INTENSIVE PROCESS OF GAS SUPPLY RESTORATION TO BE COMPLETED IN ARMENIA BY LATE 2006
Noyan Tapan
May 22 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. As of January 1, 2006, the number of
actual users of ArmRusgazprom company made 531,853 against 485,585
users in the Soviet time. ArmRusgazprom’s Director General Karen
Karapetian said during the May 22 round table that 41 cities and 376
rural communities of Armenia have been provided with gas supply. It
is planned to provide Davidashen and Nor Nork communities of Yerevan
(where there was no gas supply network previously) with gas supply in
June-July. K. Karapetian said that gas supply provision work of 899.3
mln drams (about 2 mln USD) was done in the first quarter of this
year, as a result of which the number of actual users has increased
by another 11,624, while that of possible users – by 5,100. It was
noted that the intensive stage of gas supply restoration process will
be completed in Armenia by 2007. The company has launched a move,
under which those to submit an application for gas supply provision
in the period from April 1 to August 1 may become ArmRusgazprom’s
users without making a prepayment of 40,000 drams. According to
K. Karapetian, under agreements signed with Converse Bank and Anelik
Bank, credits will be given to citizens to carry out in-house assembly
work. The credist are repayable over a year and carry interest rates
of 18-22%. The in-house work is done by ArmRusgazprom only.
From: Baghdasarian

ARMRUSGAZPROM’S AUTHORIZED CAPITAL TO GROW ALMOST TWOFOLD SOON
Noyan Tapan
May 22 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. Proportions of ArmRusagazprom’s
authorized capital will change soon, as the 5th power unit of Hrazdan
Thermal Power Plant will make part of this authorized capital in the
amount of its sale value. The company’s authorized capital currently
makes 280 mln USD. Director General of ArmRusgazprom Karen Karapetian
stated this during a round table on May 22.
In his words, the Armenian government will keep the number
of its shares unchanged. K. Karapetain said that the owners of
ArmRusgazprom have decided to expand their business, which requires
additional financial resources. It was noted that the founders have
the opportunity to invest the increased resources immediately after
taking a decision, or in the future, or else not to make invsetment at
all. The proportion of investments to be made will be determined after
the end of negotiations that are currently underway. It was indicated
that in case the Armenian government does not make any investment in
the additional business, it will not affect the number of this extra
business’ shares in any way. In the words of K. Karapetian, the sale of
Hrazdan TPP’s 5th unit was a profitable tranbsaction, since it offers
Armenia an unprecedented opportunity to have a guaranteed and logical
tariff for three years. And if the economy is managed efficiently,
the Armenian manufacturers will be able to occupy all markets of
the region in the next three years. The speaker noted that work on
relaunching the 5th power unit will start soon.

ARMRUSGAZPROM EXPORTS ELECTRICITY OF 4.66 MLN USD TO GEORGIA IN 2005
Noyan Tapan
May 22 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. Last year, the ArmRusagazprom company
exported electricity of 172 mln kwh worth a total of 4 mln 660 thousand
USD to Georgia. The company’s director general Karen Karapetian said
at a round table on May 22 that in 2002-2004, the company’s exports
to Georgia amounted to 410.7 mln kwh (10.27 mln USD). According
to K. Karapetian, ArmRusgazprom will complete the ground work of a
22.5-km section of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline by August.

