WORLD BANK SURPRISED AT ECONOMIC INDICATORS OF ARMENIA
Panorama.am
17:54 06/09/06
The economic growth of Armenia continues to surprise the World Bank
(WB), Roger Robinson, the head of WB Yerevan office, said during a
presentation organized by AEPLAC experts. In his words, no one would
believe five years ago that Armenia will have two-digit growth of
GDP, increasing public incomes by two and considerably diminishing
the level of poverty. “In the beginning of this year, no one could
suppose that Armenia would have 11.7% of GDP growth,” Robinson said.
Armenia overpasses all countries of the world, with the exception
to Turkmenia and Azerbaijan, in growth indicators. “However, we may
not count these countries because their growth is connected with
known factors.
If these factors are eliminated, Armenia will take the lead,”
Robinson says.
Robinson indicated that Armenia needs to implement institutional
reforms to keep to the same indicators, particularly in tax and
customs services.

ARMENIA TO HAVE EU DEVELOPMENT LEVEL IN 17 YEARS, AEPLAC EXPERT SAYS
Panorama.am
17:03 06/09/06
“If we suppose that the averaged indicator of GDP growth in Armenia
makes up 12.2%, we can conclude that the country may reach the level
of development observed in European Union countries in 17 years,”
Artashes Shaboyan, expert of AEPLAC, said during a presentation on
“Economic development of Armenia – 2005.”
In his words, real GDP in 2005 is higher by 1.8 times than the same
indicator in the year 2000. In absolute terms, it makes up 2.2 billion
Armenian drams. The expert forecasts further growth in GDP in the
coming years, too.
Shaboyan indicated that the construction ratio makes up 21.7% whereas
in 2001 this indicator was only 9.7%.
The AEPLAC expert says GDP mostly will account on construction and
agriculture in future.

LLNL SEEKS PARTNERS FOR RAD DECONTAMINATION TECH
Terror Response Technology Report
September 6, 2006 Wednesday
Vol. 2 No. 18
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is offering the
opportunity for partnership and licensing of a new technology for
selective and effective radionuclide decontamination of urban transit
infrastructure. LLNL says that usually radionuclide decontamination
agents have been developed and used in sterile, nuclear power
environments but that the lab has developed technologies to
understand the chemical and physical properties of surfaces found
in the urban environment pertaining to public transportation and
address interference, specificity and efficiency problems found in
commercial nuclear decontamination agents. Additionally, LLNL hopes
to partner with a U.S. business and Armenia’s Yerevan Scientific
Research Institute through the Department of Energy’s Global
Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention program to develop coatings
and other vehicles for the immobilization and removal of radioactive
contaminants. Sol. No. FBO138-06. Respond by Sept. 22. Contact:
Connie Pitcock, administration, 925-422-1072, [email protected].

ANKARA SLAMS EU REPOT ON TURKEY ‘SLUGGISHNESS’
Written by The Media Line Staff
The Media Line, NY
Sept 6 2006
Turkey is dismissing a damning report from the European Union, which
claims Ankara is dragging its feet on reforms, imperative to paving
Turkey’s way into the EU.
A recent report adopted on Monday by the EU General Assembly’s
foreign affairs committee criticized Turkey for its slow progress in
democratic reforms.
But Ankara said the report “lacked common sense” and “smacked of
political bias,” Turkish Daily News reported.
The required reforms include the protection of minorities and freedom
of expression and religion.
The EU is also insisting Turkey recognizes Cyprus and has been
critical of Ankara’s refusal to recognize the killing of Armenians
during World War I as a genocide.
Dutch lawmaker Camiel Eurlings, who penned the report, said Turkey
must move forward with its efforts to incorporate reforms, or else
risk halting accession negotiations.
Last week the EU warned Turkey that its refusal to open ports and
harbors to transportation from Cyprus, an EU member, could cause a
crisis in the talks.
The committee report will be debated by the EU General Assembly later
this month.
Turkey is engaged in accession talks into the 25-member bloc. Talks
could take up to 15 years, and entry is not guaranteed.
Some governments are reluctant to see the mostly Muslim and relatively
poor Turkey enter the EU.

NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS HEAD VISITS ARMENIA
Panorama.am
18:25 06/09/06
Sheikh Ahmad Badr Al-Din Hassun, a religious head of Syrian Arabic
Republic, is in Armenia by the invitation of Garegin B, Catholicos
of all Armenians.
“This person is not an ordinary religious head. He opens a way
in the Islamic world and tries to lay a bridge between Islam and
Christianity. He is often criticized by his co-brothers for his
open mind to Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism and other religious,”
Archbishop Yeznik Petrosyan said while introducing the guest.
During his four-day visit, Sheikh Ahmad has changed his impressions
about Armenians. “While reading books about Armenia, I had the
impression that Armenians are serious personalities. During these
days, I realized that this nation has a lot of energy. I hope that
globalization will not affect the national face of this nation,”
the religious head says.
Sheikh Ahmad has met with NA Speaker Tigran Torosyan and Armenian
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan. The religious head came to realize
that Armenians are a peaceful nation and they do not hate Turkey
or Azerbaijan.
Sheikh Ahmad raised his surprise at the statement made by Pashazade,
the religious head of Caucasian Muslims about jihad. The statement
said in particular, that Pashazade is ready to announce jihad for
the liberation of Azerbaijani territories. Sheikh Ahmad explains that
the best jihad “helps people to enjoy the blessings of life and not
to be killed.”

ANKARA STEPS UP EFFORTS FOR CHANGES IN EP REPORT
The New Anatolian, Turkey
Sept 6 2006
The Turkish Foreign Ministry criticized yesterday the European
Parliament’s highly critical report on Turkey, calling on MEPs to show
common sense and make making necessary changes before the report goes
to a vote in the full EP late this month.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Namik Tan in a statement said that
the report puts too much emphasis on “elements that have nothing
to do with Turkish-European Union affairs that won’t contribute to
relations and are far from being reasonable or objective.”
Tan said that some elements in the report are “far from reality and
penned with political motives, [and] don’t mesh with the European
Parliament’s respectability.”
“Attempts to impose conditions that are far from being objective —
such as the so-called Armenian genocide which requires a serious
academic study — were met with deep sadness,” he added.
Turkey’s permanent Ambassador to the EU Volkan Bozkir warned that
the report approved by the EP Foreign Relations Committee has many
parts that could damage Turkey’s relations with the Union, urging
necessary changes to be made immediately.
Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan also ruled out taking the report prepared
by MEP Camiel Eurlings seriously, stressing that Turkey will never
accept the Armenian genocide claims.
“Turkey’s stance and decisiveness on the so-called Armenian genocide
issue is clear and nobody should expect us to change that,” Erdogan
said. “European parliamentarians have already debated this issue and
rejected the genocide claims.”
Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Commission Co-Chairman Joost Lagendijk
warned the EP about dangers of approving the report in the assembly
saying, “If you increase your demands of Turkey every year, you will
give an impression that the EP is against Turkey’s membership in
the EU.”

