From: Katia M. Peltekian <[email protected]>
Subject: NA President Addresses On The Occasion Of International Theatre Day

NA PRESIDENT ADDRESSES ON THE OCCASION OF INTERNATIONAL THEATRE DAY

National Assembly of RA, Armenia
March 28 2006

Artur Baghdasaryan, NA President, addressed congratulations on the
occasion of International Theatre Day. It says:

“I warmly congratulate theatrical workers and undoubtedly, also the
admirers with their holiday – International Theatre Day.

Throughout the thousand-year history Armenian theatre have had
invaluable contribution into Armenian culture and history, and,
why not, also into the world theatre history. The Armenian artists
always have been at the centre of attention, awarding the people with
the wonders of art. And today, continuing their ancestors’ glorious
traditions, they promote moral-spiritual education and progress of
the society.

The draft on State Assistance to Theatre is circulating in the
National Assembly, the adoption of which will promote the development
of theatre.

Once again by congratulating all theatre people I wish health and
happiness, successes and that the theatre curtain would never go down.”

DEPUTY FM STYLIANIDIS TO VISIT YEREVAN

Macedonian Press Agency, Greece
March 28 2006

Deputy Foreign Minister Evripidis Stylianidis will be on a formal
visit to Yerevan, Armenia on March 29-30.

The 4th Greek-Armenian Joint Inter-Ministerial Committee meeting will
take place during the visit as well as the signing of the bilateral
economic cooperation protocol. Also, a memorandum of understanding
will be signed by the Federation of Greek Industries, SEV, and the
association of manufacturers and businessmen of Armenia.

The Deputy Foreign Minister will have talks with Armenian President
Robert Kocharian, Prime Minister Andranik Margarian, Minister of
Agriculture Davit Lokian, Minister of Commerce and Economic Development
Karen Chishmaritian, Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosian and
Patriarch Karekin II of Armenia.

Mr. Stylianidis will also visit Scholl 132 in Yerevan, the
construction of which was funded by Hellenic Aid, the Foreign
Ministry’s International Development Cooperation Directorate, and he
will lay a wreath at the Monument of Genocide.

PACE TO DISCUSS ISSUES ON REFUGEES IN SOUTH CAUCASUS

Prime News Agency, Georgia
March 28 2006

Tbilisi, March 28 (Prime-News) – Spring session of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will be held in Strasbourg
on April 10-13.

Tigran Torosyan, Vice Speaker of Armenian Parliament, head of Armenian
delegation at the PACE stated about that at the press conference.

According to him, agenda of the session includes issues on refugees
and IDPs in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

RA DEPUTY FM: BEST RELATIONS DEVELOP BETWEEN ARMENIA AND GREECE AMONG EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
March 28 2006

YEREVAN, March 28. /ARKA/. Best relations have developed between
Armenia and Greece among European countries, as the RA Deputy Minister
of Foreign Affairs Armen Kirakosyan stated during the reception in
honour of the national holiday of Greece, Independence Day on March
27. “I highly estimate Armenian-Greek relations”, he stated.

In his words, age-old relations have developed between the two
countries. “From the moment of establishment of our state system
our intergovernmental relations became those friendly relations,
which have existed between the two nations”, Kirakosyan emphasized.

In his words, a large legislative field for developing cooperation
in all spheres, namely political, economic and defense exists between
our two nations.

Particularly he pointed out training of Armenian servicemen in Greek
military institutes, trainings of Armenian peacemaking troops as well
as cooperation within the framework of the NATO program.

“Active cooperation develops in cultural and educational spheres as
well”, he stated.

At the same time Kirakosyan finds that the level of economic
cooperation between the two countries can’t be considered satisfactory.

“I don’t think that we are satisfied with the level of trade-economic
balance”, he stated and pointed out the necessity of additional
investments.

“No other large-scale Greek investments were registered in Armenia
except for the “ArmenTel” telecommunication company”, he stated.

ARMENIA GETS US AID GRANT, PROMISES ELECTION REFORMS
By David Gollust

Voice of America
March 28 2006

State Department

Armenia has become the eighth country to receive a grant under the
Bush administration’s Millennium Challenge foreign aid program.

