World Bank allocates over 4m euros for poverty reduction in Armenia
Arminfo
11 Jan 05

YEREVAN
The Armenian government and the World Bank today signed a 4.7m-euro
grant agreement linked to the implementation of the Poverty Reduction
and Growth Facility (PRGF) programme, Arminfo has learnt from the
Armenian Ministry of Finance and Economy. The grant will be allocated
by the government of the Netherlands, the source said.
[Passage omitted: background of the PRGF programme]

CHINA REAY TO CONTRIBUTE TO KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT
YEREVAN, JANUARY 11. ARMINFO. China respects the territoiral integrity
and sovereighty of Azerbaijan, says Chinese Ambassador to Azerbaijan
Zhang Xiyun.
“We have no national interests in the Caucasus and would be happy to
see the Karabakh conflict settled fairly and in compliance with he
international law.”
Here Beijing is ready to tightly cooperate with Baku and is committed
to contribute to the matter including though the UN Security Council.
Asked if the investigation into the case of illegal supplies of
Typhoon missiles to Armenia Xiyun said that the supplies were carried
out by a commercial firm without the Chinese Government’s
knowledge. “I don’t think that this case should affect the development
of bilateral relations. We should build our ties with a look towards
the future rather than back to the past.”

THERE IS NO DOUBT NAGORNY KARABAKH CONFLICTING PARTY, VLADIMIR
KAZIMIROV THINKS
YEREVAN, JANUARY 11. ARMINFO. There are many additional difficulties
in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, and the main thing is that
Baku creates artificial difficulties that Karabakh is not recognized a
conflicting party. Former Russian Cochairman of OSCE Minsk Group
Vladimir Kazimirov writes in the article concerning the Tuesday
meeting between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
According to him, nagorny Karabakh is the center and the heart of the
conflict, it cannot be only an object. “The population of Nagorny
Karabakh is very interested in settlement of the conflict –
incomparably more than the remaining residents of Azerbaijan r
Armenia”, Kazimirov says, adding that just the status of Nagorny
Karabakh is the main reason and the main moot problem of the
conflict. “There is no doubt that Nagorny Karabakh is a conflicting
party, it must be a subject, participant of negotiations”, Kazimirov
stresses, at the same time presenting many examples of actual fixing
of autonomous role of Nagorny Karabakh in the conflict. Vladimir
Kazimirov thinks that the cochairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group till now
have dealings with three parties in the conflict. As a rule, during
the visits they visit not only Baku and Yerevan, but Stepanakert as
well.

Minister says Armenia to benefit greatly from new Russian-Georgian ferry link
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
10 Jan 05
[Presenter] The official reopening of a ferry link between the
[Russian] port of Kavkaz and Poti [in Georgia] was held today. In
accordance with initial agreements, a ferry carrying 24 wagons will
operate every three days. According to expert assessments, it is
expected that over 500,000 t of cargo will be transported between Poti
and the port of Kavkaz annually. The price of imported goods may
decrease because the transport tariffs for goods transited from Russia
to Armenia via the newly-opened route will decrease by about 30 per
cent.
[Andranik Manukyan, Armenian transport and communications minister,
over the phone from Tbilisi] An agreement was signed on a ferry link
between the ports of Poti and Kavkaz in Tbilisi today. Under this
agreement, from now on cargo bound from Russia for Armenia will be
transported from the port of Kavkaz to Poti and from there to Yerevan
by railway. It is a very advantageous option for Armenia, because
compared to the current transport route, the cost of cargo transport
from (?Lichevskiy) to the ports of Poti or Batumi is about 30-35 per
cent higher.
This will also result in a surge in trade between Russia and Armenia,
as well as in a decrease in prices. This route is twice as short as
the distance between the ports of Lichevskiy and Poti. This will also
benefit our shipping companies and will promote an increase in foreign
trade.
Negotiations were also held between the Russian and Georgian sides
today and it was decided to create a coordination council to oversee
ferry cargo transportation. There will be an Armenian representative
in the council as well. We will have an opportunity to take part in
setting tariffs.
I reckon that this agreement is of paramount importance to the
Armenian economy.

