SNSC In Favor Of Boosting Relations With Armenia: Rowhani
Tehran Times, Iran
June 23 2004
TEHRAN (IRNA) — Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council
(SNSC) Hasan Rowhani said on Tuesday that the SNSC is in favor of
boosting of Iran’s relations with Armenia.
In a meeting with chief of Armenian presidential office Artash
Tumanyan, Rowhani said that Iran regards development of relations
with Armenia as being in line with helping regional cooperation to
restore peace and security to the entire region.
“Yerevan has special status in Iranian history and Iran is willing
to boost the historical relations between the two countries,”
Rowhani said.
He said that signing an accord on setting up of a gas pipeline between
the two countries is a fundamental step forward towards deepening
cooperation in the energy sector.
He said that establishment of Gajeran Tunnel will link Armenia to
the North-South Corridor and Iran to the Black Sea as well.
On the economic development in the Caucasus, Rowhani said that
economic development will be impossible without peace and security
and collective cooperation of the regional states at the highest
possible level should focus on regional stability..
Tumanyan said that Iran and Armenia have developed excellent relations
since the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1990 and the upcoming
visit of President Mohammad Khatami to Armenia in September would be
a turning point in bilateral relations.
He underlined the importance of north-south corridor and called for
Iranian support for Armenia joining the corridor.
Tumanyan said that signing the accord on laying a gas pipeline between
the two countries is a victory and hoped that the pipeline would be
operational within the next two years.
“Technical and feasibility studies on Gajeran Tunnel have been
completed and the project is ready for signature,” Tumanyan said.
He said that Tehran-Yerevan relations are essential for regional
security and that Iran has special status in the foreign policy
of Armenia.
Tumanyan also conferred on Tuesday with Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi
on issues of mutual interest.
Describing the current level of political relations as satisfactory,
Kharrazi voiced satisfaction over the outcome of Iran-Armenia Economic
Commission meeting and hoped to witness further expansion of economic
and commercial cooperation to a desirable level.
The Armenian envoy, for his part, described bilateral economic
activities as ‘fruitful’ and said the already reached agreements
between the sides would have positive impacts on mutual relations.

Iranian Foundation To Present Parajanov Works
Tehran Times, Iran
June 23 2004
Tehran Times Art Desk
TEHRAN (MNA) — The Niavaran Foundation of Artistic Creations plans
to present movies, paintings, and collages of the Georgian filmmaker
and painter Sergey Iosifovich Paradzhanov during a program which will
start from June 24.
His films “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” (1964), “Color of
Pomegranate” (1968), “Legend of Suram Fortress” (1984), and “Ashik
Kerib” (1988) as well as two documentaries of Parajanov and another
documentary about him are scheduled to be screened at the
Cinematheque of the foundation until June 30.
The films as well as his works in painting and collage will be
reviewed by Vigen Barkhordarian from Armenia and the Iranian critics
and artists Robert Safarian, Tahmasb Solhju, Habib Derakhshani,
Ashkan Rad, Ahmad Mir-Ehsan, and Ya’qub Rashtian during the weeklong
program.
Parajanov (1924-1990) directed more than 15 films and several
documentaries. He also created many outstanding paintings and
collages, which are housed at his museum in Yerevan in Armenia.

GERMANY TO PROVIDE FRESH LOANS TO ARMENIA
ArmenPress
June 22 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 22, ARMENPRESS: Armenian prime minister Andranik
Margarian who has left today for Germany on a three-day working visit
to participate in German-Armenian Economic Cooperation Conference is
expected to discuss with German minister for economic cooperation
and development Heidemarie Witschorek-Zoll, who is also the German
co-chairman of inter-governmental commission for cooperation, a range
of issues pertaining to German-Armenian economic cooperation.
An agreement on release of a package of German credits to Armenia
in the next 3-4 years is supposed to be sealed in 2005. Armenian
finance and economy minister Vartan Khachatrian said today before
flying to Berlin that after the end of the visit an agreement will
be signed in Yerevan on the release of 7.5 millions German loan for
the support to building of hydro-power plants, 1.5 million of which
will be allocated as a grant.
Khachatrian also said that a German KwF bank plans to release a 30
million euros loan to Armenian for upgrading the privatized Yerevan
power plant.

