RA FOREIGN MINISTER TO PAY WORKING VISITS TO U.S., RUSSIA AND SYRIA

YEREVAN, MARCH 23, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. RA Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian will be in the U.S. on a working visit on March
26-31. On March 27, Minister Oskanian with U.S. Secretary of State
Condolezza Rice will take part in the ceremony of signing an agreement
between the Millennium Challenge Corporation and Armenia. A meeting
with OSCE Minsk Group American Co-chairman Steven Mann is to take
place the same day. On March 28, V.Oskanian will have a press
conference at Washington National Press Club. On March 27, Oskanian
will make a speech at a conference dedicated to Armenian issues
organized with joint efforts of the Armenian Assembly of America,
Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) and the Eastern Diocese of
the Armenian Church, as well as will have meetings with
representatives of the American Armenian community this and the
previous day. On March 29, Minister Oskanian will leave for New York.
On March 30, he will have meetings with UNDP Coordinator Kemal
Dervish, as well as General Assembly Chairman Jan Eliasson. On March
31, V.Oskanian is to meet with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The
same day Minister Oskanian will make a speech under the title
“Building of Statehood in the Caucasus” at Columbia University. As
Noyan Tapan was informed from RA Foreign Ministry Press and
Information Departmemt, on April 6-7, Vartan Oskanian is to pay a
working visit to Moscow where he will have meetings with RF Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov and RF Security Council Secretary Igor
Ivanov. On April 7-9, Minister Oskanian will be in Syria on a working
visit where he will meet with President Bashar Asad and Foreign
Minister Valid Muallim. On April 9, Minister Oskanian will take part
in the festivities of the 100th anniversary of foundation of the
Armenian General Benevolent Union and 75th anniversary of foundation
of the Armenian Youth Association, as well as ceremony of opening of
the Gyulbenkian Center in Aleppo.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

REPRESENTATIVES OF POLITICAL FORCES ARE OF SAME OPINION THAT PROBLEM
OF MOVING ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN RELATIONS ON RIGHT WAY OF DEVELOPMENT
EXISTS

YEREVAN, MARCH 23, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The discussion
convened on March 22 at the National Press Club with the participation
of representatives of political parties of Armenia was dedicated to
the present state of the Armenian-Russian mutual relations. According
to Shavarsh Kocharian, the Chairman of the National Democratic Party,
the main conflict between the two countries is that the life pushes
Armenia towards democracy, and Russia keeps the function of the
preserver of the authoritarian regime in the post-Soviet
territory. According to him, Russia is dissatisfied with Armenia’s
steps in the direction of the Eurointegration and wants Armenia have
such a controllable authoritarian system, as, for example, Belarus
has. Shavarsh Kocharian finds that in many issues, including the issue
of the Armenian-Russian relations, both society and a considerable
part of the political field often express an emotional approach. A
display of an emotional understanding is also the fact that, according
to the created impression, Russia has always assisted Armenians what
isn’t baseless but there were just opposite situations as well. So, in
spite of stubborn insistences of Azerbaijan, as of 1993, Russia gave
to Azerbaijan twice more tanks, 2.5 times more armoured cars, 1.5
times more guns with bigger than 100 mm calibre, twice more shock
helicopters, and Armenia got no military aircrafts (Su, MIG),
Azerbaijan got 53 ones. There was no case during the process of the
whole Karabakh conflict that Russian detachments struggle on the
Armenian side, and the oppisite has happened: if even we don’t take
into account the “Koltso” operation implemented by the Soviet army and
attacks in the region of Noyemberian, Armenia, then the attacks on
Martakert were directly implemented by the Russian troops. Among the
“legends,” the insistence of Armenia’s being the military advanced
post of Russia was also mentioned: according to Sh.Kocharian, by its
military-strategic meaning, the Gabali radiolocation station placed in
Azerbaijan is few dozens times more important that detachments of
Russian bases existing in Georgia and Armenia. But Aram Manukian, a
member of the Armenian National Movement administration pointed out
the positive role of Russia during the war. He reminded about the
political, diplomatic assistance showed by Russia, what is absent in
the context of solution of the Karabakh issue today. “Our those
strategic partners or those partner countries and organizations which
were silent during the movement and the war or assisted us, today
stated Armenia’s being aggressor, territories’ being captured. This
isn’t the fault of those stating, this the fault of today’s
authorities of Armenia,” the ANM representative finds. Even more,
according to him, “in the relations with Russia, authorities of a day
lost not today’s but tomorrow’s day, tomorrow’s authorities will stand
in front of irreversible processes.” According to Manukian, Russia’s
influence in all the spheres is spread because of Armenian
authorities’ “weakness, tolerance, being not honourable.” The armament
used up in all senses is moved from Georgia to Armenia, without even
asking about the latter’s opinion. According to him, Armenia became
not an advanced post but an attache’, in the sense of economic and
political dictations. Hovhannes Hovhannisian, the Chairman of the
Liberal Progressive Party of Armenia finds that the Armenian-Russian
relations aren’t just newly put on a not normal field. “It appeared
that this Armenian-Russian strategic powerful partnership is just
papers. Russia continues gloriously the Soviet country’s traditions,”
he mentioned. Aram Sargsian, the Chairman of the Democratic party of
Armenia finds that the level of development of the Armenian-Russian
relations will be beneficial for Armenia only and only in the case if
Armenia had its own doctrine in the direction of developing those
relations. He particularly expressed anxiety that the 80% of the
energy system of Armenia is sold to Russia what arises suprise even in
the political circles of Russia: “No country has a right to give its
soveriegn right to another country.” A.Sargsian finds that there are
all factors that Russia creates a huge pole having abilities of raw
materials. Coming out of this, Armenia must form its approach in the
way that it doens’t become a state depending on another country. In
the opinion of Aram Karapetian, the Chairman of the “New Times” (Nor
Zhamanakner) party, in the case of the next authorities, a serious
closing with Russia will take place, in the sense of energy problems,
opening vital roads for Armenia through Georgia and Russian capital’s
entering. Kiro Manoyan, the Chairman of the ARF Hay Dat and political
issues office mentioned that during the last period in the
Armenian-Russian relations there is some movement in the issues of
defence and power-generating materials, “but one thing is clear, there
is attitude reminding of the old days by Russia, what is inadmissible.”
Hrant Khachatrian, the Chairman of the “Constitutional Right” union
has no doubt that the world will be with many poles, and it’s
important for Armenia to exactly orient concomitant to time in which
geographic-political part to be established. It’s also important, he
emphasized, that Armenia and Karabakh are established in the same side
of the geographic-political border.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ANDRANIK MARGARIAN: RPA DECIDED TO GO TO NA ELECTIONS APART BUT
PROBABILITY OF GOING WITH OTHER FORCES NOT EXCLUDED

