PanARMENIAN.Net
NATO PA Delegation Arriving in Yerevan
09.06.2006 18:53 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ June 12-14 NATO PA delegation will be visiting
Armenia. The delegation members are scheduled to meet with the members
of the Armenian parliamentary delegation to the NATO PA, head of the
department of the OSCE affairs at the RA Foreign Ministry Varuzhan
Nersisyan and other officials.
June 12 the NATO PA delegation will meet with RA Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian, chief of the national security service Gorik Hakobyan
and member of the committee on struggle against corruption Manuk
Topuzyan as well as representatives of NGOs.
June 13 discussions with Armenian Parliament Speaker Tigran Torosian
are scheduled. The delegation members will also meet with Chief of the
General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces, Colonel General Mikael
Harutyunyan, head of the department for emergency situations Edik
Barseghyan and Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan.
June 14 round table discussions organized jointly by the NATO PA and
the parliamentary commissions on foreign affairs and defense, national
security and home affairs will be held in the Armenian parliament,
reported the RA NA press service.

Armenia-Costa Rica – 4:0

ArmRadio.am
10.06.2006 12:55
Under 21 football team of Armenia scored 4:0 in teh match against
Costa Rica in the response match of the first qualification round of
the European Championship.
To remind, in the first match in San Marino the Armenian team won with
the score of 2:1. However, the UEFA registered a 0:3 technical defeat
for bringing to the field a disqualified player. Thus, our team had
to win with the vantage of four goals, which our footballers did with
a great success.

PanARMENIAN.Net
Vartan Oskanian to Pay Formal Visit to Georgia
09.06.2006 19:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian met with
Georgian Deputy FM Valery Chechelashvili, who is in Yerevan on a
working visit. Noting the development of the Armenian-Georgia
relations the parties discussed the issues of mutual interest. The
date and agenda of Vartan Oskanian’s formal visit to Georgia was also
confirmed. The visit will be held June 27-28.
Valery Chechelashvili also met with RA Deputy FM Gegham Gharibjanian
to discuss the socio-economic situation in Samtskhe Javakhetia and
ways of its improvement. Chechelashvili briefed to Gegham Gharibjanian
on the outcomes of the GUAM summit held in Kyiv, reported the RA MFA
press office.

President Robert Kocharyan received members of the the Ago Group

ArmRadio.am
10.06.2006 13:08
President Robert Kocharyan received today the Ago Group of the
Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe headed by Permanent
Representative of Germany to the Council of Europe Roland Vegener.
The President said that Armenia has passed an important way since the
previous visit of the Group: Armenia has adopted the package of
Constitutional amendments. Mr. Kocharyan noted that currently attempts
are made to match the legislation to the Constitutional changes.
According to Roland Vegener, their objective is to monitor the process
of adoption of 67 new laws, which derive from the reformed
Constitution, emphasizing the fact of having the conclusion of the
Venice commission before the start of the discussions.
The parties turned to the freedom of media and the reforms of the
Electoral Code, emphasizing the necessity of conducting free and fair
elections in 2007. Reference was made also to the process of
settlement of the Karabakh conflict. President Kocharyan presented the
latest developments in this direction.

PanARMENIAN.Net
OSCE and Armenian Government Signed Additional Protocol
09.06.2006 19:05 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The signing ceremony of the additional protocol to
the Memorandum on Establishment of OSCE Office in Yerevan concluded by
the Armenian government and the OSCE took place in Yerevan. The
protocol creates a legal basis for the establishment of branches of
the OSCE Yerevan Office in the regions of Armenia and determines the
priority programs.
The protocol was signed by Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian and head
of the OSCE Yerevan Office, Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin. The first
branch of the OSCE Yerevan Office will be opened in Syunik. It will
deal with the economic and environmental problems, reported the RA MFA
press office.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanARMENIAN.Net
Returns of Tender on Buying ArmenTel Shares to Be Drawn after June 20
10.06.2006 13:19 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russian largest telecommunication conglomerations –
System Joint Stock Financial Corporation, Rostelecom and Vympelcom –
this week made a start in a tender on buying Armenia’s largest
operator of cellular and fixed telephone communication
ArmenTel. Companies from 5 countries will compete with them, most
serious of these being considered Kuwaiti MTC and Etisalat from Arab
Emirates. Experts believe Russian companies have a serious chance to
win the international tender, the Kommersant newspaper writes.
Reception of applications from companies wishing to take part in the
auction on buying ArmenTel finished this week. According to the
Kommersant, preliminary claims on buying ArmenTel were made by System
Joint Stock Financial Corporation, Rostelecom and Vympelcom, MTC
Kuwait operator, Sil Group Armenian Concern in partnership with
aforementioned investor, Belgacom Belgian operator, PanTel Hungarian
operator, Etisalat operator from Arab Emirates. Altimo company was
reported to take part in the tender, however Altimo Vice-President
Kirill Babayev rejected this reports.
The current owner of 90% share holding of ArmenTel – the OTE Greek
company – has announced its intention to sell its stocks in early
April 2006. The operator serves 595 subscribers (i.e. all owners of
fixed telephones in the country). The Armenian Government holds 10% of
ArmenTel shares. The transaction of the company in 2005 made 110
million euros. OTE differences on running the business was a reason
for the OTE to wish to part with Armenian assets. The Republic’s
authorities were against increased tariffs and conversation payment
for minute. E.g. President Kocharian commissioned the Minister of
Transport and Communication to cancel the payment per minute for
telephone conversations since September 1.
June 17 based on the applications received the OTE will shortlist
companies for the next round of the tender. Then the participants will
submit final applications. The returns of the tender will be drawn
July 20. The large number of claimants indicates that the cost of the
assets may rise. In the opinion of Russian expert Yelena Bazhenova,
Russian companies may offer $450 million for the Armenian operator.
Just Russian telecommunication companies in the opinion of specialists
are favorites of the auction. «ArmenTel is attractive, as until
lately it was monopolist at the local cellular market, while no one,
except it, can provide fixed telephone communication services in
Armenia,» said iKS-Consulting Senior Consultant Oksana Pankratova.
Russian companies have more chances to win the tender, as they have
more contacts, ties with Armenian authorities, and it is very
important for working in the country, as the Armenian Government
strictly control the telecommunication market, Yelena Bazhenova
believes. `It is worth noting that the OTE announced the tender just
after consultations with the Armenian Government,’ the Kommersant
writes.