UNDP SCAD AND EU HOLD SEMINAR ON NARCOTICS
ArmenPress
June 22 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 22, ARMENPRESS: According to approximate estimation, some
20,000-30,000 Armenians are drug addicts. Narcotics arrive in Armenia
mainly through Bagratashen border checkpoint on Armenian-Georgian
border and Meghri on the border with Iran. The most widely spread
narcotic in Armenia is hashish.
These figures were revealed today at a workshop on “Implementation
of the norms of international law on extradition and mutual legal
assistance related to drug offences into national law and practice” at
the Armenia Marriott Hotel. The workshop is organized by the Southern
Caucasus Anti-Drug Program (SCAD) financed by the European Union and
the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in conjunction with
UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The main goal of this workshop
is to provide relevant technical information to the participants and
give an opportunity to the Armenian legal authorities to highlight the
gaps and shortcomings existing in the legislation and law-enforcement
activities in Armenia, to enrich their knowledge in the above mentioned
area through the exchange of information with the experts from EU,
UNODC and CIS.

OPPOSITION ADMITS ITS MISTAKES
ArmenPress
June 22 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 22, ARMENPRESS: A senior member of the major opposition
Ardarutyun alliance admitted today that in an effort to force president
Kocharian into resignation through rallies and marches the opposition
made a chain of serious mistakes, which he said will not be repeated
in future.
Aram Sarkisian, the leader of the radical opposition Hanrapetutyun
(Republic) party has again claimed that the power in Armenia is going
to change soon. “We are going to continue the struggle for reinstating
constitutional order, for holding free and fair elections, for which
we have to be more organized,” he said.
Speaking at a roundtable on domestic political situation in Armenia,
Sarkisian said the the main goal was the departure of president
Kocharian.
On Monday Ardarutyun said it would most likely start a campaign of
signature collection for the removal of the president. According
to Viktor Dalakian, a senior member of the alliance, though the
undertaking would have a symbolic significance, as under the law even
a petition with millions of signatures in the support of opposition
calls does not provide for president’s resignation, it would expose
the volume of real popular distrust towards the authorities.

1,764 ARMENIANS ALLOWED TO TRAVEL TO GERMANY THIS YEAR
ArmenPress
June 22 2004
YEREVAN, JUNE 22, ARMENPRESS: Since the beginning of the year some
1,764 Armenian citizens have been granted permission to travel to
Germany. The figure for 2003 was 3,617 and 3,035 for 2002.
According to UNHCR Yerevan agency, Germany has received the third
largest number of asylum seekers, 10, 170, in the course of 2004,
coming after France and great Britain. Some 148 Armenians sought
asylum in Germany this year, more than the number of asylum seekers
in the USA.

Armenian PM to enhance cooperation with Germany
By Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
June 21, 2004 Monday
YEREVAN, June 21 — Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan is
leaving for Germany Tuesday on a working visit to take part in the
Armenian-German economic cooperation forum, the government press
service told Itar-Tass Monday.
The Armenian prime minister plans to meet German Foreign Minister
Joschka Fischer and other top officials.
The level of bilateral economic cooperation with Germany is far from
satisfactory, the press service said. Forty-nine Armenian-German joint
ventures and 17 German enterprises operate in Armenia. The figures are
less than France has in the republic. Meanwhile, Yerevan considers
the German experience as interesting and useful, especially in the
area of alternative sources of energy.
German imports make up 3.4 percent of the total imports to Armenia,
and export – is 6.6 percent of the republican total.
German government granted 107.23 million euros to Armenia within
the framework of the financial cooperation program and 33.46 million
euros – as technical cooperation, the press service said.