YEREVAN, MARCH 23, NOYAN TAPAN. “I’ve stated many times that the
Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) will go to the parliamentary
elections apart, but I never exclude the probability of going with
other forces. We can clearly speak about it only at the end of the
year or at the beginning of the pre-electoral campaign,” RA Prime
Minister, RPA Chairman Andranik Margarian stated, responding
journalists’ questions at the RA NA on March 22. The statement
particularly concerns the rumour set going about the RPA cooperation
with the “Bargavach Hayastan” (Prospering Armenia) party. The Prime
Minister didn’t want to comment upon motives of former head of RA
President’s staff Artashes Toumanian’s refusing the intention to found
a party and advised to address to A.Toumanian himself. A.Margarian
just expressed an opinion that creating of a party mustn’t be
connected with a post, especially as there was an idea, and a program
was written on it and published in the press. According to him, “if
they have a new word to say in the political field, the process may be
continued.”
The Prime Minister also strictly disproved that Tumanian’s
dischargement of th e post of the President’s staff head was provided
by the coalition’s demand. Touching upon the building of Yerevan, the
Prime Minister expressed an opinion that it’s implemented in the
interests of the society and the state. According to him, “if we
don’t take into account the operative situation that today some people
are dissatified, 950 of 1000 units are pleasant with the process, and
the dissatisfaction of other 50 is mainly connected with the size of
the compensation.” Andranik Margarian refused to give any information
concerning the Russian gas and its final tariff, motivating it with
still unfinished negotiations.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

4 PRIZES OF RA PRESIDENT TO BE GIVEN THIS YEAR

YEREVAN, MARCH 23, NOYAN TAPAN. Not two but four annual prizes of RA
President sponsored by the “Robert Poghosian & Sons” fund (France)
will be given this year. Besides Culture and Science, Youth prizes,
for the first time this year prizes of RA President will be given to
persons who have made a considerable contribution to the sphere of
classical music and recognition of the Armenian Genocide. As Sergei
Sarajian, Chairman of the contest commission on the “Instrumental
Performance” nomination, Rector of Yerevan State Conservatory,
mentioned at the March 23 press conference, everything possible was
done in order to ensure the contest’s being transparent. According to
him, 18-27-year-old young performers take part in the contest on
classical music. S.Sarajian informed that an open concert-audition of
contest participants who have passed to the contest’s second tour will
be held on March 26 at the Chamber Music House. And an open display of
works of participants of the second tour of RA President’s Youth prize
“Painting” and “Cinema” nominations’ contest will take place on March
28 at the Center for Innovatory Experimental Art. It’s envisaged to
give the prizes in late April. The prizes will be given on 13
nominations.

