ARMENIAN BANKS AND RA CENTRAL BANKS UNITE EFFORTS TO REDUCE SHADOW ECONOMY
AZG Armenian Daily #144, 02/08/2006
Economy
On July 31, in the course of the joint meeting of the Union of
the Armenian Banks and RA Central Bank, it decided to carry out
joint arrangements directed to reduction of the shadow economy
and activation of the banks in the crediting market. Chairman of
RA Central Bank Tigran Sargsian and Stepan Gishian, chairman of
Board of the Union of the Armenian Banks, stated about this in their
speeches. They stated that the level of shadow economy is quite high
in Armenia and this hinders the fair competition. Sargsian stated
that the banking system of Armenia functions out of the shadow and
its published indicators fully reflect the reality. He added that
due to its adequacy and liquidity, the banking system of Armenia is a
rather high level. The ROA and ROE profitability level of our banking
system is even higher than that of the European countries. Sargsian
said that in the coming few years the high level of profitability will
secure stability and high tempos of development for the banking system
of Armenia. In his turn, S. Gishian pointed out the main strategic
lines for the development of the Union of the Armenian Banks for
2006. This deepening of cooperation between UBA and RA Central Bank,
RA Government and RA Parliament, with the European Banking Federation,
application of new daft laws for will contribute to the improvement
of the legislative climate and development of the banking system of
Armenia. Touching upon the achievements fixed in the banking system
of Armenian in 2005, Gishian said that the GDP grew by 13,9%, the
common actives of the banks by 21,2%, common capital by 46,6%, the
volume of credit investments by 36%, the profitability of the capital
by 15,3%. In 2005, the liquidity of the banking system made 41,8%,
the credit rates decreased by almost 4 times. Gishian stated that RA
Central Bank will coordinate the steps envisaged for 2006. Five banks
of Armenia participated in today’s meeting, particularly, Areximbank,
Armenian Development Bank, “Ararat” Bank, ArmInvestBank and Unibank.
By Ara Martirosian

LEBANESE MEDIA RESPONDS TO AID RENDERED BY ARMENIA
Panorama.am
15:09 01/08/06
The humanitarian assistance rendered by the Armenian government is
already in Lebanon. It was dispatched via Syria and handed over the
High Commission on Humanitarian Aid in Lebanon.
“The humanitarian assistance weighing 7.5 tones consists of 52 types
of medicine and first aid medical items. It will alleviate the state
of Lebanese population to some extent,” Armenian foreign policy
agency says.
Armenian foreign ministry press office told Panorama.am that
Lebanese media extensively responded to this humanitarian action
by Armenia. Both Lebanese Armenian and Arab language newspapers
covered stories on this humanitarian aid, among them Al-Mustakbal,
As-Safir, An-Nahar, Al-Balad dailies. The topic is also covered by
some of biggest Lebanese TV Channels, including Al-Mustakbal, LBC
and NBN. /Panorama.am/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SKINHEADS ATTEMPT TO SET MUSEUM OF RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN FRIENDSHIP ON FIRE IN ROSTOV
Panorama.am
15:14 01/08/06
At July 31 night, a barbarian act was committed against a monument
of Armenian culture in Rostov-na-Dony. Unknown people, who experts
believe were skinheads, tried to set the Museum of Russian-Armenian
Friendship on fire. The museum is located at temple Surb Khach of
the Armenian Apostolic Church.
The barbarians could not get into the temple but broke and burned
metal-plastic windows. The museum employees noticed the damage when
they came to work in the morning, Yerkramas newspaper, an Armenian
newspaper in Russia, reports. Experts believe that the damage is
caused by skinheads judging by nationalistic signs made on the walls
of the temple, saying “Russia to Russians!” “Time for white judgment
has come!”, “Push the pedal, beat Khachiks!”. Law officials of Russia
have not come with any verdict yet. /Panorama.am/

ARMENIAN SINGER THE 9TH AT INTERNATIONAL SONG CONTEST
Panorama.am
15:16 01/08/06
Razmik Amian, a young singer from Armenia, took the 9th position at an
international contest of pop music “New Wave 2006′ in Yurmala. Anjeli
La Rouse from USA was announced as the winner of the contest over
scoring her contender Janny Fiorellino from Italy by 3 points. Georgian
singer Sofiko took the third place. This is the fifth year that the
New Wave takes place in Yurmala. Its award fund makes up $100 000 to
be divided among first, second, third places (50, 30 and 20 thousand
respectively)./Panorama.am/

