Author: Vorskanian Yeghisabet

Konstantin Gabashvili: I am ready to favor Azerbaijan if the arsons proved
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Sept 7 2006
[ 07 Sen. 2006 15:09 ]
The military helicopter with Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili and
deputy chief of Armed Forces Staff Zaza Gogava on board, which was
fired from the South Ossetia, remains caused quite a stir in Georgia.
Konstantin Gabashvili, head of parliament’s international relations
committee told APA’s Georgia bureau that the latest event and missile
launching to President Mikhail Saakashvili’s helicopter with also US
Senator John McCain on board on 28 August are not accidental.
“This is a terrorist act. I think Barankevich, defense minister
of the unrecognized South Ossetia Republic, who was appointed by
Russian intelligence, stands behind all these. I wonder why foolish
Barankevich targeted the helicopter with the Senator on board. Can
you imagine what would happen if something wrong had happened to
McCain, who is so respected in the US authorities?” There is a group
of communist-fascist in Russia, who aim to rule the world. Therefore,
we want all Russian peacekeepers and military bases to be withdrawn
from our country. I am sure Azerbaijan will support us in this issue,”
the parliamentarian said.
Touching on the presence of representatives from Abkhazia and South
Ossetia in recent events on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the
alleged “Nagorno Karabakh Republic”, which declared its independence in
occupied Azerbaijani territories, Mr.Gabashvili Russians are treating
the unrecognized bodies like puppets, which are doomed to similar fate.
“If Azerbaijan and Georgia turn out to refuse the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
oil pipeline and give the pipeline to a Russian company from the
British Petroleum, the situation will be quite different then. We
will have to refuse all that we gained during our independence. But
this way for achieving peace is not useful for us,” he said.
As coming to the Nagorno Garabagh conflict between Armenia and
Azerbaijan, Gabashvili, “I have told my Armenian counterparts that they
should withdraw from the regions adjoining Nagorno Garabagh in order
to achieve any result. And Azerbaijan will take relevant steps if it
sees that Armenia does something. What we want is that Azerbaijanis,
Armenians, Georgians and other nations live in peaceful atmosphere,
make efforts for the development of their countries.”
Georgian parliamentarian also touched on the destruction of cultural,
architectural heritage and arsons in the Armenian-occupied Azerbaijani
lands. He said the Armenian side says the fires are caused by extreme
temperature. He said neutral and fair international experts should
visit the scene and find the causes of the fire.
“If it is proved that Armenians committed arsons in Azerbaijani
territories, as Georgian representative, I am ready to back
Azerbaijan,” Gabashvili said./APA/

AZERI MAN KILLED IN MINE BLAST IN WESTERN DISTRICT – TV
ANS TV, Baku
7 Sep 06
A villager has been killed in a mine blast in Azerbaijan’s Goranboy
District, private ANS TV reported on 7 September.
The 20-year-old man hit an antitank mine on the morning of 7 September
as he was riding a horse near the Azerbaijani-Armenian contact line. He
lost his leg in the blast and died on the spot, the TV said.
ANS said vehicles and domestic animals had hit mines several times
in the area.

RA DM: FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS ARMENIAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS HAVE BEEN DEEPENED GREATLY
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Sept 6 2006
September 5 the Secretary of the Security Council under the RA
President, RA DM Serge Sargsyan received the U. S. Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to RA John Evans in connection with
the completion of his diplomatic mission in RA.
According to the information DE FACTO received at the RA MOD Press
Service, having expressed his gratitude for the mission fulfilled in
Armenia, Serge Sargsyan stated the Armenian – American relations had
been deepened greatly for the last two years.
While touching on the Karabakh conflict settlement, RA DM highly
estimated the OSCE Minsk group Co-Chairs’ activity. Serge Sargsyan
is convinced the means for the conflict’s peaceful settlement has
not been exhausted yet.
In the course of the meeting the parties discussed the issues of
regional security, as well as a number of issues of mutual interest.

ARMENIAN CB FORECASTS HIGH GDP GROWTH RATE FOR NEXT 3 YRS
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Business and Financial Newswire
September 6, 2006 Wednesday 5:41 PM MSK
The Armenian economy will continue to grow at a high rate over the next
three years, Central Bank Chairman Tigran Sarkisian said in a speech
at the Armenian-European Policy and Legal Advice Center (AEPLAC).
The forecasts in an AEPLAC report in many cases coincide with the
Central Bank’s forecasts, he said.
Armenia has managed to accumulate a significant potential to provide
for economic growth and GDP could reach two figures in the next three
years, Sarkisian said.
He forecasts that the Armenian dram will strengthen in the next few
years. The Central Bank’s monetary and credit policy will focus on
holding back growth in prices for consumer goods, he said.
Quality changes could take place in the country’s economy over the
next three years, Sarkisian said. Many leading companies could find
themselves bankrupt or reorganized if they don’t withstand competition.
“The fundamental problem for the Armenian economy is the high level of
competition on foreign markets,” Sarkisian said. “In the worst case,
the economy could slow in the next three to four years,” he said.
Armenian GDP grew 11.6% in January-July.
The Armenian budget envisions GDP growth of 7.5% in 2006. GDP rose
13.9% in 2005.

