Author: Karagyozian Lena

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| 11:17:53 | 18-06-2005 | Politics |

NO POLITICAL WILL

June 20 the amendments to the Electoral Code will come into force

“Let the authorities not to connect the conduction of fair and
transparent elections with the clauses of the Electoral Code. They just
want to secure a basis for further lawless actions”, secretary of the
National Unity faction Alexan Karapetyan says. He considers that the
new Electoral Code showed regress as compared to the previous one. In
his opinion, taking into account the circumstance that the election
process will be controlled by the powers with rich experience of
falsifying the outcomes, the next elections will be much more worse.

Among the shortcomings of the EC Alexan Karapetyan marked the order
of formation of the election commissions. “Judges are included
in the commissions. How is the juridical power connected with the
conduction of elections?” he says. He also noted one more omission:
the Electoral Code does not regulate the issue of the participation
or non-participation of judges serving on the election commission
in the court proceedings. Alexan Karapetyan is convinced that the
amendments have not changed anything, since de facto judges are
appointed by the President.

Justice faction secretary Victor Dallakyan who is a co-author of
the previous Electoral Code, noted, “As a matter of fact the Code
was not improved. It can be proved by two ordinary examples – first,
the process of formation of the commissions offers the authorities the
possibility of large-scale falsifications and second, though there is
some progress as regards the empowered persons, the Central Election
Committee have exceed power of regulating the rights of the empowered
persons and observers.

Reminding that the Electoral Code is an essential but sufficient
condition for the conduction of democratic elections People’s Deputy
faction member Mkrtich Minasyan noted, “The new Electoral Code is not
perfect, however it contains some advantages.” For example, its authors
tried to settle the problems such as the expansion of authority of the
observers and empowered persons, responsibility for filing the rolls as
well as prolongation of the election campaign period. Diana Markosyan

Institute for War & Peace Reporting
June 16 2005

ARMENIA AND NATO EDGING CLOSER

How far down the road towards NATO membership is Armenia likely to
go?

By Ara Tadevosian in Yerevan

Armenia’s defence minister Serzh Sarkisian and NATO secretary general

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer have come to an agreement that many see as
proof of a new strategic shift by Armenia towards the West.

At a meeting in Brussels on June 10, Sarkisian formally presented
de Hoop Scheffer with his country’s so-called Individual Partnership
Action Plan, IPAP, as well as a personal letter from President Robert
Kocharian.

The event marked a breakthrough in relations between Armenia and NATO,
which were once quite frosty. It also lays out many new obligations
on Yerevan, which NATO will now monitor very closely.

Essentially, the latest agreement leaves Armenia facing a long-term
strategic choice: when the IPAP expires in two years’ time, will
Yerevan take the next logical step and seek to apply for NATO
membership?

Since gaining independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991,
Armenia has been a close military ally of Russia. Moscow still
maintains a large military base in Gyumri, in the north-west of
the country.

But a slight cooling of relations with Russia, overtures from the
West and the NATO aspirations of neighbouring Georgia and Azerbaijan
have changed the picture. Visiting Georgia last month, US president
George W Bush made it clear that he welcomed the idea of Georgia
joining the alliance.

“If it turns out that Georgia and Azerbaijan eventually become members
of NATO and Armenia does not, then obviously this will lead to new
lines of division in the Caucasus,” Armenian foreign minister Vardan
Oskanian said last year.

In April, Sarkisian insisted, “After we set ourselves the goal of
joining the European family, we must have close relations with NATO
and be responsible for guaranteeing security in Europe.”

Armenia and NATO began to develop a closer relationship prior to the
alliance’s Prague summit in 2002. In November 2002, George Robertson,
then secretary general of NATO, told the Armenian news agency Mediamax
that the alliance should pay more attention to the “specific needs
of its partners in the Caucasus”.

“We need to organise NATO’s advice and assistance on an individual
basis and put our resources where they are needed the most,”
said Robertson. “We need to improve liaison arrangements between
Brussels and capitals in the region. In a word – we need to develop
‘smarter’ instruments of cooperation, to make the most efficient use
of our resources.”

This new approach led to the development at the Prague summit of IPAPs
for countries from the South Caucasus and Central Asia, setting out
practical steps by which they could converge with NATO standards.