MIKHAIL ZABELIN: “WE SHOULD INVITE THOSE TAKING NEGATIVE STANCE ON US TO AZERBAIJAN TO CONVINCE THEM THEY ARE WRONG”
Today, Azerbaijan
Sept 6 2006
“I was pleased that Russian prominent politicians did not attend the
latest events in Khankendi (Stepanakert),” Azerbaijani parliament
member, head of Russian community of Azerbaijan Mikhail Zabelin stated.
He said the community he leads sends an immediate inquiry after any
event that harms Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Stating that the number of cases on Russian politicians visiting the
Armenian-occupied Azerbaijani territories has decreased recently,
Mr.Zabelin said they should be invited to Azerbaijan in order to
change their mind, APA reports.
“I invited Russian parliamentarian Konstantin Zatulin, who was in
Nagorno Karabakh, to the meeting of the Presidium of International
Council of Russian Compatriots held in Baku. He accepted my invitation
and arrived in Baku. I took him to the Martyrs’ Alley and told him
the truths and even I asked him, “how it happened that you did not go
to Nagorno Karabakh this time”. He did not answer my question. I think
we’d better invite those taking negative stance on us to Azerbaijan. We
should change their mind, open their eyes to see the truths. Then they
would leave Azerbaijan as friends. I see my duty must be namely this,”
the parliament member underlined.
Commenting on considering the person visiting Nagorno Karabakh without
informing Azerbaijan as unwelcome, Mr.Zabelin disagreed with that.
“I would not do that. You need to convince an individual that he
took a wrong step. By declaring them unwelcome we make them move
away from us. As a result, they are dissatisfied and visit Nagorno
Karabakh when they are invited again. There are people, who have no
idea of Azerbaijan and its Nagorno Karabakh problem. We should work
with them,” he said.
URL:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IDEOLOGY CAN MAKE YOU SICK
Etyen Mahcupyan
Zaman Online, Turkey
Sept 6 2006
The fear of reality forms the basis of all mental illnesses, because
mental health implies harmony between the animate creature and nature
that is harmony with the reality in its environment.
Psychology examines this harmony through the person’s connections to
his social environment and to himself. Consequently, people we call
“sick” are those who are nurtured by an unreal image of themselves…
Similarly, some societies produce unreal valuations and evaluations
about themselves and embrace them with passion. They elevate them as if
they were qualities belonging to the divine. According to the science
of psychology, the reason for this is the societies in question that
lack the maturity to accept reality and their choosing to escape from
the truth rather than face their own weaknesses. As for situations in
which this escape has been made systematic and is nurtured by official
ideology, we are confronted with a chronic state of mental illness…
Turkey lived this state for years. The rapid disintegration of
the Ottoman Empire, the inferiority felt before the West, and the
communal rejection of every kind of religion and ethnicity for the
sake of elevation as a “fair ruler” resulted in shock. After this
period of disintegration in which a feeling of being looked down
upon and a determination of truly being worthless went hand-in-hand,
unfortunately the easiest path was chosen: Instead of trying to
perceive history from an objective perspective, first history was
produced by the state and then when this absurdity became apparent,
the past was frozen and put under an ideological shield. However,
it’s not possible to prevent scientific and literary efforts and
keep them within this molded history… For example, however mature
a society encountering a different history can behave depends on how
prepared it is to use this opportunity to “get better.” It can be
said that in general the public in Turkey is passing through this
threshold. We are finally aware that the history “presented” to us
is not tied very well to the truth and the works dealing with history
need freedom of interpretation.
However, some “sensitive” citizens and their natural equivalent
bureaucracy have not yet been able to pass over this mental
threshold. Consequently, for example, Elif Safak can be tried in court
for a character in her latest book who defends “Armenian genocide.” In
other words, our government doesn’t suffice with saying “there was
no Armenian genocide,” it even condemns characters in a novel who
say the opposite. Whereas, there are people who say “there was an
Armenian genocide…” External reality encompasses these people,
too. In short, what is said to a writer is that he/she can only put
a part of the truth in a novel. While the other part of reality is
ideologically deemed “unreal,” the author is forced to be a part of
the state of illness under the protection of the government.
But there are even more “dangerous “situations. In Ipek Calislar’s
biographical novel entitled Latife, it is said that Mustafa Kemal
escaped wearing a woman’s dress when Topal Osman’s men came. Of course,
this information comes directly from Latife Hanim’s memoirs… But
our government doesn’t accept this because Mustafa Kemal wouldn’t
have done something like that. In other words, we don’t try and
understand Mustafa Kemal according to what he did, but we establish
reality according to the Mustafa Kemal in our imagination. Plus,
we want to punish those who say anything contrary to it.
How possible is it to govern a society in a healthy manner and
interpret today in a healthy way with a perspective that is afraid of
the truth? Everyone needs mental health… But it’s especially needed
by a state that claims to represent “institutional intelligence.” For
when ideology begins to be perceived like a kind of mental derangement,
no “state” will remain except for brute force…

