Armenpress
HERMITAGE DIRECTOR DENOUNCES DESTRUCTION OF ARMENIAN
MONUMENTS IN AZERBAIJAN
YEREVAN, MARCH 22, ARMENPRESS: Director of
Hermitage Museum in Russian Saint Petersburg,
denounced on Tuesday destruction of Armenian cultural
and historical monuments in Azerbaijan, saying
destruction of such monuments was a crime irrespective
of where it takes place.
The director of one of the world’s richest museums,
Boris Piotrovski, has come to Armenia to deliver a
series of lectures to students. Piotrovski said the
recent destruction of an old Armenian cemetery in
Nakhichevan enclave of Azerbaijan was also a cultural
crime. He said the order to destroy the cemetery was
politically motivated.
Piotrovski said international organizations should
be more resolute in fighting back and preventing
similar crimes.

Armenpress
ARMENIA TO TAKE PART IN PfP MILITARY GAMES

YEREVAN, MARCH 22, ARMENPRESS: A group of Armenian
officers have gone to Tbilisi, the capital of
neighboring Georgia, to participate in a four-day
planning conference for military games that will be
held from May 12 to May 25 in Bosnia-Herzegovina and
Germany within the frameworks of NATO-sponsored
Partnership for Peace program.
Seyran Shahsuvarian, a spokesman for Armenian
defense ministry, said the Armenian delegation in
Tbilisi is composed of three officers. He confirmed
that an Armenian contingent will fly to
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Germany to participate in the
games codenamed as Cooperative Effort. About 237
officers from 42 countries are participating in the
Tbilisi conference. The military games will center n
improvement of joint use of communication and
information systems.
Partnership for Peace program has been effective
since 1994. Armenia is an active participant of the
program.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenpress
ARMENIAN POLITICIANS REVIEW RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA
YEREVAN, MARCH 22, ARMENPRESS: Hovhannes
Hovhanessian, the leader of pro-western Liberal
Progressive party, said Armenia should move away from
its strategic partner Russia and exercise more efforts
for rapprochement with Europe.
Speaking at a gathering that was convened to look
into the prospects for Russian-Armenian ties in
future, Hovhanessian cited a string of Russia’s
Putin’s actions to argue that he was striving to
restore what once was called the Russian empire. But
Aram Karapetian, the leader of pro-Russian Nor
Zhamanakner (New Times) party fought back by saying
Armenia should further increase its ties with Russia,
because “Russia has been and will be the most reliable
partner of Armenia.”
Shavarsh Kocharian from the opposition Ardarutyun
(Justice) alliance said Armenia’s sole path is
democracy and European integration. He said Armenia
should reevaluate the situation in Russia and shift to
pragmatic policy. Kiro Manoyan from the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (ARF) argued that Armenia
should boost its ties with its strategic partner
concurrently with consolidating its own security.

Armenpress
KOCHARIAN MEETS BANKERS
YEREVAN, MARCH 22, ARMENPRESS: President Kocharian
met today with chief managers of 14 commercial banks
which make the Union of Armenian Banks.
Kocharian’s press office said the meeting was
centered on ways to raise the effectiveness of the
banking system and attraction of fresh deposits which
he said will help banks to start issuing long-term and
low interest credits. Kocharian also emphasized the
ongoing efforts to reduce gradually the shadow sector
of economy and raise the confidence of people in
banks.
The bankers spoke about legislation shortcomings,
which they said create extra problems. The president
promised that all raised issues will be discussed and
solutions will be found.

