Author: Boshkezenian Garik

EU TO SIGN ‘NEIGHBORHOOD’ ACCORDS WITH 3 SOUTH CAUCASUS NATIONS

Kyiv Post, Ukraine
Nov 14 2006

BRUSSELS (AP) – The European Union will sign accords with Georgia,
Azerbaijan and Armenia Tuesday offering the three nations extensive
economic help and easy access to EU markets in return for a pledge
to commit to across-the-board reforms in the years ahead.

"These agreements will boost our relationship," said EU External
Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner after she had dinner
with the foreign ministers of the three south Caucasus nations Monday.

The ‘European Neighborhood’ accords offer broad EU economic help
and cooperation in justice affairs, transport, energy, environment,
research, education, health and other sectors.

They aim to craft a "ring of friends" – eventually embracing Israel,
Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Moldova, Morocco, the Palestinians, Tunisia
and Ukraine – and offer them easy access to the EU’s vast internal
market if they stay the course on reforms.

Crucially, EU membership is not on offer. This has riled some
countries, notably Ukraine.

The EU sees the neighborhood accords as an opportunity to help settle
frozen conflicts in the south Caucasus and help nations there to
normalize frayed ties with Russia.

The EU is concerned about poor relations between Russia and Georgia
and the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.

On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan will have
another round of talks about the disputed territory in Azerbaijan that
has been under the control of Armenian and ethnic Armenian Karabakh
forces since a 1994 cease-fire ended a six-year separatist war that
killed about 30,000 people and drove about 1 million from their homes.

"This is a big problem hampering the development of the (south
Caucasus) region," said Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.

He and Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian met last Oct. 24
in Paris.

The final status of Nagorno-Karabakh has not been worked out. Years
of talks under the auspices of international mediators have brought
few visible results.

On Monday, the EU foreign ministers said they will not recognize a
weekend referendum vote result backing independence for Georgia’s
breakaway province of South Ossetia.

The ministers said in a statement the vote "did not contribute to
efforts for peaceful conflict resolution (and) contradicts Georgia’s
sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Earlier, Georgia’s Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli told reporters
his government "remains faithful to a peaceful resolution of the
conflict." He added that "all sides must refrain from provocations"
like the independence vote.

Election officials in South Ossetia said voters in the disputed region
had approved independence for the tiny Caucasus Mountains province
on Russia’s border, which split off from Georgian central government
control in a bloody 1990s war.

The EU sees the vote as a Russia ploy to destabilize Georgia.

Georgian-Russian relations hit a new low in September after Georgia
briefly detained four Russian officers it accused of spying. Russia
responded with economic sanctions and a crackdown on Georgians living
in Russia. Earlier this month Russian state-controlled natural gas
monopoly OAO Gazprom said it would more than double the price it
charges for gas supplies to Georgia.

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov 11 2006

Putin vows to double trade with Azerbaijan

AssA-Irada 11/11/2006 02:51

Russia and Azerbaijan plan to double bilateral trade in the near
future, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

In a meeting at the Kremlin on Thursday with his Azerbaijani
counterpart Ilham Aliyev, in Russia on a three-day visit, Putin said
the strengthening trade ties between the two countries will serve the
purpose. He noted that the bilateral trade turnover has already
exceeded a billion dollars.

`I believe we will double it in the next two or three years. In any
case, the growth rate of the turnover suggests this,’ the Russian
leader said. `We have established very high-level cooperation in the
political field, international affairs and the economy.’

Putin said the two countries have already increased their trade by
50% this year compared the first ten months of 2005.
President Aliyev praised bilateral ties as well. `The relations
between Russia and Azerbaijan have reached their highest level –
probably a peak since gaining independence [in 1991]. We aspire to
further expand potential for cooperation. We are successfully
collaborating in the political, economic and humanitarian areas. A
positive solution of outstanding issues will facilitate strengthening
our ties and stabilizing the situation in the region as a whole.’

The two leaders also discussed the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over
Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh, regional security and other international
issues.

350 Russian companies are operating in Azerbaijan. Most of the
Russian investments have been directed to the production and
transportation of oil. Azerbaijan mainly imports wheat, sugar,
beetroots, electricity, natural gas, and timber from its northern
neighbor, while exports include fruit and vegetables, petrochemicals,
tea and cotton.