TALKS ON NAGORNY KARABAKH DIRECTED TO THE VERSION OF STEP-BY-STEP
SETTLEMENT
YEREVAN, JANUARY 11. ARMINFO. Talks on Nagorny Karabakh are directed
towards the version of step-by-step settlement of the conflict, the
head of department for international relations of the Azerbaijani
presidential staff Novruz Mamedov told the “525th newspaper” of Baku.
According to him, opinions on removal of the problem by this way are
reflected in the proposals made by various international
organizations. Armenia have not agreed for years to continue the
negotiations on the basis of these principles. “However, the
negotiations are going in this way and it is decided to continue this
process. We do hope that serious measures will be taken towards the
settlement of the Karabakh conflict this year”, Mamedov says.
He thinks that the Azerbaijani diplomacy has an aim to achieve a full
support of international community, the absence of which is one of the
reasons hindering the conflict’s settlement. “A serious work is done
with the CE, UN, EU and other international organizations last years”,
he says.
Answering the question about further fate of the Azerbaijani
initiative “on discussions of the situation in the occupied territory
of Azerbaijan”, Mamedov noted that the final resolution is not adopted
yet, however, according to him, the negotiations may be continued at
any time. “This circumstance keeps Armenia in the constant fear and we
aim to attract an attention of the whole world to both the illegal
actions of Armenia and the fact of occupation of our lends. We believe
that the discussions in UN General Assembly will be continued and the
resolution reflecting the issue we raised will be adopted, Mamedov
says. -r-

Armenian minister hails ties with Russia as stable
Interfax news agency, Moscow
10 Jan 05

YEREVAN
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan has said that relations with
Russia are stable.
“Our relations are very stable, without any upheavals,” he said in an
interview with Interfax.
“In this context, I can say that the entire range of relations with
Russia has improved last year,” Oskanyan said. “While earlier, the
political component of our relations and security cooperation
developed faster (than in other areas), last year also saw some
positive changes in cooperation in the economic sphere,” he said.
“The year 2004 was quite eventful, there were meetings between the
presidents of Russia and Armenia, and exchanges of visits at a fairly
high level,” he said.
“What happened in Georgia or Ukraine did not affect Armenian-Russian
relations in any way and will not affect them in the future,” he said.
Oskanyan praised the development of contacts with NATO. “In 2005,
Armenia will present its programme of individual cooperation with
NATO, on which it is working now,” he said. “It should add a new
quality to our relations with the alliance and should play an
important role in our general security system,” he said.
The minister spoke highly of Armenia’s cooperation with the United
States. “Armenia has been given the status of a country with regular
trade relations with the United States, giving it a chance to expand
trade and economic cooperation and make better use of the
possibilities given by membership of the World Trade Organization,” he
said.