ALEXAN HAROUTIUNIAN EXCLUDES RECALL OF ANDRE’S SONG “WITHOUT YOU” FROM
“EUROVISION” MUSICAL CONTEST

YEREVAN, MARCH 23, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Alexan Haroutiunian,
Chairman of the Council of the Armenian Public TV and Radio Company,
excludes recall of Andre’s song “Without You” from the “Eurovision”
international musical contest. He explained in his interview to Noyan
Tapan correspondent that it’s the Public Television that has received
the invitation to take part in the contest. “The decisions are made by
those who have chosen the song, who have chosen the show. The opinions
of the others maybe are interesting but can have no impact on the
decision”. Alexan Haroutiunian emphasized that the song was composed
by the best composer of the sphere Armen Martirosian and the
instrumentation was made by Ara Torosian: “For me, they are the
standards. I think the European experts’ opinions and indices of
Internet voting from different countries at the moment show that the
choice of the song is right”.
A.Haroutiunian also mentioned that the public has seen only the clip
prepared for Armenia and hasn’t seen the show yet and doesn’t know
what there will be on the stage. “I have already seen what is prepared
for the stage. This work was done by a world-famous person whose name
will be made public later. All this was done beyond the limits of
Armenia, with participation of the best dancers. I think that
everything to be shown, in any case, won’t make us blush”, the Public
Television Chairman emphasized. He said that the song was also
positively estimated by such authoritative local musicians and experts
as Yervand Yerznkian, Artur Grigorian, as well as singers of the genre
Nune Yesayan, Hayko and others.

ARMENIAN CHURCH-DIOCESAN SCHOOL OPENS IN PYATIGORSK AFTER CENTENARY BREAK
PYATIGORSK, MARCH 23, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Almost after a
centenary break, a Sunday diocesan school for learning the Armenian
language, history, literature was opened on March 22, attached to the
Surb Sargis Armenian Apostolic Church in the city of
Pyatigorsk. According to the “Yerkramas” (country) newspaper of
Armenians of Russian, senior priest Aram Hounanian, the deputy primate
of the south diocese of Russia of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the
prior of the Surb Sargis Church implemented the anointment
ceremony. Ararat Gomtsian, the Consul General of the Republic of
Armenia to the RF Southern Federal Region (okrug); Eduard Kondian, the
Director of the executive directorate of the Stavropol regional
organization of the Armenians’ Union of Russia;
Georgi Safarov, the Deputy Chairman of the Pyatigorst
national-cultural self-government made welcome speeches at the solemn
opening of the school. A demonstrative lesson was held after the
opening ceremony. As of today, more than a hundred children study at
school who are divided into 3 groups: 7-11 years old, 12-15 and above
16. About 100 years ago as well a church-diocesan school functioned in
Pyatigorsk, but it was opened during the Soviet years, and the city
station for trasnfusing blood is at present placed in the building.

VARIOUS EVENTS DEDICATED TO ARMENIAN ECONOMY TO BE HELD IN RUSSIAN
REGIONS THIS YEAR

YEREVAN, MARCH 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The most important economic
sphere-related event of Year of Armenia in Russia – the festival of
Armenian goods will take place in November at the pavilion “Armenia”
of the All-Russian Exhibition Center in Moscow. Mushegh Sargsian,
deputy director of exports and enterprise development of the Armenian
Development Agency (ADA), told NT correspondent that an
Armenian-Russian business forum will be organized during the
exhibition as well. It was noted that various events dedicated to the
Armenian economy will be held in some Russian regions: in May – in
Samara region, in June – in Astrakhan and Leningrad regions, in July –
in Moscow and Sverdlovsk regions, in August – in Krasnodar and
Kemerovo regions, in September – in Rostov region and in October – in
Perm region. According to M. Sargsian, it is envisaged that the ADA
will organize exhibitions of Armenian products and Armenian-Russian
business forums in Russian regions, while in some regions these events
will be combined. The character of the exhibitions and business forums
will be determined by the demand that the given region’s market has
for Armenian goods and the opportunity of entering this market. It was
indicated that the governor of Perm region has already proposed that
the ADA should organize Armenia’s participation in the industrial fair
to be held in the city of Perm in June. An invitation to take part in
a similar event has also been received from Kazan. According to
M. Sargsian, Armenia has also received an invitation to participate in
the traditional business forum held in Saint Petersburg under the
aegis of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly. The event will take
place in June. It was noted that the ADA organized Armenia’s
participation in 2004’s business forum and an exhibition of Armenian
production within its framework, at which Armenia had a great
success. This year’s business forum took place in the format “Southern
regions of the Russian Federation, Armenia, Czeck Republic”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT ALLOCATES 294 MLN DRAMS FOR SUPPLYING LAND USERS WITH
NITRIC FERTILIZERS