AZG Armenian Daily #052, 23/03/2006

Karabakh issue
AZERBAIJAN HIGHLIGHTS NATIONAL INTERESTS AND LEGAL
REGULATIONS
President of Azerbaijan stated that the country’s
territorial integrity is not an issue to be discussed
within the Nagorno Karabakh negotiations agenda.
According to Interfax news agency, Ilham Aliyev
emphasized that Azerbaijan is going to settle the
Karabakh issue “based on Azerbaijan’s national
interests and international legal regulations.”
This frequent statement of the Azeri leader leave an
impression of self-persuasion at best, as it would be
simply strange to take steps contradicting national
interests and international legal regulations. The
fact that Aliyev repeatedly speaks of Azerbaijan’s
priority – international legal regulations – evidences
perhaps that his war language has exhausted itself
even for domestic consumption.
By Aghavni Harutyunian

AZG Armenian Daily #052, 23/03/2006

Armenian Genocide
AFTER THE ANTI-ARMENIAN RALLIES IN LION
Prefect Jean Pierre Lacroix of Rouen, France, made a
statement on the ban of rallies of Turkish
organizations denying the Armenian Genocide. When the
Armenian Association of France accused Lacroix of
failing to stop the April 24 rally against erecting a
monument to the Armenian Genocide victims, the Rouen
perfect stated that the law did not allow him to do
so. Today he has the right to ban the rallies in view
of the last precedent. “I would not approve of such
rallies,” he said.

AZG Armenian Daily #052, 23/03/2006

Conference
GLOBAL SECURITY AND COUNTER-TERRORISM DISCUSSED IN BRUSSELS
Armen Sarkissian speaks at Worldwide Security Conference
BRUSSELS — More than 400 civic leaders, policymakers, experts and
delegates from around the world gathered in Brussels during the last
week of February for the annual Worldwide Security Conference,
organized by the East West Institute in partnership with the Russian
Foreign Ministry and the World Customs Organization.
Speakers and panels focused on a host of critical issues facing the
world today – from global responses to international terrorism, to
security infrastructures, the role of technology in security and
protection mechanisms, to prevention, civil protection, and energy
security.
Conference speakers included the President of European Commission Jose
Manuel Barroso, former Prime Minster of Canada Kim Campbell, Secretary
General of World Customs Organization Michel Danet, Head of
Anti-Terroist Centre of CIS Boris Mylnikov, Russian President’s
Special Representative Anatoly Safonov, Chinese Foreign Ministry
Director General for Security Gao Jian, Russian Camber of Commerce and
Industry President Evgeny Primakov, US Ambassador to the European
Union C. Boyden Gray, and many other leading figures in government and
world security issues.
Armen Sarkissian, former Prime Minister of Armenia and currently
advisor to global energy and telecom corporations, spoke at the
three-day conference and chaired a panel on energy security. The panel
discussed several key issues, including ways of balancing supply and
demand on the one hand and protection and security of infrastructure
on the other; the role of China and India and the various scenarios of
cooperation with these vast energy consuming countries.
In his address, Sarkissian emphasized the urgency of devising common
security goals by the international community and the significance of
a strategy of energy diversification in coming years.
“The era of easy oil has indeed ended”, said Sarkissian. He explained
that economic developments in India and China have led to an increased
demand for oil and contributed to the upward trend of prices. Whereas
in 1990 China accounted for only 3.5 percent of the worlds crude oil
demand, in 2004 it had increased to 9 percent. Sarkissian underlined
that in the last five years, the oil demand of the two most populous
countries in the world has grown at 8.8 percent in China and 4.5
percent in India. He contrasted these rates with growth in the world
in the same period which stood at 1.6 percent.
One obvious trend in the world is that certain oil producing countries
in the past are becoming consumers themselves. China, which has become
a net oil importer since 1993, is currently the second largest
consumer of oil, after the US. “Diversification and the search for new
sources of energy are increasingly crucial for energy security” stated
Sarkissian, adding that “the search and struggle for energy resources
will have significant influence on global security issues in the
coming decades”.