CANADIAN COMPANY INTENDS TO PURCHASE ARMENIAN TECHNOLOGY OF STEEL TEMPERING IN WATER SOLUTION OF NAIRIT LATEX
Noyan Tapan
May 22 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. A Canadian company has expressed
an intention to purchase the technology of instrumental steel
tempering in water solution of Nairit latex. The technology was
developed by scientists of the State Engineering University of
Armenia (SEUA). Anahit Paronian, a co-author of this development,
SEUA lecturer, announced this during the Spring 2006 Faculty Student
Multidiscipline Conference on Research and Teaching on May 20. The
event was organized by the ooi Consortium for Teaching, Research,
Learning and Development (ooiCTRLD) (Ruston, Lousiana, US), which
is going to publish an article on this technology in its journal in
2006. According to A. Paronian, a group of SEUA scientists patented
the copyright on the indicated tempering technology as early as in
the Soviet time. However, metallurgical enterprises of former Soviet
countries could not use it due to financial difficulties. Work on
introduction of the steel tempering technologies developed at SEUA
is now underway at several such enterprises. The SEUA scientist said
that special oils, whose price ranges from 300-500 USD a ton, are used
in the widespread technologies of instrumental steel tempering. A ton
of concentrate of nairit latex produced by the Nairit Plant (Yerevan)
costs about 1,600 USD. However, taking into account that a 1.5% water
solution of this latex is used for steel tempering, the price of a ton
of the necessary substance is 40-60 USD a ton. The speaker pointed out
the advantage of nairit latex use over other polymers, in case of which
4% or 10% solutions are used in steel tempering. Besides, the nairit
latex solution is made by mixing, while solutions of other polymers
require extra operations and expenses. A. Paronian noted the low danger
of a fire in case of using nairit latex for steel tempering. Besides,
there is no need to use powerful ventilators at enterprises.

“AZERI PARTY WORKS TO ATTAIN PEACE IN REGION,” BAKU ASSURES
PanARMENIAN.Net
23.05.2006 12:24 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Official Baku will again present its “unchanged
stand” to the OSCE MG for peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict, Azeri FM Elmar Mammadyarov stated May 22 when commenting
on the coming visit of a high-rank mission of OSCE Minsk Group to
Baku May 24-25. In his words, “the Azeri party works to attain peace
in the region, thus considering the stepwise option of settlement
to be an optimal one.” “If stepwise process is reflected, occupied
lands around NK will be returned, the displaced persons will go back
to their hearths. After that, of course, Azeris, refugees from NK,
Shushi, should return to their homes. Economy should function after
normal conditions are created for living,” he underscored. In the
Minister’s words, only after that the NK status can be discussed.

AGRICULTURE SUPPORT FUND ELECTED PRESIDENT OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Srbuhi Vanian
Azat Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
23 May 2006
Recently the NKR Fund for Rural Areas and Agriculture Support was
established. The NKR government set up this fund to enable the
involvement of research and strategic programs in agriculture. One
of the functions of the fund is to hold seminars and conferences, as
well as support poor families in rural areas. The fund is a non-profit
organization, but under its bylaws it can run business to direct the
profit to the implementation of goals, set down in the bylaws. On May
19 the first meeting of the board of trustees of the fund was held to
elect president of the board and director. The board has 11 members,
7 showed up at the meeting. The NKR minister of agriculture said
the board of trustees includes representatives of the parliament,
the government, companies, running businesses in various branches of
agriculture. The board of trustees elected Minister of Agriculture
V. Baghdassarian president of the board, T. Gabrielian was appointed
director. The president of the board of trustees proposed to include
a point in the bylaws of the fund to enable it to hold auctions. On
the request of the members of the board, the minister of agriculture
presented the programme of agricultural machinery pool implemented
in Martakert by Armenia Fund and the programmes of the Association
of Proprietors.
The minister mentioned that the programme is complicated and large
in scope, for they deal with over 6000 proprietors, each with their
interests and opinions. V. Baghdasaryan thinks it is equally important
to control the process, therefore a managing council was set up,
including 4 members from the NKR government and Armenia Fund.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ANDRANIK MARGARIAN: RPA MUST BECOME ASSEMBLY PLACE FOR PEOPLE LED IN THE NAME OF STATE’S PROSPERING AND BY NATIONAL IDEOLOGY
Noyan Tapan
May 22 2006
ARMAVIR, MAY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. “We do not want to make the party a
school, it will become such an assembly place where people will be
who will be led in the name of the state’s prospering and by the
national ideology,” Chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia, RA
Prime Minister Andranik Margarian stated at the May 20 meeting with
RPA members at the Armavir Culture House. “Our goal is to strengthen
the party, completing our party’s rows just with such people,” he
emphasized. Andranik Margarian gave RPA membership cards to inhabitants
of Armavir newly joined the party’s rows. Republicans of the marz of
Armavir, representatives of the marz and city authorities were present
at the meeting. Mekhak Mkhitarian, a member of the “Orinats Yerkir”
(Country of Law) party, a NA Deputy was also present at the meeting.

