Author: Yeghisabet Arthur

Britain Proposes Debt Relief to Nations
By ED JOHNSON
.c The Associated Press
BRIGHTON, England (AP) – Britain will provide more debt relief for the
world’s poorest countries and challenge other rich countries to do the
same, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government said Sunday.
Treasury chief Gordon Brown said many developing countries were
crippled by servicing their debt and could not invest in their
infrastructure.
“We will pay our share of the multilateral debt repayments of
reforming low-income countries,” Brown said in a statement, released
by the Department of International Development.
“We will make payments in their stead to the World Bank and African
Development Bank for the portion that relates to Britain’s share of
this debt. We do this alone today but I urge other countries to follow
so that over indebted countries are relieved of the burden of
servicing all unpayable multilateral debt.”
Brown was scheduled to reveal further details in a speech later Sunday
to a “Vote for Trade Justice” event at a church in Brighton, the
coastal town where the governing Labour Party is holding its annual
conference.
Britain holds about 10 percent of the total debt owed to the World
Bank and other development banks, or about 7 percent of all the debt
of the world’s poorest nations.
Britain’s Development Secretary Hilary Benn said poor countries needed
“significant additional resources” to “lift people out of poverty,
get children into primary schools and improve basic health.”
“Debt relief is an efficient way of transferring these resources to
countries that can use them most effectively,” he said in the
statement. “We call on other governments, especially our G-8
partners, to join us so that no country is held back by the burden of
unsustainable debt.”
To be eligible for the debt relief, countries must be able to show the
savings will be used to meet the goals of the 2000 Millennium
Summit. Those goals include halving the number of people living in
dire poverty from 2000 levels; ensuring that all children have an
elementary school education; ensuring that all families have clean
water; and halting the AIDS epidemic – all by 2015.
The list of countries will include those that have been through the
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative: Benin, Bolivia, Burkina
Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique,
Nicaragua, Niger, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, as well as a number of
other countries such as Vietnam and Armenia, where the World Bank has
assessed the countries are capable of absorbing direct budget support,
the statement said.
Britain also called for debt payments owed to the International
Monetary Fund to be funded through the more efficient use of IMF gold
reserves.
09/26/04 13:52 EDT

ArmenPress
Sept 24 2004
ARMENIA, GREAT BRITAIN SIGN MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING ON DEFENSE
CONTACTS AND COOPERATION
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS: The Ministry of Defense of the
United Kingdom and the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia
have agreed a Memorandum of Understanding on Defense Contacts and
Co-operation. The aim of the Memorandum is to further strengthen the
good relations which already exist between the two Ministries, and to
serve as a basis for increased co-operation between them in the field
of defense.
Serge Sarkisian, the Armenian Minister of Defense, and the British
Ambassador to Armenia, Miss Thorda Abbott-Watt, signed the Memorandum
in a short ceremony at the Armenian Ministry of Defense in Yerevan on
Friday, 24 September 2004.
Over the last year the United Kingdom has sponsored places for 16
members of the Armenian Armed Forces to conduct a variety of training
courses outside Armenia, including the first Armenian cadet ever to
attend the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. The British Ministry
of Defense also funds English language training through the
Peacekeeping English Program run by the British Council Armenia in
the Armenian Ministry of Defense.
The Memorandum of Understanding reflects a common recognition
that stable and democratic sovereign states contribute to confidence,
stability and security in Europe as a whole. It will put the existing
co-operation program on a formal footing, and enable Britain and
Armenia to develop further contacts in areas such as the management
of defense in democratic societies, language training, peace support
in humanitarian operations and arms control.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
September 24, 2004, Friday
ARMENIA HAS NO INTENTION TO SEND ITS MILITARY TO IRAQ
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskaryan announced this to
journalists on Wednesday.
“We’ve never declared our intention to send our troops to Iraq. The
matter concerned humanitarian aid and involvement in the post-war
restoration of Iraq only,” he noted.
In Oskaryan’s words, Armenia is ready to send military medics and
field engineers to Iraq, but this step has to be discussed and
approved by the Armenian parliament.
On September 6 President Robert Kocharyan of Armenia and Alexander
Kwasniewski of Poland signed an agreement on bilateral cooperation in
the security sphere. Under this agreement, the Armenian troops of 50
military medics, field engineers and drivers will be dispatched to
Iraq in late 2004 – early 2005 to join the coalitional forces under
command of Poland.

