TARIFF PROPOSED BY ARMRUSGASPROM BASED ON ARBITRARY CALCULATIONS, MP MANUK GASPARIAN IS CONVINCED
Noyan Tapan
Mar 07 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 7, NOYAN TAPAN. The tariff for natural gas imported
from Russia should make for the population maximum 70-75 thousand
drams (about 160 USD) for 1000 cubic meters. RA MP Manuk Gasparian,
Chairman of the Democratic Way party, expressed such an opinion in
his March 7 interview to journalists.
The MP promised to put down his mandate if they prove to him that the
tariff proposed by ArmRusgasprom is economically grounded. According
to him, this tariff, 108 thousand drams, is based on arbitrary
calculations.
M.Gasparian said that it’s not accidental that the tariff proposed
for industrial enterprises is mentioned in dollars, 145 USD, amd the
tariff envisaged for the population by drams. According to him, in
case of calculation in dollars the tariff for the population will
make 240 USD or more by 95 USD than the tariff envisaged by the
enterprises. Whereas, in the volume of gas consumption only 10-13%
falls to the population.
M.Gasparian informed that RA Public Services Regulatory Commission
that will examine ArmRusgasprom’s bid on March 10, expressed readiness
to give him all documents connected with tariff calculations.

BELARUS: A CASE OF ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
By Gwynne Dyer, a London-based independent journalist
whose articles are published in 45 countries
AZG Armenian Daily
15/03/2006
The ten million citizens of Belarus don’t go to the polls until 19
March, but the outcome is already certain: Alexander Lukashenko will
win a third term as president. Most other governments in Europe,
which see him as the continent’s last dictator, will express their
dismay and claim that the election was unfair.
They will be right in the sense that the opposition has been
mercilessly harassed and that the counting of the votes probably
won’t meet international standards.
But they will be wrong if they really think that Lukashenko would
have lost a fair election.
“It is necessary…to take a stand against this post-Soviet autocrat
and his efforts to totally suppress what remains of independent
initiatives in Belarus,” said former Czech president Vaclav Havel
last year, but Lukashenko does not see autocracy as a bad thing. As
he told Belarusian radio early this month: “An authoritarian ruling
style is characteristic of me, and I have always admitted it.
Why?…You need to control the country, and the main thing is not to
ruin people’s lives.”
Belarus has more policemen per capita than any other country in
the world, and a few of Lukashenko’s harshest critics have simply
“disappeared”. Opposition politicians are regularly beaten up or
imprisoned, and people can go to jail for up to two years simply for
openly criticising the president. It is an ugly, petty, oppressive
regime that is reminiscent in many ways of the old Communist tyrannies
— but Lukashenko has won two elections and a referendum in the past
dozen years, all with more than 70 percent of the vote.
He didn’t win them just by stuffing ballot boxes, and although
many people in Belarus feel intimidated by his rule, if they really
constituted an outraged majority then the tool for their liberation
is readily available. In the last five years, disciplined crowds of
non-violent protestors have overthrown similar “post-Soviet autocrats”
in several other post-Soviet states. If the problem is just unfree
elections and intimidation, why don’t Belarusians get rid of their
faintly Chaplinesque dictator that way?
The answer is to be found in the results of an international
opinion poll that was published last week by the Social Research
Institute (TARKI) in Budapest. The survey was conducted last year
in eleven central and eastern European countries that were ruled by
Communist tyrannies for at least a generation until the revolutions
of 1989-91. The only country where a majority of the people polled
preferred the “democratic” systems (some real, some sham) that they
have lived under since then was the Czech Republic, where 52 percent
actively supported democracy and only a small minority longed to have
Communism back.
In most of the former Soviet-bloc countries the nostalgia for Communist
rule was strong, peaking at 38 percent in Bulgaria and 36 percent in
Russia (where only 13 percent favoured democracy). But this is hardly
surprising when you consider that the most people’s experience, in
most of these countries, was that the end of Communist rule brought
a steep fall in living standards and a sharp rise in insecurity and
inequality. For Russia, it also brought the loss of a centuries-old
empire, the “exile” of tens of millions of Russians as minorities
in newly independent countries, and a huge decline in the country’s
power and influence in the world.
These things are not what normally accompanies democracy
elsewhere. They happened in central and eastern Europe partly because
the social and economic costs of converting from a centrally-planned
economy to a free market were bound to be very high, and partly because
the former Communist elite seized the opportunity to “privatise”
the state’s former assets (i.e. almost everything) into their own
pockets. It was an experience that has given democracy a very bad
name in the former Soviet bloc, and only time and the rise of a new
generation will erase these attitudes.
And here we have Belarus, where a former collective-farm manager who
was legitimately elected to power in 1994 halted the privatisation
process before it had properly got underway. Lukashenko has preserved
both the good and the bad elements of the Communist system almost
unchanged (except that the actual Communist Party no longer rules). So
there has not been the same crash in living standards in Belarus,
and there is none of the soaring inequality and unemployment seen in
almost all of its neighbours.
There are also no free media, and secret police everywhere, and
the drab conformity typical of late-period Communist states, and
occasional state violence against “dissidents”. But Lukashenko would
probably have won a majority of the votes honestly in every election
and referendum he has held.
Why has it happened this way in Belarus and not elsewhere? Partly pure
chance, but Belarus was also an ideal candidate because it has a very
weak national identity (most people there actually speak Russian).
There is little of the nationalism that helped most other former
Soviet countries to persevere with the changes, and many Belarusians
would be happy to be reunited with Russia. But even there they would
have to undergo many of the painful changes that they have avoided
by choosing to live in this time warp.
Sooner or later they will have to go through them anyway, but not
yet. Not in this election.

