WB AND IFC RANK ARMENIA 34 IN TERMS OF BUSINESS DOING EASE
Armenpress
Oct 03 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 3, ARMENPRESS: Armenia has been ranked 34-th out of
175 nations for its efforts to increase the ease of doing business
in the country, says a report by the World Bank and its arm, the
International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Semion Diankov, director of IFC department for monitoring analysis
and policy, said in Yerevan today that in terms of economic reforms
and actual ease of doing business index Armenia was ranked the best
among CIS member countries.
But he said the report shows that Armenia still has a lot of work to
do. Particularly, Armenia is behind the neighboring Georgia in terms
of reform implementation dynamic. Armenia started sweeping reforms
in mid 1990-s and secured the place due to progress it has made
over a decade, while studies show that Georgia was able to carry out
successful reforms in just few recent years to spring to the 37-th
position from 130-th.
The World Bank and IFC report notes that Armenia must carry out
sweeping reforms in tax collection.
Studies show that an average businessman wastes 1000 hours annually
to fill in different papers, resulting in higher volume of shadow
economic activity.
The report says also that a string of administrative obstacles makes
doing oversea trade complicated. Unlike in Georgia where registration
of documents for export-import operations takes on average 5 days,
this period in Armenia is 30-35 days.
As a result, in terms of tax payment and doing oversea business
Armenia is ranked 148 and 119 respectively, while its index of property
registration is second after New Zealand.

ARMAVIA PLANS TO LEASE FOUR AIRCRAFTS
Armenpress
Oct 02 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 2, ARMENPRESS: Armenia’s leading carrier, Armavia,
said today it will obtain four new aircrafts. Businessman Mikhail
Baghdasarov, who owns the carrier, said the carrier will most likely
lease an A-321, two A-320 and one 70-seat smaller planes.
He said the agreement on the small plane was reached and very soon
it will arrive in Armenia. He said airbuses will arrive in the first
half of next January. Baghdasarov said Armavia plans to open new
flights next year, particularly to New Delhi, Birmingham, Minsk and
Amsterdam. It will also resume flights to Tehran.
On May 3, 2006, an Armavia Airbus A320 operating Armavia Flight 967
crashed in the Black Sea en route from Yerevan to Sochi, a resort
town in Russia. On May 5, 2006, another Armavia A320 was one of four
aircraft destroyed during a fire at a maintenance hangar belonging
to Sabena Technics at Brussels Zaventem Airport, Belgium.

PARLIAMENT CHAIRMAN QUESTIONS ANTI-CRIMINAL MOVEMENT’S VITALITY
Armenpress
Oct 03 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 3, ARMENPRESS; Before flying to Strasbourg for
a regular session of the PACE Armenian parliament chairman Tigran
Torosian questioned yesterday the vitality of an anti-criminal movement
launched by the opposition to fight, as they say, against the growing
role of criminal elements in Armenian politics and government.
Torosian said the movement’s approaches are absolutely unacceptable. He
said fighting criminals is very simple.
“If there are people who know about criminal acts they must go and
report to police and press for these criminals punishment, everything
else beyond is political speculation,” he said.

JACQUES CHIRAC: I THINK TURKEY HAS TO RECOGNIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
By Petros Keshishian
AZG Armenian Daily
04/10/2006
The 3-day visit of French president Jacques Chirac to Armenia was the
first visit of a leader of a Western super power to our country. Le
Figaro writes that the word “Remember” that Mr. Chirac wrote in the
guest-book of the Genocide Museum is very symbolic.
Jacques Chirac is considered friend of Armenia that got its
independence in 1991. After having planted a tree of memory at
Tsitsernakabrd, Mr. Chirac together with Bernadette put carnations
at the fire. Mr. Chirac was accompanied by Armenian famous footballer
Youri Djorkaeff and journalist Daniel Bilalian.
Le Figaro cites the words of Jacques Chirac uttered after a joint
press conference with president Kocharian: “France recognizes the
Armenian Genocide.”
Though Mr. Chirac’s circle does not react on president’s words, the
French-Armenians dubbed his statement a “progressive step”. Yet,
many Diaspora Armenians are displeased that Mr. Chirac previously
condemned draft law discussions of October 12 that French socialists
put forward. Once approved, those denying the Armenian Genocide will
face a fine of 45.000 euro and up to 5 years in prison.
In Mr. Chirac’s words, “the draft has to do with dispute than a legal
reality.” He believes that the current legislative arsenal allows
punishing denialism.

