Lavrov Explains Refusal to Honor Fallen Soldiers in Georgia

Civil Georgia, Georgia
Feb 17 2005

Speaking with reporters in the Armenian capital of Yerevan on February
16, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explained that his refusal
to lay a wreath at the memorial of Georgia’s fallen soldiers during
his visit to Georgia on February 18 is a result of Russia’s mediatory
status in the process of resolving the conflicts in South Ossetia
and Abkhazia.

“This kind of public event could hardly foster an appropriate
atmosphere for the resumption of talks over resolution of the
conflicts,” news agency RIA Novosti quotes Sergey Lavrov as saying.

Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili described Lavrov’s
refusal to honor the memorial of the fallen soldiers who died in
the fight for Georgia’s territorial integrity as “a non-neighborly
gesture.” as a result Sergey Lavrov’s visit has also been downgraded
from an “official” visit to a “working” one.

Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze said that Lavrov’s
refusal is an open demonstration of Moscow’s support for the separatist
regimes in breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Armenian businessman claims abuse of power by TV and Radio boss

Arminfo
15 Feb 05

Yerevan, 15 February: “I shall not be a victim of corruption or
be under chairman of the Armenian National Commission for TV and
Radio [NCTR] Grigor Amalyan’s thumb or pay a fine demanded by the
commission,” the president of the company Grand Holding has told an
Arminfo correspondent. Grant Vardanyan is financing Armenia’s only
non-commercial children TV channel.

In this connection the entrepreneur did not rule out the possibility of
some extreme measures, including the closure of Hayrenik TV, fined by
the commission. At the same time he stressed that he has no intention
to stop rebroadcasting of French Mezzo musical TV channel. Vardanyan
noted that the management of French TV channel is aware of the fact
that Hayrenik TV is rebroadcasting its programmes and has no claims
in this connection.

The interlocutor said that Hayrenik TV is being fully financed by
Grand Holding and the company annually spends about 250,000 dollars
on its upkeep. Vardanyan also noted that the chairman of the NCTR
took under his control the sale of the licensed films in the country
and by lobbying for his personal economic interests and by forcing
the TV channels to abandon the rebroadcasting of foreign programmes,
he abuses power.

“Let Amalyan improve control over the implementation of the law
on advertising, violated by almost all domestic TV channels,” the
entrepreneur said.

To recap, the NCTR imposed the fine on Hayrenik TV to the tune of
200 minimum salaries for the unlicensed rebroadcasting programmes of
France’s Mezzo TV. The chairman of the commission said he intends
to appeal against the decision.

NEW TIMES LEADER MEETS WITH IRANIAN AND RUSSIAN DIPLOMATS

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 15. ARMINFO. The leader of the New Times party Aram
Karapetyan met today with Ali Hashemi, the executive for Armenia
of the Iranian president administration, and Alexander Rumyantsev,
the first secretary of the Russian embassy in Armenia.

The sides discussed the international political situation in Armenia
and the current developments in the South Caucasus.

Today Karapetyan also met with Georgia’s Ambassador to Armenia Georgy
Saganelidze.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Karabakh leader urges Red Cross to pay more attention to refugees’ needs

Arminfo, Yerevan
11 Feb 05

Stepanakert, 11 February: The president of the Nagornyy Karabakh
Republic [NKR], Arkadiy Gukasyan, today received Mireille Pinard,
head of the representative office of the International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC) in Stepanakert.

During the meeting, Pinard familiarized the president with the work
carried out in 2004, the press service of the NKR president told
Arminfo news agency. She said that employees of the Karabakh office
of the Red Cross last year repeatedly visited prisons with the aim
of familiarizing themselves with the conditions in which prisoners
are held and their state of health. The local office of the ICRC has
also implemented a programme to restore medical stations in various
villages of the republic and to provide them with the necessary
medical equipment and medicines.

