CENN – DECEMBER 13, 2004 DAILY DIGEST
Table of Contents:
1. Geneva, December 13-15, 2004
2. Caspian Sea-One of World’s Hotspots
3. Armenian Mining Giant Sold For $40M
4. Armenian Scientists Win in Contest of US Department of Agriculture
1. GENEVA, DECEMBER 13-15, 2004
Dear All, materials of the seminar of UNECE on the role of ecosystems as
water suppliers, Geneva, December 13-15, 2004, where I am planning to
participate with the similar title of presentation and agenda of meeting
of working group on Integrated Water Resources Management is online now.
You are kindly invited to visit the seminar web page that displays all
official documents, national reports and discussion papers (some of
which are in Russian):
With kind regards
Rafig Verdiyev
ECORES/UNEP
2. CASPIAN SEA-ONE OF WORLD’S HOTSPOTS
Dear Colleagues,
On December 6, 2004 a presentation entitled the Caspian Sea-One of
World’s Hotspots was made by Mr.Igor Zonn-head of Department of
Engineering Scientific Production Center for Water Economy, Reclamation
and Ecology, Moscow, Russia at a side event Analysis of Hotspots for
Climate Change Impacts Warning as part of the CoP10 to UNFCCC.
Statement of Republic of Azerbaijan as a response to the statement of
Mr.Zonn is available on the following address:
Sea One of World s Hotspots.zip
This document has been forwarded to the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Italy
as to clarify the issue among international organizations operating
there.
Any comments/questions will be appreciated.
Yours sincerely,
Issa Aliyev
Head of International Cooperation Department
Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Republic of Azerbaijan
Tel: +994124924173
Fax: +994124925907
Hormetle, Bayram Hasanov, Consigliere,
Tel +39 06 85237243
Fax +39 06 85237246
Email: bkhassanov@azembassy.it
3. ARMENIAN MINING GIANT SOLD FOR $40M
By Atom Markarian
The government announced on Thursday, December 9, 2004 the sale of
Armenia’s largest metallurgical complex to several private investors,
including a large German company, for just $40 million.
A government statement said Germany’s Chronimet would take over 60% of
shares of the Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine which was put up
for privatization last March. Fifteen percent of its stock will go to a
Yerevan-based metallurgical company, while two other obscure firms,
called Armenian Molybdenum Production and Zangezur Mining, will each get
12.5%. It is not clear who owns them.
The Zangezur plant and adjacent mines, one of Armenia’s few remaining
state-run industries, are located near the town of Kajaran in the
southeastern Syunik region. The mountainous area has the country’s
largest deposits of copper and molybdenum ores. Thousands of people work
there.
Trade and Economic Development Minister Karen Chshmaritian first
announced news of the plant’s upcoming privatization in August. He said
at the time that it will likely be bought by Chronimet and the U.S. firm
Comsup Commodities on a `fifty-fifty percent basis.’ He said each of
them will have to invest $150 million in the Soviet-era facility.
There was no word on investment commitments in a statement issued by
ministers after their weekly meeting. Nor is it clear why Comsup’s
involvement in the deal fell through.
Details of the sell-off were reportedly finalized during President
Robert Kocharian’s recent visit to Germany. Chronimet is part of the
German ELG Haniel group, which specializes in recycling and selling raw
materials for the stainless steel industry. The group is present in 15
countries around the world and reported sales exceeding $1.5 billion
last year.
The Zangezur complex will be privatized despite being very profitable by
Armenian standards. Its annual earnings have totaled at least $10
million in recent years in sharp contrast with other big state-run
companies mired in debt.
In a highly controversial decision earlier this year, the government
diverted all of the mining giant’s 2004 profits to an obscure private
charity which is reportedly run by several top army generals. The
government has still not explained motives for the move.
4. ARMENIAN SCIENTISTS WIN IN CONTEST OF U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Source: Azg/arm, December 1, 2004
USDA MAP (Marketing Assistance Program) informs that a group of Armenian
scientists from plants’ genetic resource laboratory at the Agricultural
Academy won a grant of US Department of Agriculture. The money is going
to be put in the project of “Preserving and using wheat’s wild ancestors
in Armenia”.
Prof. Mikhail Gyulkhasian, head of the scientists’, group told
journalists that the project will set to collect and preserve the gene
pool of wheat’s wild ancestors which will be salvation for thisunique
species and added that the wild wheat and rye were collected from the
regions of Ararat, Vayots Dzor and Erebuni resort. They will serve as
resources for breeding new species more enduring to cold, drought and
insects.
Prof. Gyulkhasian’s project together with two other projects
becamewinner within the US Agriculture Department’s program of
International Cooperation of Agricultural Research in the Central
Asia-Caucasus region among 125 other projects.
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