YEREVAN, MARCH 23, NOYAN TAPAN. Under the Armenian government’s decision of
March 23, 294 mln drams (about 653 thousand USD) has been allocated to the RA
Ministry of Agriculture for the purpose of supplying the land users with 21
thousand tons of nitric fertilizer at reasonable prices. It was decided at
the sitting to allocate 2 mln 150 thousand drams to the RA Ministry of Labor
and Social Issues for the preparation and holding of events dedicated to the
20th anniversary of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

2006 PROGRAM OF MONETARY AND CREDIT POLICY OF ARMENIA PRESENTED AT RA
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

YEREVAN, MARCH 23, NOYAN TAPAN. At the March 23 sitting of the RA
National Assembly, Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA)
Tigran Sargsian presented the 2006 program of Armenia’s monetary and
credit policy, which was taken into consideration. Particularly, the
CBA Chairman noted that since January 1, 2006, the CBA has used a new
approach to inflation control – the inflation targeting strategy
instead of the monetary aggregates strategy which was used since the
second quarter of 1994. The CBA will forecast inflation for a future
period by means of an inflation model, assess its deviation from the
target index and aim its policy at reducing the difference between the
target and forecast indices. Based on the principles of the indicated
policy, the CBA will not set the target index of broad money any
more. The main directions of the 2006 monetary and credit policy have
been developed, taking into account the forecast demand for money
under conditions of the current microclimate, giving priority to the
task of ensuring the index of a maximum 3% inflation.
According to T. Sargsian, under conditions of the above mentioned
strategy, special importance is attached to the accountability and
transparency of the CBA – the CBA is obliged to publish the forecast
index of inflation regularly and to present quarterly reports on the
strategy implementation process. It was noted that 2006 is viewed as a
year of shifting to the inflation targeting strategy and the CBA will
not be able to present a report on the 12-month inflation index until
December 2007.

KfW BANK TO PROVIDE A TOTAL OF 12 MLN EUROS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF
MORTGAGE MARKET IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, MARCH 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The KfW Bank (Germany) will provide a
total of 12 mln euros for the development of the mortgage market in
Armenia. This year the KfW Bank will allocate the first share of this
amount – 6 mln euros under the credit program on development of stable
market of house financling in Armenia, while the program will be
implemented from the second quarter. The agreement on this was signed
on March 23 by the Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia
(CBA) Artur Javadian and KfW representative Reinald Schtraus. To
recap, the intergovernmental agreement on the program was also signed
in March 2006. R. Schtraus stated at a press conference following the
signing ceremony that the main purpose of the program is to make
mortgage crediting accessible to a large section of the
population. According to A. Javadian, the program’s credit resources
are repayable over 40 years and carry an annual interest rate of
0.75%. Besides this credit, Armenia will be given a 1.5 mln euro
grant, which will mainly be aimed at advisory services. In the words
of A. Javadian, the program’s implementation will allow to introduce
the “minimum quality standards” of mortgage crediting in the Armenian
banks and credit organizations in the next two years. Thus, the main
terms of credit provision, including repayment dates and the
approximate amount of prepayment, will be specified. After that – by
mid 2008, the prerequisites will be created for the formation of the
secondary mortgage market and the issue of mortgage bonds.
It was noted that in 2007, at least 6 organizzations must be able to
provide mortgage loans in Armenian drams for a repayment period not
less than 10 years. Only 3 Armenian banks now offer mortgage credits
for 10 years. At the present time, the mortgage crediting portfolio of
the Armenian banks amounts to only 12 bln drams (about 27 mln USD),
with the annual interest rates of their credits making 11-17%. The
Armenian representative of the KfW Bank Karapet Gevorgian said that
the mortgage portfolio of the Armenian banks needs to be at least
doubled in 2008: in two years the demand on this market will make
about 150 mln USD. It was noted that the introduction of the
program-envisaged new credit technologies and international standards
of risk management in the banks will be conducive to an increase in
the mortgage crediting volumes and the improvement of terms. In
addition, the CBA will provide the resources allocated by KfW to the
Armenian banks at relatively low interest rates. According to K.
Gevorgian, these banks find a 4-5% margin as satisfactory.