RUSAL-ARMENAL TO MANUFACTURE IN MARCH FIRST 100 TONS OF PRODUCTION AFTER BEING RELAUNCHED
Noyan Tapan
Mar 07 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 7, NOYAN TAPAN. RusAl-ArmenAl CJSC resumed its operation
in February and will manufacture the first 100 tons of its production
in March.
Artur Ashughian, Head of the Nature Use Economics and Mining Industry
Department of the RA Ministry of Trade and Economic Development,
said it at the March 7 press conference.
In his words, in 2005 alone, the company made investments of 39
mln euros for equipment modernization, which allowed the company
to produce 7 micron wide foil which is in great demand on the
international market.
To recap, work on re-equipment of RusAl-ArmenAl started in the
4th quarter of 2004. The first stage of the work was completed in
December 2005. 70 mln USD was spent on re-equipment of the enterprise,
with 30-35% of this amount being spent as salaries and payments for
equipment supply.
It is envisaged that since 2006 the enterprise will produce 25 thousand
tons of foil a year, with an annual production of 9 micron wide foil
amounting to 18 thousand tons.

FROM APRIL 10 FLIGHTS FROM “ZVARTNOTS” AIRPORT TO BE IMPLEMENTED ONLY AT NIGHT HOURS
Noyan Tapan
Mar 07 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 7, NOYAN TAPAN. From April 10, on the occasion of the
reconstruction of the runway of the “Zvartnots” airport of Yerevan,
during 80 days the flights will be implemented only at night hours
(from 20:00 to 10:30). As Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed from
the press service of the airport, repair works of the asphalt cover
will be implemented in the last 1200-meter part of the runway. The
rest parts were repaired during the last two years.

ALL WOMAN PASSENGERS TO BE GIVEN ROSES AT ZVARTNOTS AIRPORT ON MARCH 8
Noyan Tapan
Mar 07 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 7, NOYAN TAPAN. Yerevan Zvartnots airport’s manager
“Armenia International Airports” company will give roses to all woman
passengers on March 8, in connection with the Women’s International
Day. As Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed by airport’s press
service, such an action is carried out at Zvartnots for already the
third year.

