U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE AND SPECIAL NEGOTIATOR FOR NAGORNO-KARABAKH VISIT ARMENIA
Armenpress
Oct 18 2005
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 18, ARMENPRESS: The US Embassy in Armenia said today
Daniel Fried, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and
Eurasian Affairs, visited Armenia on October 18 as part of regional
travel that included stops in Georgia and Azerbaijan.
It said joining Assistant Secretary Fried’s delegation was U.S. Special
Negotiator for Nagorno-Karabakh and Eurasian Conflicts, Ambassador
Steven Mann. As part of their visit, they met with representatives
of the Armenian Government, including President Robert Kocharian,
National Assembly Speaker Arthur Baghdasarian, Minister of Defense
Serzh Sarkisian and Minister of Justice David Harutunian.
In addition, they met with civil society leaders, journalists,
and representatives from the full spectrum of local political
parties. During these meetings, Ambassador Fried and Ambassador Mann
discussed a number of issues, including U.S.-Armenian relations,
democratic reforms in Armenia, U.S.-Armenian defense cooperation,
U.S. Government Assistance programs in Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans hosted special
roundtable meetings on the topics of “Constitutional Reform and
Armenia’s Political Outlook” and “Preparing Civil Society for a
Post-conflict reality.”
Commenting on the visit, Ambassador Evans said, “The Assistant
Secretary’s visit reinforces the high-level of interest that the U.S.
Government has in helping build peace and prosperity in the South
Caucasus.
The visit comes at an opportune moment as Armenia prepares for an
historic referendum on its constitution and begins planning now for
free and fair elections in 2007 and 2008.”
This trip was Ambassador Fried’s first visit to Armenia since his
appointment as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian
Affairs in May 2005. Prior to this position, Ambassador Fried served
as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European
and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council (biographical
notes attached).
The U.S. Government has dedicated over $1.6 billion worth of assistance
to the people of Armenia since its independence.

OSCE MINSK GROUP U.S. CO-CHAIR ARRIVED IN ARMENIA
A!+
| 15:37:36 | 18-10-2005 | Politics |
Daniel Fried, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and
Eurasian Affairs, visited Armenia on October 18 as part of regional
travel that included stops in Georgia and Azerbaijan. Joining
Assistant Secretary Fried’s delegation was U.S. Special Negotiator
for Nagorno-Karabakh and Eurasian Conflicts, Ambassador Steven Mann.
During these meetings, Ambassador Fried and Ambassador Mann discussed
a number of issues, including U.S.-Armenian relations, democratic
reforms in Armenia, U.S.-Armenian defense cooperation, U.S. Government
Assistance programs in Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans hosted special roundtable
meetings on the topics of “Constitutional Reform and Armenia’s
Political Outlook” and “Preparing Civil Society for a Post-conflict
reality.” Commenting on the visit, Ambassador Evans said, “The
Assistant Secretary’s visit reinforces the high-level of interest that
the U.S. Government has in helping build peace and prosperity in the
South Caucasus. The visit comes at an opportune moment as Armenia
prepares for an historic referendum on its constitution and begins
planning now for free and fair elections in 2007 and 2008.”
This trip was Ambassador Fried’s first visit to Armenia since his
appointment as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian
Affairs in May 2005.

DOLLS AS PRE-ELECTION WEAPON?
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| 21:06:41 | 17-10-2005 | Economy |
In 2006 the budget of the Armenian National TV-Radio Company will be
3.1 billion AMD which is 70 million more than last year. It is the
lowest among all the CIS countries.
By the way, the commercial income will grow by 30% next year. One
of the most interesting programs is the program “Dolls” which is
the Armenian variant of the Russian “Kukly”. This will be a very
interesting weapon in the hands of the Armenian National TV-Radio
Company in the pre-election period which will not be long in coming.

PARTIES DO NOT GIVE MONEY TO THE OLD-AGE PENSION FUND
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| 20:37:55 | 17-10-2005 | Social |
In 2006 the budget has allotted 94 billion 590 million AMD to the
old-age pension fund which is 10.9% more than last year. The basic
pension has become 4 250 AMD instead of 4 000, and 180 AMD for one
year of work instead of last year’s 160.
Head of the Old-age Pension Fund Vazgen Khachikyan gave interesting
information today. It turns out that of the 68 registered parties
there are only 5 which give salary to their workers. Three of them
are the coalition parties, which “show” that they pay only 20 thousand
AMD to their workers.