Armenian president wants more “efficient” work from customs
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
8 Jan 05
[Presenter] The process of delivering earnings to the state budget in
2005 will be tough and the custom administration will have to work
much harder and more efficiently, President Robert Kocharyan told a
meeting with the leadership of the State Customs Committee today.
[Correspondent over video of meeting] During his first meeting with
the leadership of the State Customs Committee this year, President
Robert Kocharyan noted that 2005 would demand more efficient and hard
work from the customs administration. Improvements in the activities
of the custom and tax administrations will be the focus of attention
this year.
[Robert Kocharyan, captioned] I am interested in the following issues,
first, how are you going to implement these tasks?
Second, what reforms will you introduce to make your work more
civilized and productive within the legal framework?
You must remember that your activities should aim at encouraging
businessmen rather than hindering them. I am confident that if all the
legal procedures are observed and standards of the civilized world are
adopted, this will have a very positive impact on businesses.
[Correspondent] The head of state highlighted the importance of the
fight against smuggling and the need for cooperation with the tax
authorities in this area. He stressed that a lack of such cooperation
makes tax evasion and violations possible.
In this context the president spoke of the importance of implementing
as soon as possible, before the end of the first three months, a
methodology for making checks more effective and for improving
internal checks of the custom checkpoints. The president also said
that the presidential oversight board was tasked with undertaking
certain steps in this direction, the results of which would show the
level of effectiveness of monitoring the customs system.
[Robert Kocharyan] The principle of inspections and monitoring should
be the following: the public should be told about the rules of the
game and asked to adhere to these rules. The quantitative index of
your inspections does not mean much by itself. It is necessary to take
one or two cases and follow them up to the end. By looking into every
aspect of the given case it would be possible to find out what is
going on and what mechanisms are being used for that.
[Passage omitted: correspondent recaps the president’s words]
I believe all of you realize there is still much to be done to ensure
that the system works efficiently. A lot depends on you. The fact that
Armenia is 42nd on a list of free market economies which is published
annually, means that a lot is yet to be done. I think we achieved a
lot last year and in the last couple of years. But it is not
enough. All of you must understand that there is still a lot to be
done. We will do it no matter what. But if there are persons who
cannot keep up with the pace of work, then we will continue without
them. There is no other way.
The tax committee and your administration can either kill the economy
or give it a normal boost. This year is going to be an important one
in terms of improving the customs and tax systems.
[Correspondent] At the end of the meeting President Kocharyan ordered
relevant officials to provide him with a precise timetable of measures
for resolving the problems raised at the meeting.
Lilit Setrakyan, Vartan Petrosyan, “Aylur”.

Georgian, Russian ministers to sign rail ferry service agreement
Imedi TV, Tbilisi
9 Jan 05

Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin has arrived in Georgia to sign
an agreement on the operation of a rail ferry service between the two
countries. The possible reopening of a rail link through Abkhazia will
also be discussed during the visit. Georgian Minister of State Kakha
Bendukidze has said that such a rail link cannot operate unless
Georgian border guards and customs officers are allowed to be
stationed on the Russian-Abkhaz border. The following is an excerpt
from a report by Imedi TV on 9 January:
[Presenter] Economic activity between Russia and Georgia may serve to
improve the political relationship between the two countries. A rail
ferry service is soon to begin operating between the Russian Black Sea
port of Kavkaz and the Poti and Batumi seaports. This will greatly
benefit many businesses. It will also be a lifeline for neighbouring
Armenia, which can only send and receive freight via Georgia because
of the conflict with Azerbaijan.
Experts hope that once the service is operating freight costs will
fall noticeably, making this route very attractive. Initially a weekly
ferry will operate between Russia and the Georgian ports, although
this will later be increased to two or three times a week.
Georgia’s economic development minister and Russia’s transport
minister will sign an agreement tomorrow. Russian Transport Minister
Igor Levitin arrived in Tbilisi on a two-day visit about an hour ago.
[Levitin, speaking to journalists in Russian] This will allow
competition between sea and rail freight, therefore it is not an
obstacle to another route opening [apparent reference to a rail link
via Abkhazia], which you have asked me about.
[Question] Will a railway link be opened via Abkhazia?
[Levitin] As we decided last year, we are working on this issue. We
are now studying the state of the rail infrastructure.
[Question] Are you preparing to set up a consortium?
[Levitin] Tomorrow we want to talk about cooperation that is needed
here, and not only political, as we said last time. The companies that
deal with freight through all these countries should be purely
business orientated. This should all be done by operating
companies. There is already a rail service in Abkhazia operated by a
private company. All of this is on the shoulders of commercial
structures.
[Kakha Bendukidze, Georgian state minister] If the rail link via
Abkhazia is to be restored, the most fundamental condition needs to be
met: on the Georgian-Russian border there should be our [Georgian]
border checkpoint and our customs officers.
This particular project would be of great financial benefit.
[Davit Onoprishvili, chairman of the Georgian Railways Department] We
have rail ferry services with Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine, the
fourth is now Russia, and this year we may manage it with Turkey,
whose transport minister was here just before the New Year. A service
to Turkey is very important for Armenia as Azerbaijan insists that
freight going through its territory should not end up in Armenia via
Georgia. In that case the one and only route for freight to go to
Armenia is via Georgia’s railways and the ports of Poti and
Batumi. This ferry will be the only such route from Russia.
[Passage omitted]
[Presenter] During the Russian transport minister’s visit the issue of
restoring the railway through Abkhazia will be discussed. The
reopening of the railway between Sukhumi and Inguri will require tens
of millions of dollars. Russia is prepared to pay this amount but
there are still political problems to be resolved before the technical
ones, including the return of refugees to Abkhazia and security for
freight. The reopening of the Sukhumi-Inguri railway as yet remains
just an idea.
[Onoprishvili] Repairing the railway from Sukhumi to Zugdidi, to
Inguri, will be very expensive and will take at least six or eight
months. Talks are under way on this issue, and it will probably be
discussed at this meeting. However, in my opinion, as the [Abkhaz
presidential] election is still to take place, we do not know yet, nor
does Russia, with whom we will have to discuss customs, the security
of freight and a whole range of other issues. It is clear that it is
hard to discuss the reopening of the railway right now, but there is a
desire – people are interested, including Russia, Armenia, and no less
Georgia – not just for reopening the railway but also settling the
conflict and allowing refugees to return.