ArmenPress
Sept 23 2004
GRECO MONITORING COMMISSION TO VISIT ARMENIA NEXT YEAR
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS: Bagrat Yesayan, a presidential
advisor on anti-corruption issues, said September 22 that a Council
of Europe Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) monitoring
commission is coming to Armenia next January of February to assess
the country’s progress in anti-corruption struggle.
Yesayan said Armenia has been monitored by the commission since
its enrollment and has prepared answers to 128 questions, including
corruption risk assessment in different government bodies. He said
GRECO will discuss next year the monitoring commission’s report on
Armenia. Armenia joined GRECO last January becoming its 37-th member.
Speaking at a special discussion on Armenia’s progress in
anti-graft process Bagratyan said the government-designed plan of
actions to crackdown on corruption has already produced some positive
results. He singled out a law on organization and conduction of
financial inspections that has established in a clear way the list of
government organizations which have the right to do so. He said 23
inspections conducted by the finance ministry in the first six months
of this year revealed 174 million dram worth abuses part of which was
restored.
According to Bagratian, though the relevant Armenian legislation
was brought in conformity with European standards its application
still faces some problems.

CORRUPTION FLOURISHING IN REPUBLIC
A1Plus
22-09-2004
On Wednesday, presidential adviser Bagrat Yesayan, speaking in
Yerevanâ=80=99s Congress Hotel at a seminar focused on anticorruption
program, said positive changes is being implemented slowly.
In his words, the government’s anticorruption program that promptedso
much criticism from the opposition led to improvement of court and tax
systems.
Yesayan said organizations will participate in the program
implementation.
Armenian Democratic Union’s member Anahit Aghayan was not so
optimistic about the program. Contrary to Yesayan’s opinion she said
she thought theprogram would produce little effect unless the
community and the opposition participate in it.
She said by-election recently held in 44th constituency showed the
corruption is flourishing in the republic. In her opinion, all
anticorruption programs must become the law. Otherwise not a single
corrupted person will be punished, Aghayan said.

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Sept 20 2004
New PACE rapporteur on Upper Garabagh takes office

David Atkinson, the newly appointed Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe (PACE) rapporteur on Upper Garabagh, is well aware
of Azerbaijan’s realities, Samad Seyidov, head of the Azerbaijani
delegation at PACE, told journalists.
Seyidov said that after his appointment as PACE rapporteur, Atkinson
made a speech in which he points out that Armenians living in Upper
Garabagh should be granted a status within the territorial integrity
of Azerbaijan.*
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VISIT OF CHAIRMAN OF EUROPEAN COMMISSION TO ARMENIA TESTIFIES TO
GROWING INTEREST OF EU TO SOUTH CAUCASIAN STATES: ARMENIAN PM
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 20. ARMINFO. The visit of Chairman of European
Commission Romano Prody to Armenia testifies to the growing interest
of the EU to the South Caucasian states and it can become a new
impetus for further development of the EU-Armenia-region
relations. Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan made this
statement during his meeting with Romano Prody on Sept 18 evening. It
should be noted that R.Prody is in Yerevan within the framework of his
visit to the region.
The Armenian Governmental Press-Service told ARMINFO that Andranik
Margaryan, in particular, pointed out the importance of the visit of
Romano Prody to the region in the contest of the South Caucasian
states’ involvement into the initiate “Wider Europe. New
Neighborhood.” He said that this initiative will allow the region’s
states to deepen and expand their relations with the EU, as well as to
accelerate the processes of democratization and socio-economic
reforms. Presenting the steps on European integration to Chairman of
the European Commission, Armenian Premier pointed out the carried out
work on stimulation of trade, cooperation in the sphere of science and
research, harmonization of the Armenian Legislation with that of the
EU under program “Wider Europe. New neighborhood.” He said that
Armenia studies the program of Actions of “European Neighborhood” as
definite steps aiming implementation of the Agreement of Cooperation
and Partnership. And its national program will be elaborated in
future. Andranik Margaryan said that Armenia is waiting for beginning
of joint discussions and elaboration of the program of Actions. He
assured Romano Prody that the Armenian authorities are ready to make
their contribution to this issue.
In his turn, Romano Prody said that the EU is ready to contribute to
the South Caucasian state in establishment of a stable society based
on democratic values. He said that the European Commission will
prepare reports in the coming months on the three states of the region
to assess their progress in the sphere of political and economic
reforms, as well as in peaceful resolution of the conflicts in the
region. The sides also discussed issues of regional cooperation,
Armenian premier presented Armenia’s position, pointing out the
importance of establishment of good-neighbored relations with the
neighboring countries. The sides discussed a broad spectrum of issues
related to the Armenian-Turkish relations, peaceful settlement of the
Karabakh conflict. Simultaneously, they expressed a single opinion
that the full integration to the European structures will be
endangered without settlement of the problems existing in the
region. Considering the Karabakh conflict in this context, the sides
pointed out that restoration of economy and progress in the South
Caucasus is possible only trough establishment of peace and versatile
regional cooperation. Romano Prody said that the EU has no intention
to play a mediatory role in the conflict’s settlement, however, it
will exert serious efforts in this direction.