50 MILLION VICTIMS OF BIRD FLU
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| 20:21:05 | 17-10-2005 | Social |
In 1918 50 million people died of bird flu. Today the doctors have
fears that the same will be repeated.
RA Health Minister Norayr Davidyan said that there is no danger of
the illness in Armenia, but in any case there are vaccinations. The
Ministry of Agriculture and the Tax Committee are also on the alert:
the latter has recently forbidden the import of bird meat into the
country.

FIRST AID WILL BE FREE OF CHARGE
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| 20:16:05 | 17-10-2005 | Social |
The money allotted to the health field in 2006 has grown by 22%
becoming 39.1 billion AMD. Health Minister Norayr Davidyan found
the growth of the sum allotted to the first aid field extremely
important. He said it gives them the possibility to realize first
aid totally free of charge except dental service.
Norayr Davidyan informed that 1.4 billion has been allotted to the
purchase of about 250 types of medicine and to the provision of people
with the right to get medicine free of charge with the proper types
of medicine. The Minister mentioned that in 2006 323 million AMD has
been allotted to the reconstruction of the hospitals. Although he was
very well pleased with the news, he still finds that the salaries of
the doctors are too low.
Norayr Davidyan claimed that the financial means allotted to the
health field will give them the possibility to keep the development
tendencies for the last few years.

ALMOST CAUGHT WITH HANDS IN FORGERY
A1+
| 19:54:21 | 17-10-2005 | Politics |
Member of the delegation of the CoE Local and Regional authorities
Congress David Lloyd Williams from Britain told the journalists today
about the fact he witnessed in Vanadzor during the elections of mayor
where he was fulfilling his duties as observer.
“There was a case when we were looking for one of the electoral areas
and we noticed a group of about 150 people. We found out that it was
the headquarters of one of the candidates. The people hesitated to
answer our questions. They had heard that if they went there with their
passports, they will receive money. I entered and asked why they were
outside. The people inside confirmed the existence of the gossips but
they said they were spread by their opponents. So we left the place as
it was not a proper place for observation”, David Lloyd Williams told.

WILL THERE BE A TRANSPARENT “YES”
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| 19:11:56 | 17-10-2005 | Politics |
It is now yet known how the draft Constitution will be preached. The
details about the process will be announced in several days.
Today head of the Constitutional preaching structure and the NA
Standing Committee on Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs
Mher Shahgeldyan invited the journalists to a briefing to tell that
their aim is to adopt the Constitution. “We work for the sake of the
Constitutional reforms, for the formation of a new political system,
and for its realization. This is our aim”.
According to Mher Shahgeldyan first they must represent the
constitutional reforms to the population, then its positive sides,
and finally secure “free, fair and transparent elections”.
By the way, one of the main problems of the structure is to correct
the errors in the electoral rolls. The structure will work in several
directions. Chief editor of the newspaper “Yerkir” Spartak Seyranyan
will be responsible for preaching, and Aram Karapetyan who did good
work organizing the “Unity round dance” will be responsible for
technical issues.
According to Shahgeldyan, during the preaching, the coalition will
be supported by more than 20 parties and more than 200 organizations,
the names of which will be announced in several days.
By the way, during the briefing the poster saying “YES” was not yet
fixed to the wall. It was lying on the floor.

THERE ARE VACANT PLACES
A1+
| 18:43:17 | 17-10-2005 | Social |
400 civic officers have been resigned from their posts on the ground
of their being not correspondent to their posts.
“We must be able to include serious workers into the state service
system, especially into the civic system. They must also be able to
get proper knowledge in order to be able to face the challenges of
time. If there are demands, there must also be a chance to meet them”,
said head of the Civic Service Council Manvel Badalyan.
Today there are 7 000 civic officers in Armenia. 1/3 of them pass
trainings every year. By the way, in 2006 the salary of civic officers
will be raised by 50%.

“NOT KOCHARYAN BUT THE COALITION IS GUILTY”
A1+
| 18:23:02 | 17-10-2005 | Politics |
“Thanks to the draft Constitution the Presidential-Parliamentary
governing system of the country turns into Parliamentary-Presidential”,
the RA President representative Armen Haroutyunyan says. He considers
it a serious achievement.
Mr. Haroutyunyan claims that we cannot take the constitution of another
country and copy it like the other post-Soviet countries did. “It
does not work”, he said. According to Armen Haroutyunyan the draft
Constitution makes considerable progress in comparison to the present
one. At the same time he does not deny that it could have been better.
Asked the question what hindered its being better Mr. Haroutyunyan
did not answer clearly. He only said that his offers were rejected
not the by President of the country but by the coalition and by the
Parliamentary powers in general.