EVACUATION OF ARMENIANS FROM LEBANON TO CONTINUE AUGUST 3
Panorama.am
16:34 01/08/06
Yerevan-Aleppo-Yerevan flight of Armavia will bring the next group
of Lebanese Armenians to Armenia on August 3, Vladimir Karapetyan,
acting press spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)
told Panorama.am. Karapetyan said the Armenian embassy goes on listing
people willing to arrive in Armenia. However, their number has gone
down, Karapetyan said.
The press spokesperson of the Armenian MFA said there are no Armenian
casualties among the victims. Up to today, 730 persons have been
transported to Armenia from Lebanon, 40 percent of them being Armenian
citizens. /Panorama.am/

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF BLUE SHIELD CALLS ON CONFLICTING PARTIES
IN MIDDLE EAST TO BE RESPECTFUL OF CULTURAL PROPERTY
Armenpress
YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, ARMENPRESS: ICOMOS International Secretariat
representative informed Armenpress that the International Committee
of the Blue Shield (ICBS) has released a statement on threatened
cultural heritage in the Middle East conflict.
The statement particularly says “The International Committee of
the Blue Shield (ICBS) deplores the unacceptable loss of human
lives, the considerable suffering, the rapid displacement of entire
communities, and the destruction that are currently taking place in
areas administered by Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority. It
is also extremely concerned by the threat that the present conflict
could escalate still further.”
In the statement the committee calls on all parties to be respectful of
the cultural property in the region as cultural property is priceless
and irreplaceable, of vital importance not only to each community,
but also to humanity.
“It is universally recognized that this region has an extremely rich
cultural heritage, which has had a profound and lasting influence on
peoples throughout the world. This is demonstrated by the significant
number of sites in both Israel and Lebanon inscribed on the UNESCO
World Heritage list. The total or partial loss of cultural properties
in the area would seriously impoverish the collective memory of
mankind.
It would be a great tragedy if this is allowed to happen. ICBS
therefore calls on all parties to take the greatest possible care
to protect the rich cultural heritage of the region and to take the
necessary preventive measures to ensure that it is not damaged in
any way during the present conflict,” the statement says.
In the statement the ICBS also says that being keenly aware that there
are other compelling concerns at times of armed conflict, not least
the loss of human life, it wishes to stress that international law
prohibits the use of cultural property for military purposes or to
shield military objectives and urges all parties concerned to respect
the provisions of The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural
Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two Protocols, as
well as the 1972 World Heritage Convention, which calls on countries
‘not to take any deliberate measures which might damage directly or
indirectly the cultural and natural heritage’ in the territory of
other countries that are party to this Convention. Israel and Lebanon
have ratified both of these Conventions.
ICBS was founded in 1996 ‘to work to protect the world’s cultural
heritage threatened by wars and natural disasters’.

“I WILL NOT COOPERATE WITH THE CRIMINAL”
Lragir.am
02 Aug 06
Recently the press has been publishing information and suggestions
that the accumulation of the administrative and criminal resource
around the Republican Party is done for the former prime minister of
Armenia Armen Sargsyan to make him president in 2008. Armen Sargsyan
is also said to be likely to try to round up the so-called liberal
sphere for the political plans of Serge Sargsyan. Officially, Armen
Sargsyan did not deny or confirm these rumors, however, our sources
inform that Armen Sargsyan assured in a narrow circle that he “never
cooperated with the criminal and will never cooperate”, hinting at
the notorious “super political party”.