DOING BUSINESS IN RUSSIA HARDLY GETTING EASIER – WORLD BANK
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Business and Financial Newswire
September 6, 2006 Wednesday 5:50 PM MSK
Russia has hardly improved in the past year as far as the conditions
for doing business are concerned, the World Bank and International
Financial Corporation (IFC) said in their latest report on Doing
Business 2007: How to Reform.
This is the fourth in a series of annual reports investigating the
regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it.
Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations
and the protection of property rights that can be compared across
175 economies – from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe – and over time.
Russia ranked 96th – one place below Bosnia & Herzegovina but one
above Ethiopia – according to an assessment of business conditions
conducted between January 2005 and April 2006.
Russian ranked 79th in last year’s survey of 155 countries, but
another 20 countries were included for the first time this year. The
method for calculating four of the indicators was also adjusted,
and Russia’s ranking among this year’s 175 countries would have been
97th last year, Simeon Dyankov, one of the report’s main authors,
told a press conference.
In other words, Russia moved up just one place this year.
Dyankov said the pace of reforms conducive to business had slowed in
the last two years, although there had been some improvements.
The unified social tax has been lowered and Russia has scrapped the tax
on securities transactions, the duty on the use of the words “Russia”
and “Russian Federation” and the tax on timber. Russia ranks 98th as
far as tax payments are concerned, Dyankov said.
It is also easier to start a business up. The requirement to register
a company stamp had been abolished, and the number of hoops had
been reduced from eight to seven. It now takes 28 days to register a
business, compared with 33 in the past, and the cost of registering
a business in per capita terms had gone down from 5% to 2.7%. This
catapulted Russia to 33rd out of the 175 countries for starting
up businesses.
The law on joint stock companies has been amended to give better
protection to minority shareholders, who now have the right to
challenge management decisions in court, for example.
“This is potentially a very important change but it will not be
possible to assess its full impact until the next survey,” Dyankov
said.
If these changes are put into practice, shareholder protection in
Russia will be comparable with that of Britain and the United States,
and Russia’s ranking will go up, Dyankov said.
The report said that export and import operations and licensing are
the areas most in need of reform in Russia. Russia is ranked 143rd
and 163rd respectively here.
It costs $2,240 to dispatch one standard container from Moscow to
Frankfurt, and that does not include transport costs, but just $335
to send one from China to Frankfurt. It can take 39 days to complete
the paperwork and other procedures necessary to ship a container from
Russia, but 18 days from China.
Russia ranks among the top ten countries in terms of the high cost
of licenses and the length of time it takes to obtain them. It takes
as many as 22 procedures and 531 days and the equivalent of 275.3%
of per capita income to get a construction license in Russia, compared
with 18 windows, 69 days and 16% in the United States.
The report also said that Russia needed to make is easier to obtain
credits. Russia is near the bottom in 159th place in this respect.
Russia had the best terms for doing business among the BRIC countries
(Brazil, Russia, India and China) last year, but this year’s
front-runner is China, up from 108th to 93rd in the overall rankings.
China also ranked among the top ten countries in terms of the
implementation of reforms.
Georgia was the leader in terms of reforms, rising from 112th to 37th
in the overall rankings. Of all the CIS countries, only Armenia,
in 34th place, provides more business freedom. Russia also lags
behind Kazakhstan, which rose to 63rd from 82nd, and Kyrgyzstan,
up from 104th to 90th.
Belarus was 129th, Ukraine 128th, Tajikistan 133rd and Uzbekistan
147th.
Singapore topped the overall ranking this year, up from 2nd last year,
while New Zealand fell from 1st to 2nd and the United States remained
in 3rd place.
The Democratic Republic of Congo was again last.

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.