AZERBAIJANI ‘FIRE’ FABLE
By Aghavni Harutyunian
AZG Armenian Daily
20/06/2006
The recent favorite topic of Azerbaijani online newspapers was “the
conflagration of fields” by Armenians in non-existent bordering
settlements.
Moreover, the made-up tumult grew into accusation and false
denunciation to international structures “on annihilation of Azeri
settlements by the Armenians.”
Perhaps the cause for worry about these extremely dubious settlements
is conflagration in Nagorno Karabakh lowlands that cannot be stifled
because of the firing from the Azeri side.
It should be reminded that a few years ago authorities in Nagorno
Karabakh applied to the Azerbaijani side via the OSCE Minsk Group
suggesting to cooperate in stifling the seasonal fires.
It’s not something new that the Azeri side does not discern methods
used against the Armenian side. If editing of their own officials’
statements is an everyday business, it is perhaps the boredom that
makes Azerbaijani journalists to bring diversity in the anti-Armenian
propaganda by using illogical creativity. Such as declaration of
uncommitted genocide, for one, or “subversive fires”, quotations from
Zori Balayan’s “unwritten book” etc.

THE CZECHS GOT ACQUAINTED WITH THE PRINCIPLES OF THE COALITION
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[03:58 pm] 19 June, 2006
On June 19 the members of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign
Relations met the delegation of the Standing Committee on Foreign
Relations, Defense and Security of the Senate of the Czech
Republic. The delegation is in Armenia on official visit.
Member of the Committee Yaromir Shtetina mentioned that on the
initiative of the Armenian community of the Czech Republic and with the
support of former President of the country Vatslav Havel a conference
was organized in the Senate two months ago about the 1915 Armenian
Genocide. The delegate voiced hope that in autumn the Czech Senate
will adopt an announcement about recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
Asked by the Czech side if there are positive changes in connection
with the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, if the Minsk group
has exhausted itself and if there is a need for a new format, Armen
Roustamyan answered that there is no need for a new format as the OSCE
Minsk group has been engaged in the settlement of the issue since 1992,
is deeply aware of anything connected with the conflict and has made
three valuable offers during the past eight years.
As for why there is no progress in the negotiation process, according
to Mr. Roustamyan, in contrast to Armenia, the Azeri side turns down
all the offers and refuses to sign any documents.
At the guests’ request Mr. Roustamyan referred to the relations
between the EU and Turkey and between Armenia and Turkey mentioning
that Armenia has expressed its readiness to start relations
with Turkey without any preconditions, but the Turkish side keep
putting forward preconditions including those in the context of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.
The Czech side added that the negotiations of Turkey about membership
in the EU will continue at least 10-15 more years.
During the meeting the perspectives of the development of the relations
of the countries and other issues of mutual interest were discussed.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATIOM IS IMPORTANT FOR KOCHARYAN?
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[04:56 pm] 19 June, 2006
Today Robert Kocharyan received Ambassador Miklosh Harashti, OSCE
representative on the issues of freedom of information.
Robert Kocharyan assess the cooperation with the OSCE as
effective. Finding the freedom of information important, he said
that free press has an important mission in representing the legal
real situation in the country. At the same time, according to Robert
Kocharyan, the freedom of press must not violate human rights.
The sides exchanged ideas about the formation of free press, the main
obstacles of the realization of press as business and the necessity
of state Mass Media.
According to Kocharyan, Armenia is in the transitional phase and the
country is characterized by the features of that phase.

OIC PROTESTS CONSTRUCTION OF WALL BETWEEN ISRAEL, PALESTINE
by Sevindzh Abdullayeva and Viktor Shulman
ITAR-TASS News Agency
June 19, 2006 Monday 09:51 AM EST
The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) called on Moslem
countries to pool their efforts for resolving conflicts in the
Islamic world.
OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu expressed concern about
the situation in Iraq, Palestine, Kashmir, and Nagorno-Karabakh.
Speaking at the 33rd session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign
Ministers, now in progress in Baku, Azerbaijan, Ihsanoglu condemned
Israel for the occupation of the Palestinian territories and protested
against the construction of the wall between Israel and Palestine,
as well as excavations under the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
He welcomed recent elections in Palestine and urged its new government
to take effective measures to improve the situation in the region.
The OIC secretary general also expressed satisfaction with the
formation of a new government in Iraq and stressed that this gives
one optimism in assessing the possibility of resolving the crisis in
this country.
The OIC is making preparations for the opening of its mission in
Baghdad, he said.
Ihsanoglu also condemned the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani
territories and urged Armenia to comply with U.N. Security Council
resolutions and free the seized land.
He called on Moslem countries to help Azerbaijani refugees affected
by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The secretary general believes that the OIC countries should pool
their efforts in maintaining peace and security in the world.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE OIL FACTOR IS NOT IMPORTANT FOR BRITAIN
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[07:17 pm] 19 June, 2006
Today RA NA deputy president Vahan Hovhannisyan and RA Minister of
Education Levon Lazarian met Anthony John James Kentor, Ambassador
extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland to Armenia, and A. Page, deputy head of
the East administration of the Foreign Ministry.
Mr. Hovhannisyan mentioned that the coming Presidential elections will
depend on the Parliamentary elections. They must not be the touchstone
for the democratization of the country, thus the political powers must
spare no effort to avoid fabrications. He said that external factors,
particularly the blockade of Turkey and the non-constructive approach
of Azerbaijan towards the settlement of the Karabakh conflict affect
negatively the economic development of Armenia.
Asked by Mr. Page about the predictions about the settlement of the
conflict, Mr. Hovhannisyan informed that there were three offers within
the framework of the Minsk group which were accepted by Armenia but
turned down by Azerbaijan. Vahan Hovhannisyan considered the aim of
Azerbaijan to solve the problem by force taking into account the oil
factor and the indifference of the international community intolerable.
Mr. Page mentioned that several economic circles can link the
settlement of the Karabakh conflict to the oil factor, but that is not
the official approach of Great Britain and assured that the country
does everything to find a mutually acceptable peaceful solution for
the conflict.

