISTER DECLARES

YEREVAN, JULY 27, NOYAN TAPAN. On July 26, RA Prime Minister Andranik
Margarian met with IMF Resident Representative James McHugh finishing
his mission in Armenia. Andranik Margarian positively estimated RA
government-IMF cooperation during 4 years of J.McHugh’s tenure. He
said that the positive results of this cooperation are obvious
in Armenia. In RA Prime Minister’s words, RA government and this
authoritative international financial organization were able to find
solutions to a number of problems with joint efforts.

J.McHugh emphasized that RA government managed to solve many problems
and to register progress over the past four years. He mentioned
the financial difficulties of RA government at the beginning of his
tenure, the great debts on pensions and salaries accumulated by the
state, the high level of unemployment and a number of other problems
the most of which are solved today. "Now the Armenian government is
not only free of debts, but also has some savings at the end of a
year, progress is registered in the fulfilment of Poverty Reduction
Strategic Program’s goals, reduction of abject poverty level, stable
economic growth is registered," IMF resident representative said at
his meeting with RA Prime Minister.

Now, in his words, there are new challenges and problems, in the
direction of which great work should be done. J.McHugh also presented
IMF’s future programs in Armenia mentioning that IMF missions will
arrive in Armenia in the future on issues of estimating fufilment
of commitments by RA government, providing technical assistance,
on monitoring of the financial sector, statistics, etc.

A.Margarian considered useful the visits of the above mentioned
missions to Armenia emphasizing that they fully coincide with the
priorities of RA government’s economic policy and the joint work
within the framework of the visit can be rather efficient.

As Noyan Tapan was informed from RA government Information and Public
Relations Department, J.McHugh presented RA Prime Minister IMF new
representative in Armenia who has an experience of about 5 years’
activity in the fund and works at IMF Policy Estimation Department. The
latter is also engaged in problems of the Poverty Reduction Strategic
Program and crediting, which, as

J.McHugh said, corresponds to the current problems and goals of
Armenia.

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
July 27, 2006

Harry Wyatt: United States supports Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity in the frames of the borders existed in former USSR

Azerbaijan’s Defense Minister Safar Abiyev today received the
delegation led by the US Oklahoma National Guard Commander, Major
General Harry Wyatt. The Ministry told the APA Minister Abiyev said
Azerbaijan is having successful bilateral cooperation with the North
Atlantic Alliance.

"We highly appreciate the United States’ role in development of
Azerbaijan-NATO cooperation. Azerbaijani Armed Forces units are
actively participating in peacekeeping operations in Kosovo,
Afghanistan and Iraq," the Minister said.

Mr.Abiyev said the situation is tense in the South Caucasus, "The
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict has not been solved yet. The activity of
the OSCE Minsk Group, which is dealing with this problem, is not
satisfying. We want the conflict to be resolved in the frames of
international legal norms and Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and
demand Armenian occupying forces to withdraw from the occupied
territories. The Armenian side is taking a destructive position
regarding the resolution of the conflict. Taking this into account,
Azerbaijan has to take adequate measures."

Mr.Wyatt thanked to the Azerbaijani people and government for active
participation in the fight against global terrorism.

"We highly appreciate Azerbaijani Armed Forces units serving together
with US Army in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, and we consider this as
a great success of the Azerbaijani people. You have got wonderful
Armed Forces and much disciplined soldiers," Wyatt said.

Oklahoma National Guard commander said the United States supported
the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan in the frames of the borders
existed in former USSR period and supports at present and wish the
conflict be resolved diplomatically.

"The United States highly appreciates Azerbaijan’s efforts in this
direction and we are ready to help you in this way. We believe
Azerbaijan will demonstrate its strong will around the negotiations
table," he underlined./APA/