TALES BY GALOUST SAHAKYAN
Panorama.am
18:13 12/04/06
As the head of ARF grouping Levon Lazarian says the draft law
about “Asserting the report on realization of 2001-2003 program of
privatization of state property” was turned to discussion of the
whole process of privatization during this four-day session.
Moreover the deputy is sure that if 2007 were not a pre-election year
the Parliament would avoid such an “emotional and pathetic” discussion.
L. Lazarian also reminded to his colleagues that in 2001-2003 the
board of privatization of state property was headed by other person
than Karin Kirakosyan who represented the project in the NA and is
now the head of the mentioned department.
Yet Republican Galoust Sahakyan didn’t like that idea of his
colleague. Thus the deputy spelled Levon Lazarian for the simple
reason that the latter doesn’t condemn K. Kirakosyan for “her beautiful
eyes”. Whereas such an approach is unacceptable for G.
Sahakyan, moreover “no privatization has been made illegally in our
country,” the head of Armenian Republican Party grouping assures and in
the same time appeals not to believe the tales: “Not all Cinderellas
become Beauties in the end of the tale. Don’t believe those tales,”
he says.

TIMES CHANGE BUT NOT PEOPLE
Panorama.am
14:59 12/04/06
Today the annual general meeting was held in the NAS.
As the above mentioned meeting had been labeled as “meeting of account”
the main event was the annual summary report of academician-secretary
Edward Ghazaryan which certainly met with the unanimous approval of
the academicians.
Later the academicians touched upon the problems that brought the
Armenian science to this bad state. Most of the announcements of
the academicians were mostly of the same character: “academicians’
salary is low”, “how is an aspirant to live on 5000 drams allowance”,
“why does a doctor of science receive lower salary than that of a
teacher” etc.
Yet in the meantime academician Nazareth Hovsepyan mentioned that
the psychology needs to be changed. “If the country’s President and
Prime Minister give the whole state budget to the Academy only, they
will be glorified for two months and then say there is no money,”
the academician said and warned that if one continues this logic
“science will live even worse days than today.”
After witnessing the works of the general meeting the conclusion is
one: first of all the atmosphere in the Academy has to be changed.
We find it necessary to state that nevertheless the academicians go
on working according to Soviet standards. The NAs General Meeting
was more like a collective meeting, whereas during the meeting the
Minister of Education and Science Sergo Yeritsyan emphasized that the
Government is not going to interfere, and the Academy has to solve
the issues itself.

