ALREADY 8 DEPARTMENT S OF THE NATIONAL EXPERTISE BUREAU FUNCTIONING
Yerevan, April 6. ArmInfo. Already 8 of the 17 departments of the
National Expertise Bureau are functioning. The deputy-director of
the Bureau Aram Gakhtnapetian 80 expertises were realized in the 5
moths of the departments’ functioning.
The independent expertise is needed for analyzing the quality
of computer equipment, cost of real estate and other property of
material or cultural value. The Bureau also works out new methods of
expertise, organizes trainings for experts. Thus, 600 employees of
the Prosecutor’s Office Service and of the Rescue Service took part in
trainings organized by the National Expertise Bureau. The Bureau also
published a catalogue of expert institutes of Armenia. The Government
of the USA will render technical assistance to the Bureau.
The Bureau has already received ballistic expertise equipment of
$300-500$ thousand.
The non-governmental National Expertise Bureau was founded with the
$1 million financial assistance of the USA. A similar program was
also run in Georgia, but there, unlike Armenia, the Police, Justice,
Military and Healthcare expertise centers were closed. Soon the
National Expertise Bureau of Armenia will move to a new building.

ARMENIA CEDES CONTROL OF PIPELINE TO GAZPROM
Bloomberg News, The Associated Press
Thursday, April 6, 2006
MOSCOW Gazprom said Thursday that it had signed a 25-year agreement
with the former Soviet republic of Armenia that includes provisions
granting the Russian natural gas giant control of part of an
Armenian-Iranian natural gas pipeline and a power-generating unit at
the Razdan-5 electric plant.
The agreement also obliges Armenia to give Gazprom’s Armenian joint
venture ownership rights to the 197-kilometer, or 122-mile, stretch
of the pipeline to Iran, which has yet to be built, as well as the
right to export electricity produced at the Razdan-5 power plant.
The agreement sets a price for Armenia of $110 per 1,000 cubic meters
of natural gas until Jan. 1, 2009, according to a Gazprom statement.
Opposition politicians in Armenia have already expressed concern
over Russia’s control of the small country’s energy infrastructure,
an impact that the new deal will magnify.
Gazprom has sharply raised prices recently for Ukraine, Georgia
and Moldova.
It argues that it is merely ending subsidies to former Soviet republics
and bringing the rates closer to market prices, but critics say the
Kremlin is using Russia’s energy wealth as a political weapon.
A top Gazprom executive this week called for the tripling of prices
in Belarus, the last former Soviet republic to pay significantly
below-market prices for Russian natural gas.
Armenia is Russia’s chief ally in the strategic Caucasus Mountain
region, partly because it is host to a Russian military base. Moscow
already largely controls the Razdan-5 plant, the country’s main
electricity producer, which it received in 2003 as a debt payment,
and Armenia is wholly dependent on Russia for natural gas supplies. $@
Norwegians lift U.K. supply
Statoil and Norsk Hydro, the two largest oil companies in Norway,
booked more space on a new pipeline from Norway that could meet about
20 percent of Britain’s demand for natural gas, a top executive at
the pipeline’s operator said, Bloomberg News reported from London.
The pipeline will connect North Sea gas fields to Easington on
England’s eastern coast. It is to start delivering gas from existing
fields in October and a year later connect to Ormen Lange, a new gas
field operated by Norsk Hydro.
“The owners of the pipeline have booked the capacity for a good many
years in a way that there will be good utilization of capacity,” said
Thor Otto Lohne, a senior vice president at the Norwegian pipeline
operator Gasso.
At 1,200 kilometers, Ormen Lange will be the world’s largest undersea
pipeline, capable of shipping 70 million cubic meters of natural gas
a day. The entire Ormen Lange project, named after a ship owned by
the Viking king Olav Tryggvason, includes an onshore processing plant.
Britain, the European Union’s biggest user of natural gas, is