AZG Armenian Daily #052, 23/03/2006

Finances
CONVERSE BANK RECOGNIZED BEST BANK OF ARMENIA
Converse Bank plans to increase its capital by 25,2% due to growth of
profit and emission of shares. Smbat Nasibian, general director of the
bank, said at a press on March 21 conference. He informed that they
decided to issue banking bonds and to distribute them in the external
markets in 2006. Nasibian said that the bank will also strengthen its
leading position among the three leading banks of Armenia due to the
volumes of its actives and capital. He added that the bank will
enlarge the number of its clients to 75-80 thousand thanks to
improving the quality of banking services. Particularly, it is
envisaged that in 2006 the number of active clients will grow by
52,3%, while the actives will increase by 15%. At present, the actives
of Converse Bank make almost AMD 47 billions, while its credits amount
to almost AMD 4 billions.
The bank is also going to broaden the network of its branches. Thus,
five new branches of the banks will open in Yerevan and in the
economically active regions of Armenia, in 2006. The planned increase
of competitiveness for the United Transfer System will help the bank
secure annual 30% of growth for transfers’ volume. It’s noteworthy
that the bank occupied the first place among other commercial banks
due to 49,2% of its capital’s growth, in 2005.
According to the volume of the bank’s actives that made AMD 42
billion, Converse Bank occupied the third place.
The Bank plans to increase its mortgage crediting portfolio to $3
million by end 2005.
He said that the bank’s portfolio of mortgage credits totals to almost
$1 million, at present. Recently, the bank prolonged the terms for
repayment of these credits to 10 years. The maximal loan for real
estate purchase amounts to $30 thousand. The interest rate for
mortgage credits totals to annual 13%, while the minimal pre-payment
volume makes 30% of the real estate cost to be purchased. According to
the results of 2005, Converse Bank occupied the third place by the
volume of its actives that grew to 26% and totaled to AMD 42 billions.
The Bank is going to increase the number of its cards by 56,8%, in
2006. While the volume of municipal payments will grow by 25,6%.
Nasibian said that the bank will open 6 new bank machines and 80
POS-terminals. He added that the international payment system Visa
International gave the bank the certificate for rendering services
through Smart-card, that will help carry out services for chip cards
through the network of POS-terminals. It is also envisaged that the
bank will undergo certification for rendering services for chip Visa
cards through bank machines in 2006.
According to the bank, the number of issued ArCa and Visa cards grew
by 26,8% and made 11067, while the service network included 100
points, in 2005.The profits from operations with cards grew by 18,4%,
in 2005.

AZG Armenian Daily #052, 23/03/2006

People
MEETING WITH MIKHAIL PIATROVSKY
Our newspaper has already informed that The Caucasian Democracy
Institute invited Mikhail Piatrovsky, director of the Hermitage
Museum, to pay a visit to Armenia. Piatrovsky was born in Yerevan. His
parents were outstanding Soviet scientists and archeologists Hripsime
Janpoladian, and Boris Piatrovsky. Mikhail Piatrovsky is a specialist
of Eastern Philology, particularly, Arabian Literature. He
participated in many scientific archeological expeditions. Since 1991,
Mr. Piatrovsky is appointed the director of Hermitage Museum.
Piatrovsky is a member of RF Academy of Science, professor at
St. Petersburg State University, member of Russian Committee of
UNESCO, as well as member of the International Union of Museums.
Mr. Piatrovsky represented the current state of Hermitage Museum,
touched upon its exhibitions, the restoration works at yesterday’s
press conference in Yerevan. He also spoke the cooperation plans with
the Armenian museums. Mr. Piatrovsky emphasized the importance of
culture for development of human kind. Naturally, he spoke of the
collection of the Armenian exponents that are held in Hermitage that
amount to 500-1000 samples. He said that they proudly represent the
Urartu culture to the world.
By Melanya Badalian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanARMENIAN.Net
40% of Russian Frontier Guards in Armenia Serve on Contract

22.03.2006 21:12 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The number of Armenians serving in the Russian
frontier troops has already exceeded 50%, commander of the Russian
border-guard force in Armenia, General Lieutenant Sergey Bondarev
said. In his words, 40% of the Russian frontier troops in Armenia are
staffed with military serving on contract and the number of Armenian
servicemen is growing.
`This is a unique fact when citizens of another state serve in our
troops,’ Bondarev noted. According to a treaty, the expenses are
covered equally, reported the Military-Industrial Express.