FRENCH, AZERI MINISTERS DISCUSS KARABAKH, “GENOCIDE” BILL
Turan News Agency, Azerbaijan
Oct 24 2006
Baku, 24 October: Talks between French Foreign Minister Philippe
Douste-Blazy and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov were
held in Paris yesterday [23 October]. A Turan correspondent learnt
from the head of the press and information policy department of the
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Tahir Tagizada, that the talks had
lasted over one hour. The ministers discussed three subjects.
Mammadyarov spoke about the implementation of energy projects as well
as public and political reforms in the country. In turn, Douste-Blazy
said that Paris’s attitude to the reforms in Azerbaijan was positive.
The Karabakh settlement was the second subject of the talks.
Mammadyarov spoke about the negative role of the Armenian diaspora
in the settlement of the conflict and the situation in the region.
Douste-Blazy hoped for a speedy settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict.
The third subject, according to Tagizada, was raised by the French side
and had to do with the adoption by the French National Assembly of a
draft law criminalizing the denial of “the genocide of Armenians”. This
decision, according to Douste-Blazy, causes official Paris’s “regret
and bewilderment”. Douste-Blazy assured Mammadyarov that the French
government would do its best this draft not become a law.

COALITION APPEARED IN A DIFFICULT SITUATION
Lragir, Armenia
Oct 20 2006
The National Assembly will spend all October 24 discussing the draft
Electoral Code. There are three drafts: Victor Dallakyan’s project
including a 100 proportional system of election, Arshak Sadoyan’s
project including electronic voting along with ballots, and the project
of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun, the Republican Party and the United Labor
Party, which provides for 90 seats for the proportional system and
41 for the majority system.
After the speech of Republican Samvel Nikoyan on the previous day
on October 24 the Rafik Petrosyan seeks for courage. He invited
the political parties of the coalition not to break the political
agreement, placing the committee in a difficult situation every time.
“The committee should not be guided by arrangements between the
political forces but by what is good and what is bad for the nation,”
said Shavarsh Kocharyan. And Rafik Petrosyan announced that if the
political agreement is broken, the Republican will insist on keeping
the 56/76 correlation.
According to Rafik Petrosyan, the ARF Dashnaktsutyun broke the
agreement by avoiding to vote to the proposal on a 100 percent
proportional system of election, and the United Labor Party, which was
for this proposal. We expressed our free will, the political agreement
is a compromise, said Grigor Ghonjeyan, ULP. Rafik Petrosyan thinks the
majority system is necessary. First because the political parties are
not established and besides, “People need the support of the members
of parliament elected from constituencies.”
Rafik Petrosyan, like the entire Republican Party, did not say what
should be done to make the political parties established and what
support he meant.
Instead, when Aram Sargsyan asked to define the borderline between
electoral corruption and charity, he said people who are poor
take the bribe. Which is the same as support. Rafik Petrosyan said
charity should not be connected with the elections and should not
pursue political aims. Otherwise, you can go to court, recommended
the doctor of law.
The committee led by Rafik Petrosyan did not discuss any of the four
main proposals of the Commission of Venice, including use of ink,
cancellation of election if there is only one candidate, the Central
Election Committee put in charge of printing and distribution of
ballots. The authors did not propose, was Rafik Petrosyan’s excuse.

CONSTRUCTION OF IRAN-ARMENIA GAS PIPELINE’S MEGHRI-KAJARAN SECTION TO BE COMPLETED BY DECEMBER 20
Noyan Tapan
Oct 24 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 24, NOYAN TAPAN. It is envisaged to complete the
construction of the 40-km Meghri-Kajaran section of the Iran-Armenia
gas pipeline by December 20, which will allow to start the new gas
pipeline’s operation ahead of the planned date – January 1, 2007. Sahak
Abrahamian, Director of High-Voltage Electric Networks company –
the customer of the gas pipeline’s Armenian secton construction,
told NT correspondent that as a result about 1.7 billion cubic meters
of gas will be imported from Iran into Armenia annually. To recap,
ArmRusgazprom company is implementing the construction work of the
Armenian side. According to S. Abrahamian, the Armenian side received
80% of 35 mln USD envisaged for the construction work as a loan from
Iran’s Development Bank, while the remaining sum will be allocated
from own resources. To recap, the agreement on import of natural gas
from Iran into Armenia was signed in Yerevan in May 2004. Under this
agreement, Armenia shall receive no less than 1.1 bln cubic meters of
gas from Iran annually. The term of the agreement is 20 years. Armenia
will pay with electricity for the imported gas.

HENRI CUNY WISHES ARMENIA ESTABLISHMENT OF NORMAL RELATIONS WITH ALL NEIGHBORS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
Noyan Tapan
Oct 24 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 24, NOYAN TAPAN. “I have always thought that
peace, economic development and securing a normal future for its
youth are most important for Armenia.” The French Ambassador to
Armenia Henri Cuny, who finishes his diplomatiuc mission in Armenia,
stated this at the Octoberb 24 press conference. In his opinion, all
three directions are closely related, because if there is no peace,
the country’s economic development and therefore the employment of
young people are just out of question. The ambassador dwelt upon
the issue of development of Armenian-French economic relations:
“I am glad that the number of French enterprises, as well as the
amount of French investments has increased in Armenia.” He attached
great importance to the fact that Air France started operating
Yerevan-Paris flights. H. Cuny expressed confidence that Armenia has
much potential for developing the high-tech sector. In his words,
taking into account the demographic aspect and the low purchasing
capacity of the population, “Armenia does not represent a market
in itself.” At the same time, in his view, Armenia opens windows
to other markets – Russian, Middle East, and markets of other Asian
countries. However, according to the ambassador, the arrangement of
forces would be entirely different, if the borders were open. “Leaving
Armenia, I wish it prosperity and establishment of normal relations
with all its neighbors as soon as possible,:” H. Cuny said.
According to some reliable sources, Henri Cuny will continue his
diplomatic mission in Slovakia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HENRI CUNY INDICATES NECESSITY TO CONTINUE NEGOTIATIONS ON KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT
Noyan Tapan
Oct 24
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 24, NOYAN TAPAN. “There should be an understanding
about the necessity to continue negotiations on the Karabakh
conflict settlement because it proceeds from the interests of both
countries.” The French Ambassador to Armenia Henri Cuny, who completes
his diplomatic mission in Armenia stated this at the October 24 press
conference. He said that the OSCE Minsk Group is continuing its work:
today a meeting of the French foreign minister with his Armenian and
Azerbaijani counterparts is taking place in Paris. He also reminded
about the RA President Robert Kocharian’s words that “nobody, except
for the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, is familiar with the
Karabakh file as well as Jacques Chirac.” In the words of H. Cuny,
France played a great role in resumption of the negotiations on
peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict in 2006. “Within the
framework of the negotiation process, the co-chairs implement the work
on harmonization, but the decision on choosing the “melody” is taken
by the presidents of the two countries,” the ambassador noted. As
regards the possible impact of the law on criminal repsonsibility
for denial of the Armenian Genocide, which was adopted by the French
National Assembly, on the Armenian-Turkish relations, Ambassador
Cuny stated:”Your future is in your hands.” In connection with talks
about France’s support for former NA speaker Artur Baghdasarian,
H. Cuny said: “France does not interfere in the internal affairs of
any state. At the same time, it does not prevent the establishment of
friendly relations with certain people. Artur Baghdasarian has always
been quite friendly disposed to France and supported Francophonie
in Armenia.” Nenri Cuny stated that his country expects transparent
elections to be held in Armenia: “We will follow the elections with
great attention.”

JAPANESE AMBASSADOR EXPRESSES HOPE ABOUT DEEPENING OF ARMENIAN-JAPANESE RELATIONS
Noyan Tapan
Oct 24 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 24, NOYAN TAPAN. The Japanese Ambassador Yasuo Saito
(residence – Moscow) on October 24 presented a copy of his credentials
to the RA Deputy Foreign Minister Gegham Gharibjanian. Attaching
importance to the development of the Armenian-Japanese relations
since Armenia’s independence, the ambassador expressed a hope they
will further deepen and strengthen thanks to bilateral efforts and
stated his willingness to assist with this. During the meeting, the
sides presented the process of establishing the mutual embassies and
spoke about international developments, especially in the context
of North Korea’s nuclear test. According to a press release NT was
submitted by the RA MFA Press and Information Department, at the
request of the quest, G. Gharibjanian presented the current process
of negotiations on the Nagorno Karabakh problem.