increasingly dependent on imports and stored supplies as supplies in
the North Sea dwindle.
MOSCOW Gazprom said Thursday that it had signed a 25-year agreement
with the former Soviet republic of Armenia that includes provisions
granting the Russian natural gas giant control of part of an
Armenian-Iranian natural gas pipeline and a power-generating unit at
the Razdan-5 electric plant.
The agreement also obliges Armenia to give Gazprom’s Armenian joint
venture ownership rights to the 197-kilometer, or 122-mile, stretch
of the pipeline to Iran, which has yet to be built, as well as the
right to export electricity produced at the Razdan-5 power plant.
The agreement sets a price for Armenia of $110 per 1,000 cubic meters
of natural gas until Jan. 1, 2009, according to a Gazprom statement.
Opposition politicians in Armenia have already expressed concern
over Russia’s control of the small country’s energy infrastructure,
an impact that the new deal will magnify.
Gazprom has sharply raised prices recently for Ukraine, Georgia
and Moldova.
It argues that it is merely ending subsidies to former Soviet republics
and bringing the rates closer to market prices, but critics say the
Kremlin is using Russia’s energy wealth as a political weapon.
A top Gazprom executive this week called for the tripling of prices
in Belarus, the last former Soviet republic to pay significantly
below-market prices for Russian natural gas.
Armenia is Russia’s chief ally in the strategic Caucasus Mountain
region, partly because it is host to a Russian military base. Moscow
already largely controls the Razdan-5 plant, the country’s main
electricity producer, which it received in 2003 as a debt payment,
and Armenia is wholly dependent on Russia for natural gas supplies. $@
Norwegians lift U.K. supply
Statoil and Norsk Hydro, the two largest oil companies in Norway,
booked more space on a new pipeline from Norway that could meet about
20 percent of Britain’s demand for natural gas, a top executive at
the pipeline’s operator said, Bloomberg News reported from London.
The pipeline will connect North Sea gas fields to Easington on
England’s eastern coast. It is to start delivering gas from existing
fields in October and a year later connect to Ormen Lange, a new gas
field operated by Norsk Hydro.
“The owners of the pipeline have booked the capacity for a good many
years in a way that there will be good utilization of capacity,” said
Thor Otto Lohne, a senior vice president at the Norwegian pipeline
operator Gasso.
At 1,200 kilometers, Ormen Lange will be the world’s largest undersea
pipeline, capable of shipping 70 million cubic meters of natural gas
a day. The entire Ormen Lange project, named after a ship owned by
the Viking king Olav Tryggvason, includes an onshore processing plant.
Britain, the European Union’s biggest user of natural gas, is
increasingly dependent on imports and stored supplies as supplies in
the North Sea dwindle.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CHINESE MILITARY BODY VICE-HEAD, ARMENIAN DEPUTY MINISTER LAUD TIES
Xinhua news agency, Beijing
6 Apr 06
Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua
(New China News Agency)
Beijing, 6 April: Senior generals of Chinese and Armenian armed forces
agreed on Thursday [6 April] to promote military exchanges.
“The Chinese armed forces value friendly ties with their Armenian
counterparts and there exists potential for cooperation in various
fields,” Vice-Chairman of the Central Military Commission Xu Caihou
said at a meeting with visiting Armenian Deputy Defence Minister Y.
Khachaturov.
Xu said China-Armenia relations have progressed smoothly since the
two countries established diplomatic ties in 1992.
“We would like to make concerted efforts with the Armenian side to
continuously promote the existing friendly relations and cooperation
between the armed forces on the basis of equality, mutual trust,
benefit and respect,” Xu said.
Y. Khachaturov, who arrived on Monday for a goodwill visit, said the
Armenian side holds a positive attitude on developing ties with Chinese
military and would like to boost the cooperation in various fields.