LEVEL OF AFFORESTATION OF ARMENIA LESS BY 1-2% THAN PREVIOUS INDEX
Noyan Tapan
Mar 07 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 7, NOYAN TAPAN. On March 6, the problems of the Yerevan
air, water pollution, destruction of green belts, responsibility for
the damage caused to the ecological state, the measures and prospects
directed to the correction of the created state were discussed
at the enlarged parliamentary hearings on the theme “Yerevan City
Surroundings Problems”.
According to Vardan Ayvazian, the RA Minister of Nature Protection,
the level of the air pollution is especially higher in the center of
the Yerevan and in the communities of Arabkir, the main cause of which
are the exhaustions of transport. From 2006 it is forbiden by the law
to import cars without neutralizators, as well as the exploitation
of cars without the implementation of the demand of obligatory annual
measurings. Besides that, appropriate equipments are bought in order
to control the quality of the importing fuel. In order to control
the ecological state of the capital it is also envisaged to maintain
a movable expert laboratory in 2006.
According to V.Ayvazian, the level of the afforestation of the
territory of Armenia never surpassed the 11.2%, and today it is less
than it by 1-2%. The level of the afforestation of the territory of
Yerevan never surpassed the 2%. According to the new main plan of
the capital, in the forthcoming 15 years it is envisaged to add the
surface of the green territory falling to one person.
According to the Minister, the process of the collection of scraps,
sorting of garbage is also problematic.

SEVERAL YEARS OF GEOLOGICAL WORK NEEDED TO DETERMINE EFFIIENCY OF URANIUM MINE OPERATION AT GETIK
Noyan Tapan
Mar 07 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 7, NOYAN TAPAN. It will become clear only in a few
years how efficient it is to operate the uranium mine at Getik. Artur
Ashughian, Head of the Nature Use Economics and Mine Industry
Department, stated this at the March 7 press conference. According
to him, geological search is needed to determine the efficiency of
the mine operation. However, so far no company has applied to the
appropriate Armenian bodies for permission to carry out work at Getik.
To recap, the GGG comany (US) announced the expediency of uranium
mining at the Getik mine.

6% PRODUCTION GROWTH REGISTERED IN ARMENIAN MINING INDUSTRY THANKS TO INVESTMENTS AND HIGH PRICES ON INTERNATIONAL MARKET
Noyan Tapan
Mar 07 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 7, NOYAN TAPAN. In January 2006, production of the
Armenian mining industry sector made 14.3 bln drams (about 31.8 mln
USD), sales – 13.8 bln drams, and exports – 7.3 bln drams. Artur
Ashughian, Head of the Nature Use Economics and Mining Industry
Department of the RA Ministry of Trade and Economic Development,
stated this at the March 7 press conference.
According to him, the mining industry companies employed 10,495 people
in January 2006 against 10,345 in December 2005, with the average
salaries making 90.4 thousand drams and 80 thousand drams respectively.
Production of 248.5 bln drams was manufactured in the mining industry
in 2005 against production of 218.7 bln drams in 2004. The production
growth made 6% in 2005 against 43% in the previous year. Sales made
245.1 bln drams and 171.4 bln drams respectively. Building material
production, mainly cement production (its growth made 25% in 2004),
accounted for 13 bln drams of the 2005 production.
The department head noted that the increase in the indices of the
mining industry sector was fostered by the investments and high prices
of copper and molybdenum on the international market. Although these
prices have dropped by 30-40% in the last three months, they are
still high compared with the period prior to 2005.
In addition, according to A. Ashughian, the investments made in the
sector in 2005 contributed to the fact almost all of the copper and
molybdenum ores are processed in Armenia. Molybdenum ore is also
imported from China and Chile.