DRAFT LAW ON REPATRIATION DEVELOPED
Panorama.am
16:08 22/05/06
Union of public organizations Yerkir dealing with repatriation
developed a draft law “On repatriation,” Union Head Sevak Artsruni
told a press conference today.
In his words, the union addressed a letter to the National Assembly
in September, 2005 with a request to adopt the law on repatriation
and develop a national program on repatriation. The initial copy of
the draft law, submitted by union Yerkir, was not approved and asked
for further elaboration. The document was elaborated with the support
of Scientific Educational Fund Noravank and the Center for Strategic
and National Research. In Sevak Artsruni’s words, if the issue is
speculated in the political field, it will do more harm than good.
Speaking about the repatriation in financial and investment terms,
S. Artsruni said that the most danger comes not from oligarchs
of Armenia but low-level bureaucracy. In fact the process of
repatriation has already started, Artsruni says, but without legal
backing the repatriates are not sure that they won’t face problems
in the motherland.

THEY SAY GOOD-BYE THANKING EACH OTHER
A1+
[07:00 pm] 22 May, 2006
109 deputies arrived at the Parliament hall today to be present at
the resignation of the NA President.
First Arthur Baghdasaryan read out the names of the deputies who left
the OYP faction. Then RA deputy Speaker Tigran Torosyan informed
that according to the 20th article of the NA regulations Arthur
Baghdasaryan has submitted a letter of resignation from the post of
the NA President.
Arthur Baghdasaryan started his resignation speech thanking all
the deputies irregardless of their political beliefs and attitudes
towards him, the NA staff, the journalists and his colleague parties –
the ARF and the Republican Party.
Then he started criticizing. “Social surveys show that 70% of the
population of Armenia is afraid. We will fight against the society
of fear. We will fight for the free society”, Arthur Baghdasaryan
announced today. He said that if the present rates of birth and death
are preserved, even if no one leaves the country, in 2050 there will
be 500 thousand people left.
“When we said that the state must support young families they said it
was populism. It is not populism; it is the road to the development
of the country. We think that social-economic reforms must be
deeper. Being part of the authorities for three years we tried to
introduce our approaches. Many good things have been done, but many
have been omitted. And now we have decided to follow our own route”.
After Arthur Baghdasaryan, Mher Shahgeldyan, the President of the NA
Standing Committee on Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs,
and Gagik Mkheyan, the President of the NA Standing Committee on
Social Affairs, Health Care and Environment resigned too. After that
the members of the OYP left the hall.
Before that Tigran Torosyan who presided over the session thanked
Arthur Baghdasaryan and the OYP for the joint work for the last
three years.
By the way, Arthur Baghdasaryan announced that in 2003 he was honestly
for Robert Kocharyan.

“KOCHARYAN IS AT THE HEAD OF EVERYTHING”
A1+
[07:31 pm] 22 May, 2006
The residents of the Kozern district will organize acts of complaint
opposite the President’s residence demanding the privatization of
their own houses.
Organizing acts of complaints in front of the Government and the
Yerevan municipality buildings and not getting any answers the
residents of the district realized that “Robert Kocharyan is at the
head of everything.”
“He must give the guarantees. The Government and the municipality have
been trying to deceive us for months. We will come here every day in
case of need,” Anahit Hovhannisyan, resident of the Kozern district
says. She thinks that the houses are not allowed to be privatized
on purpose as the district is considered a realization zone. Anahit
complains that people who have been living here for 70-100 years are
not allowed to privatize their houses, whereas the oligarchs who
came to their district 2-3 years go have already privatized their
houses. According to the residents, there are about 400 people living
in Kozern.
“Give us the possibility to keep our own property”, Sasoun Lazarian
demanded. He has decided to apply to the structures of the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation in the Armenian Diaspora and ask for help.
By the way, residents of other realization zones of the capital had
joined the participants of the act of complaint today.
Let us add that a number of policemen “protected” the President’s
residence. There were even more policemen than during the meetings
organized opposite the Government building. There were also children
among those gathered. Instead f going to school they had come to the
Baghramyan street together with their parents.