Accepting the $235-million grant at a State Department ceremony Monday,
Armenia’s foreign minister said his government will be responsive to
international criticism of its handling of a constitutional referendum
last November.

Condoleezza Rice with the Armenian delegation at the State Department
in Washington The Millennium Challenge program, a key initiative of
the Bush administration, makes aid money contingent on recipient
countries’ meeting commitments to democratization, open markets,
and fighting corruption.

In accepting the $235-million Millennium Challenge grant to fight
rural poverty in his country, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian
pledged that his government will take action to address international
concerns about the constitutional vote.

The United States and European countries were among the critics of
the November 27 referendum on a package of constitutional amendments.

Armenian opposition parties challenged official results that said 65
per cent of eligible voters had turned out and approved the package
by a 93 percent margin. Council of Europe observers said the vote
had been marred by fraud and ballot-box stuffing.

The semi-private Millennium Challenge Corporation, which administers
the aid program, reiterated U.S. concern when it announced the
five-year grant in December.

At Monday’s ceremony attended by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,
the Armenian foreign minister said corrective steps are already under
way to assure the fairness of legislative elections in May of 2007
and a presidential vote in 2008:

“Our task until then is to partner with the United States and European
governments to implement the necessary corrective steps to improve
the conditions necessary for an honest and fair expression of peoples’
voices,” said Vartan Oskanian. “In this regard, we welcome the American
proposal for certain structural reforms and education and public
outreach efforts. We have already begun the process of verifying
voter lists. We are making progress in reforming the electoral law
with the active participation and agreement of all political forces
in our parliament.”

For her part, Secretary Rice noted that Armenia had acknowledged the
“difficulties” of last year’s vote and promised corrective actions.

She said the United States stands ready to help insure that the
legislative and presidential elections are free and fair.

The Armenia program aims at helping the country’s rural poor by
building nearly 1,000 kilometers of roads in the countryside and
improving irrigation and water distribution systems.

Foreign Minister Oskanian said two-thirds of rural Armenians do not
have access to central water systems, and efforts to move crops to
market are hampered by a poor secondary road system.

Nonetheless, he said despite the unresolved conflict with neighboring
Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh and other problems, including a lack
of mineral wealth, the Armenian government’s liberal policies have
produced the highest economic growth rates in the region.

At the grant ceremony, attended by leaders of the Armenian-American
community, among others, he pledged that the process of democratic
and economic reform in his country is “irreversible.”

The grant to Armenia is the second-largest thus far under the
Millennium Challenge program. It brings the total amount of funds
committed to $1.5 billion to a total of eight countries, mainly in
Africa and Latin America.

Started in 2004, the program got off to a slow start as would-be
recipient-countries wrestled with complicated eligibility rules,
but it has gained momentum after a personnel shakeup last year.

The Bush administration had hoped to be able to dispense $5 billion
a year under the program but congressional funding has fallen well
short of that goal.

EU SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE SOUTH CAUCASUS PROPOSES BAKU TO CHOOSE BETWEEN WAR AND INVESTMENTS

Regnum, Russia
March 28 2006

The European Union (EU) will take a direct part in the resolution
of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Trend report citing Peter Semneby,
the EU special representative for South Caucasus, as stating to local
ATV television channel.

“The resolution of conflict in South Caucasus is one of the EU’s
priorities. It signals to more active attraction of the organization
to the resolution of the problem situation,” stated Semneby in his
interview for Radio Liberty. According to Semneby EU’s mandate in
the issue has been expanded and resolution of conflict situation was
included in it.

“Unless the conflict is resolved, Armenia might turn out in
isolation,” the Swedish diplomat stressed. Moreover, Semneby did not
conceal his concerns over the calls to the armed resolution of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

“Attempts for the armed resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
might lead to serious results. It might sharp drop in inflow of
investments in Azerbaijan,” he underlined.