In June 2003, Armenia played host for the first time to NATO’s
so-called “Cooperative Best Effort 03” military exercise, which was
hailed as a success. And in February 2004 Yerevan sent peacekeeping
troops to join the international presence in Kosovo.

The recent meeting between Sarkisian and de Hoop Scheffer in Brussels
coincided with the start of moves to shift weaponry from Russian
bases in Georgia to the Gyumri base.

But in a sign of a change in atmosphere, a leading official in
Armenia’s opposition Republic Party Suren Sureniants criticised the
move, saying it “only reinforced the prevailing opinion in the West
that Armenia is Russia’s forward post in the Caucasus”. Sureniants
also said the time had come when “the Armenian political elite ought to
raise the issue of the withdrawal of Russian bases from the territory
of our country”.

But many Armenians remain deeply suspicious of NATO, of which Armenia’s
historical enemy Turkey is a member, and continue to regard Russia as
a more reliable ally. “If NATO needs us so badly, then why doesn’t
it force Turkey to open its border with Armenia?” asked 55-year-old
teacher Misak Alexanian.

President Kocharian declined to attend a NATO summit in Istanbul
last year because of Turkey’s refusal to begin diplomatic relations
with Armenia and open the two states’ shared border. But the protest
achieved little, with NATO officials pointing out that it is not the
role of the alliance to act as a referee between two countries or to
insist that a member state change its foreign policy.

At the same time, Armenians have welcomed the position taken by NATO
on relations with Azerbaijan. Last September the alliance cancelled
a planned “Cooperative Best Effort 04” exercise in Azerbaijan, after
the Azerbaijani government refused to allow Armenian officers to take
part in the manoeuvres.

Kocharian had previously won admiration within NATO for permitting
Turkish officers to travel to Armenia for the 2003 exercises. The
president said, “On an emotional level I am not thrilled about the
possibility of a Turkish contingent taking part in exercises on our
territory…However, as president I understand that well-constructed
relations with NATO are more important for the country.”

Another problem facing Armenia is that it now finds itself in the
tricky position of being both a member of the Russian-led Collective
Security Pact of the Commonwealth of Independent States and a growing
friend of NATO.

Nicholas Burns, formerly US ambassador to NATO and now under secretary
of state, suggested to IWPR last year that Armenia would need to adapt
to allow for the differences of approach between the two alliances.

“There are indeed substantial differences in the ways NATO and Russia
organize their military forces and defence organizations,” he said.
“If Armenia wants to significantly improve its interoperability with
NATO, it will have to revise some of those structures.”

American political analyst Ronald Asmus, one of the chief advocates of
NATO’s eastern expansion, told IWPR that the alliance, for its part,
“needs to try to pursue a dual-track strategy where it expands its
outreach to this region and tries to deepen its cooperation with Moscow
in parallel. It is clearly in our as well as Armenia’s interest that
we succeed in doing so”.

Armenia will also have to bring its own armed forces under democratic
control – not an easy process for a country where the military has
big political clout and whose conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorny
Karabakh remains unresolved.

In the meantime, public interest in Armenia about possible NATO
membership – in contrast to Georgia and Azerbaijan – remains very low.
Only one of the country’s daily newspapers printed a small article
about the presentation of the IPAP in Brussels.

And the government has other more serious problems to deal with. A
decision will have to be made about what will happen to the strategic
alliance with Moscow when the two-year IPAP comes to an end. And
Yerevan must consider that NATO now identifies itself as a political
as much as a military organisation, meaning that Armenia will need
to implement democratic reforms to achieve a closer relationship with
the organisation.

Ultimately, the strategic choice about whether to apply for NATO
membership will be in the hands of the successful candidate in the
next round of presidential elections in 2008.

Ara Tadevosian is director of the Armenian news agency Mediamax
in Yerevan.

THE FIRST DRAW

A1plus

| 15:12:11 | 15-06-2005 | Sports |

In the forth round of the Chess European Championship Lilit Lazarian
played a draw with Katerina Lahno, but continues to top the list
with 3.5 points with 4 other players. Lilit is only the 27th in the
Championship with her reputation, but she is one of the real pretenders
of the first title.

