ROMANIA-ARMENIA TRADE EXCHANGE UP 11-FOLD Y/Y JAN-JULY 2006
Balkans Business Digest
October 4, 2006 Wednesday 03:36 PM EEST
The trade exchange between Romania and Armenia went up 11-fold on the
year in the first seven months of 2006 to $6.0 mln (4.7 mln euro),
it was reported on October 4, 2006.
Romanian exports to Armenia reached $5.6 mln (4.4 mln euro) in the
reported period, rising 10.6 times, while imports stood at $400,000
(314,000 euro).
The trade exchange between the two countries is expected to exceed
$10 mln (7.85 mln euro) in 2006, up from $6.1 mln (4.79 mln euro)
in 2005. Romania’s 2006 exports to Armenia are estimated at $9.5 mln
(7.45 mln euro).
Romania exports to Armenia mainly machinery and electrical equipment,
accounting for 87 pct of the overall exports, and products for the
chemical industry, representing 7.0 pct.
A total of 37 companies with Armenian capital are registered in
Romania, ranking Armenia 61st largest investor in the country.

MOSCOW POLICE MARKS YEAR OF ARMENIA IN RUSSIA
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.10.2006 12:49 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The first creative concert for Moscow police
dedicated to the Year of Armenia in Russia was given in Moscow. The
attendees not only enjoyed the Armenian songs and art but also got
useful information about Armenia and the Armenian people since the
ancient times up to our days and certainly about the centuries-old
Russian-Armenian friendship, President of the Armenian-Russian
Friendship Association Victor Krivopuskov told a PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter. “Events of the kind will be held by a worked out
scenario. “The presenters of the concerts will furnish information
taking into account the peculiarity of the audience,” he said.
“These creative meetings will be held by the initiative of the Russian
association of friendship and cooperation with Armenia till the end
of the year for the law enforcers of all the Moscow administrative
districts. By decision of the Moscow state department of interior open
lessons of international friendship “Armenia our friend” will be held
in police training centers and colleges. According to the Moscow state
department of interior, the events will help the policemen in their
activities in the multinational city and strengthen the international
community of Muscovites,” Victor Krivopuskov said.

OSCE MISSION MONITORING POSTPONED AT REQUEST OF KARABAKH SIDE
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.10.2006 13:00 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “We regret that the OSCE did not create the necessary
conditions for the inclusion of the NKR representatives in the group
of the OSCE Mission on the assessment of the ecological situation
on the territories suffered from the fires. However, it does not
exclude the possibility of the participation of Karabakh experts in
the realization of the monitoring, especially when in connection with
the necessity of joining of NKR representatives to the Mission its
conducting is postponed for a day”.
NKR Minister of Foreign Affairs Georgy Petrossian stated answering the
question of journalists on the actions of the official Stepanakert
in connection with the departure of the OSCE expert group from Baku
to the fire zone.
Georgy Petrossian also informed that the NKR MFA had sent a note to
the OSCE in which the position of the republic’s leadership on the
issue of the participation of experts from the NKR in the monitoring
was expressed. “One part of the territories on which the assessment
is to be conducted, is under the jurisdiction of the NKR and it is
a serious argument for our participation in the monitoring realized
by the Mission on the opposite side”, the Minister stressed.
According to the information of the NKR authorities, an alarming
ecological situation is formed on the territories occupied by
Azerbaijan: a mass cutting down of wood in the Shahoumian region
is carried out, the ecological balance is seriously affected in the
eastern part of the Martouni region where the structure of soil and
micro flora are damaged, reported the NKR MFA press service.
On October 5 morning the OSCE Mission with the participation of the NKR
experts began its activity on assessment of the ecological situation
on the territories of the Azerbaijani Republic and Nagorno Karabakh
Republic armed forces contact-line. Currently the monitoring is being
carried out on the territories of the Azerbaijani side.

TRAIAN BASESCU’S NOTE IN ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS COMMEMORATION BOOK: “IN MEMORY”
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.10.2006 13:10 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Romanian President Traian Basescu accompanied by RA
Minister of Transport and Communications Andranik Manukian and Deputy
Foreign Minister Gegham Gharibjanian attended the Tsitsernakaberd
October 4 evening to lay a wreath to the Memorial to the Armenian
Genocide victims. The Romanian President also visited the Armenian
Genocide Museum and made a note in the Commemoration Book. “In memory”,
wrote the Romanian leader. President Basescu also planted a fir in
the Memory Alley, reports IA Regnum.

