Author: Chaltikian Arsine

PRESIDENT KOCHARIAN RECEIVES MOROCCAN AMBASSADOR

Armenpress
Apr 13 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 13, ARMENPRESS: Morocco’s new ambassador to Armenia,
Abdeljalil Sobrii (he is seated in Kiev, Ukraine) handed today his
credentials to president Kocharian. Kocharian was quoted by his press
office as saying that he hopes that during the ambassador’s tenure
Armenian-Moroccan relations would mark progress.

The ambassador said his government was interested in expanding ties
with the South Caucasian countries in view of the region’s big
potential. The sides commended traditionally close Armenian-Arab
relations and said they were ready to take concrete steps to further
them. For this purpose they said the sides should first of all develop
a legal framework that would enable them to start economic, political
and other ties.

DEMOCRACY TODAY NGO IMPLEMENTS TREE PLANTING IN 4 ARMENIAN VILLAGES

Noyan Tapan
Apr 12 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 12, NOYAN TAPAN. The Democracy Today NGO with the
assistance of the OXFAM British organization is holding a tree planting
on April 12-13 in 4 Armenian villages, Balahovit, Nalbandian, Jrashen
and Gyargyar. As Noyan Tapan was informed from the Democracy Today
NGO’s office, in total, about 1600 fruit trees will be planted.

VAHAN HOVHANNISIAN: “TODAY’S AUTHORITIES APPEARED TO BE NOT ENOUGH DECISIVE, AND ANM AVOIDED PUNISHMENT”

Noyan Tapan
Apr 11 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. “The ANM was an anti-national movement
which brought the country to the verge of collaps,” Vahan Hovhannisian,
the Deputy Speaker of the RA National Assembly, a member of the ARF
Dashnaktsutyun Bureau stated, responding questions of the “Hot Line”
of the “Golos Armenii” (Voice of Armenia) newspaper. According to him,
“people, having been at the helm of power during the first years of
independence of Armenia, created an ugly, Asian model of government
and put the society on the needle of corruption, we are not able
to get rid of which up today.” V.Hovhannisian also stated that the
people did not notice the estimation of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun as “it,
unfortunately, did not see the following, the most important step –
punishment of the criminal. Today’s authorities appeared to be not
enough decisive, and the ANM avoided punishment.”

FRENCH OSCE MG CO-CHAIR TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA IN APRIL 12

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
April 11 2006

YEREVAN, April 11. /ARKA/. French Co-Chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group
Bernard Facier will arrive in Armenia in April 12, 2006, according
to the Press Secretary of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hamlet
Gasparyan.

In his words, his visits envisage meetings with the RA Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian as well as with other officials. Gasparyan emphasized
that details of the visit will be announced later.

On April 12 Facier arrived in Azerbaijan, where issues of finding
ways of settling Karabakh conflict were intended to be discussed.

AZERI MINISTER SLAMS ARMENIA OVER ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
posted on April 10 2006

Baku, April 7, AssA-Irada
The Azeri Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Huseyn Baghirov
said on Friday that Armenia’s actions hurting the environment
in the occupied Azeri land once again prove the true gist of its
hostile policy against Azerbaijan. This includes felling of trees
and pollution of water basins in borderline areas and rivers going
through the occupied territories.

The ongoing preparation of documents in several languages concerning
the issue will be completed soon. The data will be made public both
in and outside the country, the minister told a news conference Friday.

The trees are felled in the preserve located in the Zangilan district
as well as in other Armenia-occupied territories, for their further
exports to Italy, France, Greece and Iran. The timber is used for
various purposes, including furniture production and shipbuilding.

A prompt response center is operating under the Azeri ecology ministry
to track down the dire impact on the environment and natural resources
in the occupied areas. It has prepared two reports and a plan of
action in this respect. The center has plenty of materials at its
disposal proving Armenia’s destructive influence on these territories.

MINASIAN AND ANASTASIAN IN LEADERS’ GROUP AFTER 3 TOURS IN EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Noyan Tapan
Apr 10 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The games of the 3rd tour were held in
men’s and women’s chess Europe championships. In the men’s tournament
representatives of Armenia Artashes Minasian and Ashot Anastasian ended
the game in a draw. Currently they have gained 2.5 points each and
share 2-18th places with a number of chess-players. They lag behind the
only leader, Ervin L’Ami (Holland) only with 0.5 points. The results of
the other Armenian chess-players are the following: Tigran L.Petrosian,
Tigran Kotanjian 2 points each, Arman Pashikian 1.5 points. The results
of the representatives of Armenia in the women’s championship are more
modest. Only Elina Danielian among them takes place at the top of the
tournament table. She gained 2 points and lags behind the leaders only
with several points. Another 3 Armenian women chess-players, Lilit
Mkrtchian, Nelli Aghinian and Siranush Andreasian, have 1 point each.