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Nov 10 2006

U.S. Middle Eastern Policy Needs Help and Positive Impulses from
Turkey – Azeri Politician

Source: Trend
Author: S.Ilhamgizi

10.11.2006

The U.S. Administration understands that it should not take any steps
annoying Turkey. Because tomorrow while withdrawing the American
troops from Iraq, they will need Turkey, Politician Rasim Musabeyov
informed Trend, commenting on the election of Nancy Pelosi, who has
been known with his pro-Armenian position, as the Speaker of the USA
House of Representatives.

He stressed that it is not worthy to await the recognition of the
separatist regime of Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of election of a
person who appeared with Armenian interests. It is not in the
disposal of the Speaker or House of Representatives. The Congress can
not demonstrate pro-Armenian position, with the initiative of the
Speaker. The Congress may demonstrate pro-Armenian position in
several spheres. `The USA is the only country that provides direct
humanitarian assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh. For instance, the volume
of this aid may be increased with the initiative of the Speaker,’ the
politician said. Touching upon the so-called `Armenian genocide’, he
underlined that the Congress has the authority to make a statement on
this issue. The document should be approved by the Senate and
President to come into force.

According to him, during the power of the democrats, the question of
`Armenian genocide’ was included into the agenda. `But at this time,
the President Bill Clinton forwarded a protest letter and the Speaker
closed this topic. The position of the government included that
discussing such question is contrary to the interests of the USA.
Generally the USA Administration understands that if it takes any
steps annoying Turkey, then tomorrow while withdrawing the American
troops from Iraq, they will need Turkey, but maybe they can not
receive this assistance from Turkey. In addition, the Middle Eastern
policy of the USA needs the help and positive impulses of Turkey. I
consider that the European lobby in the USA is stronger than the
Armenian lobby. And it is in favor of Turkey,’ Musabeyov underlined.

Musabeyov added that taking any steps in favor of the `Armenian
genocide’ in the USA will be aimed at putting pressure on Turkey.

The politician stressed that it does not need to exaggerate the
pro-Armenian position of the new Speaker Nancy Pelosi. `First of all,
she will serve the interests of the USA, and the pro-Armenian
position is in the third or fifth place,’ he said.

TURKEY MOVES TO IMPROVE RIGHTS OF NON-MUSLIM MINORITIES

Agence France Presse — English
November 9, 2006 Thursday 5:48 PM GMT

The Turkish parliament passed Thursday a law to improve the property
rights of the country’s tiny Christian and Jewish communities, a key
European Union demand, and faced criticism that the bill falls short
of expectations.

The legislation, which needs the president’s approval to take effect,
paves the way for mainly Greek, Armenian and Jewish foundations to
recover properties seized by the state since 1974 under a controversial
court ruling.

Community representatives have slammed the bill for failing to provide
a remedy for the return of or compensation for properties the state
had since sold to third parties, warning that Turkey risks hefty
compensation cases at the European Court of Human Rights.

They have also denounced a provision that limits the period for
applications for the return of properties to 18 months.

In a report on Ankara’s progress towards membership, the European
Commission said Wednesday that "non-Muslim religious communities have
no access to legal personality and continue to face restricted property
rights," even though freedom of worship is "generally respected"
in the country.

The bill, an overhaul of the Foundations Law, loosens the tight state
control over all foundations and broadens their rights on property
and administration.

In another move to address EU criticism, it allows foundations to
operate abroad and receive foreign funds, but only on the condition
that international activities are mentioned in their statutes,
a restriction which, critics say, effectively excludes non-Muslim
institutions.

The bill, on parliament’s agenda since September, faced harsh
objections by the main opposition, which accused the government of
compromising Turkey’s interests under EU pressure.

Non-Muslims in Turkey are mostly Greeks and Armenians, often viewed
with suspicion because of deep mistrust towards Greece, a historical
rival, and Armenia, which accuses Ottoman Turks of having committed
genocide against its ancestors during World War I.

In September, legislators also broadened the rights of minority
schools, but scrapped a proposal that would have allowed them to enrol
foreign students, in a move to avoid laying ground for the reopening
of a Greek Orthodox theology school, another EU demand.

The 1971 closure of the century-old seminary, on the island of Halki
off Istanbul, deprived the Eastern Orthodox Church, seated in Istanbul
since Byzantine times when the city was called Constantinople, of a
facility to train clergy.

The issue of Christian minority rights is also likely to figure high on
the agenda of Pope Benedict XVI when he visits Turkey in late November.

