RA FOREIGN MINISTER HAD A NUMBER OF MEETINGS IN WASHINGTON
ArmRadio.am
29.03.2006 16:28
RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan had a number of meetings with
high officials of the US Department of State during his two-day visit
to Washington.
The Minister met US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Deputy
Secretary of State on European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried and
his Assistant Mathew Bryza.
Issues related to bilateral cooperation, including programs
of promotion of economy and democracy were discussed during the
meetings. Reference was made to regional issues, particularly energy
security and diversification of energy carriers.
Vardan Oskanyan and OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Steven Mann focused
on the perspectives of settlement of the Karabakh conflict and the
negotiations process. Vardan Oskanyan stressed once again that Armenia
is ready to search for a solution through talks.
Today the Foreign Minister left Washington for New York, where his
meetings with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and other high officials
are scheduled.

KARS-AKHALKALAKI IN U.S. SENATE
Lragir.am
29 March 06
A bill was submitted to the U.S. Senate, barring the United States
assistance with the construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku
railroad. This information was provided to the news agency ARKA by
the Armenian Assembly of America. The authors of the bill are Senators
Rick Santorum and Robert Menendez. Rick Santorum stated that besides
hampering the long-term goals of the United States in the region the
construction of this railroad in the South Caucasus would cause the
isolation of Armenia. He added that the United States policy in the
South Caucasus is directed at fostering partnership and stability,
as well as opening of borders and transport corridors.

EBRD WILL INVEST 40 MILLION EUROS IN ARMENIAN ECONOMY IN 2006
AramRadio.am
29.03.2006 16:52
“In the current year the volume of investments of the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development in the economy of Armenia will total
40 million Euros,” EBRD Director for South Caucasian Countries and
Moldova Mike Davey said during the international banking conference
on commercial financing organized by EBRD and “Armeconombank.”
“We are expanding our activity in Armenia, including the staff list
of the employees of EBRD Office in Armenia,” he underlined.
To remind, last year the volume of EBRD investments in the Armenian
economy totaled 20 million Euros for 11 different projects.

NEWLY APPOINTED RA AMBASSADOR TO GEORGIA HANDED CREDENTIALS TO SAAKASHVILI
PanARMENIAN.Net
29.03.2006 20:00 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Newly appointed Armenian Ambassador to Georgia
Hrach Silvanyan handed his credentials to Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili, RA MFA press office told PanARMENIAN.Net. During
the meeting the parties discussed the prospects of development of
bilateral relations.

U.S. DOESN’T PRESS ON YEREVAN AND BAKU IN KARABAKH ISSUE
PanARMENIAN.Net
29.03.2006 20:13 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “The U.S. doesn’t press on either of the parties
to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,” U.S.
Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs
Daniel Fried stated yesterday in an interview with Armenia TV
Channel. “The U.S. will admit any variant which will satisfy all the
parties,” he said. Besides, he noted that proceeding from security
the U.S. render assistance to Azerbaijan.
“However these funds cannot be used to the detriment of Armenia,
they will be spent on the war on terror,” he added.
Mr. Fried also noted that Washington is interested in Armenia’s
security and in this context the maintenance of parity in military
aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan is essential.

EDMUND STOIBER: TURKEY’S JOINING EU MISTAKE
PanARMENIAN.Net
29.03.2006 20:18 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Bavarian premier Edmund Stoiber stated he is against
the cooperation between Justice and Development Turkish party and
European People’s Party faction. “We suppose that Turkey’s joining
the European Union is a mistake,” he said. For his part leader of
the European People’s Party said the issue will be discussed March
29 after the party summit to be held in Rome, reported Turkish Daily
News. To note, Justice and Development has the status of an observer
in the faction.

ALBERT HOVSEPIAN ELECTED ABKHAZIAN PARLIAMENT VICE-SPEAKER
PanARMENIAN.Net
29.03.2006 20:20 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Albert Hovsepian will replace Alexander Stranichkin
at the post of the Abkhazian parliament Vice-speaker. Albert Hovsepian
was born January 13, 1938 in Abkhazia. Upon graduating from the
Sukhumi Pedagogical Institute he has worked as head of the curriculum
department and then as director of the school N9 in Sukhumi. He was
also elected deputy of the Abkhazian parliament, reported RIA Novosti.