OVER 400M DOLLARS INVESTED IN ARMENIA’S ECONOMY IN 2005
Mediamax news agency
6 Apr 06
Yerevan, 6 April: The volume of foreign investment in Armenia’s
economy made up 404.4m dollars in 2005, having increased by 32 per
cent as against 2004.
Deputy Trade and Economic Development Minister Tigran Davtyan said
today that the volume of direct investment in the economy totalled
244.4m dollars in 2005, Mediamax has reported.
The deputy minister expressed the hope that the volume of foreign
investment in Armenia would remain at the same level as in 2005 unless
it increased in 2006.
In 2005, 132.1m dollars were invested in communications, 97.5m dollars
in the mining industry, 53.3m dollars in metallurgy, 26.4m dollars
in food and beverage production.

Thirty U.S. Representatives Urge PBS Not To Provide Platform For Armenian Genocide Deniers
Yerkir
06.04.2006 18:06
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) was joined by Rep. George
Radanovich (R-CA), Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank
Pallone (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), and a bipartisan group of
twenty-six U.S.
Representatives in urging the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) not
to provide a broadcast platform for deniers of the Armenian Genocide,
reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
In an April 3rd letter, addressed to PBS Chief Operating Officer Wayne
Godwin, the House Members addressed the growing controversy surrounding
plans by PBS to broadcast a panel discussion including known Armenian
Genocide deniers Justin McCarthy and Omer Turan following the airing
this April of the documentary “The Armenian Genocide,” produced by
Andrew Goldberg. The ANCA has formally protested PBS’s decision, and
established an online WebFax program through which close to 10,000
individuals have already registered their protests.
“We want to thank Representatives Schiff, Radanovich, Pallone,
and Knollenberg for their leadership in giving voice to the growing
Congressional opposition to PBS’s deeply flawed decision to provide
public airtime to deniers of the Armenian Genocide,” said ANCA
Executive Director Aram Hamparian.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TELETHON TO GIVE MOMENTUM TO HAY DAT
Yerkir
06.04.2006 14:26
YEREVAN (YERKIR) – A telethon to be aired in Armenian-populated cities
of the United States on April 21 aims to give a new momentum to the
Hay Dat.
The Armenian National Committee of America announce a few weeks ago
the purchase of a modern building in Washington, D.C.
ANCA Chairman Ken Khachikian said, “It is time we enforce our success
with a telethon. We hope to widen our political force, influence and
respect that the American Armenians deserve.”
The telethon will feature documentaries, prominent politicians,
community leaders and artists.
“This is a great opportunity to show America our achievements and
present our future plans,” Khachikian said.

SHAVARSH KOCHARYAN THINKS THERE IS NO DICTATORSHIP IN ARMENIA
Lragir.am
06 April 06
Shavarsh Kocharyan announced this on April 6 at the National Press
Club. However, his statement does not imply that what we have is
democracy. Shavarsh Kocharyan mentions, however, that Armenia appeared
at the border of democracy and dictatorship and has to decide to take
a step in a direction. “Armenia is in an ambiguous situation. Armenia
is not a country of Lukashenko, or a country of Nazarbaev. The former
Soviet republics are divided into two groups: countries in group one,
such as the Baltic states, chose democracy, and Ukraine made a serious
bid to join them. Georgia needs to prove, but it has already made a
bid. I would not like to speak about the other type of countries. For
Armenia, it is facing a choice,” says Shavarsh Kocharyan.

PARLIAMENT POSSESSES THREE IMPORTANT LEVERS
Lragir.am
06 April 06
Addressing the international conference in Yerevan on the role of
National Assembly – civil society cooperation in the struggle against
corruption, the chair of the Standing Committee for Defense, Internal
Affairs and National Security Mher Shahgeldyan announced that the
parliament possesses three important levers for struggle against
corruption: anti-corruption legislation, parliamentary discussions
and public speeches, and controlling functions in the sphere of
finance. And the struggle against corruption should have external
and internal transparency.
Mher Shahgeldyan said holding such a conference is always justified
for “if there is corruption that infects the government as a disease,
new remedies must be sought for to struggle against it. The society
is waiting for this struggle to begin.” Armenia entered GRECO several
years ago but there is no visible reduction of corruption. Now Armenia
has decided to enter another international anti-corruption organization
– GOPAC. According to Mher Shahgeldyan, GOPAC involves representatives
of all the political forces of the National Assembly. “It will enable
to form political will. This is important,” said Mher Shahgeldyan.
Bagrat Yesayan, adviser to President Robert Kocharyan on corruption,
announced several days ago that the People’s Deputy Group hinders
the establishment of an anti-corruption legislation. Did MP Mher
Shahgeldyan notice such phenomena? “We have to discuss how to
bring together the political forces and work with the international
organizations. The task of the parliament is to work out tools. I
think in 10-15 days we will manage to work out clear mechanisms.”

UNITED STATES NOT TO PUSH KARABAKH RESOLUTION
Lragir.am
06 April 06
The United States is not likely to push the resolution of the
conflict over Karabakh, thinks Kiro Manoyan, member of the Bureau
of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. He supports his view
by two main factors. First, in the settlement of the conflict the
United States is guided by their interests only, and they would not
agree to a settlement if it contradicted to their interests. Besides,
Kiro Manoyan thinks that the election to the Congress in 2006 and the
presidential election in two years will be in the focus of attention
of the United States, and the United States will hardly push the
settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

WHO WILL REPLACE THIS LEADERSHIP?
Lragir.am
06 April 06
For the United States democracy is a means of making countries
predictable for the sake of their strategic interests. Kiro Manoyan,
member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, stated his opinion
April 6 at the National Press Club. He says in this context it is
useful to consider the attitude of the United States towards the South
Caucasian countries, and one need not wonder why no fruit and flower
revolutions took place there.
Kiro Manoyan thinks by spreading democracy the United States wants
to make the country predictable and easily manipulated. Thus the
Dashnak figure thinks it is logical that the United States is not
seeking for a change of power, because they do not have a problem
of predictability with regard to the present government. Moreover,
they do not have a more predictable candidate.