KOSOVO WISHES IN CAUCASUS
By Simon Saradzhyan for ISN Security Watch

ISN, Switzerland
International Relations & Security Network
March 28 2006

While Washington and its allies in the South Caucasus say Kosovo’s
bid for independence from Serbia is a unique situation, separatist
republics across the former Soviet Union and their sympathizers
among Russia’s ruling elite are publicly debating how far the Kosovo
precedent could propel them to independence of their own.

In late January, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the debate
by pointing out at a press conference that independence for Kosovo
would bolster similar bids of de facto independent republics in the
former Soviet Union.

“If someone thinks that Kosovo can be granted full independence as a
state, then why should the Abkhaz or the South Ossetian peoples not
also have the right to statehood?” he said, referring to Georgia’s
separatist republics.

“I am not talking here about how Russia would act. But we know, for
example, that Turkey recognized the Republic of Northern Cyprus,”
Putin told the 31 January press conference. “I am not saying that
Russia would immediately recognize Abkhazia or South Ossetia as
independent states, but international life knows such precedents. I
am not saying whether these precedents are a good or a bad thing,
but in order to act fairly, in the interests of all people living
on this or that territory, we need generally accepted, universal
principles for resolving these problems.”

The following weeks saw officials from the separatist governments
of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, and Nagorno-Karabakh,
an Armenian-majority enclave that fought a war to win de facto
independence from Azerbaijan, hold up the Kosovo situation as a future
precedent. At the same time, senior officials from Georgia, Moldova,
and Azerbaijan challenged the argument.

Giorgi Khaindrava, Georgia’s minister for conflict resolution, said
Putin’s statement was not at all surprising, given Moscow’s “unilateral
support” for Abkhazia and South Ossetia. “Kosovo model is not an
universal one,” said Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, echoed those
sentiments, agreeing that Kosovo was a unique situation and should
not set any precedents for the future.

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Rosemary DiCarlo also weighed
in on the debate, telling the Russian daily newspaper Kommersant
that a unique situation had arisen in Kosovo because of the violent
break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

According to independent experts, claims that independence for Kosovo
would not have a ripple effect through the former Soviet Union were
wishful thinking, at best.

And while the case of Transdniestria looks weak, given the lack of a
dominant ethnic group, South Ossetians, Abkhazians, and Armenians in
Nagorno-Karabakh are nurturing hopes that a vote for independence in
Kosovo could be replicated in their de facto independent republics,
leading to subsequent recognition of their states by the international
community.

Monica Duffy Toft, professor of public policy at the Kennedy School
of Government and an expert on ethnic conflicts in the former
Soviet Union, said it would be difficult for proponents of Kosovo’s
uniqueness to come up with sufficient parameters to make their case
that is disparate from conflicts in former Soviet Union.

“How many parameters can one list to make their case unique. Is Kosovo
all that unique – I don’t think so,” she told ISN Security Watch.

“In spite of the [fact that the] American argument that Kosovo is a
disparate when compared to conflicts in former Soviet Union is not
convincing, the Kosovo referendum will open the floodgates, it will be
a wake-up call that the principle of territorial integrity is no longer
absolute in the trade-off with the right to self-determination,” Alexei
Malashenko of the Carnegie Moscow Center told ISN Security Watch.

Both Toft and Malashenko agreed that independence for Kosovo would
set a precedent that the separatist regimes of South Ossetia,
Abkhazian, and Nagorno-Karabakh would rely on to strengthen their
own independence bids.

And the Russian leadership reportedly is already trying out the
precedent with Georgia’s separatist South Ossetia.

Gennady Bukaev, assistant to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov,
told a joint session of government of South Ossetia and Russia’s North
Ossetia last week that the federal government had made a principle
decision to incorporate the former into the Russian Federation. The
two republics will then be united into one subject of the Russian
Federation “the name of which is already known to the world – Alania”,
two Russian dailies quoted Bukaev as saying.

The attending officials from North and South Ossetia received Bukaev’s
report enthusiastically, interjecting several times throughout with
applause, Madina Dzhanaeva, a reporter with Russia’s state-owned
Itar-Tass news agency who was present at the Wednesday sitting in
the North Ossetian capital of Vladikavkaz, told Vedomosti newspaper.