FACTS OF “OUTRAGEOUS” PRIVATIZATION TO BE EXTENDED TO PUBLIC PROSECUTOR
Lragir.am
13 april 06
The Report on the Program of Privatization of State Property 2001-2003
took two and a half working days from the National Assembly. Yet it
is not clear if the report will be adopted or not.
On the last day of debates on April 12 the leaders of parliament
factions addressed the parliament. Five factions addressed the
parliament. The United Labor Party, Orinats Yerkir and Ardarutiun were
against the adoption of the report for the same reason, which was,
however, formulated differently. The ULP and Orinats Yerkir announced
that privatization was not transparent, and the proceeds were several
times lower. Victor Dallakyan from Ardarutiun was much tougher, “an
outrageous privatization took place,” and people who are responsible
for what happened must accept liability. If the program is not adopted,
“the government deserves a red card.”
Hence Victor Dallakyan offers four options to the political forces:
approve the program and accept liability, reject the program and
withdraw from the coalition, reject the program and stay in the
coalition, reject the program and give a vote of no confidence to
the government. The words of the ARF member Levon Mkrtichyan gave
no idea about the stance of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation;
the speaker offered to hold debates on the problem. There is nothing
left to do but to wait for the vote of the ARF. Only the Republican
Party approves the report. By the way, the Republicans were eager
to persuade that the outcome of privatization in 2004 is discussed,
probably to place the responsibility on the coalition, born in 2003.
Speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan kept his promise he had made on the eve,
and brought specific examples. 33 Moscovyan Street – one square meter
was sold at 40 dollars, the market price is 1000-1200 dollars.
Baghramyan Street – one square meter was sold at 30 dollars, the
market price is 900-100 dollars. In Arabkir and Zeytun districts
state property was sold at 10-20 dollars per square meter, the market
price is 300-500 dollars. 4600 square meters of Arabkir Water Sports
School was sold at 4 dollars per square meter, “100 times less than
the market price.” Of course, this does not concern all the cases of
privatization. However, Arthur Baghdasaryan says those people must be
stopped. “The monitoring of about 200 companies revealed that only 27
companies committed to investments, the rest were alienated without
fixing any commitments to invest,” stated the speaker of the National
Assembly. And the monitoring of 100 companies that had committed to
invest revealed that 37 million was invested instead of 140 million
dollars. The result is that investments are less by 100 million,
and “several thousands of jobs were not created and no one accepted
liability.” The majority of sold companies were privatized by direct
sale to the buyer, known beforehand. In the past ten years 535 nursery
schools and 250 libraries were sold. “Sooner or later all the officials
will have to account for their actions,” said Arthur Baghdasaryan.
Therefore, Arthur Baghdasaryan emphasizes the importance of enhancing
government control, and as the first step he will send the report of
the Audit Chamber of the National Assembly to the Office of Public
Prosecutor. “They have appropriated millions and have to account
for it. We must build a country of law by actions, not words. An
unpunished offense will reoccur.” Arthur Baghdasaryan instructs the
executive, namely the Department for Management of State Property,
to be more consistent, pursue the enforcement of the law.
The law bars privatization of nursery schools, educational and health
care institutions.
“I wish all the best to my country, and no one can criticize me for
that,” said Arthur Baghdasaryan, calling for not republicanizing the
issue. It is not against the Republican or any other party. “It is
concern about the problem.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MINISTRY OF ENERGY BECOMES OBSOLETE
Lragir.am
13 april 06
The Ministry of Energy of Armenia has already become obsolete and
can be dissolved, stated Edward Aghajanov, economist, April 12. The
reason is, according to him, the sale of the fifth generating unit
of the Thermal Power Plant to Russia, as well as the transfer of the
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline to Russia, ensuring Russian monopoly in
the energy sector of Armenia.
The problem, according to him, is not the price at which the fifth
generating unit was sold. The problem is that a country’s energy
capacity cannot be entirely sold to another country. “The danger is
that Russia, in fact, controls not only energy generation but also the
network of distribution. Thus, Russia can form a rigid structure that
will shatter the energy security of Armenia,” announced the economist.
He says there was a better way of operating the fifth generating
unit. Iran had offered a loan of 150 million dollars to Armenia to
be repaid by energy, produced at the fifth generating unit within
20-25 years. And Armenia could have kept the fifth generating unit.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GASPROM TO OWN 82 PER CENT OF SHARES OF ARMRUSGASARD
Lragir.am
13 april 06
Even if the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline becomes a transit pipeline in
the nearest future, Armenia will have nothing to do with it, said
economist Edward Aghajanov April 12. He is convinced that though
the government of Armenia is trying to keep it secret, the Armenian
section of the gas pipeline has already been transferred to Gasprom.
Aghajanov refers to the official website of Gasprom and the
authoritative Russian newspapers.
Edward Aghajanov says as a result of the contract Armenia loses not
only the Iran-Armenia pipeline but also the company Armrusgasard. The
Vedomosti Newspaper opened the brackets: Gasprom will own 82 per
cent of shares of Armrusgasard in the result of Russian-Armenian gas
negotiations. It should be noted that before 45 per cent of shares
of Armrusgasard was owned by Armrusgasard, 45 per cent by Gasprom
and 10 per cent by Itera, a daughter company of Gasprom.