MUSIC: AZNAVOUR TELLS HIS STORY IN MILAN
ANSA English Media Service
June 22, 2004
MILAN
(ANSA) – MILAN, June 22 – Popular French singer Charles Aznavour said
that he was not an Armenian from France but simply a Frenchman of
Armenian origin when talking about himself in Milan’s Teatro Dal Verme
at the opening of the fifth La Milanesiana cultural event on Monday.
“I’m not an Armenian from France, I’m simply a Frenchman of Armenian
origin and I care more about humanitarian affairs than politics,” said
Aznavour who is son of an Armenian family which fled before the Turkish
genocide against the Armenians at the beginning of 20th century.
Aznavour entered the stage with the humbleness of a lively and somewhat
shy 80-year-old. The singer was dressed in ivory colour and matching
shoes, he looked almost disoriented when the public welcomed him with
a standing ovation.
The audience that came to see Aznavour were elegant women and men of
a certain age, many with pastel-coloured jackets, white hair and a
few young people, actress Ottavia Piccolo and the member of Italian
Parliament, Giancarlo Pagliarini.
Presented by former editor of main Italian daily Corriere della Sera,
Ferruccio De Bortoli, Aznavour did not make introductions and began
reading some excerpts from his autobiography which will go on sale
from Wednesday.
Aznavour chose lively stories to tell the Milanese public and said
nothing specific on that travel from the inferno where the paradise
called emigration begins, as he wrote in his autobiography.
He preferred to recall the amusing meeting with Edith Piaf, the singer
who discovered him and of whom he remembered her lioness character
and outbursts and the tender nickname she invented for him, “little
stupid genius”.
Aznavour read in French, but slowly, while the original words from
the text in French and the Italian translation were shown on a screen
behind him.
The rest of the evening was dedicated to history and music. Former
Italian Ambassdor to Moscow and political commentator for Corriere
della Sera, Sergio Romano, made special observation on eastern
Europe and the conditions in Armenia, reminding of the Turkish laws
from 1915 for deportation of Armenians and the confiscation of the
their goods. The Armenians were massacred on their way to exile,
with 800,000 killed but there were surely more victims, Romano said.
The music was with Claude Debussy’s melancholic notes, with Michele
Campanella on the piano who chose pieces from Reverie to Estampes
especially because of the tone of Aznavour’s voice and because they
represent the quintessence of French music, Campanella said.
“When people ask me whether I feel more Armenian or more French,
there is only one possible answer – a hundred percent French and a
hundred percent Armenian,” Aznavour wrote in his autobiography.
The French singer is Armenia’s ambassador at large since 1994.
“Armenia is a dream from which my family comes,” Aznavour told the
audience while the screen behind him showed images of Charles as a
child and of when he was awarded Commander of the Legion of Honour
by French President Jacques Chirac.
“I never forgot my roots but I hid them when Armenia was a socialist
state,” Aznavour said.
Today he is aware of the problems still to face but he does not intend
to go into politics.
“I’m an ambassador of a country, I know that there are still
difficulties but politics is not my job, it is not my language,”
Aznavour said. (ANSA)

Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press
June 23, 2004
ARMENIA COULD BE KICKED OUT OF THE PACE. —
Confrontation Between Opposition and Government Is Becoming
Permanent.
By Viktoria Panfilova. Nezavisimaya gazeta, May 28, 2004, p. 5.
Condensed text:
In Yerevan, the coalition of three parties — the Republican Party of
Armenia, Orinats Yerkir [Country of Law] and Dashnaktsutyun [the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation] — that control a majority of the
seats in the Armenian parliament has invited the opposition (the
Justice bloc and the National Unity Party) to resume talks. It may be
recalled that the first round of talks between the parties making up
the pro-Kocharyan coalition and the united opposition was
unsuccessful. . . . A statement issued by the coalition says, in
part: “Unfortunately, the opposition forces did not take a
constructive path that would offer a real possibility of jointly
resolving the tense political situation that has come about in our
country. In choosing to hold rallies instead of pursue dialogue, they
have refused to heed the Council of Europe’s call to solve the
problem by political means and without preconditions.”
For his part, Viktor Dalakyan, secretary of the opposition Justice
faction, said that the opposition is willing to reopen dialogue with
the government only if arrested opposition activists are released. He
also urged Armenians to attend a demonstration that the opposition
plans to hold in downtown Yerevan on June 4.
It may be recalled that, late last week, the opposition resumed its
protest demonstrations in the central part of the capital city to
demand the release of the arrested opposition members. . . . There
was also a crackdown on members of the Communist Party, the
Republican Party and the National Unity Party. At the same time, all
roads leading into Yerevan were closed again, and drivers on
intercity routes were told not to report to work. The authorities put
police throughout Armenia on alert.
Meanwhile, the US State Department recently published its latest
report on human rights, and the document is highly critical of the
Armenian authorities. President Robert Kocharyan has so far declined
to comment on the report, but he did give an extensive interview on
the results of his visit to Moscow, in which he said that he had the
full and unconditional support of the Kremlin. Moreover, Armenian
officials cite with great satisfaction a recent report issued by the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the political
situation in Armenia. It says that although the presidential election
was marred by many instances of fraud, they “did not have any
significant impact” on the outcome of the voting. The report thus
refutes opposition statements questioning the head of state’s
“legitimacy.”
True, everywhere else the lengthy document has extremely
unflattering things to say about the Armenian authorities, citing
regular and widespread violations of civil rights and freedoms. The
report says that the Armenian delegation’s credentials “may be
reconsidered” at the PACE’s upcoming September session.
It’s clear that, under these circumstances, the opposition is going
to step up the confrontation: It has now been announced that sit-ins
will be held in addition to the rallies in Yerevan. . . .

