Author: Nahapetian Lilit

ALROSA RUMORED TO BE INTERESTED IN BUYING ARMENIAN GOLD PRODUCER

Tacy, Israel
March 22 2007

Russian diamond producer Alrosa, or its investment arm IG Alrosa, are
interested in buying Ararat Gold Recovery Company (AGRC) in Armenia,
says a gold spokesman. A Russian specialist has visited Armenia to
examine the state of affairs at AGRC.

The Armenian Environmental Protection Ministry, following a recent
inspection, has accused AGRC of violating environmental standards and
of concealing 1.6 tons of gold. Officials from the Tax Inspectorate
and Prosecutor’s Office are also reportedly inspecting the company’s
paperwork.

AGRC is owned by Sterlite Gold Ltd, which in turn is 55 percent
owned by India’s Vedanta Resources. The Zod gold deposit, where AGRC
operates, contains an estimated 80 tons of 2.6 million ounces of gold.

ARMENIAN YEZIDIS HAVE DECIDED WHO TO SUPPORT IN ELECTIONS

ARMENPRESS
Mar 22 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 22, ARMENPRESS: The leader of Armenia’s biggest national
minority group refuted today media reports claiming that he will ask
his fellows to cast their ballots in favor of the Dashink (Alliance)
party of a former commander of Nagorno-Karabakh defense army Samvel
Babayan in parliamentary elections, scheduled for May 12.

Aziz Tamoyan, who heads the 42,000-strong Yezidi community of Armenia,
said to a news conference his fellows have made their decision which
political party to support, but refused to reveal their names.

Tamoyan said he denied proposals to run for parliament in a
single-mandate constituency because he had done so in 2003 but his
attempt proved a failure.

Tamoyan, who is also chairman of the World Yezidi Union, said the
ballot is secret, but he hopes that his fellows will support the
candidate that has won the entire community’s approval.

He said the list of candidates of the People’s Party has two Yezidis,
while the Prosperous Armenia and Dashink have one Yezidi in their
lists each.

Yezidis belong to the Kurdish race of the Indo-European family
and speak a northern dialect of Kurdish (Kurmanji). They adhere
to a distinct religion that is influenced by Zoroastrian beliefs,
Christianity and Islam. Though the language spoken by Yezidis is
Kurdish, they tend to regard themselves as distinct from Kurds.

In Armenia, Yezidis are predominantly a pastoral community, with
villages concentrated in the central highlands and along alpine
meadows in the upper elevations of the country.

Yezidi shepherds make annual migrations in the spring to the upper
elevations of mountains, camping in caravan-style tents and tending
their sheep and goat flocks until the first snows of the autumn,
when they return to their villages.

THE TOMOGRAPH IS NOT INSTALLED YET

KarabakhOpen
21-03-2007 12:54:12

The computer tomograph, which was brought to Artsakh a few years
ago, has not been installed yet. The installation of the expensive
equipment is delayed because no building has been provided yet,
stated the minister of health Zoya Lazarian.

According to the minister, soon specialists from Yerevan will arrive in
Stepanakert. "We do not have a financial problem with the installation,
all the costs are covered by the All-Armenian Fund. It is possible,
however, that new parts may be needed during the installation,"
said the minister.

BORIS FRLEC: THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS ARE A CHALLENGE TO THE ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES

ArmRadio.am
21.03.2007 14:03

"The recently amended Electoral Code provides for a healthy legal base
for conducting democratic elections. However, it is a challenge to the
Armenian authorities do demonstrate good will in its implementation
to have these and subsequent elections be held in compliance with the
OSCE commitments," Head of the Observation Mission of the OSCE Office
for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Ambassador Boris Frlec
said in his first press conference.

The delegation comprised of 13 people has been in Armenia from March
19 at the invitation of RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian. Another
29 observers from 18 countries will join the mission by weekend. 300
short-term OSCE/ODIHR observers will arrive in Armenia in May.

This is the 6th time the OSCE is carrying out observation mission
in Armenia. Boris Frlec declared in Yerevan today that the long-term
observers have started the monitoring a bit earlier to get acquainted
with the pre-election atmosphere and the political parties. The
Ambassador added they are ready to meet with all parliamentary and
non-parliamentary forces in case the latter wish so.

