Author: Kanayan Tamar

esctoday.com, Netherlands

Dutch interest Eurovision Song Contest high
Thu 24 Mar 2005 13:40:29

Source: esctoday.com
Written by: Sietse Bakker

The Dutch interest in Glennis Grace and her Eurovision Song Contest
participation is almost unusually high. While contestants usually
have to fight for some attention, Glennis Grace her agenda is almost
completely full. Meanwhile, the amount of Dutch journalists will be
higher than recent years.

Charts and polls

My impossible dream is likely to enter the charts around the 10th
position, which is unusually high for a Dutch Eurovision Song
Contest entry. The single of My impossible dream contains the
song, the instrumental version and an uptempo remix. Meanwhile,
the Netherlands tops the esctoday.com BigPoll 2005 (semifinal vote)
with Iceland closely behind. The website ESC Statistics placed the
Netherlands second, with Greece as top favourite.

Busy agenda

The past weeks, Glennis Grace already appeared in several television
programmes. The popular lifestyle programme Life & Cooking
pays attention to Glennis and the Eurovision Song Contest every
week. Tonight she will record the Dutch edition of Top of the pops,
tomorrow she can be seen on the kids channel Nickelodeon. On the 4th
of April she will fly to Kiev for a sneak preview of the preparations,
on invitation of magazine Privé. 25th of April Glennis will perform
on the Rainbow Experience Amsterdam, a gay event for more than 20,000
visitors. During the football match Netherlands-Armenia she will sing
the Dutch national anthem acapella.

Draw

During Tuesday’s draw for the running order, the Netherlands came
out of the bowl as ninth. “I wouldn’t have mind a 22nd start position
(…) but the ninth spot was also my position in the Dutch final. At
the end, it’s just like a marathon”, Glennis wrote on her official
website. “No matter the position, to win, you have to run faster than
the others”. Glennis considers Greece to be the favourite for victory.

–Boundary_(ID_KXGnpjAthmu/xttcKj8tsQ)–

Russia concerned over situation in security partner Kyrgyzstan

Agence France Presse — English
March 23, 2005 Wednesday 2:03 PM GMT

MOSCOW March 23 — Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said
Wednesday that Moscow was concerned over the situation in Kyrgyzstan
and reminded the opposition that Bishkek was a member of a collective
security agreement with Moscow.

“Kyrgyzstan is our ally in the agreement on collective security,”
Ivanov said in televised comments.

“I think that the so-called opposition will have enough brains to
find the strength to calm down and turn the situation into a political
dialogue,” he said.

“In all, we are concerned about the development of the internal
situation in the country,” he said. “What is happening in the south
of the country has long been outside a lawful framework.”

Supporters of Kyrgyzstan’s disjointed opposition have been staging
demonstrations since the results of an election held on March 13
were announced, virtually shutting the opposition out of the nation’s
parliament.

The opposition charges that President Askar Akayev’s administration
had helped fix the vote in order to pack the 75-seat chamber with
supporters ahead of presidential elections in October.

Russia signed a collective cooperation security treaty with five
ex-Soviet republics in 1992 — Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
and Tajikistan. The treaty calls for a united effort by its members
in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime.

Kyrgyz authorities have on several occasions charged that the protests
that have roiled Kyrgyzstan’s south over the contested legislative
poll were linked to criminal and radical Islamic groups.

Brief Overview of Armenia’s Energy Sector; Key Contacts in Armenia’s
Health Care and Pharmaceutical Sectors

BISNIS Armenia Update
23 March 2005

Contents:
1. Now on the BISNIS web site
2. Press Release: New World Bank Project in Armenia
3. News Items on Armenia
4. Grant Announcement – Armenia-US Bilateral Science Grants

**************************************************************
New Reports on the BISNIS and State Dept web sites:

— Brief Overview of Armenia’s Energy Sector

— Armenia: Commercial News Summary
wsam.htm

— Key Contacts in Armenia’s Health Care and Pharmaceutical Sectors

— Armenia: Consular Information Sheet
/cis_1141.html

********************************** ****************************
World Bank Supports Improvement of Water and Wastewater Services in Yerevan

WASHINGTON, February 24, 2005.

The World Bank’s Board today approved an International Development
Association (IDA) credit of US$20 million for the Yerevan Water and
Wastewater Project (YWWP). The credit will assist the Armenian
Government in its efforts to improve Yerevan’s water and wastewater
system by continuing and expanding accomplishments achieved under a
previous IDA-financed Municipal Development Project (MDP).