Hours after Bukaev’s statement was reported in the Russian press,
Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement asserting that Moscow
had no plans to incorporate South Ossetia even if the separatist
province held another referendum to breakaway from Georgia.

Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said the following day that Russia’s
position was that South Ossetia’s status should be determined within
the existing Joint Control Commission framework, which includes the
separatist province, Russia, and Georgia.

According to Kamynin, Bukaev said nothing about any pending
incorporation of South Ossetia, but was rather referring to the need
to establish and develop common economic space in North Ossetia,
South Ossetia, and Georgia’s Gori district to revive the local
economies and facilitate the return of refugees in line with a 2000
Russian-Georgian agreement.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website that
Bukaev’s Wednesday speech had been misinterpreted and he would brief
the Joint Control Commission on what he said at a session this week.

However, the Foreign Ministry’s attempt to contain the news was
unsuccessful, as both government officials and experts picked up the
issue and began debating whether South Ossetia would become a part
of Russia de jure.

According to North Ossetia’s president, Taimuraz Mansurov, the
unification of North and South Ossetias is “inevitable”. “When and
how it will happen is a different issue,” Mansurov told Interfax
last Thursday.

Sergei Mironov, the speaker of the Federation Council, Russia’s upper
house of parliament, was only a bit more diplomatic when asked to
comment on prospects of North Ossetia and South Ossetia. Whether
South Ossetia would become part of Russia would depend on Kosovo’s
final status, he told Interfax.

“We are closely watching what is happening in Kosovo. The situation
there is very similar to South Ossetia and they are heading towards
establishment of an independent state,” Mironov said. “The peoples of
North Ossetia and South Ossetia are one people, even it is divided,
and as history shows such people unify in the final run,” he added.

South Ossetia fought and won a bloody war to achieve de facto
independence from Georgia in 1992. Since then, the separatist republic
has been relying on Russia for economic ties while also periodically
calling on Moscow to incorporate their province in Russia.

South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity made the latest of attempts last
Wednesday by telling the joint session of North and South Ossetian
governments that he would ask the Russian Constitutional Court to
look into whether his province could be “re-integrated” into Russia.

He cited the 1774 treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji between Russia and the
Ottoman Empire that made South Ossetia part of Russia, claiming that
no treaty afterwards was made to transfer the province to Georgia.

Both Georgia and the US blasted Kokoity. Julie Finley, US ambassador
to the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE), said the US reconfirmed “our unequivocal support for
the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia and the peaceful
resolution of both the South Ossetia and Abkhazia conflicts based on
that principle”, according to the Associated Press.

Giorgi Khaindrava, Georgia’s minister for conflict resolution, also
attacked on Thursday Bukaev’s statement, calling it “absolutely
irresponsible” and urging the Russian government to condemn it.

Moscow officially maintains that it honors Georgia’s territorial
integrity and maintains a peacekeeping force in the separatist
republic, but Tbilisi has accused Moscow of supporting South Ossetian
separatists through trade, economic aide, and citizenship.

As of 2003, there were 70,000 people residing in South Ossetia, of
which 67 per cent were ethnic Ossetian and 25 per cent were ethnic
Georgians, according to Izvestia. Ninety-five per cent of residents
of South Ossetia hold Russian passports in what Georgian officials
said reflect Russia’s tacit support for independence. Similarly,
a majority of residents in Abkhazia and a sizeable part of the
population of Transdniestria also hold Russian passports.

Both Malashenko and Mikhail Roshchin, Caucasus expert at the Institute
of Oriental Studies in Moscow, expressed doubts that Russia had
any imminent plans to incorporate South Ossetia, saying Bukaev’s
statement could be a trial balloon. “They might be probing to see
what the reaction is,” Roshchin said.

However, even such a trial balloon should not have been allowed, if
Russia were indeed interested in absorbing South Ossetia, Malashenko
said, adding that Moscow should have left the issue alone until a
decision on Kosovo was made.