EU SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE TO VISIT AZERBAIJAN

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 19 2007

Peter Semneby, European Union’s Special Representative for the South
Caucasus will visit Azerbaijan in April, the special representative
told the APA exclusively.

Mr.Semneby said that he intends to visit Nagorno Karabakh following
the visit to Azerbaijan. He noted that he will leave for the Armenian
capital, Yerevan on March 23 adding he could not meet some officials
during his previous short-term visit.

"I hope to meet with important officials during my visit to Armenia,"
the Special Representative said.

ENERGY WATCH
By Krishnadev Calamur Report: Producers to set up gas cartel

Earthtimes.org
News Category : Energy (Environment)
March 19 2007

Major gas producer, including Russia, Iran and Venezuela, have agreed
to set up an OPEC-like cartel for gas exports, Russia’s Kommersant
reported Monday.

A deal was expected to be signed April 9 in Qatar, the newspaper
reported. It quoted "sources in Arab diplomatic circles" as saying
Russia, Iran, Qatar, Venezuela and Algeria would be part the cartel
modeled on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

"Russia’s Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko
will attend the forum, where he will express Russia’s position
regarding the issue," a Russian spokeswoman told Platts, the global
energy-information provider. Last month, during a visit to the Middle
East, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said even if a gas cartel
was not former, producers should coordinate their policies.

The West fears that an OPEC-like cartel would lead to high gas prices
and on Monday in a statement, the U.S. Energy Department said a cartel
would hurt the gas business in the long term.

"The Department believes that an open and transparent marketplace is
best situated to determine price for natural gas," it said.

"Activities that seek to control the flow of energy supplies to
the market and circumvent the role of the market to set prices are
contrary to the long-term interests of both producers and consumers."

CEO: Pemex is in ‘critical’ condition

The head of Mexico’s state-owned oil firm Pemex has said the company
is in "critical" condition. "The situation of Petroleos Mexicanos is
critical and merits immediate attention," Chief Executive Jesus Reyes
Heroles said Sunday. The company, once a source of pride for Mexico’s
energy industry has clearly seen better days. Its daily output fell
last year by 2.3 percent to about 3.2 million barrels per day.

Production at Cantarell, the country’s No. 1 oil field, fell almost
12 percent last year.

While much of the world’s oil monopolies have raked in the profits
because of high oil prices through much of last year, the story at
Pemex is the opposite. It sends more than 80 percent of its profits
to the government, leaving little to reinvest in the company’s
infrastructure.

"We have to invest, and invest seriously, in exploration and turn
this situation around," Mexican President Felipe Calderon said.

Iran-Armenia gas pipeline opens

The Iran-Armenia pipeline began pumping gas from Iran to Armenia
Monday.

Presidents Robert Kocharyan of Armenia and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of
Iran attended the inauguration ceremony in Agarak, on the border
between the two countries.

Twenty-five miles of the 90-mile pipeline have been built. In the
first stage, 300 million to 400 million cubic meters of gas will be
transported. Eventually, the pipeline will be able to pump about 2.5
billion cu.m. of gas, the report said.

Work on the $30 million pipeline will end in mid-2008.

Initially, Armenia will receive 1.08 million cu.m. per year from
Iran, a figure that is expected to double by 2019, according to the
U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Department of Energy’s
data arm. In exchange, Armenia will provide Iran with 3 kilowatts of
electricity per cubic meter of gas.

The pipeline allows Armenia to access Iran’s and Turkmenistan’s gas
exports without having to use Caspian Sea export routes, the EIA says.

CHAIRMAN OF NOR ZHAMANAKNER EXPECTS TO RECEIVE ANSWERS TO MANY QUESTIONS FROM AUTHORITIES

Noyan Tapan
Mar 19 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 19, NOYAN TAPAN. As a citizen of Armenia, Chairman of
Nor Zhamanakner Party Aram Karapetian has many questions to ask to
the authorities.

Stating this at the March 19 press conference, NZP Chairman also
said that RA Prosecutor General’s Office either does not answer
parties’ applications or gives answers not having legal grounds. And
A. Karapetian, for instance, would like to find out, whether it is
right that a non-registered sum of 6 mln USD is received from illegal
actions of Customs Service each month in Armenia, which is distributed
among officials of various levels in the future.