In the 5th round the Armenian player will meet Georgian Lena
Yavakishvili. As for Elina Danielyan, she won the 4th round and has
now 3 point. She too can join the race for the first title if she
continues to play stably.

Lilit Galoyan and Siranoush Andreasyan who also represent Armenia
have 2 points each.

There are also other Armenian chess players participating in the
Championship, but they represent other countries.

ARMENIA ELECTED 60-TH UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSION VICE CHAIR

Pan Armenian News
15.06.2005 06:22

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ June 13 Armenia was elected vice chair of the 60-th
session of the UN General Assembly, RA MFA press center reported. The
session will start September 14. In the person of RA Ambassador to
the UN Armen Martirosian Armenia will take part in the work of the
General Committee, which is in charge for the GA activities including
the discussion of the agenda and submission of proposals.

Karabakh polls not to be recognized by world community – Azeri speaker

Trend news agency
14 Jun 05

Baku, 14 June: The parliamentary elections in the “Nagornyy Karabakh
republic”, which are due on 19 June, will not be recognized by any
international organization, Trend has quoted Parliament Speaker Murtuz
Alasgarov as saying at a session of the Milli Maclis today.

Separatists asked several international organizations to send their
observers to the “parliamentary elections”, but were refused.

“Their appeal to the Council of Europe to send representatives to
Xankandi [Stepanakert] also remained unanswered because the Council
of Europe does not recognize such a ‘republic’ and is not going
to send its representatives there. This resolute position by such
an authoritative international organization is very important for
Azerbaijan,” Alasgarov said.

Ak Party Deputy Comez Says Turkey Ready To Debate Armenian Claims

Turkish Press
June 13 2005

YEREVAN (AA) – Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy Turhan
Comez told Armenian deputies and officials on Saturday that Turkey
was ready to debate genocide claims both in historical and in legal
platforms.

Responding to questions of some Armenian deputies about Armenian
claims of ‘genocide,’ Comez explained them the historical realities
and noted that the Armenian claims were baseless.

Reminding of the UN Genocide Convention, Comez said that genocide
meant committing mass massacre with the intention of killing all
members of an ethnic or religious group. Many Muslim Turks were
killed during the uprising of Armenian gangs, said Comez, adding
that the Ottomans adopted the Deportation Law in order to protect
the integrity of the country.

“Citizens (of Armenian origin) living in Izmir and Istanbul were
not asked to migrate. Therefore the decision (of deportation) can’t
be considered within the UN Genocide Convention of 1948. Maximum
security measures were also taken to guarantee the safe deportation
of Armenians showing that Ottomans didn’t have the intention to kill
them,” Comez told Armenian politicians.

“Turkey is right in its point of view historically and legally against
those claims,” he said.

Comez added that the two sides shouldn’t get stuck on the past,
but look for common interests for the future.

BRIEFING – ASIA ENERGY – JUNE 13, 2005

Asia Pulse; Jun 13, 2005

An executive briefing on energy for June 13, 2005, prepared by Asia
Pulse (), the real-time, Asia-based wire with
exclusive news, commercial intelligence and business opportunities.

DONGFENG TIES UP WITH BP IN CHINA’S LUBE MARKET

WUHAN – British Petroleum and Dongfeng Motor Corporation have set up
a joint venture — Dongfeng Castrol Petroleum Co., Ltd. in Wuhan in a
bid to secure a beachhead to fight for a niche on China’s lubricant
market.

BP Group, one of the world’s largest energy companies, is engaged in
petroleum and gasoline prospecting and production, natural gas,
power-generating, renewable energy, oil refining, marketing and
petrochemical manufacture. It has operations in 105 countries, with a
total market value of more than US$200 billion.

NUMEROUS COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS TO BE BUILT IN PAKISTAN

KARACHI – Sindh Minister for Mines and Mineral Development Irfanullah
Khan Marwat chaired a meeting of the Sindh Coal Authority late last
week, which reviewed progress on work on different coal-fired power
plants.

The board announced that an American firm, AES Oasis Ltd, had started
work on the establishment of an integrated coal-fired 1,000 megawatt
power plant at the Thar coalfield, which would be completed by the
end of the this year.