Nikolai Silaev of the Center for Caucasus Studies at the Moscow State
University of Foreign Relations also believes it could have been
a trial balloon and questioned the wisdom of incorporating South
Ossetia. He said the economically depressed region would become
another burden for the federal budget and that unification of the
two Ossetias might fuel Ossetian nationalism.

Silaev said Russia would rather benefit if Georgia formed a
confederation state with breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South
Ossetia, which would be anchored to Russia.

Toft also questioned the viability of Russia setting its sights on
South Ossetia, by noting that it would be preceded by a referendum of
independence and then subsequent recognition of the international
community in what could bode ill for Russia itself, given that
republics in the North Caucasus, dominated by one or two ethnic groups,
could follow the lead.

Simon Saradzhyan is a veteran security and defense reporter based in
Moscow, Russia. He is a co-founder of the Eurasian Security Studies
Center in Moscow.

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SKINHEADS CHARGED WITH ATTACKING FOREIGNERS IN URALS CITY

RIA Novosti, Russia
March 28 2006

UFA, March 28 (RIA Novosti) – Prosecutors in a southern Urals region
have pressed charges against members of a group of skinheads suspected
of attacking foreign students, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Prosecutors in Bashkortostan, a republic on the Volga, said the case
had been sent to a court in Ufa, the regional capital, and qualified
the attacks on the students from a local oil university as race-hate
crimes.

According to the prosecutors, the group was led by a 24-year-old
young man, who had increased the numbers of the gang to more than 30
people, mostly minors at the time of the alleged assaults dating back
to last year.

According to investigators, three members of the gang publicly
assaulted the foreign students on the instructions of the gang
leader in February 2005. The skinheads are alleged to have beaten up
students from Vietnam, China and Angola, with one of the attackers
purportedly hitting the Chinese student with a wooden bat in “an
admission ceremony.”

Two other members of the group are not facing any charges as they
were 13 when the attacks are said to have taken place.

A wave of racially motivated crimes has recently swept Russia.

Reports of attacks on foreigners with non-Slavic features have prompted
Russian and foreign human rights groups to raise concerns over the
alarming spread of racist and xenophobic sentiments in the country.

In one of the latest incidents, four teenagers suspected of the murder
of an Armenian man on a commuter train two weeks ago were arrested
in the Moscow Region Monday.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ALIYEV: ARMENIA’S POSITION URGES AZERBAIJAN TO CHANGE POLITICS REGARDING NK

Prime News Agency, Georgia
March 28 2006

Tbilisi, March 28 (Prime-News) – Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijani president,
sated that Armenia’s non-constructive position urges Azerbaijan to
change politics regarding resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“We maintain adherence to peaceful negotiations, thus they have no
results yet. It is evident that we should change our policy,” Ilham
Aliyev stated delivering speech on the ceremony regarding the 87th
anniversary of Special Forces of Azerbaijan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CONDOLEEZZA RICE: SIGNING CEREMONY FOR MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION’S COMPACT WITH THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA

U.S. Department of State

March 28 2006

AMBASSADOR DANILOVICH: Madame Secretary, Minister Oskanian, Minister
Khachatryan, Mr. Nercissiantz, Ambassadors and representatives of the
Diplomatic Corps, distinguished guests: We are delighted to welcome
all of you here today to witness the signing of the compact between
Armenia and the Millennium Challenge Corporation and to celebrate
the enormous achievement of the people of Armenia.

I would like to extend a warm welcome to the delegation from Armenia
and to recognize many of the people who have worked so tirelessly to
bring us to this day, especially our Ambassador John Evans and his
colleagues at our Embassy in Yerevan and, of course, the superb group
of professionals that make up our MC Armenia team who work closely
with Stephen Groff and Alex Russin and other members of our MCC team
here in Washington.

Finally, I would like to extend our appreciation to our board member
Ken Hackett for taking part in today’s ceremony and I would also like
to thank Fred Schieck of USAID for being here with us today.