STATEMENT BY VAHRAM NERCISSIANTZ CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA AT IMF/WB DUTCH CONSTITUENCY MEETING
Armenpress
Jun 18 2006
Ladies and Gentlemen
On behalf of the President’s office, I wish to welcome our
distinguished guests and colleagues to Armenia for the IMF-World
Bank Dutch Constituency Meeting. We hope you will have a memorable
stay in our small Republic, and will share with us your experiences
in economic management and development.
Experience has shown that economic development requires growth and
growth requires stability.
Experience has also shown that whilst stability is necessary for
growth, it is not sufficient.
Ultimately, private and public investments generate growth, and
poverty reduction is best achieved through growth by investing in
people, and promoting a free and competitive business environment so
that investments are made and jobs created. Fiscal policy, therefore,
must have a long-term growth strategy without impairing macroeconomic
stability. This requires increasing efficiency in public expenditure,
and efficient revenue enhancement, particularly in tax administration,
and efficient use of external aid.
This, in a nutshell, is President Kocharian’s strategy for country
economic management.
The results are clear. The economy has been stable as the annual
inflation rates since 1998, when President Kocharian was elected,
have been around low single digits, and the national currency, Dram,
has been the most stable currency in the Region for several years. The
economy has been growing steadily from 1994 to 2000 around 5.5%
annually; and then since 2001 the economy has been growing around 12%
annually; and last year the economy grew at 14%. We expect another
double digit growth rate also for this year.
And most important of all: poverty has declined from 56% in 1998 to
around 25% and it continues to decline rapidly.
Looking into the fiscal space, we see increasing efficiency in public
expenditures through privatization of public utilities, and parastatal
enterprises, and dramatic reduction and targeting of subsidies. Today,
over 80% of the economy is private, and growing, both in terms of GDP
and employment. The remaining public sector, mainly physical and social
infrastructure, is top priority and is developing rapidly through
IDA assisted projects, where Armenia’s performance, in both progress
of reforms and implementation of project portfolio, is ranked number
one amongst all IDA countries. We are told that this IDA score is a
composite of many factors, including institutional development, fiscal
management and social development. Clearly, government’s expenditure
program is the poverty reduction strategy, endorsed by all donors,
underpinned by a medium term expenditure framework, and, of course,
annual budgets debated and approved by the Parliament. Looking forward,
the Administration is strengthening public expenditure management,
strengthening social safety net, and increasing public investment to
support private sector growth. And these objectives will be integrated
further when we update the PRSP later this year.
With respect to efficient revenue enhancement measures, particularly
taxes, the picture is not as strong. Annual tax collections have been
only around 14.5% of GDP (or around 17.5% of GDP if social security
payments are included) mainly due to tax evasion. Mobilization
of private sector savings by the commercial banks have also been
rather low as loan assets of the entire banking sector comprise only
around 8% of GDP. There are several reasons for this, including lack
of confidence by depositors, and then lack of borrowing interest by
creditworthy enterprises, that finance working capital, and sometimes
capital investments, through internal cash that they accumulate by
evading taxes. Moreover, equity markets have not yet developed mainly
because of closed family driven and opaque corporate governance. Greed
and vanity have sometimes induced deviations from economic policy
causing waste and misallocation of scarce resources. Simply said,
abuse of both power and freedom during this rapid economic transition
has at times obstructed implementation of otherwise sound economic
policies. If unchecked, such deviations will distort the markets,
undermine economic performance and create serious economic and social
problems. Clearly, country economic management must be driven by
policy and not transactions.
President Kocharyan’s Administration, therefore, has undertook
decisive measures to improve governance to enhance efficient resource
mobilization in both public and private sectors. For efficient
mobilization and allocation of public resources, the strategy now
calls overhaul of the government machinery through a comprehensive
civil service reform program so as to substantially reduce waste and
corruption, and to reform administration of taxes and customs. In fact,
the 2004-2006 Tax and Customs Reform Plan has already yielded some
modest improvements in revenue mobilization, but we recognize more must
be done. For mobilization of private resources, the strategy calls for
an extensive and coordinated set of measures to simplify administrative
procedures and remove obstacles to trade and investment, and encourage
development of the enterprise sector through open and transparent
corporate governance and thus enhance confidence that is necessary for
the financial sector to mobilize savings into investment. In short, the
strategy here is to substantially reduce the cost of doing business,
so as to enhance Armenia’s competitiveness in the global economy.
Clearly, reforms in Armenia require a great deal of personal
sacrifice and behavioral modification by all of us during transition,
and benefits of the reforms are not immediately available to all
segments of the population at this stage. We are determined, however,
to continue to implement the reforms through democratic processes of
open debate and due process of law. We believe reforms implemented
through democratic institutions are more stable and sustainable, and
enhance public confidence. By improving the business and investment
climate through reform of public and corporate governance, and with
additional foreign and domestic private investment, we expect to
maintain our high economic growth rates for this decade and with
progressive distribution of the yields of that growth, the benefits
of the reforms will be appreciably felt by the entire population
through gradual improvements in quality of life.
Thank you for your attention.

