FIRST CONSIGNMENT OF NITRIC FERTILIZER DISTRIBUTED TO FARMS IN ARARAT MARZ
Noyan Tapan
Apr 18 2006
ARTASHAT, APRIL 18, NOYAN TAPAN. The spring sowing of 350 ha with
wheat and barley has been almost completed in Ararat marz. 3,400 tons
of nitric fertilizer, which will be sold to farms for 3,700 drams,
was provided by Azotinvest CJSC. The first consignment (2,300 tons)
of nitric fertilizer has already been transported to the marz and
distributed to farms.

LEGISALTION ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE SYSTEM IN NEED OF AMENDMENTS
Noyan Tapan
Apr 18 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 18, NOYAN TAPAN. The legislation on introduction of a
corporate governance system in the RA banking system is in need of
amendments and additions. Chairman of Ardshininvestbank Board Aram
Andreasian expressed this opinion at the April 18 press conference. In
his words, the banking system is a sector that operates in the most
transparent way, while the introduction of corporate governance is
aimed at reducing the shadow sector of the economy.
This means that it would be more expedient to introduce the corporate
governance principles first of all in other sectors of the economy. At
the same time, A. Andreasian noted that as a whole the introduction
of a corporate governance system is to be welcomed, and the Central
Bank of Armenia (CBA) and commercial banks have reached a mutual
agreement on a number of isssue.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARDSHININVESTBANK’S NET PROFIT GROWS BY 56.9% IN 2005
Noyan Tapan
Apr 18 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 18, NOYAN TAPAN. In 2005, Ardshininvestbank showed an
unprecedented growth in all its indices, taking first and second
places by these indices in the RA banking system. Chairman of
Ardshininvestbank Board Aram Andreasian said during the April 18
press conference that in the year under review, the bank’s assets
grew by 42% on 2004 and amounted to 54.3 bln drams, which made up
12.04% of the overall assets of the RA banking system. The overall
capital of Ardshininvestbank grew by 63.3% to 88.8 bln drams,
while its liabilities – by 38.5% to about 45.4 bln drams. The net
profit of the bank increased by 56.9% to 2.3 bln drams. The credit
investments of Ardshininvestbank made 25.2 bln drams in 2005,
which exceeds the respective index of the previous year by about
35%. A. Andreasian pointed out a considerable growth in the amount of
consumer credits. Only in Ardshininvestbank, these credits grew by 23%
in the year under review and made 9.4 bln drams. According to him,
it shows that the financial position of 30-35% of the population has
improved. It was noted that the bank ranks first by the amount of time
deposits attracted from natural persons and legal entities, which,
in the words of A. Andreasian, is indicative of the population’s trust
in the bank. Addressing the problem of high interest rates of credits,
A. Andreasian said that the prices of financial resources has risen on
international markets. At the same time, he assured that despite it,
the interest rates of credits continue to decline in Armenia.
By the results of 2005, Ardshininvestbank was the biggest tax payer
– bank.
The bank paid taxes of a total of about 1 bln drams (about 2.22 mln
USD) to the state budget. Ardshininvestbank has 49 branches (two in
the Nagorno Karabakh Republic) and an office in Paris.

RA PRESIDENT EXPECTS TAX SERVICE TO CARRY OUT CONSISTENT WORK FOR SOLUTION OF EXISTING PROBLEMS
Noyan Tapan
Apr 18 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 18, NOYAN TAPAN. During the April 18 working meeting of
the RA President Robert Kocharian and Head of the State Tax Service
Felix Tsolakian, the results of the first quarter, as well as issues
related to reduction of the shadow sector in mining industry and
construction, the fight against false customs clearing and goods
for deals were discussed. According to the data presented by Felix
Tsolakian, this quarter the tax revenues of the state budget made 43.2
bln drams, exceeding the index of the same period of last year by 8
bln drams (about 17.8 mln USD). Profit tax and income tax accounted
for a large share of the tax revenues. A growth in social payments
was registered as well. 15.3 bln drams was collected in the first
quarter, which exceeds the respective index of last year by 2.4
bln drams. Presenting the process of carrying out the President’s
instructions regarding reduction of the shadow sector in mining
industry and construction, F. Tsolakian said that an increase in
revenues of these spheres was registered in the first quarter.