CIS: WORLD BANK ASSESSES REGION’S BUSINESS CLIMATE
By Julie A. Corwin
Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep.
Sept 6 2006
Armenia is one of the simplest countries in the world in which to
register property (TASS)
WASHINGTON, September 6, 2006 (RFE/RL) — The World Bank today released
its annual survey on ease of doing business.
The report evaluates 175 countries in 10 specific areas of business
regulation, including the ease of registering a business, paying taxes,
and trading across borders.
According to “Doing Business 2007,” Armenia and Georgia — ranked
34th and 37th, respectively — scored better than EU countries such
as Spain and Portugal.
Showing Greater Initiative
This doesn’t mean that international investors are going to start
pulling their money out of large markets like the EU and shift to
Yerevan and Tbilisi. But World Bank senior economist Caralee McLiesh,
the lead author of the report, says it does show that emerging market
economies can sometimes show greater initiative than established ones
in simplifying the commercial regulations and procedures.
And, McLiesh says, the results of such reforms can be a dramatic
improvement in their own international and domestic business
opportunities. She cites Georgia as an example.
“Business registrations jumped up by 55 percent on previous years,
and also unemployment is on the decline,” McLiesh says. “It’s fallen
by about 2 percentage points in the last year to 18 months. And so
these are signs that the economy is moving in the right direction.”
Georgia made it a lot easier for entrepreneurs to start businesses
and reduced the minimum capital required to start a new enterprises.
In addition, the number of days exporters would need to get their
goods out of customs has dropped from 54 to 13.
McLiesh says Armenia was not such a vigorous reformer this year as
Georgia, but it too has consistently been improving over the years:
“[Armenia] is one of the simplest countries in which to register
property in the world,” she says.
Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli’s (left) government is doing
something right (InterPressNews, file photo)It takes only four days
on average to register a property in Armenia, compared to 231 days
in Belarus.
Taxes High And Hard To Pay
She notes Belarus is the worst country in the world in terms of
paying taxes. Businesses in Belarus must pay 186.1 percent of their
profits and make 125 tax payments a year in order to comply with
tax regulations.
Neighboring Ukraine ranks just behind Belarus in terms of the
difficulty of paying taxes. McLeish says it’s not just the high
rate of taxation there, but the “complexity of the tax system” that
creates problems for businesses. For example, Ukraine’s annual tax
return for businesses is 92 pages long.
“In Ukraine it takes [medium-sized businesses] 2,185 hours per year
if they were to comply fully with all tax payments,” McLeish says.
Trade Barriers
Ukraine and Belarus also score poorly in terms of ease of trading
across borders, but not as poorly as all five Central Asian
countries. Even Kazakhstan, which has the highest overall ranking
— 63 — of any of the Central Asia countries retains considerable
barriers to trade. For example, it takes 93 days on average to export
a product and 87 days on average to import one.
McLiesh says high trade costs raises domestic prices, limit the
growth of domestic businesses by restricting their exports abroad,
and increase opportunities for corruption.
“In many of the countries in the [Central Asia] region, customs
is one of the most corrupt areas of business regulation,” McLiesh
explains. “And one of the reasons is the fact that there are a number
of different documents and a number of different procedures behind
trading. There are enormous delays if you choose to go through all of
the official procedures. And so entrepreneurs are basically almost
forced to pay bribes in order to be able to do business, to be able
to import and export.”
Will Power
Why are some countries, such as Georgia, able to successfully reform
business regulations, while such reforms have stalled in other
countries, such as Russia? McLiesh suggests that both political will
and timing can be critical factors.
“When we look at the countries that have reformed the most — the top
reformers in the past three years since the ‘Doing Business’ project
has been running — 85 percent of the reforms in those countries were
implemented in the first 15 months of a government,” she explains.
“So the lesson is that when you have a lot of political capital right
at the start of a government’s term, that’s the time to spend it.”
And what about governments that have long ago missed that critical
15-month window of opportunity? McLiesh says they should not stop
trying. She notes there are still significant reforms that can be
made through “simple administrative changes” that are not necessarily
“politically contentious,” such as reducing the number of days it
takes for a business to be registered.