Pinard said that the ICRC completed a programme on the construction of
playgrounds for children in various population centres of the republic
in 2004. Thus, there are about 40 playgrounds in the villages of
Nagornyy Karabakh at the moment. The Red Cross has also rendered
humanitarian aid to the socially-needy strata of the population.

[Passage omitted: The ICRC is also implementing other programmes]

In turn, noting the importance of the Red Cross’s mission in Nagornyy
Karabakh, Arkadiy Gukasyan called on this organization to speed up
its activities in various directions and proposed solving the most
topical problems with joint efforts. At the same time, he asked the
representative office of the ICRC to pay more attention to the needs
of refugees who have settled in Nagornyy Karabakh.

ARMENIAN DELEGATION PARTICIPATES IN 7TH REGIONAL MEETING OF INTERNATIONAL
LABOR ORGANIZATION IN BUDAPEST

BUDAPEST, FEBRUARY 16. ARMINFO. The 7th European Regional Meeting
of International Labor Organization opened in Budapest, Tuesday. A
delegation from Armenia headed by Minister for Labor and Social
Affairs Aghvan Vardanyan also participated in it.

The meeting participants gathered to discuss issues of economic reforms
and problems of globalization. Hungarian Prime Minister of and Prime
Minister of Luxemburg opened the meeting addressing a welcoming speech
to those present. ILO Director General Juan Samavia also spoke at
the opening ceremony.

The report of the organization says that despite high rates of economic
growth, during the last several years, the population’s incomes in the
CIS, including in RF, are lower than the level of 1989. The scales of
extreme poverty are still considerably enough in Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Kirghizstan, Tajikistan, Moldova (some 48% of the population).

The report draws attention to the issue of labor migration. In
conformity with different calculation, in 2000 22 mln foreign citizens
resided in Western Europe, including 3.3 mln people had no legal
status. In RF this figure was 5 mln people.

Wednesday, Minister for Labor and Social Affairs Aghvan Vardanyan will
make a report on the situation of labor market in Armenia and on the
socio-economic state of the population. The regional conference will
be completed on 18 February.

RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEY LAVROV TO DISCUSS COOPERATION ISSUES WITH
RUSSIAN LEADERSHIP

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16. ARMINFO. One of the points in the schedule
of meetings of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, arriving
in Yerevan on one-day visit, is consideration of the fulfillment of
Moscow Agreements (May 2004) at the highest level regarding the further
increase in the level of Russian-Armenian interaction, in particular,
solution to transport problems of Armenia, fuel and energy sphere,
enlargement of direct economic ties between the subjects of RF and
Armenia. Official Representative of Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander
Yakovenko makes this statement in connection with the visit of Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Yerevan starting Wednesday.

Yakovenko says that one of the priorities during the negotiations
will be the increasing trade-and-economic, cultural and humanitarian
cooperation. Issues of organization of national years of Russia
and Armenia in 2005 and 2006 will be discussed as well. A special
attention will be paid to coordination of efforts to increase the
political interaction against international terrorism. He says that
Moscow and Yerevan are disposed to deeper exchange of opinions on
the problem of bilateral interaction in the international area,
coordination of acts at international organizations, as well as on
regional problems. The sides will also discuss issues of interaction
within the framework of CIS, including CSTO. The sides will focus
on coordination of efforts of the two countries’ foreign political
departments on rehabilitation of the situation in the Caucasus,
settlement of the existing conflicts, creation of an atmosphere of
trust to launch an all Caucasian cooperation, Yakovenko says.

Armenian opposition party says authorities’ Karabakh policy “failure”

Arminfo
8 Feb 05

Yerevan, 8 February: The president and three coalition parties, who
have seized power in the country, are responsible for the unfavourable
for the Armenian side turn in the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict, the Democratic Armenia Party said in a statement today.

The PACE [Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe]
resolution on Nagornyy Karabakh, the statement made by its author
David Atkinson which denied the right of the Nagornyy Karabakh people
to self-determination, the formation and visit of an OSCE mission
to the “occupied territories” point to the failure of the Armenian
authorities’ foreign policy, the statement said.