Emissions market attracts plant engineers
The Nikkei Weekly (Japan)
June 21, 2004
The Kyoto Protocol is inspiring plant engineering firms and general
contractors, although they emit only limited amounts of greenhouse
gases, to launch operations aimed at trading carbon dioxide emission
rights as a new source of revenue.
Japan is expected to find it difficult to achieve its CO2 reduction
target under the Kyoto pact – a 6% cut in overall emissions in fiscal
2008-2012 from 1990 levels. That will likely force companies that emit
large amounts of the greenhouse gas, such as electric power companies,
oil refiners and steelmakers, to obtain emission rights by working
on overseas projects that help to cut emissions abroad. That will
provide a business opportunity for other firms.
JGC Corp. plans to launch operations in China’s Henan Province as
early as 2006 to collect and break down dinitrogen monoxide, which
has 310 times the global warming effect of CO2. The firm has begun
studying business feasibility with the support of New Energy and
Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). It expects to
invest 1-2 billion yen in the operations.
By collecting N2O, a byproduct of nylon materials production, JGC
expects to obtain 2-3 million metric tons of CO2 emission rights
annually, equal to about 0.4% to 0.6% of annual CO2 emissions by
Japan’s industrial sector. The company is also studying operations
to collect CO2 emissions from natural gas fields.
Similarly, Toyo Engineering Corp. plans to launch operations in
Kazakhstan as early as 2005 to collect methane from coal mines to use
for fuel in power generation. The firm expects to secure about 120,000
tons of emission rights annually from the operations. Methane has a
global warming impact 21 times that of CO2. Toyo Engineering plans
to solicit investors for the project, which is expected to cost a
total of about 500 million yen.
General contractors are also considering operations to collect
methane from waste disposal facilities for use as fuel. Shimizu Corp.
plans to launch such operations in Armenia in 2005 and Ukraine in
2008. The company will also pursue these operations in China as soon
as it obtains permission from the government.
Kajima Corp. and Obayashi Corp. are investigating the feasibility of
such operations in Malaysia and Thailand, respectively.
The move by plant engineering firms and general contractors to enter
greenhouse gas emission rights operations underscores how these firms
see global warming as a business opportunity and not solely as an
environmental risk.
JGC and Toyo Engineering established companywide teams about a year
ago to look at potential projects that follow the Kyoto mechanism
allowing industrialized nations to obtain emission rights by helping
developing nations cut their emission volumes.
Because plant engineering firms and general contractors do not operate
factories, their carbon dioxide emission volumes are much lower than
those of electric power companies, oil firms and steelmakers. So
these firms plan to sell the emission rights obtained through overseas
projects to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In turn, the extra
revenue will help boost the profitability of their overseas operations.
The companies are also aiming to get a head start on South Korean and
Chinese rivals by pursuing plant construction projects in developing
countries and former communist bloc nations. This is because under
the Kyoto mechanism, both South Korea and China are categorized as
developing nations, and thus are ineligible to obtain emission rights
by working on projects outside their borders.
Japanese engineering firms and general contractors will focus on
reducing emissions, such as methane and chlorofluorocarbon gas, which
have a much higher global warming impact than CO2. So even if the
firms’ investments are relatively small, they may be able to obtain
a large amount of emission rights when calculated in CO2 equivalents.