ELECTIONS IN 2007 AND 2008 MAY CUT THE MILLENNIUM MONEY
Lragir.am
13 april 06
The group of U.S. Congress representatives and John Danilovich,
Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, who
arrived in Yerevan with the group, are pleased with their meetings
in Armenia. Jim Golby mentioned that the main purpose of their visit
was to study conditions for launching the Millennium Challenge program.
The U.S. government will grant 235 million dollars to Armenia
within 5 years. The money will be spent on the development of rural
infrastructures.
Jim Golby says the Millennium Challenge program is a dynamic program
of U.S. assistance to countries which are committed to fair governance
and a transparent society, and they believe that Armenia proceeds
along this path.
The director of the MCC John Danilovich stated that their visit to
the region established their commitment to implementation of the
agreement signed March 27 in Washington.
John Danilovich said during their meetings with the speaker, foreign
minister and president of Armenia they became convinced that the
government of Armenia is eager to implement the program successfully.
The corporation will assist the government of Armenia in a successful
implementation of the program. Besides, Danilovich said the MCC will
control the implementation of the program to prevent corruption. For
this purpose the American side lays emphasis on the engagement of
civil institutions in the implementation of the program. During their
visit that lasted for almost three days John Danilovich and the U.S.
Congress representatives met with non-governmental organizations. He
said hopefully the non-governmental organizations will get widely
engaged in the MCC program.
He assured that the program will help to cut poverty, promote
democracy and judiciary reforms and development of other spheres of a
transparent and open society. With regard to the level of democracy
in Armenia John Danilovich said democracy is a continuous process,
and Congressman Golby said the basic principle of democracy is fair
elections, and the MCC would not launch the program if the government
and the society of Armenia did not seek for fair elections. Jim Golby
said fair election is not just voting; it is electoral registers,
campaign, fundraising. He stated that the elections in 2007 and
2008 may call a halt to the program of the MCC if they do not comply
with the standards of democracy. The Congress representative stated,
nevertheless, that the United States is hopeful the elections will
be fair.
The delegation of the U.S. Congress representatives, which had arrived
in Yerevan from Georgia, left for Azerbaijan full of hopes.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PARLIAMENT MAY INTERFERE WITH ELECTION TO PRESIDENT OF ACADEMY
Lragir.am
13 april 06
The National Assembly may actively influence the outcome of election
of the new president of the NAS. An indirect interference is meant,
which may have a significant role, however.
The point is that the parliament decided to empower the directors of
institutes to vote to the election of president of the Academy. This is
regulated by law, and the academicians will turn to the parliament. No
doubt expanding the range of eligible members of the academy may
essentially modify the scenario of the election if there is such. Ten
voters is not the same as twenty voters. Moreover, the categories
of voters vary. In other words, the members of the presidium of
the NAS have a motivation, differing from that of the directors of
institutes. Hence, the decision of the parliament may have a deciding
role in the election of the president of the academy.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RAMIL SAFAROV’S VERDICT TO BE CAST TODAY IN BUDAPEST
ArmRadio.am
13.04.2006 10:36
Today the City Court of Budapest will cast Ramil Safarov’s verdict. The
Prosecutor has demanded life imprisonment for the Azeri, who killed
Armenian Officer Gurgen Margaryan during NATO trainings in Hungary.

REPORT ON REFUGEES IN ARMENIA, GEORGIA AND AZERBAIJAN TO BE DISCUSSED AT PACE SITTING
ArmRadio.am
13.04.2006 11:27
The report on “Refugees and displaced persons in Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Georgia” will be discussed during today’s sitting of the PACE
spring session.
Head of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Armen Rustamyan
said in his interview to MEDIAMAX Agency that the report presented
by Boris Tsilevich is rather neutral and first of all refers to the
resolution of humanitarian issues.

CONFERENCE ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN ARMENIA TO BE HELD AT UCLA
ArmRadio.am
13.04.2006 11:15
“Armenia: Challenges of Sustainable Development” is the theme of an
international conference to be held at the University of California,
Los Angeles (UCLA), on Saturday, May 6. The conference featuring
specialists in economics, finance, and governance is dedicated to UCLA
Professor Emeritus of Economics, Armen A. Alchian, a world-renowned
economist and teacher who was born in Fresno in 1914 and has been a
member of the UCLA faculty since 1946.
The conference is organized by the Armenian Educational Foundation
Chair in Modern Armenian History at UCLA and the Armenian International
Policy Research Group (AIPRG), with support from the UCLA Von Grunebaum
Center for Near Eastern Studies and the Department of Economics. AEF
Chair Holder Richard Hovannisian will open the morning session with
introductory comments on “The Economic Factor,” followed by the
presentation of Professor Alchian and his contributions to economic
theory by a similarly distinguished Professor of Economics, Harold
Demsetz.