AMERIA CJSC IMPLEMENTS REFORMS IN RA CHAMBER OF CONTROL

Arka News Agency, Armenia
Nov 7 2006

YEREVAN, November 7. /ARKA/. Ameria CJSC is developing and implementing
reforms in the RA Chamber of Control in the scope of the Public
Sector Modernization Project (PSMP), according to a contract with
the World Bank.

Ameria reports that ÐÊÀ" â eîìïaíèè "Àìåðèÿ", the project is aimed at
improving the COC auditing effectiveness through the introduction and
application of COC External Public Audit Standards, External Public
Financial Audit Manual, and External Public Effectiveness Audit Manual.

Ameria and its US partner DPK Consulting will design and introduce
modern audit methodologies and audit standards compliant with
International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI)
standards and conduct training-of-trainers programs relevant to the
new standards incorporated in the audit manuals.

As reported, Public Sector Modernization Project (PSMP) is being
implemented by the efforts of the Government of the Republic of Armenia
(RA) and International Development Association (IDA). It is the second
phase of reforms in the Public Administration System and targeted to
enhance the effectiveness of governance system specifically through
introduction of modern information technologies.

The Credit in the amount of USD 10.15 million funded by IDA is aimed at
implementation of six components of the project during 2005-2008 years:
strengthening Civil Service management, introducing e-procurement,
strengthening the Chamber of Control, improving policy formulation
and implementation through capacity building, developing capacity in
local governments, and project management.

Ameria is a group of professional services companies registered in
Armenia with the objective to provide a comprehensive package of
professional advisory and assurance services. Ameria specializes
in four major areas of professional activities: management advisory
services; assurance and advisory services; legal advisory services;
investment banking.

Established in 1998, the company has become a leader in the Armenian
market of advisory services bringing an international reach and local
touch to complex issues rising in more than 30 industry sectors.

–Boundary_(ID_3lHj02YPUuxQ3197nH3B8Q)–

SERZH SARGSYAN: RUSSIA HAS NEVER MISUSED ITS ECONOMIC LEVERS

Regnum, Russia
Nov 6 2006

The Armenian Government will approve the deal between OTE (Greece)
and VympelCom (Russia) for the sale of 90% of the shares of ArmenTel
telecom company, Armenian Defense Minister, National Security
Secretary and Co-chair of the Armenian-Russian Inter-Governmental
Economic Commission Serzh Sargsyan said on Nov 6.

REGNUM reports Sargsyan to say: "We should familiarize ourselves
with the terms of the deal and the sale price." Commenting on the
wide-spread opinion that the sale of a big number of Armenian strategic
facilities to Russia is dangerous for the country, Sargsyan said that
there is no danger in the growing Russian capital in Armenia as Russia
has never misused its economic levers.

To remind, on Nov 3 VympelCom announced that it had signed a contract
with Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA (OTE) on the purchase
of 90% of the shares of ArmenTel, a telecom operator in Armenia. The
cost of the stake is 341.9mln EUR + almost 40mln EUR as ArmenTel’s
net debts and liabilities. The deal will be finalized by the end of
this year.

OTE bought the 90% stake in 1997 for $142.47mln. The remaining 10%
belong to the Armenian Government. This year OTE offered its stake for
tender. 16 companies took part in the tender but only 4 qualified for
the second round: Vympelcom, MTS (both Russia), ETISALAT (Emirates
Telecommunications Corporation/Istithmar ETV/-Emergent Telecom
Ventures) and VTEL Holdings/Knightsbridge Associates.

ArmenTel had enjoyed GSM monopoly till Nov 4 2004, when it renounced it
in exchange for monopoly in IP-telephony. As a result, K-Telecom with
its Viva Cell trade mark became the second GSM operator in Armenia.

FM CONFIRMS YEREVAN READINESS FOR NORMALIZATION TALKS WITH TURKEY
by Tigran Liloyan

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
November 5, 2006 Sunday 09:19 AM EST

Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan has once again confirmed
the readiness of his country to start a normalization dialogue with
neighboring Turkey.

The day before, the Armenian Foreign Ministry’s Press and Information
Department posted the minister’s comments on the statement by Turkish
counterpart Abdullah Gul in an interview with Radio Liberty.

The minister recalled that last year the Turkish and Armenian
presidents exchanged statements on the settlement between the two
countries, which have no diplomatic relations so far.

Turkey set forward a proposal to Yerevan to create a joint commission
of historians for discussing the issue of Armenians genocide in the
Ottoman Empire in 1915, which is the stumbling stone in normalization.