In A. Karapetian’s words, NZP does not agree to the conclusion,
according to which the Armenian pilots are to blame for the accident
of A-320 plane which took place in 2006 May in Sochi. The party is
going to apply to RF Embassy in Armenia and Russian Foreign Ministry
with this issue. A. Karapetian said that a criminal case had been
instituted at RA Prosecutor General’s Office in connection with this
case, but the results have not been published up to present.

NZP is also going to apply to U.S. Embassy in RA, U.S. State Department
and FBI with the issue of citizens of Armenia arrested last year in
U.S. with the accusation of illegal sale of arms. As A. Karapetian
mentioned, according to party’s information, "many interesting people"
from Armenia are also involved in this case.

A. Karapetian also said that according to some rumors, resident of
Yerevan Hayk Israelian arrested lately as a defendant on the case of
murder of Shahen Hovasapian, Head of RA State Tax Service Investigation
Department, is connected with Levon Sargsian ("Lyov of Mill") who in
his turn stands close to Defence Minister Serge Sargsian. According
to the same rumors, the information on H. Israelian’s participation
in the above mentioned crime has been provided to law enforcement
bodies by one of pro-governmental parties.

Azerbaijan has de facto recognized Nagorno-Karabakh: Armenian MP

Arminfo
2007-03-16 18:59:00

Armenia is not facing the task of Nagorno-Karabakh’s recognition, says
member of Republican Party Armen Ashotyan.

He says that, if a state is recognized de facto, it will sooner or
later be recognized de jure. Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh are linked
by numerous agreements. In fact, many countries, particularly, the US,
Russia, France and Azerbaijan, have de facto recognized
Nagorno-Karabakh. The mediation of the US, France and Russia in the
Nagorno-Karabakh peace process proves that those countries have
recognized Nagorno-Karabakh de facto. Armenia can easily recognize NK
but this is not politically expedient yet, says Ashotyan.

KNESSET OPTS NOT TO DISCUSS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AT PM’S REQUEST
By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent

Ha’aretz, Israel
March 15 2007

The Knesset decided Wednesday to shelve a proposal for a parliamentary
discussion on the Armenian genocide, in compliance with Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert’s request.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni had also asked for a removal of
MK Haim Oron’s (Meretz) proposal from the agenda of the Knesset
Education, Culture, and Sports Committee. She said the discussion
might destabilize diplomatic relations with Turkey, which denies
responsibility for the death of nearly 1 million Armenians during
World War I.

MK Oron said that before the vote, Livni called him twice to ask
him to withdraw the proposal. "This inquiry is something we owe the
Armenians, primarily at a time when we are struggling to preserve
the memory of our own people," said Oron.

He added that he had intended the discussion to lead to a resolution
by the Knesset acknowledging the genocide perpetrated against the
Armenians by the Turkish security forces.

Prominent members of the Armenian community in Israel observed the vote
from the Knesset visitors’ balcony and expressed their disappointment
with the decision.

Health Minister Yacov Ben-Yizri, speaking for Livni, said that "as
Jews and Israelis we are especially sensitive to the issue, but over
the years the subject has been transformed into a heated discussion
that the two parties must resolve in order to truly heal the wounds
of the past."

In his address, Ben Yizri did mention that the Armenians were "killed
en-masse during the last days of the Ottoman rule."

ARK LAND BOTTLED WATER MAY CONTAIN ARSENIC, CANADA’S FOOD WATCHDOG WARNS

CBC British Columbia, Canada
March 15 2007

Some bottles of Ark Land brand bottled water may contain arsenic, a
pollutant known to cause cancer in humans, Canada’s food watchdog says.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued a recall Wednesday
of Ark Land brand Naturally Carbonated Mineral Water sold in
330-millilitre(UPC 7 85000 12033 9) and 500-ml (UPC 7 85000 12050 6)
bottles with a best before date of 09/05/07.

Long-term exposure to high levels of arsenic may cause thickening
and discolouration of skin, nausea, diarrhea, irregular heart rhythm
and blood vessel damage. Short-term exposure can cause symptoms
including abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, cramping, numbness and
loss of movement.

The water, imported from Armenia-based Arzni Source, was distributed
in Ontario and Quebec and possibly across Canada.

The CFIA is monitoring the recall of the water from the marketplace.

There have been no reported illnesses associated with consumption of
the product.

For more information, consumers can call CFIA at 1-800-442-2342.