Particularly, the revenues from the non-metal mining industry made
700 mln drams against 400 mln drams collected in the first quarter
of 2005. Speaking about the programs to be implemented, he noted
that the Tax Service is now making up a list of organizations,
whose transactions and taxes paid are not consistent with their
activities. As regards false customs clearing and goods for deals, F.
Tsolakian noted that over the last three months they filed 45
materials to the prosecutor’s office, based on 19 of which criminal
cases were opened. The problem of property and income declaration
was also addressed during the meeting. R. Kocharian pointed out
the necessity for legislative regulation of this problem and use of
clear mechanisms of responsibility. According to the RA President’s
press service, Robert Kocharian gave new instructions regarding the
problems discussed. He said that he expects the Tax Service to carry
out consistent work for solution of the existing problems.

NKR PRESIDENT PROPOSES SETTING UP INDEPENDENT STATE BODY ON PROTECTION OF ECONOMIC COMPETITION
Noyan Tapan
Apr 18 2006
STEPANAKERT, APRIL 18, NOYAN TAPAN. Issues related to the formation
of a legal field on protection of economic competition and the
development of application mechanisms were discussed during the April
18 consultation conducted by the NKR President Arkady Ghukasian with
the participation of the NKR Defence Minister, Prime Minister, Head
of the NKR President’s Staff and other high-ranking officials, who
presented the approaches of the NKR legislative and executive power
branches concerning the issue. As regards the fact that the NKR Law on
Protection of Economic Competition was returned to the parliament, A.
Ghukasian noted that he intends to send a letter to the National
Assembly, making a proposal to examine the concept of ensuring
economic competition through an independent state body. He underlined
the necessity of conducting a clear state policy aimed at protecting
economic competition and expressed a hope that the parliament will
accept his proposal.

SPRING AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES START IN LORI MARZ
Noyan Tapan
Apr 18 2006
VANADZOR, APRIL 18, NOYAN TAPAN. The cultivation of gardens, tree
pruning and sowing of early potato and vegetables has begun in
Tumanian region of Lori marz. The RA Ministry of Agriculture has
allocated 1,700 tons of nitrate at reduced prices (3,700 drams for a
50-kg bag), 250 tons of which has already been provided to the local
peasants. Volodya Buniatian, head of the Agriculture and Environmental
Protection Department of the Lori regional administration, told NT
correspondent that 1,000 ha was sown with spring grain, 3,000 ha –
with vegetables, and 6,000 ha is under fodder crops.
–Boundary_(ID_BREimxNjKZcKrnrFmd8q3g)
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SPRING AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES START IN LORI MARZ

VANADZOR, APRIL 18, NOYAN TAPAN. The cultivation of gardens, tree pruning
and sowing of early potato and vegetables has begun in Tumanian region of Lori
marz. The RA Ministry of Agriculture has allocated 1,700 tons of nitrate at
reduced prices (3,700 drams for a 50-kg bag), 250 tons of which has already
been provided to the local peasants. Volodya Buniatian, head of the Agriculture
and Environmental Protection Department of the Lori regional administration,
told NT correspondent that 1,000 ha was sown with spring grain, 3,000 ha –
with vegetables, and 6,000 ha is under fodder crops.