The Armenian side offered, in turn, to establish an intergovernmental
commission for exchanging opinions on a broad range of issues and
supported normalization without preconditions.

Oskanyan criticized Gul for saying that regular flights between the
two countries and the presence of Armenian citizens in Turkey evidenced
the openness of borders. Oskanyan described the statement as "untrue."

The minister said that "while the Turkish Criminal Code still
contains the article 301 envisaging criminal punishment even for the
discussion of genocide issues, the claims of open borders cannot be
taken seriously."

Oskanyan also reaffirmed that "historians from Armenia, Turkey and
other countries have studied the genocide issue outside Turkey and
drew independent conclusions confirming the fact of genocide, which
affected 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

SAAKASHVILI MOST INFLUENTIAL FIGURE OF GEORGIA

Armenpress
Nov 06 2006

TBILISI, NOVEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS: A public opinion survey in Georgia
has found that its president Mikhail Saakashvili remains the most
influential figure of the country.

The survey conducted by a Georgian weekly -Kviris Palitra- among 552
readers found that 91.3 percent trusted their president. This was 0.7
percent down from a similar poll conducted by the weekly two years ago.

Second most influential figure was defense minister Irakly Okruashvili,
followed by interior and national security minister Vano Merabishvili
and parliament chairwoman Nino Burjanadze.

KARAPETYAN FOLLOWS THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS?

A1+
[02:39 pm] 03 November, 2006

KARAPETYAN WANTS TO BECOME PRESIDENT

The People’s Party headed by Tigran Karapetyan will have its own
candidate during the 2008 Presidential elections. As for the 2007
Parliamentary elections, the party will not cooperate with any other
political power, Tigran Karapetyan told a news conference today.

"I want to be nominated proceeding from my ideas and not for the chair
itself. I have that right as I have been living in Armenia since 1994",
he said.

As for alliances, their 12 000-member party does not have associates
which are democratic. "Alliances exist for the sake of money or for
the sake of power. For example, the Republican party joined as it
had power, Arshak Sadoyan and Shavarsh Kocharyan are the favorites
of people, and Stepan Demirchyan tried to follow the principle of
‘Like father, like son’. But it is obvious that the proverb is not
always valid", he said.

Tigran Karapetyan announced today that the greatest politician was
Jesus Christ. He first cured and fed people and only then started
preaching. He said that he follows the Example of Christ, "If the
people are to be concerned about their daily bread, how can they
think about other things? "

PRESS RELEASE

Eurasia Foundation
4 Demirchyan Str., Yerevan 0019, Armenia
Contact: Alisa Alaverdyan
Tel/Fax: (374 10) 58-60-59
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

Eurasia Foundation Promotes Strategic Social Investment Practices by
Armenia’s Businesses

Yerevan, Armenia – Over one hundred representatives of Armenia’s
business sector, government, civil society organizations and media will
convene on November 10 for a roundtable discussion on current social
investment practices in Armenia. The event marks the launch of Eurasia
Foundation’s (EF) program for the promotion of social investment in
Armenia. The program will build partnerships between civil society,
government and the private sector to more effectively leverage the
social investments of businesses in addressing the country’s social
problems.

At the roundtable, Gagik Sahakyan of Ameria Consulting Company will
present the results of their recent assessment of current social
investment practices among medium and large-sized businesses in
Armenia. Following the presentation of the report findings, Arsen
Ghazaryan, President of the Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen
of Armenia, and Marguerite Baker of Eurasia Foundation, will provide
overviews of the experiences of UMBA and EF in promoting corporate
social investment in Armenia and other NIS countries.

Most social investments made by businesses in Armenia are one-time
corporate donations rather than part of a longer-term investment
strategy. According to Ara Nazinyan, EF Country Director in Armenia,
"The business sector in Armenia needs to take more responsibility for
building strong communities in partnership with the government and
NGOs. Eurasia Foundation believes that by helping businesses develop
strategic approaches to corporate giving, the philanthropic activities
of Armenia’s businesses can result in positive, long-term changes."

In contrast to traditional charity actions, social investment
incorporates the company’s mission, business plan, resources and
philanthropic interests to simultaneously benefit the community and
add value to the business. More information on EF’s strategy for
promoting social investment in Armenia as well as electronic versions
of Ameria’s recent assessment in both Armenian and English can be
found on EF Armenia’s website at