NAGORNO KARABAKH ISSUE HAS TO BE SETTLED WITHIN MINSK GROUP AND TURKEY HAS TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
By Tamar Minasian
AZG Armenian Daily
04/10/2006
President of the French Republic Is Sure
The official visit to Armenia of president Jacques Chirac of France
ended on Sunday. During the 3-day stay the French delegation headed
by Mr. Chirac met RA president Robert Kocharian, visited the Memorial
of Armenian Genocide and Genocide Museum. The French delegation also
was received by the Catholicos of All Armenians.
Right after the meeting of presidents a joint press conference
was held. In president Kocharian’s words, the volume and content
of bilateral relations are on a rather high level. He particularly
highlighted economic cooperation saying that more than 100 companies
operate in Armenia by the French capital.
Both countries have more than 20 sister-cities and that, the president
said, adds to the level of bilateral relations.
Robert Kocharian informed that he discussed with Mr. Chirac the present
stage of Nagorno Karabakh regulation process. “I would particularly
like to emphasize that the French president has an experts awareness
on this issue,” Mr. Kocharian said. Both presidents touched upon
the proposal to transfer Karabakh regulation process from the OSCE
Minsk Group to UN. Mr. Chirac said: “This is a misplaced proposal
and will sooner complicate settlement process than make it easier,”
as the Minsk Group experts are working superbly for the
solution of this complicated issue and they have made very serious
proposals. Mr. Kocharian added that shifting the format will not bring
solution, and if one of the sides strive for that we are suspicious
that it wants to see the conflict settled.
Touching upon the Socialist party proposal to criminalize denial of
the Armenian Genocide, Jacques Chirac said that France recognized the
Genocide by a law in 2001 and as in a lawful state “every manifestation
of racism” is punishable. “I want to remind again that France has
recognized the Armenian Genocide and the rest is a dispute rather
than legal issue.”
Asked by Le Monde correspondent whether Turkey’s membership to EU
is stipulated by recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Mr. Chirac
answered: “If the question is whether Turkey has to recognize the
Armenian Genocide to get access to the EU, then I sincerely believe
that a country will become more mature by recognizing its past. Has
Germany, which recognizes the Holocaust, lost its greatness and
trustworthiness? Just the contrary, a country, a nation always becomes
mature by recognizing the mistakes of its past. I believe that Turkey
should think thoroughly and it would be good if it recognizes and
discusses its past.”
Asked by a representative of Turkish Hurriyet newspaper why he did not
answer Turkish prime minister’s proposal to set a joint commission of
Armenian and Turkish historians, Robert Kocharian said that it pains
him that the journalist does not know about his reply and added that
he believes that leaders of neighboring states should communicate
not via mass media but diplomatic relations that unfortunately lack
between Armenia and Turkey. Mr. Kocharian said that in his reply he
suggested creating an intergovernmental commission for discussion of
all issues but there was no reply from Mr. Erdogan.
At the meeting with Catholicos Karekin II, French president expressed
satisfaction with the economic and political relations between the two
countries. His Holiness told the president that an Armenian diocese
that the Armenia Church and the Armenian community has long cherished
will be opened in France soon.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA HAS APPEARED IN BLOCKADE
A1+
[07:21 pm] 03 October, 2006
Russia has stopped air, land, sea, railway and postal communication
with Georgia. Willingly or unwillingly Armenia will suffer from the
Russian-Georgian relations. Georgia is the main transit for taking
Armenian goods overseas. Will the Russian – Georgian relations have
their side-effect on the Armenian economy. We offer our Internet
readers to answer the following question via on-line polling.
Last week we offered our readers to present their evaluation on the
level of informative and a telecommunication technology which is
considered to be the most developed field in Armenia.
Five percent of those surveyed think it is excellent, six percent
say it is good and twenty-one percent find it satisfactory. 64
percent think that our economy lingers and we are left behind other
countries. Four percent couldn’t give a definite answer to our
question. 326 readers participated in the polling.

ARTHUR BAGDASARYAN’S COMPLAINTS AND THREATS
A1+
[08:49 pm] 03 October, 2006
Today Arthur Bagdasaryan has appeared in the hall of sessions for
the second time after his resignation from the NA Speaker’s post. His
arrival coincided with the time when deputies make announcements and
aroused great interest among the deputies.
At exactly 5:00 o’clock when the deputies were registering for making
announcements, Mher Shahgeldyan and Heghine Bisharyan from OYP entered
the hall and managed to register their names. All the deputies were
struck by the fact that Arthur Bagdasaryan, who wasn’t in the hall,
was the 11th deputy to make an announcement.
All the deputies made suppositions on this score when in the
long run Arthur Bagdasaryan gave the answer to their concern. He
announced that Orinats Yerkir intends to appeal to the Constitutional
court to find out what factors the increase of gas, electricity and
telephone charges was determined by and how the Committee Regulating
Public Services will count for this taking into consideration the
devaluation of dollar. “Out of 228 currency changes 90 have closed
down. We counter monopolization of the field by a few oligarchs”,
said Arthur Bagdasaryan and added that there must be decrease of
charges whereas today, “the charges of gas, electricity remain the
same though the rate of the dollar decreases”.

ARMENIA IN THE LIST OF 20 BEST COUNTRIES
A1+
[08:13 pm] 03 October, 2006
World Bank and International Financial Cooperation made a report
on the Armenian business sphere. Today the report “Business – 2007”
was presented to the RA Prime Minister.
Simon Diankov, head of the working group, noted that on the whole
there are favorable conditions for the Armenian business enlargement
due to the results of the recent reforms realized in different spheres
of the country. In his words, the fact that Armenia occupies the 34th
place in the list of 175 countries by its index already testifies to
his predictions.
Armenia is also included in the list of 15 countries which successfully
implemented all the reforms within the past two years. According to
the report, property registration, contract signing and leasing have
become easier. There is also great progress in license granting.
The report didn’t neglect the spheres where, despite the realized
reforms, there is still much work to be done. The authors of the
report claim that their report is aimed at enhancing business sphere,
rising public level, as well as at opening new working places. They
underline that at present Armenia is likely to appear in the list of
20 best countries of the world by the index of the reforms. They also
added that the World Bank and the International Financial Cooperation
are ready to render assistance to Armenia in this respect.
Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan focused on the issue of presenting
the reforms anticipated in different spheres next year to businessmen
and public more comprehensibly as it will give a chance to have a
complete picture of reforms.

THERE IS NO DISCORD AMONG THE CO-CHAIRS
A1+
[09:31 pm] 03 October, 2006
The OSCE Minsk group has not finished its work, claim the
Co-Chairs. Today they announced that the Armenian and Azeri Foreign
Ministers will meet in Moscow on October 6.
The Co-Chairs are a little indignant at yesterday’s meetings in Baku
and the interpretation of the Azeri mass media. US Co-Chair Mettew
Bryza says that he couldn’t sleep the whole night after seeing his
announcement on GUAM in the press. According to the Azeri press
data, Mr. Bryza said that GUAM countries can render assistance to
OSCE Minsk group in Karabakh conflict settlement. Today Mr. Bryza
read his opinion on the GUAM in front of the Armenian journalists;
“GUAM member countries are not OSCE members.”
Bernard Fassier, French Co-Chair says that he didn’t announce in
Baku that Karabakh cannot participate in the negotiation process at
present. He didn’t answer the same question in Yerevan either. He
didn’t exclude the possibility that peaceful troops may be located
in vacated territories by 2006.
Tomorrow the Co-Chairs will leave for Karabakh. Mr. Bryza assured that
the Co-Chairs are of the same opinion on all questions, and there
is no discord among them. “I can assure that the Karabakh conflict
settlement has not a military solution,” said Mettew Bryza. Bernard
Fassier said that unless Armenians and Azeris are ready to live side by
side as neighbours, the Karabakh conflict won’t be settled. As for the
time when the conflict will find its final solution, Mr. Fassier said,
“Let’s live and see.”

CO-CHAIRS ARRANGE A MEETING BETWEEN FOREIGN MINISTERS OF ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN
Panorama.am
21:30 03/10/06
Armenian and Azeri foreign ministers will meet on October 6 in Moscow,
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs told a press conference late today. In
their words, the foreign ministers will have another meeting after
this one followed by a meeting on the level of presidents.
Russian co-chair said the negotiations will run around the known
document.
Yesterday the co-chairs met with Azeri president and foreign
minister. Today, they had a meeting with the Armenian president and
foreign minister and tomorrow they will meet with the president of
Nagorno Karabakh.
The major aim of co-chairs’ visit is to establish links between the
leadership of the two countries.
Yuri Merzliakov said they have reached that aim.
All chairmen affirmed that they are optimistic about the continuation
of talks. “Nagorno Karabakh conflict has no military solution,”
American co-chair Matthew Bryza said, also saying Minsk Group process
has got a new push. “We do not say that we expect sharp changes now
or that all difficulties are over. However, we observe the readiness
of both sides to deliberate issues and move forward,” he said. In his
opinion, both sides have low trust to each other, which is caused by
dissemination of inaccurate information.
The co-chairs think it expedient to continue talks around the same
document because three things have become clear after July when the
co-chair said they have no more creativity. First, the co-chairs have
understood that the sides cannot make much progress without their
mediation. Second, there are two co-chairs with records in Karabakh
conflict settlement. Third, Matthew Bryza is a person with lots of
creativity. Based on these factors, the co-chairs have decided to
continue based on the document, which have become known to public
recently.
The co-chairs say they did not violate the principle of secrecy
when they released information on the document on the table of talks
because only one principle became public.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress