NOR ZHAMANAKNER PARTY HOLDS ITS FIRST OPEN-AIR CONFERENCE
Noyan Tapan
Apr 04 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, NOYAN TAPAN. On April 4, the Nor Zhamanakner (New
Times) party held its open-air conference in the territory near
Yerevan Matenadaran.
As party Chairman Aram Karapetian said in his speech, the reason of
holding the conference in the open air is that no hall is given to
the party.
According to Karapetian, he has applied twice with a request to give
the party the governmental sitting hall but he was refused with an
“absurd” motivation.
According to the party Chairman, the conference participants arrived
by buses from different regions of Armenia. He announced that this
time the police did not hamper to people’s coming to the capital
from the regions. Aram Karapetian said that the Nor Zhamanakner’s
first conference can be considered a success as about 1000 people
take part in it instead of the expected 700 delegates.
Mentioning that he liked the idea of party’s open-air meeting, the
Nor Zhamanakner Chairman expressed an opinion that the authorities
do this deliberately so that the opposition not take to the
streets. Representatives of the Forum of Intelligentsia Rafael
Ghazarian, Yervand Manarian, Khoren Palian spoke at the party’s
conference. Garnik Margarian, Petros Makeyan, Vardan Khachatrian and
Aram Martirosian were present from “17+1” format. Aram Karapetian
said that the party is going to organize the next rally in Yerevan
near te Police building as the representatives of this structure
have confiscated the party’s equipments and have not given them
back up to this day. And before it the party plans to go to the
country’s regions by car columns and to organize meetings with the
regional population. The party will establish more than 12 offices
in the regions, the goal of which is to make the population more
active and to gather 50 thousand people in Yerevan if necessary. As
Aram Karapetian told the journalists, it is envisaged to hold the
above-mentioned events in the second half of April. Bofore it the
party Chairman will leave for Moscow, then for Tehran.

VAT MAKES UP 46.8% OF RA STATE BUDGET TAX REVENUES IN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2006
Noyan Tapan
Apr 04 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The VAT revenues of the RA state budget
amounted to 22.1 bln drams (about 50 mln USD) in January-February
2006, or 46.8% of the total tax revenues. About 14.4 bln drams of this
sum was received from taxation on the Armenian border, while 7.8 bln
drams – from domestic commodity and service turnover. According to
the RA Ministry of Finance and Economy, VAT revenues grew by 3.8%
on the same period of last year. The excise tax revenues made 6.5
bln drams in January-February of this year, making up 13.7% of the
tax revenues. About 4.1 bln drams was collected from the import of
goods subject to excise taxation, with taxes from the import of
gasoline amounting to 1.8 bln drams and those from the cigarette
import – to 1.9 bln drams. The income tax revenues increased by 1.8
bln drams to 5.1 bln drams due to a growth in revenues received from
job payments. The profit tax revenues of the RA state budget grew by
51.8% in January-February 2006 on the same months of 2005 and made over
6.2 bln drams. This growth was mainly conditioned by the increase in
the payments made by nonresidents and the enterprises with nonstate
investments, including foreign ones. The customs duties of the state
budget amounted to 2.5 bln drams in the months under review, and the
simplified tax – to 1.2 bln drams.

‘ARMENIAN CULTURAL VALUES ARE WORLD VALUES’
Romanian Ambassador States
By Gohar Gevorgian
AZG Armenian Daily
05/04/2006
Having studied the Armenia’s cultural and printed heritage during his
diplomatic service, Nikolay Jordas, Romanian ambassador to Armenia,
arrived at a conclusion that these are world values. With pride he
recalls that the founder of the Romanian literature of revival of
19th century, Spirua Kharet, was of Armenian origin and later on he
was appointed minister of education of the country. Amb. Jordas is
glad that the huge depository of Romanian literature at the Armenian
National Library is well preserved.
The 5th annual Week of National Library organized by the Armenian
Library Association will last from April 3 to 10. The opening ceremony
on April 3 hosted not only the Romanian diplomat but also the First
Lady of Armenia Bella Kocharian and others.
The Week that is being held under the title “Library: Crossroad
of Civilizations” is aimed at bringing attention to the issues that
libraries face and to awaken love for books. Library employees are sure
that the “Law on Libraries”, which is currently being discussed at the
parliament, will help put in order the library science. Davit Sargsian,
head of the Armenian Library Association, stated that there are over
1.000 public libraries in the republic and that the rural ones need
special attention. “Imperatives of the day are updating and preserving
library funds, equipping them with up-to-date technologies, recruiting
qualified staffs and repairing library compounds,” Mr. Sargsian said.
Within the framework of the arrangement, interesting projects and
meetings will be organized not only in Yerevan but also in marzes,
Nagorno Karabakh and Javakhk.
The messages of NA speaker and prime minister were read at the opening
ceremony and 6 workers of the sphere received thank you letters on
behalf of the PM for their services.