Tamed pachyderms become Bengal’s white elephants
Indo-Asian News Service
September 20, 2004
Kolkata, Sep 20 : There is a sudden glut of elephants bred in captivity
in West Bengal, and the state’s cash strapped forest department is
finding it difficult to maintain them.
There are 76 of them now in the state’s various reserve forests
stretching the state’s means, but the authorities have allegedly ignored
opportunities to “gift away” some of the animals to other states and
countries.
The elephants are a drain on the resources till they reach the age of
8-10 years or six ft in height when they can be put to use, local
reports said.
Trained elephants are usually used to patrol forests, carry tourists on
jungle safaris and capture wild animals, particularly untamed elephants.
These animals live in the forests of Jaldapara, Buxa and Gorumara in
north Bengal with their trainers.
Forest officials said these trained elephants were breeding fast and it
was becoming difficult for them to maintain them.
The forest department has identified more than a dozen elephants from
the 76 now available that could be given away to others, but the
government reportedly hasn’t moved on the suggestion.
“It requires a lot of money to maintain elephants bred in captivity.
Besides, a large number of trained manpower is needed to train these
animals,” a forest official said.
One option is to give away the animals to others needing them. And there
are quite a few takers at home and abroad.
But the state government is unmoved. It recently let slip a chance to
send one of the 76 elephants to Armenia as a gift to its President
Robert Kocharian.
There is a male elephant in Armenia’s Yerevan Zoo, but it needs a female
companion. Bengal’s forest officials had chosen Shakuntala, a
six-year-old well-mannered young elephant. However, the government sat
on the proposal and now Shakuntala has missed the flight.
Instead, Komala, a seven-and-a-half year old female elephant from Mysore
zoo will be flying to Armenia by Oct 15.
Other Indian states have also asked West Bengal for elephants, but the
state government is not acting yet.
“After a point it will be difficult to maintain any more trained
elephants. There is a glut already. We need to take steps before these
become really and truly white elephants,” an official said.

Nuncio says poverty, resources, instability make Caucasus volatile
By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
Catholic News Service
Sept 15 2004
ROME (CNS) — The poverty, political instability and major energy
resources found in the Caucasus region have combined to make it a
potential “powder keg” for violence on an international scale, said
the nuncio to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Ethnic and religious differences, independence movements and the fight
for territorial control have sparked “a confrontation without limits
and without morality,” said Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, the nuncio.
An interview the archbishop gave to a Catholic newspaper in Trent,
Italy, was republished in early September by SIR, the news agency of
the Italian bishops’ conference.
He spoke after the deaths of more than 300 children and adults in a
school in Beslan in Russia’s North Ossetia province.
The main suspects were from the neighboring province of Chechnya,
where battles have raged in a fight for independence from Russia. On a
smaller scale, South Ossetia, which is part of Georgia, has experienced
violence by residents fighting for independence or for reunification
with Russia.
The Caucasus region, Archbishop Gugerotti said, is a mix of East and
West and has vast gas and petroleum reserves. It generally includes
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and parts of southern Russia.
After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1990, he said, “instability
generated poverty, which was aggravated by a series of population
shifts and an influx of refugees, which make the Caucasus an ideal
basin for terrorism and subversion in general.”
“To avoid letting this transform into a situation like that of
the Balkans (in the early 1990s), it is indispensable that the
international community not abandon us. Not even Russia, acting
alone, can get out of this crisis because the hotspots of tensions
are infinite,” Archbishop Gugerotti said.
The archbishop said that the old communist structures that provided
security have eroded and there has been difficulty in establishing
new structures throughout the region.
Many of the region’s people “do not feel protected by any functioning
system,” he said. “Then there also is the painful perception that
people find themselves facing an almost inevitable escalation” of
insecurity and danger.
A political solution is needed to resolve the conflicting aspirations
of the various communities present in the region, the archbishop said.
“New formulas to pacify the region” must be found, he said; otherwise
there is risk of “a generalized explosion.”
Archbishop Gugerotti said religious leaders in the region have
a serious responsibility to educate their communities for peace,
dialogue and respect for others.
“The situation requires a movement of contact between religious leaders
to reinforce positive values … and curb the risks of manipulating
religion, which some try to do, finding easy success amid ignorance
and poverty,” he said.

Azeri police disperse yet another anti-Armenian protest
Turan news agency
11 Sep 04
Baku, 11 September: Reinforced police units foiled a protest today
against the arrival of Armenian officers in Baku to attend NATO
exercises [on 13-26 September].
The protest was staged by activists of the Karabakh Liberation
Organization and members of other public and political organizations
and was held in the Avenue of Martyrs. After visiting the Avenue
of Martyrs, the protesters moved towards the Cabinet of Ministers
headquarters but were stopped by the police.
The efforts of police chiefs to persuade the protesters to stop their
action did not yield any results. The pickets started a march chanting
“Karabakh or Death!”.
Law-enforcement officers stopped several protesters and took them into
buses ordering the drivers to take them to the nearest metro stations.
Some of the protesters told journalists that they viewed the police’s
actions as a sign of the authorities’ attitude towards the Karabakh
problem.