The MCC Armenia compact will provide $235 million that will trigger
economic growth and create new opportunities for the reduction of
poverty by assisting Armenia’s farmers and their communities. A large
percentage of Armenians live in rural villages and are dependent on
agriculture for their well-being. Poor road conditions and unreliable
irrigation have kept these communities from enjoying the benefits
of the tremendous growth that other parts of the Armenian economy
have experienced.

Therefore, Armenia has designed a program that will have a direct
impact on 75 percent of the rural population. Armenia’s program,
with MCC help, will: one, upgrade nearly 600 miles of rural roads
and provide access to jobs, markets and social services and create
linkages between agriculture producers and market places, and; two,
through improved irrigation, technical assistance and credit support,
raise the incomes of a quarter of a million of Armenian households.

With improved irrigation canals and better roads, rural residents
will be able to grow better crops, get them to market and earn a more
dependable income. MCC funding will also help rural residents take
advantage of other programs funded by the United States: healthcare
clinics, school internet centers and centers for public information,
all of which will be accessible even during the difficult winter
months.

I will be traveling to Armenia in early April and look forward to
showing the MC Armenia program to Chairman Jim Kolbe and to meet with
the broad spectrum of Armenian civil society that has been involved in
the creation of this program and to discuss their future involvement to
the program’s implementation. Their engagement is essential to ensure
that the Millennium Challenge Account funding is directed efficiently
and effectively to the projects that Armenia has designed and its
benefits go directly to the people that they are designed to help.

One of the critical components of an MCC compact is that partner
countries must continue to maintain a high level of performance in
ruling justly, investing in people and promoting economic freedom.

The signing of this compact today is therefore an affirmation of our
confidence that Armenia will continue to enact the institutional
reforms that will support the effective use of our aid, including
measures to support and protect democratic and electoral processes.

As we embark upon this dynamic partnership between our two nations
to reduce poverty through economic growth, I want to extend to you,
Ministers Oskanian and Minister Khachatryan, our sincere and heartfelt
congratulations. And now it’s a pleasure to ask our Chair, Dr. Rice,
to say a few remarks. (Applause.)

SECRETARY RICE: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am honored
to welcome the distinguished members of the Armenian delegation.

Minister Khachatryan, Minister Oskanian, thank you very much, and I
think Ambassador Markarian is here as well. Are you? There you are.

Yes. And I’d like to welcome the American Ambassador, Ambassador Evans,
as well. There are many members of the Diplomatic Corps here.

Thank you for being here.

Today’s step is a promising one for the partnership between Armenia and
the United States. The Millennium Challenge Corporation compact that
our two nations are signing today, worth more than $235 million over
the next five years, is a testament to the hard work and dedication
of the Armenian people and their elected government. The compact is
also the embodiment of America’s transformational diplomacy because
it will empower Armenian men and women to better their own lives,
to strengthen their own communities and to transform their own future.

One of the greatest moral challenges of the 21st century is to
alleviate the suffering posed by dire poverty. That is the goal of
President Bush’s Millennium Challenge Account initiative, to draw
whole nations into an expanding circle of opportunity and enterprise.

This is the eighth compact that the Millennium Challenge Corporation
has signed thus far, making a total of $1.5 billion committed since
last April. This represents a tremendous effort both by partner
countries and by the men and women of the Millennium Challenge
Corporation. Ambassador Danilovich, I want to congratulate you and
your staff on this very good work. I want to thank our board member
Ken Hackett for being here. It’s really been a team effort and we’re
very grateful for the work that is being done.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation is committed to making a
real difference in the lives of people who suffer in poverty. It
is focused on results, not merely good intentions. So the MCC uses
16 independent objective indicators to measure a country’s progress
toward governing justly, advancing economic freedom and investing in
its people. The MCC also recognizes that you will only get results
if developing countries have ownership over their own development,
so this program allows our partner countries themselves to determine
how much assistance to request, what they want to use it for and what
criteria will measure success.

The compact we are signing today will directly improve the lives of
750,000 Armenians, three-quarters of the country’s rural population.

Over the next five years, Armenians will build almost 1,000 kilometers
of rural roads. They will upgrade their irrigation and drainage
systems. They will plant new crops. And through all of this, the
United States will provide Armenia with the technical assistance and
credit support that it urgently needs.