The YWWP will help provide Yerevan with safe, continuous water supply
while reducing environmental pollution. This is the third IDA-financed
water and wastewater project in Armenia. The World Bank also financed
the initial Municipal Development Project to support Yerevan’s Water and
Sanitation Company (YWSC) and a more recent (FY04) Municipal Water and
Wastewater Project for Armenia’s medium and small-sized cities.

“Because of Government’s visionary leadership of the Armenian water
sector, and diligent efforts by all project participants, significant
improvements have been made in Yerevan’s water service since the first
project began in 1998,” said Brian Steven Smith, head of the World Bank
team designing the YWWP.”Much work still remains of course, and we look
forward to continued improvement during implementation of the new project.”

The Project benefits directly from Yerevan’s successful experience with
a management contractor recruited under the MDP. For the YWWP,
Government will increase private sector involvement and competitively
recruit an operator for YWSC under a lease contract. The Project will
finance investments in YWSC during the first five years of the lease.

The Project has two components: a YWWP Fund and Technical Assistance.
The YWWP Fund will finance investments undertaken by the water utility
operator during implementation, which will yield energy savings,
improved reliability of supply, and reduction of environmental
pollution. The Technical Assistance component will fund interim
operational management of YWSC, project financial and technical audits,
and incremental operating expenses.

The Credit will be made to Armenia on standard IDA terms, including 40
years maturity and a 10-year grace period.

Since joining the World Bank in 1992 and IDA in 1993, the commitments to
Armenia total approximately US$ 860 million for 38 operations.

For more information on the World Bank’s activities in Armenia, please
visit:

**************************************************************
News Items

NEW ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR TO WASHINGTON APPOINTED

Armenian President Robert Kocharian appointed Tatul Markarian on 19
March as Armenia’s new ambassador to the United States, Mediamax
reported. The 41-year-old Markarian previously served as a senior
Armenian diplomat in Washington for four years in the mid-1990s and has
been a deputy foreign minister since June 2000. He has significant
experience in mediation talks with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. RG
Source: RFE/RL Newsline, 21 March 2005,

**************************************************************
Armenia posts twofold increase in mobile subscribers

RBC, 15.03.2005, Erevan 15:59:08.

As of January 1, 2005, the number of subscribers to mobile services
reached 203,309 compared to 111,118 at the beginning of 2003, the press
department of ArmenTel reported. In 2004, ArmenTel’s revenue from
providing mobile communications services advanced 46 percent to
EUR27.483m. This increase is due to the company focusing on the
development of mobile communications services. In 2004 the company
allocated 41.6 percent more funds for investments in the development of
mobile communications, which rose to EUR17.364m.

Source:

**************************************************************
NATIONAL FOUNDATION OF SCIENCE AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES (NFSAT) AND
U.S. CIVILIAN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION (CRDF)

2005 ARMENIAN-U.S. BILATERAL GRANTS PROGRAM

The National Foundation of Science and Advanced Technologies (NFSAT) and
the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) announce
the fourth competition for the 2005 Armenian-U.S. Bilateral Grants
Program (BGP-IV).

The three primary goals of this program are to support high quality,
innovative research and development by establishing sustainable
U.S.-Armenian research collaborations, to provide an alternative to
emigration for Armenian scientists, and to fully employ former weapons
research scientists in civilian research.

This merit-based competition provides 18 to 24 months of support to
joint research teams of Armenian and U.S. scientists and engineers.
Joint proposals may be submitted for cooperation in civilian research
and development in all basic and applied sciences (see Appendix 1).

NFSAT and CRDF will give the highest priority to proposals that include
former weapons scientists and junior scientists, including undergraduate
and graduate students at Armenian universities, scientists who have
completed their Ph.D. or Kandidat degrees within the last six years, as
well as participants at institutes located outside Yerevan.

· All awards will be for collaboration between researchers of Armenia
and their counterparts in the United States.
· The Armenian Principal Investigator and all Armenian team members
must be citizens or permanent residents of the Republic of Armenia who
will reside in Armenia during the course of the grant period. The U.S.
Principal Investigator must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident and
must reside in the U.S. during the course of the grant period.
· Applicants may request up to US$30,000 for an 18-24 month period.
At least 80% of total project costs must be designated for the Armenian
team and no more than 20% for the U.S. team.
· Applicants must submit original hardcopies of the proposal in
English and Armenian (or Russian) and electronic copies of the proposal
in English and Armenian (or Russian) to NFSAT and an electronic copy in
English to CRDF through the CRDF website.
· For explanatory purposes or for the sake of clarification, this
Program Announcement may be translated into one or more languages other
than English. In the event of the existence of such translations, the
English-language version shall serve as the definitive variant in
determining the interpretation of any provision of this Announcement.

The deadline for BGP proposals to be submitted to NFSAT and CRDF is 6:00
pm (local time in Armenia and the U.S. respectively) on May 16, 2005.
The competition results are expected to be announced on November 1,
2005. All decisions of NFSAT and CRDF are final.

For more information, go to

********** Forwarded by: ***************************
Ellen S. House, BISNIS Trade Specialist for Armenia
U.S. Department of Commerce
Tel: 202/482-2284, Fax: 202/482-2293

NEED FINANCING FOR A PROPOSED SALE TO EURASIA?
BISNIS FinanceLink helps U.S. companies find financing for export
transactions where a Eurasian buyer has already been identified.
For more information:

–Boundary_(ID_+3V/Un4SO24POxQ8pAt2aQ)–

ARMENIA IN TOBOLSK EXHIBIT MARKS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE 90TH AND ARMENIAN
WRITTEN LANGUAGE CREATION 1600TH ANNIVERSARY

PanArmenian News
March 22 2005

22.03.2005 04:26

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia in Tobolsk exhibit, which marked the 90-th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and 1600-th anniversary of
creation of the Armenian written language, has opened in Tobolsk,
Russia. The exhibition, supported by Tobolsk reserve-museum, is
organized by Chairman of Tobolsk Youth Parliament Hakob Asloyan.
Books, Armenian souvenirs, national instruments and other materials
of the history and culture of the Armenian people are presented at
the exhibition. As City Mayor Yevgeny Vorobyov noted at the official
opening, it is important that living in far Siberia Armenians do not
forget their history and culture. Tobolsk reserve-museum Director
Yevgeny Akulich emphasized that the expo is significant to the museum
first of all for Armenians being first of the former USSR peoples to
acquaint Tobolsk residents with their culture. Yevgeny Akulich has
lived and worked in the Armenian city of Leninakan (now Gyumri) for
three years after the earthquake of 1988. He knows well this sunny
country. In Hakob Asloyan’s words, the absence of a juridical
registration of the Armenian community in Tobolsk does not hamper
Armenians organizing events and participating in the social life of
the city.

ARMENIA CELEBRATES RUSSIA YEAR

RIA Novosti, Russia
March 21 2005

MOSCOW, March 21 (RIA Novosti) – Vladimir Putin and Robert Kocharyan
have exchanged messages for the opening of the Year of the Russian
Federation in Armenia, the Kremlin press service reported Monday.

“Russia invariably attaches great importance to the consistent
strengthening of friendly relations with Armenia, its reliable ally
and strategic partner. I am convinced that the holding of the Year
of Russia will contribute to the further rapprochement of the two
countries, and to the development of friendship and direct dialogue
between our peoples,” Putin wrote in part.

“Events on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Great Victory
will occupy a special place in this significant festival. This is a
tribute of respect to the exploit and courage of all those who were
side by side fighting against fascism,” he wrote.

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan’s message expressed similar
respect.

“The decision to announce 2005 as the Year of the Russian Federation
in the Republic of Armenia opens broad possibilities for the
further expansion of Armenian-Russian contacts. This initiative will
undoubtedly contribute to the full implementation of the political,
economic and cultural potential of cooperation between our fraternal
peoples. I would like to express confidence that the holding of the
Year of Russia in Armenia will make it possible to add new ideas and
projects to the agenda of Armenian-Russian cooperation,” Kocharyan
wrote.

“The Armenians love Russian art and are waiting impatiently for
meetings with representatives of Russian culture. Contacts between
representatives of science, education and business communities of
our countries, as well as contacts at the regional level could also
be of great practical importance.

“It is symbolic that the Year of Russia in Armenia has coincided with
the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Victory over fascism.
This heroic page of our common history has tied the fates of our
peoples and brought them closer together,” Kocharyan wrote.