STANDARD CHARTERED BANK, SHELL PAKISTAN SIGN STRATEGIC DEAL

KARACHI – Standard Chartered Bank and Shell Pakistan Limited have
signed an agreement for a fully automated dealer finance programme
based on an electronic dealer finance card system.

Operating on a debit card based structure, the dealer finance card
solution is a fully automated service that enables Shell to enjoy
instant conversion of receivables and Shell’s dealers to enjoy the
full benefits of automated payment initiation, payments outsourcing,
simplified account reconciliation, comprehensive MIS and robust
security.

SINOPEC, CNPC TO INVEST BILLIONS IN NEW ETHYLENE PROJECTS

BEIJING – With several large ethylene projects to start construction
or be subject to approval, the investment committed by China
Petroleum and Chemical Co., Ltd. (Sinopec) and China National
Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to ethylene projects will exceed 60
billion yuan ($US7.24 billion) in the next few years.

After the Maoming Petroleum and Chemical Co., Ltd. initiated the
one-million-ton ethylene expansion project, the Zhenhai Refining and
Chemical Co. and Tianjin Petrochemical Co., both affiliated to
Sinopec, are making preparation for launching ethylene projects of
the same scale.

SOUTHEAST ASIA’S BIGGEST THERMO POWER PLANT TO BE BUILT IN VIETNAM

HANOI – A coal-fuelled power plant, which will be the biggest in
Southeast Asia, is expected to be built in the Vietnam’s central
province of Phu Yen .

The plant is designed to have four turbine groups with a combined
capacity of 2,400 MW, generating 15.6 million MWh annually.

IRANIAN FIRMS TO HELP BUILD DAM, POWER PLANT IN TAJIKISTAN

TEHRAN – Iran and Tajikistan here Saturday signed an agreement to
build a dam and power plant on the Vakhsh river in Nurek, which
located in the west of Tajikistan.

The 19-article agreement was signed by Iran’s Energy Minister
Habibollah Bitaraf and his Tajik counterpart Jurabeck Nurmahmadov.

INDIAN MINISTER FACES TOUGH TASK IN IRAN ON LNG DEAL

TEHRAN – India’s Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar will have a
lot on his plate to discuss when he visits Iran this week to finalise
purchase of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and discuss the ambitious
Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.

While India is keen on purchasing 2.5 million tonnes of additional
LNG at a concessional rate, Iran is understood to be demanding a
price which is higher than what New Delhi has already agreed to pay
for 5 mt of LNG per annum it will source from Tehran.

INVESTMENT FLOWING INTO IRAN’S PETROCHEMICAL SECTOR: MINISTER

AHVAZ – Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said some US$18 billion
has been invested in the country’s petrochemical industry during the
past eight years.

Addressing official ceremony to inaugurate five major petrochemical
projects in Bandar Imam Special Economic Petrochemical Zone, near
Mahshahr in this southwestern province, Zanganeh said out of the
total amount, some US$2.5 billion are returned annually.

IRAN, ARMENIA SIGN MOU ON ELECTRICITY COOPERATION

TEHRAN – Iran and Armenia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU)
here to bolster bilateral cooperation in the field of electricity.

The MoU was signed by Iran’s Energy Minister Habibollah Bitaraf and
his Armenian counterpart Armen Movsisyan.

PETROCHINA ACQUIRES OVERSEAS ASSETS FROM CNPC

BEIJING – PetroChina Company Limited announced Friday that it will
acquire overseas assets from its parent, China National Petroleum
Corporation (CNPC), China’s largest oil producer, for 20.74125
billion yuan (US$2.5 billion).

It is a bid for PetroChina to boost its reserves portfolio, promote
overseas business development and enhance corporate value in a long
run, said Chen Geng, Chairman of PetroChina.

INDIAN, CHINESE OIL COMPANIES SEEKING ROSNEFT SHARES: RUSSIA

MOSCOW – Oil companies from India and China are seeking stake in
Russia’s state-owned oil major Rosneft but no concrete deals have
been struck so far, Russian Energy Minister Victor Khristenko said.

“Many companies, first of all, Indian and Chinese, are showing
interest in the purchase of Rosneft shares,” he said.