–Boundary_(ID_BREimxNjKZcKrnrFmd8q3g)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AGREEMENT ON COOPERATION BETWEEN ARMENIA AND ROSTOV REGION TO BE SIGNED IN AUTUMN
Noyan Tapan
Apr 18 2006
ROSTOV-ON-DON, APRIL 18, NOYAN TAPAN. The current state and prospects
of development of the Armenian-Russian inter-regional cooperation
were discussed during a meeting of the RA Minister of Territorial
Administration Hovik Abrahamian and the Governor of Rostov region
(Russia) Vladimir Chub on April 17. The sides pointed out the necessity
to use the existing potential for inter-regional cooperation to
the full. H. Abrahamian attached importance to further extension
of direct cooperation with Rostov region, underlining that Rostov
region is a highly attractive partner for Armenia in terms of its
geographical location, production and scientific potential. Noting
that commodity turnover between Armenia and Rostov region made 6 mln
dollars in 2005 and is continuing to grow each year, V. Chub stressed
the need for further increase in the bilateral trade turnover. Issues
of mutual interrest such as the necessity to attract more investments
of the Russian business circles in Armenia’s economy, to set up joint
ventures and establish economically efficient transport communication
between the two countries, etc. were discussed at the meeting. The
sides reached an agreement, in accordance with which the governor of
Rostov region will visit Armenia this autumn with the aim of signing
an agreement on trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural
cooperation between Armenia and Rostov region. According to the RA
MFA Press and Information Department, the Armenian delegation headed
by H. Abrahamian is in Rostov region in order to participate in Days
of Armenia held on April 16-19.

VOTING FOR THE BNP IS ABOUT RAGE RATHER THAN RACE
by Rachel Sylvester
The Daily Telegraph (LONDON)
April 18, 2006 Tuesday
Racism is no longer a black-and-white issue. A taxi driver told me
the other day that he was worried about the influx of “people with
a European complexion” coming into this country. With immigrants
arriving in Britain from Kosovo and Poland, as well as Somalia and
Bangladesh, newcomers these days are as likely to have a pink skin as
a brown one. And yet fear of change (whatever the colour of its face)
remains a powerful force.
A report from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, publicised yesterday,
claims that a quarter of voters in London are considering supporting
the British National Party in next month’s local elections. Margaret
Hodge, the employment minister, warned at the weekend that white,
working-class families in her Barking constituency were deserting
Labour for the far Right. Searchlight, the anti-fascist campaign group,
said recently that the BNP needs a swing of only five per cent to
win as many as 70 council seats on May 4.
There is, of course, a danger in talking up the threat from the BNP.
Nick Griffin, who likes to claim that he leads Britain’s fourth-largest
political party, must be basking in his 15 minutes of front-page
fame. I find it hard to believe that a sixth of people in this
tolerant, decent and middle-of-the-road country really will – as
the Rowntree report also claims – put an X in the far-Right box when
they fill in their ballot papers in two weeks’ time. A few may feel
emboldened to do so by the recent coverage.
The BNP deserves scorn rather than scare-mongering. Not only is it
utterly pernicious (a leaflet distributed by the party after the July
7 bombings said, “If only they had listened to the BNP”), it is also
useless if faced with the reality of power. When a handful of BNP
councillors were elected in Burnley in 2003, they failed to turn up
to the first budget debate, one of the most crucial moments in the
local government year. In Barking, a BNP councillor stood down after
eight months, telling his local paper: “Those meetings go right over
my head and there’s little point in me being there.” Another elected
representative left the party, claiming she had not realised it
propagated extremist views – in fact, she said, she had cited Nelson
Mandela as her political hero at her selection interview. Meanwhile,
Punch and Judy politics appear to be too timid for the BNP. One of its
councillors was forced to resign after smashing a bottle in the face
of a colleague and another has been convicted, since his election,
of attacking his wife and a police officer.
And yet the BNP cannot be completely laughed off. There is a new
professionalism to its campaigns that is beginning to worry the
mainstream parties. It has recently for the first time started to
send out carefully targeted direct mailshots.
Mr Griffin, the Cambridge-educated son of a farmer, has toned down
the extremist rhetoric and prefers to surround himself with pretty,
long-haired women, rather than tattooed, skinheaded men. Campaign
leaflets in white working-class areas describe the BNP as “the Labour
Party your grandfathers voted for”. Other literature says the party
is “people just like you making a difference”. To the irritation
of some members, the BNP has recently selected an ethnic minority
candidate – Sharif Abdel Bawad, who is described by the party as a
“totally assimilated Greek-Armenian”.