PanARMENIAN.Net
Decoding of A-320 Flight Recorder Did Not Provide Full Notion of Crash Causes
10.06.2006 13:34 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The causes of the catastrophe of A-320 Armenian
airbus, which crashed near Sochi Russian Black Sea resort on the night
of May 3, can be established only after data of all flight recorders
are decoded, Armenian Ambassador to Russia Armen Smbatyan believes. He
remarked that the completed decoding of the first out of two black box
flight recorders with record of the conversations of the crew did not
provide a full notion on the causes of the crash. Processing of the
information of the second flight recorder, which registered indexes of
airborne instruments, will complete in the coming fortnight. Russian,
Armenian and French experts work over that problem. The airbus flying
from Yerevan to Sochi, fell when approaching the airport 6 km away
from the Black Sea coastline. All 113 persons aboard died, reports
Golos Rossii.

Second flight recorder of the crashed A-320 to be decoded in 2-3 weeks

ArmRadio.am
10.06.2006 14:15
The reason of May 3 crash of the A-320 of Armavia Company will be
known in two or three weeks. Different versions are suggested, varying
from terrorism to shortage of fuel. However, the real reasons will be
known only after the information of the flight recorders is decoded.
One of the black boxes ` the voice recorder has been already decoded,
but these are not made public. The decoding was carried out at the
Interstate Aviation Committee of Moscow. The conversations were in
Armenian. These were translated by RA Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary to Russia Armen Smbatyan. In his interview with
`Radiolur’ the Ambassador did not mention the reason of the crash; he
assured, however, that it was not terrorism. The Russian Ministry of
Transport informs that the recorder registered 33 minutes of voice
information, including the start and development of the emergency
situation.
It is expected that the decoding of the second black box will be
completed in 2-3 weeks, after which it will be possible to draw
conclusions about the technical state of the plane, RA Ambassador
Armen Smbatyan told `Radiolur.’
The Ambassador urges to wait a little to escape disseminating false
information.

From: Sebouh Z Tashjian
Subject: Kocharian Met with Ago Monitoring Group of CE Committee of Ministers
PanARMENIAN.Net
Kocharian Met with Ago Monitoring Group of CE Committee of Ministers
10.06.2006 13:51 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian President Robert Kocharian met with
the Ago Monitoring Group of CE Committee of Ministers, lead by
Germany’s Permanent Representative to the CE Roland Wegener, reports
the Press Service of the Armenian leader. During the meeting Kocharian
said that during the period after Ago Group’s visit to Armenia, the
republic has passed a long way, specifically the package of changes in
the Constitution were adopted. Serious work is being done today to
make the legislation comply with constitutional changes. According to
Roland Wegener, the goal of the Ago Group visit is to monitor the
process, provided for by article 67 of the Constitution of Armenia.
Besides, matters referring to freedom of expression, amendments to the
Electoral Code were also discussed. The parties specially stressed the
importance of holding fair and transparent parliamentary elections in
2007. The interlocutors also discussed the process of settlement of
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

PanARMENIAN.Net
Turkish Military Base Served as Staging Point for Launching CIA Renditions
09.06.2006 15:55 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The United States has progressively woven a
clandestine `spider’s web’ of disappearances, secret detentions and
unlawful inter-state transfers – spun with the collaboration or
tolerance of Council of Europe member states, the Legal Affairs
Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) said
today.
In a draft resolution adopted at a meeting in Paris, based on a report
by Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE), the committee said hundreds of
persons had become entrapped in this web – in some cases when they
were merely suspected of sympathizing with a presumed terrorist
organization. The parliamentarians said this knowing collusion of
member states took several different forms, including secretly
detaining a person on European territory, capturing a person and
handing them over to the US or permitting unlawful `renditions’
through their airspace or across their territory. Among “staging
points” for launching CIA renditions, Marty identified Adana-Incirlik
in Turkey, and Baku, Azerbaijan.
`It has now been demonstrated incontestably, by numerous
well-documented and convergent facts, that secret detentions and
unlawful inter-state transfers involving European countries have taken
place, such as to require in-depth inquiries and urgent responses by
the executive and legislative branches of all the countries
concerned,’ the committee said. The committee called on Council of
Europe member states to review bilateral agreements signed with the
United States, particularly those on the status of US forces stationed
in Europe, to ensure they conformed fully to international human
rights norms. The report is due for debate by the plenary Assembly –
which brings together 630 parliamentarians from the 46 Council of
Europe member states – in Strasbourg on 27 June 2006.
For his part, Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis stated
that Senator Marty has carried out a great deal of work under
complicated conditions. `He has brought serious accusations as regards
several European states. I would like to note that governments of some
states have refuted the accusations immediately. However I consider
that before refuting the governments had to clear up whether an
investigation was carried out. I intend to prepare a number of
proposals targeted at prevention of such violations of human rights in
Europe.’