AZERBAIJAN LOST THE RIGHT FOR ITS TERRITORY
Lragir.am
02 Aug 06
Refugees and the Law of Nations civil society network, set up to
defend the rights and interests of Armenian refugees from Soviet
Azerbaijan and Nakhidjevan, addressed a message August 1 to the OSCE
Minsk Group Co-Chairs Bryza, Fassier and Merzlyakov, who are meeting
in Paris August 2 to 4 to set the schedule of work in the settlement
of the Karabakh conflict.
Refugees and the Law of Nations addressed the co-chairs “in an
attempt to draw the attention of the international organizations to
the problem of 500 thousand Armenian refugees”.
“We regret to say that none of the proposals of the Minsk Group
Co-Chairs on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict so far has
contained a single hint at defending the rights of the Armenian
refugees displaced from Soviet Azerbaijan and Nakhidjevan, recovery
of direct and indirect material and moral damage by the Azerbaijani
government, retrieving Homeland and the country of citizenship,” runs
the message addressed to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. The authors
of the message announce that it is impossible to reach a lasting
settlement of the conflict over Karabakh without solving the problem of
the Armenian refugees. Refugees and the Law of Nations also informs
the co-chairs that the results of a poll among Armenian refugees
suggest that they will never return to their homes in Azerbaijan.
“Rejecting that it is the follower of Soviet Azerbaijan, the Republic
of Azerbaijan not only stated that it is not likely to settle the
problem of refugees but also took away from itself the right for
claims to the entire territory of former Soviet Azerbaijan. In terms
of the law, the only legal follower of Soviet Azerbaijan is Nagorno
Karabakh Republic. We think that if the Armenian refugees are granted
nationality of NKR, and the land which lie outside the territory
where NKR was declared but is under its jurisdiction is granted to
them as their property, it may partly solve the problem of Armenian
refugees,” runs the message of Refugees and the Law of Nations Civil
Society Network.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WHAT CONNECTION DOES THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATION HAVE?
Lragir.am
02 Aug 06
In Armenia, nobody doubts who the real leader of the Republican Party
is, who is going to strengthen his position in the political party.
He even set the timing, “in three or four months the results of the
process underway will become visible.” It goes without saying that
the minister of defense Serge Sargsyan is concerned, who is simply
going to buy the Republican Party, Manuk Gasparyan says.
However, even the “prophesy” of Manuk Gasparyan is useless already
because the “sale” of the Republican Party has already taken place,
which was confirmed during the extraordinary conference of the
Republican Party, when the one or two-days-old Republicans, who had
bid for membership to the Republican Party on Serge Sargsyan’s fancy,
were elected members of the Council of the party.
One of them, for instance, the mayor of Yerevan Yervand Zakharyan,
not only was elected member of the Council, but also elected others
like him. And he was assisted by the minister of communication and
transport Andranik Manukyan, studying the ballot of voting to the
Council of the Republican Party together with Zakharyan. Helping
one’s neighbor is not bad, of course, especially for a man who has
announced for a number of times about his close tie with God. He has
his political party, which is called “Solidarity”.
Consequently, it is supposed that the partisan ethic required not
interfering with the election of the Council of another political
party, especially if one is just a guest at the conference of this
political party. Of course, it is difficult to say that Yervand
Zakharyan followed Andranik Manukyan’s advice in voting. It is
also difficult to say that Andranik Manukyan advised anything to
Zakharyan. But it is a fact that Manukyan was scrutinizing the ballot
of voting to the council of the Republican Party, which our photo
camera recorded. Consequently, it is already a historical fact that
Andranik Manukyan was in the focus of the election of the Council of
the Republican Party.
And this fact is interesting not only because it is an interference
with the affairs of another political party. The point is that
Andranik Manukyan has always had controversies with the leader of
the Republican Party Andranik Margaryan. The recent controversy
occurred over the reports of ministries on 2005, when the prime
minister assessed the performance of the Ministry of Communication
and Transport as satisfactory, pushing the minister into a fury. This
is a fresh example. But there is an older, though a more vivid example.
When Andranik Margaryan was opening his hotel in 2001, President
Kocharyan and literally the whole government was there, except
Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan. So it was a surprise to see the
minister of communication and transport among the few guests of the
extraordinary conference of the Republican Party, who later appeared
during the voting to be more than just a guest. Maybe it was an effort
by Andranik Margaryan to make it up with his namesake, although such a
truce resembles a capitulation rather. And under these circumstances
it is already unimportant who capitulated, the prime minister to the
minister of communication or transport or to the minister who had
probably invited Andranik Manukyan. The fact is that the election of
the Council of the Republican Party already takes place outside this
political party as well.
HAKOB BADALYAN
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VOTING WAS POSTPONED
Lragir.am
02 Aug 06
The news agency ARKA reports referring to the Armenian Assembly of
America that the voting to the nomination of Richard Hoagland U.S.
ambassador to Armenia was postponed until September.
The proposal on postponing the vote was extended by senators Joseph
Biden and John Kerry. The senators urge to vote to the nomination
of Richard Hoagland after he makes a clear statement that a genocide
was committed against the Armenians.