Armenian Assembly of America
1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 28, 2006
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
E-mail: [email protected]
ASSEMBLY WELCOMES SENATE LEGISLATION OPPOSING RAILROAD THAT
BYPASSES ARMENIA
Measure Introduced During Assembly’s Pan-Armenian National Conference
Washington, DC – As Armenian Assembly activists stormed Capitol Hill
to promote community concerns to over 80 congressional offices today,
Senators Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) introduced
a major bill (S. 2461) in the U.S. Senate that would bar assistance
for a proposed $800 million railway that would connect Azerbaijan,
Georgia and Turkey while bypassing Armenia.
The legislation, known as the South Caucasus Integration and Open
Railroads Act, was introduced shortly after participants of the
Assembly’s National Conference met with senior staff representing
Senators Santorum and Menendez – both longtime supporters of Armenian
issues. The three-day National Conference was co-hosted by the AGBU
and Eastern and Western Dioceses of the Armenian Church.
“United States policy in the South Caucasus seeks to foster regional
stability and enhanced cooperation, and includes open borders and
transport corridors,” Santorum told the Assembly. “The proposed rail
link would not only undermine U.S. long-term goals for the region,
but serves to isolate Armenia. Efforts to foster economic integration
and reduce the risk of further tensions are in the best interests of
the United States and the South Caucasus.”
Menendez, echoing Santorum, added that “the sole aim of this costly
project is to further isolate Armenia by enhancing the ongoing Turkish
and Azerbaijani blockades. I look forward to working with my colleagues
in the Senate and members of the Armenian-American community to block
U.S. financial support of this rail project.”
“We commend the leadership of Senators Santorum and Menendez for this
Senate initiative to prohibit funding for this ill-conceived route,
which not only thwarts U.S. policy goals, but is also a continuation
of Azerbaijan’s blockade plus strategy to marginalize Armenia, which
we cannot allow,” said Assembly Board of Trustees Chairman Hirair
Hovnanian. “The realization of this legislation is a testament to the
grassroots activism exemplified throughout this National Conference.”
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev told an Azeri news agency last
summer that, “We are currently working on a new project – a new rail
road Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku..If we succeed with this project,
the Armenians will end in complete isolation, which would create an
additional problem for their future, their already bleak future…”
Armenian government officials have repeatedly said that a new costly
railway is unnecessary given that a railroad linking Armenia, Georgia
and Turkey already exists. The existing Kars-Gyumri route is in
working condition and could be operational within weeks.
Senator Santorum has consistently supported Armenian issues. He is a
strong proponent of U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide and a
cosponsor of S. Res. 320, the Armenian Genocide resolution. In 2000, he
also urged the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations
to direct economic aid to Armenia, to provide the timely delivery of
humanitarian assistance to Nagorno Karabakh and maintain Section 907
of the Freedom Support Act. Santorum currently serves on the powerful
Senate Finance Committee and is Chairman of the Senate Republican
Conference where he directs the communications operations of the
Senate Republicans and is the third-ranking member of the leadership.
His colleague, Senator Menendez, is a longstanding advocate of the
Armenian-American community and a widely respected voice on foreign
policy. During his tenure in the House of Representatives, Menendez
helped secure robust U.S. humanitarian, technical and developmental
assistance for Armenia, while continuing to push for sustained
humanitarian aid to Nagorno Karabakh. Menendez has also repeatedly
fought for U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide, by publicly
commemorating this crime against humanity, co-sponsoring legislation
that would properly recognize the events and urging President Bush,
as well as his predecessors, to accurately characterize the crimes
as genocide.
The Senate bill is modeled after House Resolution 3361, which was
introduced by Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues Co-Chair
Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), along with Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone,
Jr. (D-NJ) and Rep. George Radanovich (R-CA), last year. The resolution
currently has 77 cosponsors to date, and is expected to garner
additional supporters following the Assembly’s advocacy push today.
The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based
nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of
Armenian issues. It is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.
NR#2006-024a
Photographs available on the Assembly’s Web site at the following
links:
ss/2006-024a/2006-024a-1.jpg
Caption: Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)
4a/2006-024a-2.jpg
Caption: Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ)