MEETING OF COE JUSTICE MINISTERS TO BE HELD IN YEREVAN OCTOBER 12-13
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.10.2006 13:18 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The recurrent meeting of the Ministers of Justice
of the CoE member states will be held in Yerevan October 12-13. “It’s
an honor for us to hold this important sitting in our capital city,”
RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said Thursday in Yerevan during a
European forum titled “Human Rights in Information Community. Support
to Children and Youth”, reported newsarmenia.ru.

JAVAKHK WAITING FOR CHANGES BUT NOTHING HAPPENS
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.10.2006 13:25 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “The situation in Samtskhe Javakhetia is
quiet. However, those who leave Javakhk to earn money become
Russia citizens and never come back. People awaited problems with
bank transfers over the tension of the Russian-Georgian relations
but everything is all right. Everyone is waiting for changes, but
nothing happens,” editor of hos.am e-newspaper Armen Grigoryan told
a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his words, the election to the local
self-government started October 5 but one can hardly make out the
situation.
Two parties – United National Movement and Industry Will Save
Georgia (opposition), -as well as candidates by majority lists run
in Akhalkalaki. “The opposition stands little chance for victory,
though it’s my personal opinion. The administrative pressure is
strongly felt,” Grigoryan said. “Though several servicemen from the
62nd military base were in Tbilisi at the period on the “espionage
scandal”, none of them was arrested,” he added.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN ARMY PERFORMS MAIN TASK
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.10.2006 13:51 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The most important task of the Armenian Armed
Forces is to prevent any violation of the ceasefire established in
1994, military expert Ruben Meghrabyan stated in an interview with
PanARMENIAN.Net. In his words, the Azeri Armed Forces have the same
task, added to rearmament, multiplication of military potential in
an aspiration to change the status quo in their favor with a final
purpose to restore the territorial integrity so much spoken about
by the military and political leadership of the neighbor state. “I
will not reveal a secret by saying that the Armenian army performs
its main task while the Azeri side confines to the first part only.
The fact is that over 12 years the ceasefire is maintained without
any dividing force. Parity has been established and the Armenian
side is not interested in change of military-geographical and
military-political status quo in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone
while the Azeri side doesn’t possess sufficient power to change the
status quo unfavorable for it,” he said.
Ruben Meghrabyan remarked that these are two mini-soviet armies. “Here
function the same soviet general regulations and laws, the same closed
regime ruling out any civil control. The same huge expenses and absence
of reserve training. As a matter of fact these two armies are “deeply
soviet” and are efficient to the extent their soviet prototype was,”
Meghrabyan said.

RUSSIA INTERESTED IN KARABAKH CONFLICT SOONEST SETTLEMENT
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.10.2006 14:06 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A joint press conference of Council of Europe
Secretary General Terry Davis and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov took place in Strasbourg yesterday. The top officials referred
to the settlement of conflicts available in the CIS space. Sergey
Lavrov stated he sees no sense in UN’s engagement in the resolution
of CIS conflicts, since the conflicting sides have already agreed
on the settlement principles. In his words, the agreements and
settlement formats remain in case of any conflict emerging on the CIS
territory and this is the only way to resolve the so-called “frozen
conflicts”. When commenting on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict Sergey
Lavrov said, “Russia is interested in the soonest settlement of the
Karabakh conflict. The OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs spare no effort
for it.” According to the Russian FM, the mediators have the exact
wording for each unsettled issue however “the final decision is up
to the conflicting sides,” reports RFE/RL.

WEATHER UPSET OSCE MG VISIT TO STEPANAKERT
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.10.2006 14:39 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ As a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter came to know from the
NKR representative office in Yerevan, the visit of the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-chairs to Stepanakert scheduled for October 4 was upset
by bad weather conditions. October 5 the mediators left Yerevan for
Moscow to participate in the meeting of the Armenian and Azeri FMs
to be held October 6.

HRANT DINK AWARDED BJORNSON PRIZE FOR PUBLICATIONS ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.10.2006 14:48 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Hrant Dink, the Editor-in-Chief of the ‘Akos’
Istanbul-based Armenian newspaper, was awarded with Bjornson Prize
for the publications on the Armenian Genocide of 1915. The DPA report
says that Hrant Dink has many times referred to the issue that is
considered disputable in Turkey. The report reminds that in summer
2006 the Turkish Court of Cassations upheld the decision of the First
Instance Court on the journalist’s suspended sentence. Hrant Dink
will receive the $15200 prize in the city of Molde on November 24,
says RFE/RL.