AZG Armenian Daily #064, 08/04/2006

Parliamentary issues

PARLIAMENTARY STRUGGLE AGAINST CORRUPTION

Various foreign parliamentarians, international experts,
representatives of the public sector and journalists participated at
“Role of RA National Assembly and Civil Society in Struggle against
Corruption” Summit held at RA National Assembly, yesterday.

The participants of the summit touched upon such issues as the
cooperation of the parliament and the civil society, the role of the
mass media in the struggle against corruption and the public control
bodies as measures for anti-corruption struggle.

“The consistent anti-corruption struggle is a political demand for
Armenia,” Artur Baghdasarian, Chairman of RA National Assembly, said
in the opening speech of the summit. He also pointed out several
principles of the anti-corruption struggle, i.e. to reduce the state
expenses, to apply laws, to strengthen the anti-corruption struggle in
the tax and customs’ systems, to improve the judiciary system, the
awareness of the citizens, public monitoring and the role of the mass
media, as well as the parliamentary control.

US Ambassador to RA John Evans reminded in his speech of the donation
Armenia received within the framework of “Millenium Challenges”
program. He said that USA emphasizes the importance of anti-corruption
struggle. He added that Armenia is ready to take measures to develop
democratic values and struggle corruption, adding that his country
will assist Armenia.

Andrea Harris, Deputy-Chairwoman of “Eurasia” Fund, Consuelo Vidal, UN
Permanent Coordinator, Vladimir Pryakhin, Head of the OSCE Office in
Armenia, also held speeches at the summit. Mr. Pryakhin told the
journalists that Armenia has recently fixed success in the
anti-corruption struggle, adding that still there is much to do in
this direction.

All the participants of the summit welcomed Armenia’s membership to
GOPAC

By Marieta Khachatrian

NEWS RELEASE

Azat Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
07 April 2006

Several days ago NKR Foreign Minister Georgy Petrossian met with the
delegation of the U.S. – Russian Dartmouth Conference Regional
Conflicts Task Force, headed by co-chairs Vitaly Naumkin (Russia) and
Harold Saunders (United States), visiting NKR. During the talk they
discussed the framework agreement on the peace settlement prepared
over the nine meetings of dialogue between the representatives of
Azerbaijan, Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh societies, mediated by the
Dartmouth Conference. During the meeting the co-chairs presented the
basic principles of the document, pointing out the underlying
principle of compromise. According to them, this framework agreement
does not offer resolutions; it is aimed to establish conditions for a
sustainable dialogue between the conflict parties. For his part, the
foreign minister of NKR appreciated the efforts of the task force in
seeking for a mutually acceptable settlement, and pointed out the
participation of the representatives of Nagorno Karabakh Republic
society in the dialogue mediated by the Dartmouth Conference. At the
same time, Georgy Petrossian appreciated the sense of moral duty of
all the mediators and international organizations for the observation
of the cease-fire and the prevention of applying force or coercion in
the zone of the Karabakh conflict.

AA.
07-04-2006

National Assembly of RA, Armenia
April 7 2006

Invitation of Official Visit to the People’s Republic of China

On April 7, Artur Baghdasaryan, RA NA President, received Zuo
Xueliang, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of People’s
Republic of China to Armenia.

The Ambassador extended the invitation of the Chairman of the
National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China to the
President of the Parliament to pay a visit to China with an official
visit. The goal of the visit is to strengthen the inter-parliamentary
relations with Armenia and establish inter-party relations. During
the meeting issues concerning the programme of the visit were
discussed, as well as the problem of re-operating the
Armenian-Chinese joint enterprise based on `Nairit,’ which is
designed to finish at the end of the year.

Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire
April 6, 2006 Thursday 1:26 PM EET
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian <[email protected]>
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Greece’s OTE plans to sell 90% in Armenia’s ArmenTel

MOSCOW, April 6 (Prime-Tass) – Greece’s OTE plans to sell its 90%
stake in Armenian fixed-line and mobile operator ArmenTel, Kommersant
business daily reported Thursday, citing OTE’s statement.

OTE has chosen HSBC Bank as its financial adviser for the sale. OTE
did not disclose information on the funds it wants to raise from the
sale or the timeline of the sale.

A source close to ArmenTel told the daily that Russian mobile
operators VimpelCom and MegaFon have showed interest in buying the
stake.

“ArmenTel is a very attractive asset, and if the price is right we
will be interested in buying it,” MTS’ President Vasily Sidorov told
Vedomosti business daily.

ArmenTel is a fixed-line and long-distance monopoly in Armenia. It
also had a monopoly on mobile services until mid-2005. ArmenTel’s
fixed-line subscriber base stands at about 595,000 users and its
mobile subscriber base at about 320,000 users.

K Telecom is Armenia’s other mobile operator controlling about 50% of
the market, Vedomosti said. Armenia’s population amounts to about 3.2
million people.