S.KOREAN COURT RESUMES PUBLIC AUCTION FOR INCHEON OIL

SEOUL – A local court has resumed the public auction for Incheon Oil
Refinery Co. following its January failure to sell off the firm,
court officials said Monday.

Incheon Oil is currently under court receivership.

OMAN, CHINA SIGN MOU IN PETROLEUM SECTOR

MUSCAT – A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on boosting
Omani-Chinese cooperation in petroleum sector was signed between the
Sultanate and China at Al-Bustan Palace Hotel yesterday.

The MoU was signed by Ahmed bin Salim al-Wahaibi, Executive President
of Oman Oil Company from the Omani side and by Chen Geng, President
of China’s National Petroleum Corporation from Chinese side in the
presence of Dr. M

OMAN AND CHINA SIGN OIL AGREEMENT

MUSCAT – Oman and China signed at Al-Bustan Palace hotel yesterday an
oil agreement to provide the latter with Omani Oil.

The pact was signed by Dr. Mohammed bin Hamad al-Rumhi, Oil and Gas
Minister and the deputy general manager of the Chinese company for
chemical industries.

NSW COAL SECTOR ISSUES WARNING ON ALTERNATIVE FUELS

SYDNEY – Ruling out coal in favour of gas or nuclear power would cost
more and harm the environment, the NSW coal industry has warned.

Environmental groups have called for a ban on the development of
coal-fired electricity plants after NSW Premier Bob Carr indicated he
was gearing up to approve at least one new plant west of Sydney.

CONTACT:

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ASIA PULSE

Turkish Press
June 10 2005

Press Review

MILLIYET

BELGIAN SENATE REJECTS `GENOCIDE’ MEASURE

The Belgian Senate’s Justice Commission yesterday turned back a
proposal to criminalize denying claims of an Armenian genocide. The
bill was returned to the Federal Assembly. Belgian senators said that
it wasn’t Belgium’s job to judge historical contorversies and
stressed that the positive steps taken by Ankara concerning the issue
couldn’t be ignored. /Milliyet/

Pan Armenian News

CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM IN ARMENIA TO BE CONSIDERED ON VENICE COMMISSION
SESSION

10.06.2005 04:23

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Council of Europe Commission for Democracy through Law
(“Venice Commission”), which this year marks its 15-th anniversary, will
hold its 63-rd plenary session in Venice on 10 and 11 June. On the session
agenda are the examination of a number of important legal texts from
different countries, and the adoption of several opinions. The Commission
will, for example, adopt its second interim opinion on constitutional reform
in Armenia, and discuss the amendments to the law on the procedure for
conducting rallies and demonstrations in this member country. An exchange of
views is foreseen with Tigran Torosian, Vice-President of the National
Assembly of Armenia. Joint opinions of the Venice Commission and the
OSCE/ODIHR on the revised draft amendments to the electoral codes of Armenia
and Azerbaijan will also be adopted. To remind, the Venice Commission
expressed discontent with the draft constitutional amendments adopted in the
NA first reading. It should be also noted that the decision on conducting
extra discussions of the constitutional reform process during the next PACE
plenary session scheduled for June 20-24 was taken by the PACE Bureau on
June 6.

Pan Armenian News

ARMENIAN-JAPANESE INTERPARLIAMENTARY TIES NEED TO BE PROMOTED

08.06.2005 08:51

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan met with
Chairman of the lower chamber of the Japanese Parliament Chikage Ogi,
reported the Press Service of the Government of Armenia. In the course of
the meeting he noted that Armenia is interested in intensification of
cooperation with Japan and emphasized that all necessary components are
available to that end. Simultaneously the parties said they were concerned
over the Armenian-Japanese Working Parliamentary Groups formed a few years
ago being not efficient. The parties said they hoped that the current visit
of the Armenian delegation will facilitate establishing interparliamentary
relations. The interlocutors are confident that Armenia and Japan will
cooperation within international organizations in the future as well.
Touching upon the question of further cooperation of Armenia and Japan, the
parties noted the information technologies, chemical industry, food
processing, tourism and seismology were important spheres. Tomorrow the
Armenian PM is scheduled to meet with Vice President of the Japanese
International Cooperation Agency Azoushi Hatakenaka, to visit Panasonic
center, as well as to give an interview to Japan Broadcasting Corporation.