U.S. DEPT OF STATE
28 March 2006
Millennium Challenge Group Signs Eighth Compact, Third of 2006
Aid agreement with Armenia calls for country to show more progress toward
democracy
By Kathryn McConnell
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington — The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) March 27 signed its
eighth compact with a low-income country, committing more than $235 million
over five years to reduce poverty in rural Armenia.
The Armenian Millennium Challenge compact — or bilateral aid agreement —
is “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 protect electoral processes, John Danilovich, MCC
chief executive officer, said at a signing ceremony at the State Department.
However, Danilovich said, MCC will continue to monitor Armenia’s policy
reforms “throughout the life of the compact.”
Danilovich said that in April he would travel to Armenia with Jim Kolbe,
chairman of the House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on
Foreign Operations and a supporter of the MCC. The two will meet with civil
society groups that will help monitor the use of Millennium Challenge
Account (MCA) funds so that benefits will go directly to the people the
Millennium Challenge projects were designed to help, Danilovich said.
MCC can withhold account payments if a recipient country fails to meet its
commitments to institute reforms, Danilovich said in a January letter to
Robert Kocharian, Armenia’s president.
CONCERNS ABOUT PAST ELECTORAL IRREGULARITIES
In December 2005, Danilovich wrote to Kocharian expressing concerns over
“irregularities” reported during a constitutional election the previous
month. (See related article.)
Parliamentary elections scheduled in 2007 and 2008, at which observers from
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will be
present, will be the “test” of progress in instituting “democratic
practices,” said Vartan Oskanian, Armenia’s minister of foreign affairs, at
the signing.
He said that just as economic development is a mechanism to foster
democratization, so too is democracy “a tool for further and deeper economic
development.”
“We know that corruption must not be tolerated and that law must rule,” and
that the principles of democracy must be “transformed to traditions of
democracy” in Armenia, he said.
INVESTING IN ARMENIA’S RURAL POPULATION
The Armenia compact consists of two investments to assist the portion of the
country’s population dependent on agriculture.
One investment will be targeted to improving the country’s rural roads so
residents will have access to health and other basic services and to markets
to sell their products.
Poor rural roads have kept Armenia’s farm-based residents from benefiting
from the increased foreign investment in the country — benefits that have
accrued mostly to residents of the capital, Yerevan, said Vartan Oskanian,
Armenia’s minister of foreign affairs.
The other investment is for an irrigation-and-drainage project that will
increase water supply to rural areas, and help farmers grow more high-value
crops and increase their yields, according to the MCC.
The Millennium Challenge Account compact is “the embodiment” of U.S.
“transformational democracy” because it will empower Armenian men and women
to better their own lives, to strengthen their own communities and to
transform their own future,” said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the
signing. Rice serves as chairman of MCC’s board of directors. The MCC
administers MCA funds.
In the four years MCC has existed, it has awarded $1.5 billion to countries
that have demonstrated commitments to policy reforms.
In March 2005, slightly more than one year after MCC became operational; it
signed its first compact — with Madagascar. MCC signed four more compacts
in 2005 and so far has signed three compacts in 2006.
In addition, MCC has committed more than $100 million to help five
“threshold countries” develop compact proposals. These are countries that
demonstrate significant progress toward meeting the compact eligibility
criteria.
MCC uses 16 criteria to determine a country’s progress in the areas of
encouraging economic freedom, ruling justly and investing in people.
In 2006, MCC replaced the indicator of country credit rating with a new one,
the cost of starting a business, saying the latter measures policies that a
government can control.
MCC also is reviewing suggestions for a new indicator on natural resources
management, which is intended to ensure the environmental sustainability of
projects presented in compact proposals. (See related article.)
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
The MCC/MCA criteria are having an “incentive effect” on other low-income
countries wanting to become eligible for MCA funding by implementing new
reforms, according to the MCC.
MCC requires proposals to be developed through a comprehensive consultative
process involving all sectors of a country’s society, including
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). (See related article.)
Compact recipients also have included NGOs in their MCC governing bodies
representing the beneficiaries of the program.
Even though many of the projects proposed by compact-eligible countries have
been in the agriculture and infrastructure sectors, MCC does not favor any
particular sector, but rather seeks proposals with a high rate of economic
return on investment and broad impact, according to MCC’s economic analysis
guidelines, updated in January.
The guidelines state that proposals must have “good supporting evidence”
that a project will be technically feasible and have “significant impact on
economic growth and poverty reduction.”
A transcript of the signing ceremony is available on the State Department
Web site.
For additional information, see the MCC Web site and Millennium Challenge
Account.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information
Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: )

PRESS RELEASE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australia & New Zealand
10 Macquarie Street
Chatswood NSW 2067
AUSTRALIA
Contact: Laura Artinian
Tel: (02) 9419-8056
Fax: (02) 9904-8446
Email: [email protected]
29 March 2006
NSW PREMIER WELCOMES ARMENIAN PRIMATE AND FELLOW NSWEC DELEGATES
Sydney, Australia – Today, Premier of NSW, the Hon Morris Iemma MP
welcomed a delegation from the NSW Ecumenical Council that included
His Eminence Archbishop Aghan Baliozian (President NSWEC), Revd Dr
Ray Williamson (General Secretary NSWEC), Most Rev Michael Malone
(Roman Catholic Church) and Revd Dr Ann Wansborough (Uniting Church).
The delegates met with the Premier to extend congratulations on his
appointment and to better acquaint the Premier on the function and
role of the NSW Ecumenical Council. During the course of discussions
points concerning the church were raised with particular focus on
harmony in the community.
The NSWEC is comprised of sixteen member churches throughout the
state of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.
In the words of General Secretary Revd Dr Ray Williamson, “Being
together ecumenically is an expression of those churches’ commitment
to seek a more complete communion with one another on the journey to
rediscovering the visible unity of the Church. Being together also
enables the churches to express a common voice on issues of concern
in society, and to work together on specific projects which touch
upon both the life of the churches and the needs of people in the
wider community.”
Other than theological reflection in a forum of member churches,
the NSWEC also undertakes a number of local initiatives ranging from
social justice, work in aid and development, and assisting refugees
with settlement.