Our partnership will help Armenia to fight poverty through
sustainable economic growth. To ensure that progress toward this end
remains constant, Armenia must continue to advance its democratic
reforms. International and domestic monitors did express concerns
about the conduct of the recent constitutional referendum and the
Armenian Government has acknowledged these difficulties and pledged
to improve the conduct of the elections to be held in 2007 and 2008.

These are important commitments and the United States stands ready to
help Armenia to ensure that its upcoming elections are free and fair.

America is eager to strengthen our partnership with a democratic
Armenia and the MCC compact that we are signing today will advance
this goal. We view your success as our success and we will always
help you to ensure the future of freedom and prosperity that all
Armenians deserve and desire. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

MINISTER OSKANIAN: Secretary Rice, Ambassador Danilovich, I am here
today on behalf of the President of the Republic of Armenia and
my colleagues here from the Armenian Government to thank President
Bush, Secretary Rice, Ambassador Danilovich, the U.S. Government and
the American people for including the Republic of Armenian in the
Millennium Challenge compact.

President Bush’s visionary approach to development which complements
the invaluable assistance that has already been provided to Armenia
through USAID and other U.S. programs continues the best tradition of
American missionaries from whom Armenians have benefited greatly. The
Millennium Challenge compact is a natural extension of the practice,
doing good borne of one’s own convictions, but with the intent to
nourish the recipient’s sense of self-worth and ability.

In the 21st century, when philanthropy is not about charity but about
finding solutions to deep-seated problems, we welcome the United
States Government decision to assist and support directly those
countries who have determined to rule justly, to invest in people
and to promote economic freedom in order for their citizens to live
in dignity and security.

I see our colleagues from other recipient countries, and I am certain
that they join me in saying that what this grant — the U.S. is
recognizing with this grant — the United States is recognizing the
reality and duality of our lives: persistent poverty in the face of
progress. On one hand, one-third of Armenia’s population continues to
live in poverty. Two-thirds of our rural communities are not directly
connected to a central road of distribution system and most of our
secondary and tertiary roads do not provide the necessary access. On
the other hand, Armenia has managed, against great odds with an
unresolved conflict and with closed borders, to be ranked first in
the world in past utilization of foreign assistance, to privatize and
to legislate such that our economy is ranked among the world’s most
liberal and to register the highest economic growth in the region
without the benefit of extracting resources.

That is why a long consultative process concluded that with significant
poverty reduction would request Millennium Challenge Corporation funds
to be spent in two critical areas of infrastructure. Our program has
been consciously designed to complement the work of other donors.

With this signing of the Millennium Challenge Compact, Armenia is aware
that we have the obligation to build on the confidence that has been
placed in our government and people. Just as economic development is a
facilitator of democratization, so is democracy a tool for further and
deeper economic development. We understand that the U.S. Government
has chosen to use these funds for economic development only when a
society and its leadership comprehend their political responsibility
to nurture and sustain democratic practices.

Armenia is among the world’s youngest democracies and our democratic
and economic reforms are irreversible. Our significant progress,
notwithstanding, we recognize that much remains to be done to make
these reforms comprehensive. We know that corruption must not be
tolerated and that law must rule, that the principles of democracy
must be transformed to traditions of democracy in our country.

Madame Secretary, the elections of 2007 and 2008 that you referred to
will test our democratic practices. Our task until then is to partner
with the United States and European governments to implement the
necessary corrective steps to improve the conditions necessary for
an honest and fair expression of people’s voices. In this regard,
we welcome the American proposals for certain structural reforms
and education and public outreach efforts. We are already begun the
process of verifying voter lists. We’re making progress in reforming
the electoral law with the active participation and agreement of all
political forces in our parliament. As in years past, OSCE monitors
will be present and will monitor our elections.

In other words, Madame Secretary, Armenia and Armenians are determined
to benefit from the intent and content of the Millennium Challenge
compact because our people deserve no less.

Thank you. (Applause.)

(The Compact was signed.)

(Applause.)