FESTIVAL OF BRITISH FILMS TO BE HELD ALSO IN GYUMRI FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS YEAR
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 07 2006
YEREVAN, MARCH 7, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On March 10, the 5th
Festival of British Films will start at the “Nairi” cinema with the
display of the film “Calendar Girls” by the British Director Nigel
Cole. As Nigel Townson, Director of the British Council in Armenia,
informed at the March 7 press conference, the Festival of British films
in Yerevan held for the fifth time was appreciated by the Armenian
film-goers, by which the organizing of the same festival in Gyumri
for the first time this year on March 17-19 is conditioned.
According to Nigel Townson, though he has come to Armenia recently,
he noticed that Armenians are lovers of best films and attend
cinema. “That fact became more obvious in the days of the festival
of European films held in Armenia recently. The cinema halls were
over-crowded, and there were always people gathered in front of the
ticket-offices,” Director of the British Council mentioned.
According to the tradition of the previous years, this time also
films which won prizes and took part in competition programs of the
festivals are brought to Armenia. According to Nigel Townson, in the
issue of selection of films they gave priority to the quality of the
films, and not to their being British or non-British.
Nigel Townson also mentioned that he has just come to Armenia and
is not so much acquainted with the Armenian cinema though he saw a
number of Armenian films in England last year.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ACCORDING TO CALIFORNIA COURIER, STATE DEPARTMENT FINALIZES DECISION TO RECALL US AMBASSAFOR TO ARMENIA JOHN EVANS
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 07 2006
GLENDALE, MARCH 7, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The US Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia John Evans will be
recalled in the coming months and replaced by Richard E. Hoagland,
the current US Ambassador to Tajiskistan. According to the weekly
“The California Courier”, the US State Deparment recently finalized
its decision about recall of John Evans.
According to reliable Armenian governmental sources, Amb. Evans
informed high-ranking Armenian officilas last week about his
departure in the coming months, pending the Senate approval of his
likely successor.
Knowledgeable US sources in Washington confirmed to Harut Sassounian,
Publisher of “The California Courier” that Amb. Evans was recalled
for publicly aknowledging the Armenian Genocide.
Neither the ambassador not the State Department made any public
comments regarding these developments.
Last year, during a public gathering at the University of California
at Berkeley, Amb. Evans courageously said: “I will today call it the
Armenian G enocide… I informed myself in depth about it. I think
we, the US government, owe you, our fellow citizens, a more frank
and honest way of discussing this problem. Today, as someone who has
studied it … there’s no doubt in my mind [as to] what happened… I
think it is unbecoming of us, as Americans, to play word games here. I
believe in calling things by their name.” Referring to the Armenian
Genocide as “the first genocide of the 20th century,” he said: “I
pledge to you, we are going to do a better job at addressing this
issue.” Amb.
Evans also disclosed that he had consulted with a legal advisor at
the State Department who had confirmed that the events of 1915 were
“genocide by definition.”
Within days of making these statements, Amb. Evans issued “a
clarification” in which he said that “misunderstandings” might have
arisen as a result of his earlier comments. He said that he had used
the term “genocide” in his “personal capacity.”
Several months later the American Foreign Service Association took
the very unusual step of rescinding a “Constructive Dissent” award
that it had decided to grant Amb. Evans during a special ceremony
that was to be held at the State Department on June 17, 2005.
“The California Courier” reminded that during a hearing before the
House International Relations Committee last month, Cong. Adam Schiff
(Democrat of California) asked US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
several pointed questions regarding Amb. Evans. Cong. Schiff asked that
Secretary Rice explain in writing if the State Dept. played any role
in the reversal of the decision to grant Amb. Evans the “dissent”
award. Cong. Schiff also asked the Secretary State to assure the
House Committee that the Department of State has not taken, and will
not take, any punitive actions against Amb. Evans for speaking out
about the Armenian Genocide. Secretary Rice has not yet responded to
these questions.
It is noteworthy that the former US ambassadors to Armenia officiated
for three years each, while Joh Evans has not yet completed the second
year of his 3-year term of office.