RA STATE BUDGET REVENUES GROW BY 6.5% IN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2006 ON SAME PERIOD OF LAST YEAR
Noyan Tapan
Apr 04 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA state budget revenues grew by
6.5% to about 55.1 bln drams (about 125 mln USD) in January-Februry
2006 on the same period of last year. According to the RA Ministry of
Finance and Economy, most of the state budget revenues – 85.8% formed
from tax revenues. The state duty accounted for 3.8% of the budget
revenues, non-tax revenues – for 5.2%, incomes from capital operations
– 4.5%, and official transfers – for 0.7% of the revenues. Expenditures
of over 48 bln drams were incurred with state budget resources during
the period under review. The budget expenditures grew by 26.5% on the
same period of last year, which is mainly conditioned by an increase
in capital expenditures and spending on transfers and services. 10.5%
of the current budget expenditures – 4.4 bln drams was allocated for
payment of salaries of state employees. Expenditures on salaries
increased by 25.7% in January-February of 2006 on the same months
of 2005.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

4.2% OF GROWTH IN CONSUMER PRICES REGISTERED IN FIRST QUARTER OF 2006
Noyan Tapan
Apr 04 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The tendency of growth in prices
registered in January-February on RA consumer market continued in
2006 March, as a result of which the total growth in prices during
the 3 months amounted to 4.2%.
The consumer prices grew by 0.4% in March compared with February
(a 0.9% of fall in prices was registered in the same period of the
previous year).
According to the data of RA National Statistical Service, a 0.5% growth
in prices for foodstuffs (including alcoholic drinks and cigarettes)
and a 0.5% of growth in prices for non-foodstuffs was registered in
2006 March compared with February and in the sphere of services the
total level of tariffs remained unchanged. The index of consumer prices
amounted to 104.2% in 2006 March compared with 2005 December, including
that of foodstuffs (including alcoholic drinks and cigarettes) 105.9%,
non-foodstuffs 100.6% and tariffs for services 100.4%.
In 2006 March compared with the same month of 2005 the index of
consumer prices made 100.3%, including that of foodstuffs (including
alcoholic drinks and cigarettes) 99.2%, non-foodstuffs 102.6%,
tariffs for services 102.9%, and in January-March compared with 2005
January-March 99.1%, 97.7%, 101.9% and 102.7%, respectively. In 2006
March compared with 2002 March the index of consumer prices amounted
to 116.4%, including that of foodstuffs (including alcoholic drinks and
cigarettes) 122%, non-foodstuffs 105.5%, tariffs for services 105.5%.

RAFFI HOVHANNISIAN IN SEARCH FOR NEW VALUES TO UNITE ARMENIAN OPPOSITION
AZG Armenian Daily
05/04/2006
Raffi Hovhannisian, leader of “Heritage” party, hasn’t decided yet
whether he is going to run for the next parliamentary elections
in Armenia or not. He said this at today’s press conference at
“Pakagits” club.
Hovhannisian stated that if the next parliamentary elections will
be held with falsifications, he doesn’t care whether there will be
regular or snap elections in Armenia. According to him, one should
be merciful and admit one’s own mistakes, but those who committed
violations in the elections do not deserve forgiveness. If needed,
Raffi Hovhannisian and his party will run for the elections, but this
is not an end in itself, he stated.
Hovhannisian said that he is looking for allies first of all among the
opposition members, but added that there are also citizens concerned
about the future of Armenia among the ruling parties, as well.
Hovhannisian said that all the political forces should unite and lead
the country to progress.
As for the further steps of his party, Hovhannisian said that the
meeting of “Heritage” party’s board will be held next week and they
will define the terms for the next congress of the party in May.
In response to the question about the compromising TV report about
him and his family shown over RA Public TV, Hovhannisian said that
nothing will make him leave his motherland. “Homeland is no source
to earn money.
I am not afraid of anything, especially of their cheap tricks. I am
not going to institute a suit against H1 TV. I am neither going to
judge them, nor to response to their accusations,” he underscored.