“The Armenian people have to make a choice – either democracy in the
name of Karabakh and regional security or dictatorship masked by the
Karabakh idea which may result precisely in the loss of Karabakh,”
the statement said. The authors of the statement believe that the only
way out of the current crisis is to change the quality and content
of social life.

8,500 NEW SME REGISTERED LAST YEAR

ArmenPress
Feb 16 2005

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS: The share of small and medium
enterprises in the last year’s overall GDP rose 1 percent to 39
percent. Rshtuni Martirosian, the head of the National Center for
Development of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, said today the growth
was reported in all sectors. The growth in trade was 1.6 percent,
in industry and construction 2.5 and 4.3 percent respectively.

He said the development of SME should not be hinged on government
support only, as it is contingent also on the improvement of the
population’s economic condition and their higher purchasing capacity.
According to his figures, some 44 percent of construction and 78
percent of trade workers are in small and medium-sized businesses.

He also said last year some 8,500 new small and medium-sized businesses
were registered, creating 18,000 new jobs. Their share in exports
last year stood at 16 percent against 14 last year. He also said
that though there is no official statistics about how many small and
medium-sized enterprise are closed annually, but in his estimation,
one in every ten is closed due to absence of markets for their products
or faulty management.

ArmenPress
Feb 16 2005

KOCHARIAN REITERATES OPEN AND TRANSPARENT ACTIVITY OF TAX AUTHORITIES

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS: President Kocharian met today
with the chief of the state taxation service Felix Tsolakian to
discuss some issues regarding collection of taxes and mandatory
social payments in the first quarter of the year.
Kocharian’s press office quoted Tsolakian as saying that tax
revenues in January amounted to 11.3 billion drams, by 2 billion more
against the 2004 January, while collection of mandatory social
payments was 3.4 billion, by 1.1 billion more than in 2004 January.
The two men also discussed the pace of solving a set of problems
outlined during Kocharian’s visit to state taxation service earlier
this year. Kocharian was said to reiterate the necessity of open and
transparent work of the service, adding also that “the people should
now who fails to fulfill their duties and why.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MOSCOW NEEDS A MORE PRAGMATIC CIS POLICY

RIA Novosti, Russia
Feb 16 2005

MOSCOW, February 16 (RIA Novosti) – According to prominent political
scientist Andranik Migranyan, Russia should clearly formulate its
interests in the CIS, Politichesky Zhurnal reported.

According to Migranyan, Russia should officially recognize Abkhazian,
South Ossetian, Transdniestrian and Nagorno-Karabakh independence.
Doing so would pose no legal option because Russia is a legal
successor to Soviet legislation, which permitted the autonomous
regions of a republic withdrawing from the union the legal leeway to
declare independence.

The EU wants to convince Ukraine and Georgia that they should ally
themselves with Europe and not Russia. If their political ambitions
gain the necessary support in Kiev and Tbilisi, there will be
grounds for Russia to distance itself from the two countries. Let
Kiev formulate its own policy to its east, south and west.

Georgia will have a hard time maintaining intense, revolutionary
emotions because promises to restore territorial integrity remain
unfulfilled. Such a volatile situation could ensue in chaos.

The Turkmen totalitarian regime and Islam Karimov’s secular regime in
Uzbekistan have not worried the west yet, since both republics are
keen on cooperation. However, with the Kyrgyz and Kazakh opposition
structures, the west feels the need to be a beacon of freedom.

These republics were previously inclined to oppose Russia, but after
the events in Ukraine they realized that the Russian leaders are not
as pragmatic as their American counterparts.

Now Azeri, Kazakh and Kyrgyz opposition leaders will emulate the
Georgian and Ukrainian leaders and adapt pro-Western, and largely
anti-Russian, policies – all this in order to get financial and
political support from Washington and Brussels.

If Russia wants to retain its influence in the CIS, Moscow should
stop speculating on double standards. In politics, one must learn to
apply both double and triple standards.