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
March 18, 2005, Friday

MARCH 9-10, ARMENIAN TROOPS FIRED AT AZERBAIJAN MILITARY POSITIONS
FOUR TIMES

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense announced the fact that Armenian
forces opened fire from the direction of Seisulan town, Tetersky
region (220 km to the West of Baku) at the Azerbaijani troops located
in Gapanly town, Agdamsky region. Earlier, Seisulan town had been
under fire from the direction of Gapanly. Return fire neutralized the
enemy fire nests. Some people were wounded, according to the
Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense. On March 9, Azerbaijani forces in
Gyzyl (Gazakh region, 420 km from Baku) and in Gapanly were attacked
by submachine gun fire from the direction of Berkaber town (Idzhevan
region, Armenia). Azerbaijani troops returned fire. There are no
casualties.

Source: Voenno-Promyshlennyi Kurier, #9, March 16-22, 2005, p.3

Translated by Ann Gorpinyuk

AZERBAIJANI ORGANIZATION FOR KARABAKH LIBERATION AND COMMITTEE OF
SOLDIERS’ FAMILIES CALL FOR PREPARATION FOR WAR

YEREVAN, MARCH 18. ARMINFO. Azerbaijani organization of Karabakh
Liberation and the Committee of Soliders’ Families (CSF) have spread a
joint statement that “violation of cease-fire regime by Armenian Armed
Forces is another factor revealing the essence of the aggressive and
terrorist regime,” Day.az reports.

They statement says that Armenians “speculate in the three Azerbaijani
soldiers taken hostages last month.” “Unfortunately all these
developments are in the eyes of the international organizations and do
not arise their response. Personal Representative of OSCE
Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk limits himself with his indefinite
position and does not want to notice violations of the cease0fire
regime by Armenia and the continuing losses of the Azerbaijani party.”
The authors say, “Armenia neglects the demands of the international
organizations, which testifies that it is not interested in peaceful
resolution of the conflict and intends to expand its aggression
against Azerbaijan.”

Being sure that the activity of international organizations will not
lead to any results in future as well, OKL and CSF state that “it will
create conditions for strengthening of Armenian aggressors in our
lands and fulfillment of more mercenary goals of Armenians.” For
conclusion they called the Azerbaijani public and each citizen to
prepare for war, as “there is no another way against
aggressor-Armenia.”

FOODnavigator.com

Aluminium foil sales hit all time high while costs rocket

16/03/2005 – Aluminium producers can expect a good year in 2005,with foil
sales hitting an all-time high, but packagers will have to deal with
all-time high costs, writes Anthony Fletcher.

Shipments of aluminium foil reached a record high in 2004 with deliveries
reaching 820,350 tons, an increase of 1.1 per cent over the previous year
(811,400 tons), according to the European Aluminium Foil Association (EAFA).
The association claims that the growth figures disguise an even better
picture when the ongoing practice of down gauging – decreasing thickness –
in aluminium foil rolling is considered. Over the last 30 years the average
down gauging effect in packaging applications was around 30 per cent.

However aluminium prices reached a ten-year high this week at $2,016 a tonne
according to the Financial Times, and strong global economic growth and
solid demand could continue to drive prices even higher – bad news for
packaging firms.

The higher metals prices caused both UBS and Merrill Lynch to up their
long-term price forecasts for metals. Merrill Lynch said this week
commodities were in a long-term bull market.

Despite the cost increase, EAFA believes that strong sales were driven as
much by exports as by sales within the EAFA region, which includes Armenia,
Bulgaria, Czech Republic, EU15, Hungary, Norway, Russia, Switzerland and
Turkey.

`We expect this trend to continue in 2005,’ said Bill Morris, president of
EAFA. `The level of demand of aluminium foil especially for exportation
outside the EAFA region underlines the global leadership of the European
foil industry in terms of quality and competitiveness.’

Approximately 75 per cent of aluminium foil is used in packaging where its
characteristics of strength, formability and barrier properties have made it
an essential part of many flexible packaging and container applications.
EAFA argues that the number of new products that feature innovative uses of
alufoil-based packaging indicates a healthy future for the material.

The solid sales figures come after a concerted effort by EAFA to better
communicate to food packagers the benefits of using the material. The
association has consistently argued that many of the benefits that aluminium
foil brings to packaging are hidden from both packer fillers and consumers
because it is often used in association with other packaging materials and
is frequently invisible to the naked eye.

This, says the EAFA, detracts from the fact that aluminium is the one of the
best solutions for any product that requires a barrier material that
provides the extra elements of extended shelf life and true impermeability
to gases, moisture, light and UV rays.

And despite the ten-year price high, the association claims that the
packaging industry should see the value and flexibility of the material.
`Production and manufacturing techniques have led to down-gauging – 20 per
cent decrease in thickness in 10 years – at the same time as maintaining or
even improving machineability and performance characteristics. All of which
provides increased productivity and added value to the conversion process,’
said Morris.

One major selling point of aluminium of course is that it can be recycled
repeatedly at a fraction of its original energy cost and modern separation
techniques mean aluminium foil in household waste can be extracted and
recycled. It is suitable for both separate and multi-material collection
systems according to national and local conditions.

The energy content of foil laminates can also be recovered by thermal
treatment.

With 123 members EAFA is the international body that represents the
interests of the major rollers, converters, household foil rewinders and
container manufacturers in Europe.

“AUTHORITIES WERE DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN ATTACKS ON THE PRESS”

A1+
15-03-2005

Press conditions are deteriorating badly throughout Russia and most of
the other former Soviet republics, the Committee to Protect
Journalists detailsin its newly released analysis of press conditions
worldwide, Attacks on the Press in 2004.

Armenia

The Armenian government failed to protect journalists during violent
demonstrations in April against President Robert Kocharian. In some
cases, authorities were directly involved in attacks on the press.

On April 5, police stood by during an opposition rally while two dozen
men attacked several journalists and cameramen. A Yerevan court
convicted two men of the attack, fining them 100,000 drams (US$182)
each for “deliberately damaging property,” the journalists’
cameras. Some victims and the opposition media claimed that the trial
was merely a government attempt to create the appearance of
accountability, the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty reported.

During another opposition rally the next week, police destroyed the
cameras of journalists from the Russian TV station Channel One and the
daily Haykakan Zhamanak (Armenian Time). At least four journalists
were injured when police officers used batons, stun grenades, and
water jets to disperse several thousand demonstrators.

The impunity surrounding these attacks made journalists more
vulnerable. In August, Mkhitar Khachatryan, a photojournalist with
Fotolur news agency whowas reporting on environmentally damaging
housing construction in central Armenia, was beaten by an unidentified
man who threatened him with death and forced him to hand over his
photos. Khachatryan had been taking photos near the mansion of a
former police chief.

Although a private citizen was sentenced in October to six months in
prison for the assault, a security guard for the police chief who
reportedly ordered the attack was neither detained nor charged, the
Yerevan-based Association of Investigative Journalists in Armenia
reported.

Television coverage of the spring opposition rallies and other
politically sensitive issues favored Kocharian, who ensured that TV
stations remained in the hands of government supporters or those who
would not criticize his policies. For the second year in a row,
politicized media regulators kept A1+, an independent and influential
TV station that has sharply criticized government policies, off the
air. The National Council on Television and Radioâ=80’a government
body that regulates broadcasting frequencies and is stacked with
Kocharian supporters-shuttered A1+ in April 2002 and has since
rejected eightapplications from the station for a broadcasting
license.

Broadcasting authorities also kept local television channels that were
moderately independent-such as Yerevan station Noyan Tapan, which was
also shuttered in April 2002-off the air. No new frequency tenders are
planned until 2009.

Unlike television, the print media enjoy greater autonomy from
government control, but most publications are controlled by political
parties and wealthy businessmen, compromising their editorial
independence and professional standards. According to the U.S.-based
media training organization IREX ProMedia, low salaries encourage
widespread corruption among reporters.

Journalists also faced declining legal protection, with the government
continuing to ignore calls from press freedom organizations, the
Council ofEurope, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe to repeal criminal defamation and insult laws added to the
Criminal Code in April 2003. The statutes threaten journalists with up
to three years in prison and have increased self-censorship, according
to IREX.

Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR] to conduct population census

Mediamax news agency
14 Mar 05

YEREVAN

A preliminary population census will be held in some districts of
Stepanakert , as well as in the Askaran and Nerkin Oratag villages
between 21 and 23 March.

The major population census in the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR] is
scheduled for October 2005.

According to the NKR National Statistical Service, Nagornyy Karabakh
currently has a population of about 145,000 people.