ROMANIAN NATIONAL DEFENSE MINISTER VISIT TO ARMENIA POSTPONED
Author: À.Mammadov
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Aug 5 2006
September 6 Romanian National Defense Minister Teodor Atanasiuwill
arrive in Armenia on a 3-day visit, RA Defense Minister’s Spokesman,
Col. Seyran Shahsuvaryan told PanARMENIAN.Net. As reported before,
Teodor Atanasiu’s visit was scheduled September 6-8.
During the visit the Romanian MOD head was to meet with RA President
Robert Kocharian, Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan, Minister of
Defense Serge Sargsyan and Minister of Foreign Affairs Vartan Oskanian.
–Boundary_(ID_X8egtkmJJYtMHcdeCV+L/w)- –

ISRAEL DOES NOT DISCLOSE ITS STANCE IN NAGORNO KARABAKH ISSUE
AZG Armenian Daily
06/09/2006
“My words about Nagorno Karabakh conflict uttered during my Baku
visit in May were distorted,” Azerbaijani media quoted Josef Shagal,
deputy of Knesset, as saying. The Israeli deputy said that he never
expressed his country’s position in Nagorno Karabakh issue.
“Israel will make public its stance in Nagorno Karabakh as soon as
Azerbaijan makes known its position in Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

ANDRE AGASSI WALKED OFF THE COURT THE WAY HE WANTED, TO A CHAMPION’S OVATION
Panorama.am
13:30 04/09/06
In the end, despite all the tears, it hardly made a difference to
him or his fans that he didn”t win.
A career for the ages came to a close Sunday with Agassi worn down
and wincing, losing to 112th-ranked Benjamin Becker 7-5, 6-7 (4),
6-4, 7-5 in the third round at the U.S. Open.
Betrayed by a creaky body that needed four injections this week,
his spirit never waned. And that is something Agassi and his fans
will always remember.
“For me, it was never about winning and stopping,” he said. “It was
about getting the most out of myself for as long as possible,” he said.
Agassi announced this summer that the Open would be his final event. It
seemed unimaginable that he could win seven matches to take the title,
but after two inspiring victories, fans began to hope and wonder.
Instead, the end came with Agassi looking like what he”d become —
a 36-year-old man with a bad back, ready for retirement.
“I just credit the doctors that I was able to play out there today,”
he said. “I didn”t expect a whole lot physically. And sure enough,
it was real early when I wasn”t feeling so good.”
The 25-year-old Becker started strong, showing few nerves, and closed
out the match with a 133 mph ace.
Moments later, Agassi teared up on the blue court as he addressed a
crowd that showed up early at Arthur Ashe Stadium and tried to spur
him all afternoon.
“The scoreboard said I lost today,” he said. “But what the scoreboard
doesn”t say is what it is I”ve found.”
Becker, who had to win three qualifying matches merely to make it
into the Open, applauded as Agassi spoke.
Agassi”s wife, Steffi Graf, and their two young children looked on.
“He was my idol growing up,” Becker said.
He joined the crowd for a four-minute, loud standing ovation saluting
Agassi, who stared out at the crowd from his chair, wiping tears from
his eyes.

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Sept 1 2006

OSKANIAN-MAMEDYAROV MEETING UNDER DISCUSSION

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov has announced about
his telephone conversation with OSCE Minsk Group cochairman from
France Bernard Fassier who suggested holding a meeting between the
foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan as part of the `Prague
process’ on September 12-13 in Paris or 14-15 in London.
`I agreed to hold that meeting. Now the format of the meeting is
being discussed. Some time later we will again get in touch with him
and will specify the day and venue for the meeting,’ the Trend news
agency quoted Mamedyarov as saying.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry also confirmed that a meeting between
the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan may take place until the end
of the year. `The possibility of the meeting of the presidents
depends on the negotiations between the foreign ministers of the two
countries,’ Mamedyarov said.
Earlier this week it was also confirmed by Armenian President Robert
Kocharian’s press secretary Viktor Soghomonian. `This meeting may
take place if the presidents have enough material to discuss,’ he
said during a press briefing in Yerevan on Wednesday.

AZERBAIJAN POSTS HIGHEST INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT GROWTH IN CIS IN 7 MTHS
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS General Newswire
August 31, 2006 Thursday 4:18 PM MSK
Azerbaijan posted the highest year-on- year industrial output growth in
the CIS in the first seven months of 2006 at 41.4%, the CIS Interstate
Statistics Committee said Thursday.
Industrial production increased 12.7% in Belarus, 6.2% in Tajikistan,
5.9% in Kazakhstan, 4.8% in Ukraine and 4.2% in Russia.
Production fell 8.9% in Kyrgyzstan, 6.7% in Moldova and 1% in Armenia.
The CIS statistics committee does not have industrial production
figures for Georgia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
GDP grew 6% year-on-year on average in the CIS in the first seven
months of 2006 and industrial production was up 5.3%.
GDP growth was highest in Azerbaijan at 35.1%. GDP went up 11.5%
in Armenia, 10.1% in Belarus, 7.2% in Tajikistan, 5.5% in Ukraine,
and 2.5% in Kyrgyzstan. GDP has not yet been calculated for the rest
of the CIS countries.