AZERI SOLDIER KILLED IN KARABAKH CEASEFIRE VIOLATION: CLAIM
Agence France Presse — English
April 3, 2006 Monday 10:59 AM GMT
Azerbaijan accused Armenian forces Monday of killing an Azeri soldier
in the latest shooting incident on the ceasefire line separating the
two armies around Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said that Armenian soldiers opened fire
Sunday on Azeri positions near the village of Ashagy Abdulrakhmanly
in the Fizuli region. “As a result, two servicemen were wounded,”
the ministry said. “Later, (one) died of his wounds.”
Positions near another frontline village also came under fire,
although without causing casualties, according to the ministry.
The two south Caucasian republics have observed a tense ceasefire since
1994, following the expulsion of Azeri forces and all ethnic-Azeris by
Armenian-backed separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh, which was a majority
ethnic-Armenian province in Azerbaijan.
Minor violations are reported regularly along Nagorno Karabakh’s
eastern border and along other frontlines running through
Armenian-occupied Azerbaijan. The internationally backed negotiating
process is at an impasse following the failure to make progress at
high-level talks near Paris in February.
Azerbaijan has also accused Armenia of deadly shooting incidents
on March 7 and March 30. Armenia said that one of its soldiers was
killed March 3.

NON-FOOD COMMODITY PRICES GROW BY 0.5% IN ARMENIA IN MARCH 2006
Noyan Tapan
Apr 04 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The 0.5% price growth registered on
the Armenian non-food commodity market in March 2006 was mainly due to
a 0.8% growth in the prices of gardening items, a 2.7% growth in the
prices of detergents, and a 5.2% growth in jewelry prices. According
to the RA National Statistical Service, during the indicated petriod
a 0.1-0.3% price growth was registered in the commodity groups of
furniture, cultural goods, cosmetics, building materials, clothing,
textile and footwear, a 0.1% price fall in the commodity groups of
fuel and personal hygiene items, while the other commodity groups’
prices remained unchanged on the previous month.

SERVICE TARIFFS AS A WHOLE DO NOT CHANGE IN ARMENIA IN MARCH
Noyan Tapan
Apr 04 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The tariffs of services provided to
the Armenian population in March 2006 did not change compared with
February. According to the RA National Statistical Service, during
the indicated period the tariffs of communication, recreational and
consumer services grew by 2.1%, 1.3% and 0.1% respectively. A 0.1-3.4%
decline in the tariffs of cultural, medical care, transport and public
catering services was registered, whereas the tariffs of housing,
municipal, educational, legal and banking services remained unchanged
compared with the previous month.

ARMENIAN DRAM DEPRECIATES BY 3.2% AGAINST US DOLLAR IN MARCH 2006 ON SAME MONTH OF LAST YEAR
Noyan Tapan
Apr 04 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 4, NOYAN TAPAN. A 0.4% and 0.2% growth in settlement
exchange rates of the Armenian dram against the US dollar and prices
was registered on the Armenian consumer and currency markets in March
on February 2006.
According to the RA National Statistical Service, the growth in
consumer prices and settlement exchange rates in March on December
2005 made 4.2% and 0.4% respectively. A 4.2% fall in the settlement
exchange rate was registered over the same period of last year in
parallel with a 3.7% growth in consumer prices.
The average exchange rate of the Armenian drams agains the US
dollar made 451 drams in March 2006, which is lower by 3.2% than the
respective index of March 2005 (566.01 drams).