NEW ARMENIAN STRUCTURE IN MOSCOW
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[07:23 pm] 19 June, 2006
The Conference of the Union for Friendship and Cooperation with Armenia
took place in Moscow. It was decided during the conference that the
Union will be converted into an inter-regional structure and will
change its name. Newspaper “Yerkramas” informed that the center of
“people’s democracy” will be called Union for the friendship and
Cooperation of Russia and Armenia. Russian writer and politician
Victor Krivopuskov was re-elected head if the structure.
The Conference adopted a decision to apply to the RF Government
in order to condemn the destruction of the four thousand Armenian
khachkars destroyed by the Azeri Government in Old Julfa.
The Conference also adopted a statement condemning the frequent
murders of foreigners in Russia.

“KILIKIA” LOST THE MATCH
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[07:28 pm] 19 June, 2006
The start of “Kilikia” Yerevan in the first qualifying phase of the
Intertoto Cup was extremely unsuccessful. The Armenian team played with
“Dinamo” Tbilisi which comprises mainly young players.
It was clear from the very beginning that “Dinamo” is stronger and
will score sooner or later. At the 36th and 39th minutes the Georgians
scored twice. Before the interval Nshan Erzrumyan scored for “Kilikia”,
but eventually “Dinamo” won the match 5:1 and practically secured
his victory before the second game.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NA PRESIDENT, “MASS MEDIA MUST BE FREE AND UNBIASED”
A1+
[07:02 pm] 19 June, 2006
“Any law can be endlessly amended but the truths of life are not
connected with the flaws of the law”, said NA President Tigran Torosyan
during the meeting with head of the OSCE Yerevan office Vladimir
Pryakhin and Ambassador Miklosh Harashti, OSCE representative on the
issues of freedom of information.
According to him, we must first clear out the mission of the Mass
Media, “The overwhelming majority of the Mass Media see themselves
as the reflection of the role of the parties – either oppositional
or pro-governmental. But the Mass Media must represent the events
to the society impartially. They must be free and unbiased, and the
solution of this problem is connected with the realization of the
multi-party system and the civic society”, Tigran Torosyan said.
During the meeting issues about the laws and drafts concerning the
Mass Media field were discussed.
According to the OSCE and PACE experts, the laws regulating the field
are compliant with the international standards.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A WEEK OF IMPROVISATIONS IN YEREVAN
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[07:49 pm] 19 June, 2006
Cultural center “Psalm” which was founded in 2000 will hold a festival
titled “Week of Surprises” in about three cultural houses since June
20. The slogan of the festival will be “Friends for friends”.
According to Anna Mayilyan, the head of the center, “This festival
will give us a chance to gather together with our friends and rejoice
at our meeting.
Our days are so clod and boring”. Photographers, composers and
musicians from France, Germany and Armenia will participate in the
creative events.
Within the framework of the festival two films will be shown in French
translated into Armenian. The first is a 15-minute documental called
“Karskaya” which tells about the life of painted Ida Karskaya. The
second is an animation film by French Armenian famous actor Serge
Avetiqyan called “The Price of Life” which tells about German
concentration camps.
Anna Mayilyan also promised that there will be a number of
improvisations, and the cultural evenings will not have a clear-cut
scenario. “It will be more interesting”, she added.