TWO ARMENIAN AND TWO LITHUANIAN TRANSLATORS FAVOURED WITH “KANTEGH” PRIZE THIS YEAR
Noyan Tapan
Oct 24 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 24, NOYAN TAPAN. The “Kantegh” (light) annual literary
prize of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and the Writers’ Union
of Armenia was this year given to translators Ruben Ghulian, Samvel
Mkrtchian, Lithuanian poet Sigitas Geda and Maryte Kontrimaite. As the
Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed by Davit Muradian, the Secretary
of the Writers’ Union of Armenia, R.Ghulian was awarded this prize for
translation of “The Divine Comedy” trilogy of Dante, and S.Mkrtchian
was awarded for translations from the Anglo-American literature. S.Geda
was given the prize for translation of the “Book of Lamentations”
(Matyan Voghbergutyan) poem by Grigor Narekatsi, M.Kontrimaite was
awarded for translations from the Armenian literature. D.Muradian also
mentioned that Olexander Bozhko, the Ambassador of Ukraine to Armenia,
was favoured with the medal for Literary Merit.

ARMENIAN AND FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTERS UNDERLINE IMPORTANCE OF ACTION PLAN TO BE SIGNED AT EU-ARMENIA COOPERATION COUNCIL
Noyan Tapan
Oct 24 2006
PARIS, OCTOBER 24, NOYAN TAPAN. During the meeting of the French
Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy and the Armenian Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian in Paris on October 24, issues related
to Armenia-France bilateral relations and Year of Armenia in
France were discussed. Speaking about EU-Armenia relations,
the ministers underlined the importance of the Action Plan to be
signed at the EU-Armenia Cooperation Council on November 14, which
will open new opportunities for further deepening of the bilateral
cooperation. According to the RA MFA Press and Information Department,
the ministers exchanged ideas about the peaceful settlement of the
Karabakh conflict and the opportunities of making progress in the
negotiations. Some regional problems and the possible impacts of the
Russian-Georgian relations on the region were addressed as well.

TRADE BETWEEN ARMENIA AND BELARUS SHOWS GROWTH TENDENCY
Noyan Tapan
Oct 24 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 24, NOYAN TAPAN. A considerable growth has been
registered in trade between Armenia and Belarus. Vahagn Movsisian,
Director General of the Armenian Development Agency (ADA), stated this
at an Armenian-Belarusian business meeting on October 24. According
to him, in 2005, exports from Armenia to Belarus made 2.5 mln USD,
while in January-August of this year – 2 mln USD. Imports from
Belarus into Armenia made 11.3 mln USD in January-August of 2006
against 12.8 mln USD in 2005. V. Movsisian said that Belarusian
businessmen consider such sectors as electronics, information and
communication technologies, and production of drinks as promising in
terms of cooperation.
“Armenia has much potential for chip production, design,
outsourcing. We’ll try to find some common edges for cooperation by
combining the existing potential,” V. Movsisian noted. The meeting
was held within the framework of the official visit of the delegation
headed by the Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorski to Armenia.

ARMENIA OPENS DOOR TO LARGE MARKETS – RUSSIA, EAST, ASIA
PanARMENIAN.Net
24.10.2006 17:20 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ French Ambassador to Armenia is content with the
volume of French investments into the economy of Armenia and the number
of French enterprises functioning in Armenia, French Ambassador to
Armenia Henry Cuny stated in the course of a farewell news conference
owing to ending his tenure in the country. In his words, Armenia by
itself is not a large market, taking into account demographic factors
and the paying capacity of the population. However, taking into account
the geographic location of the republic, Armenia is a promising door
to large markets – Russia, East, Asia. At that the French diplomat
cited the example of Pernod Ricard company, which exports 95% of its
produce from Armenia. Of course the situation would be different, if
speaking of open borders of Armenia was possible, Henry Cuny said. At
that he noted that wide prospects for fields not demanding transport
expenses are opening in Armenia – information and high technologies.