Azeri official denies US report on violation of religious freedoms
ANS TV, Baku
8 Jan 05
[Presenter] The US State Department has seriously criticized
Azerbaijan for the state of religious freedoms. And official Baku has
described these accusations as slanderous.
[Correspondent over archive footage] The US State Department has
released an annual report on the state of religious freedoms in
2004. According to the report, some religious groups have complained
about problems with registration.
[Passage: further details of the report]
Rafiq Aliyev, head of the State Committee for Work with Religious
Structures, does not agree with the US State Department
report. Official Baku does not accept this as an accusation. The
document is not based on facts and is slanderous. Aliyev said that
religious minorities are facing much more problems in the USA, which
has issued the report, than those in any other country. People in that
country are even afraid of calling themselves Muslims. People are
denied employment because of their religious beliefs. These facts have
been registered in New York and Washington. If two people apply for
the same job, the Christian is hired. But there have been no such
reports in Azerbaijan, he said.
Aliyev considers it lawful that the State Committee for Work with
Religious Structures is keeping the importation of religious
literature under its control. Quote, we do not allow the importation
of literature which is not in line with our national interests and we
will do so in the future, end quote.
Aliyev said there is no problem with the registration of religious
communities. We have received no complaints from the religious
communities that have applied for registration, he said.
Aliyev said it is legal that foreign citizens are not allowed to
propagate their religion in the country. And the report that
untraditional religions and the Cuma mosque are being persecuted in
Azerbaijan is not correct. The Cuma mosque is being refurbished now
and the congregation prays in another mosque. The head of the
community is making speeches in the media on a regular basis.
[Passage omitted: Quotes from a report about the state of religious
freedoms in Armenia]

The Messenger, Georgia
Jan 10 2005
Russia’s transport minister visits Georgia
Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin was in Georgia on January 9
to mark the opening of ferry transport between the ports of Poti in
Georgia and Kavkaz in Russia.
The Russian minister also held negotiations with the Georgian side
concerning the opening of a Georgia-Russia railway line through
Abkhazia. Representatives from Azerbaijan and Armenia also attended
the meeting.
According to Minister of Economy Aleksi Aleksishvili, “a special
consortium will be created between the Georgian, Azerbaijani,
Armenian and Russian railway departments to rehabilitate the line,
after which it will be possible to restore railway movement.”