The BNP’s website now sells Make Poverty History-style wristbands
(printed with the slogan “English and proud”) and T-shirts emblazoned
with the words “cool to be white”. The party even has a fund-raising
campaign that urges supporters to donate the price of a pot of Earl
Grey tea – which is, its advertisement says, when combined with a
Garibaldi biscuit, the “perfectly British way to warm up a winter’s
afternoon”. The aim is to make the BNP unthreatening in a Coronation
Street sort of way.
There may be some exaggeration of the BNP’s appeal, but it is likely
that the far-Right party will win at least some extra seats in next
month’s council elections. And there is a danger that any victory,
however small, will be used to try to force the mainstream parties
away from the centre ground. Right-wingers will urge David Cameron
to blow the immigration dog whistle, used to such disastrous effect
by his predecessor Michael Howard; Left-wingers will tell Tony Blair
to do more to appeal to Labour’s white working-class core voters, who
feel neglected by their public school-educated leader’s love of Middle
England. It would be a mistake for either of them to follow the advice.
The truth is that support for the BNP is not really a protest vote
against a racially mixed society: it is a cry of rage about the
quality of life in some of the poorest areas in the country. There
is not much cheerleading for the far Right in the streets of Chelsea.
The BNP is exploiting a growing sense of frustration with genuine
problems: the lack of affordable housing, the increase in low-level
crime, the failure of inner-city schools, the loss of a sense of
identity among white working-class men following the collapse of
traditional industries. These failures are not really anything to
do with race – although, of course, the more people come to live in
an area, the more stretched local resources will be – but the BNP
has diverted a general sense of grievance into a specific feeling
of unfairness based on a perception that there is “us and them”. It
is true, for example, that asylum seekers in a way “jump the queue”
for council houses because they are destitute when they arrive in an
area, whereas those on a waiting list for a bigger home are not. The
solution is not to try to recreate a homogeneous white population but
to find more affordable housing, and speed up the way in which homes
are allocated to local people. The Government, and the Opposition
parties, should not try to ramp up the rhetoric on race, they need
to deal with the often appalling way in which too many people have
to live their lives.
In some white working-class areas, Labour has, as one Downing Street
adviser admitted to me yesterday, effectively run a “one-party state”
for too long. With no effective challenge from the Conservatives or the
Liberal Democrats, it has become complacent and its councillors have
resisted public service reform. The rise of the BNP should shock the
mainstream political parties out of their torpor. But it must not be
allowed to change the direction or the tone of British politics. That
really would be a victory for the extremists.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN WOMEN PREFER TO BE INVOLVED IN SOCIAL RATHER THAN POLITICAL ACTIVITIES
Noyan Tapan
Apr 18 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 18, NOYAN TAPAN. Trafficking and family vilence are
unusual phenomena in sharp contrast to Armenian traditions and make up
an insignificant percentage in the country. Head of the RA National
Assembly’s delegation in the PACE, Vice Speaker of the National
Assembly Tigran Torosian stated this on April 17 during a meeting
with Rapporteur of the PACE commission on issues of equality of the
rights of man and women Vera Oskina, who is on a working visit to
Armenia. Speaking about participation of women in political processes,
T. Torosian noted that the Armenian women prefer to be engaged in
social rather than political activities: women constitute about 99%
of heads of NGOs.
As regards the allocation of 25% in ballot papers to women, the NA
Vice Speaker expressed an opinion that such positive discrimination is
unacceptable: women’s involvement in politics should not be encouraged
in an unnatural way.
According to the RA National Assembly PR Department, V. Oskina informed
T. Torosian that she is preparing a report on the state of women in
Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN SAMBISTS WIN TWO MEDALS IN EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP
Noyan Tapan
Apr 18 2006
BELGRADE, APRIL 18, NOYAN TAPAN. The representatives of Armenia
performed successfully in the sambo Europe championship held in
the capital of Serbia-Chernogoria Belgrade. Two of them became
prize-winners. In the 74 kg weight category Ashot Danielian took second
place and won a silver medal. Davit Khachatrian (68 kg weight category)
took third place and won a bronze medal.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress