Author: Tadevosian Garnik

Armenian security service extradites US fugitive on FBI wanted list

Noyan Tapan news agency
22 Nov 04

Yerevan, 22 November: The Armenian National Security Ministry has
traced, arrested and extradited to the USA Shagen Keshishyan, 32,
a resident of Los Angels, in line with bilateral agreements, Noyan
Tapan news agency has learnt from the press service of the National
Security Ministry.

Keshishyan has been on the wanted list of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation since 2000 and is accused of premeditated murder and
fleeing the scene of the crime. Keshishyan arrived in Armenia with
forged documents in 2002.

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
November 19, 2004, Friday

THE COUNCIL OF FOREIGN MINISTERS OF THE ORGANIZATION OF THE
COLLECTIVE SECURITY TREATY HELD A MEETING IN MOSCOW

The foreign ministers of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Russia and Tajikistan discussed topical problems of international and
regional security, and the performance of the organization in the
main sectors of its activities. They considered the
military-political situation in the responsibility zone of the
Organization of the collective security treaty, the situation in the
central-Asian region, nonproliferation of mass destruction weapons
and the post-conflict situation in Afghanistan. In this regard the
ministers focused on improving legal mechanisms of the Collective
rapid deployment force, the joint staff of the organization of the
collective security treaty and training of servicemen.

He statement passed by the foreign ministers reflects the intention
of member nations of the organization of the collective security
treaty to take additional measures against terrorism, drug
trafficking, proliferation of mass destruction weapons and more.
According to the document, members of the organization consider US
President George W. Bush’s initiative on nonproliferation of mass
destruction weapons as an important element of the world’s security.

Two meetings of executive bodies of the organization of the
collective security treaty will be held in November. The Council of
the defense ministers will hold a meeting in Moscow on November 25.
The committee of secretaries of the security services will hold a
meeting in Yerevan on November 30.

Source: Krasnaya Zvezda, November 17, 2004, p. 3

Translated by Alexander Dubovoi

Armenian National Committee of America
888 17th Street, NW, Suite 904
Washington, DC 20006
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
Email. [email protected]

PRESS RELEASE
November 19, 2004
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

CONGRESS ADOPTS KEY U.S.-ARMENIA TRADE PROVISION

Bill Granting Permanent Normal Trade Relations Status to Armenia
Headed for Presidential Signature

WASHINGTON, DC – The Senate, today, unanimously acted to
permanently normalize trade between the U.S. and Armenia, opening
the door to expanded economic relations, new commercial
opportunities, and the further strengthening of the longstanding
bonds between the American and Armenian peoples, reported the
Armenian National Committee Of America (ANCA). With the House
version of the measure adopted in October, the bill now goes to
President Bush for signature.

This provision, which grants Permanent Normal Trade Relations
(PNTR) status to Armenia, was adopted in the final hours of the of
the Senate lame-duck session as part of the larger bill, H.R.1047 –
the Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act. The bill,
which has been held up due to human rights concerns in Laos, was
considered following a Senate vote to avert a filibuster of the
measure.

Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) was the first to
raise the issue of Armenia PNTR in Congress. His legislation,
H.R.528, introduced last year was supported by the Armenian Caucus
and cosponsored by 112 other Members of Congress. A companion bill
was introduced on the Senate side by Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
and cosponsored by 21 other Senators. The strong support for these
measures paved the way for their inclusion by members of Congress
negotiating the final version of the larger trade measure.

“The ANCA welcomes the Congressional passage of the Armenia-PNTR
bill and thanks Congressman Knollenberg, Senator McConnell and all
those who played a role in securing its passage,” said Ken
Hachikian, Chairman of the ANCA. “Following Presidential signature
of the measure, we look forward to exploring new opportunities to
further expand the growing U.S.-Armenia economic relationship.”

Over the past two years, the ANCA has worked, in Washington, DC and
in local communities throughout the country to generate bipartisan
support for this trade measure among legislators, including those
serving on key trade subcommittees. Over ten thousand pro-Armenia
activists sent ANCA WebFaxes to Congress, thousands more made phone
calls in support of PNTR, and this important issue was raised in
several hundred Congressional visits, both in District Offices and
the nation’s capital. The sample ANCA WebFax letter for activists
included several reasons to support this legislation, among them:

* Increased U.S.-Armenia trade and investment advances U.S. foreign
policy by strengthening Armenia’s free market economic development
and integration into the world economy.

* Expanded U.S.-Armenia commercial relations will strengthen
bilateral relations and reinforces the enduring friendship between
the American and Armenian peoples.

* Adoption of PNTR for Armenia will help offset – at no cost to
U.S. taxpayers – the devastating impact of the dual Turkish and
Azerbaijani blockades, estimated by the World Bank as costing
Armenia up to a third of its entire GDP (as much as $720 million
annually) and half of its exports.

The Trade Act of 1974 excluded all Soviet countries from having
normal trade relations (NTR) status with the United States. One
particular provision of the Act, known as the Jackson-Vanik
amendment, required the President to deny NTR to those countries
that restricted free emigration. The policy was adopted, in part,
in response to Communist government restrictions on the emigration
of Jews. According to the terms of the Jackson-Vanik amendment,
when the President determines that freedom of emigration rights
have been reinstated in a country, normal trade relations may be
granted. To maintain NTR, the President must report to Congress
twice a year that Jackson-Vanik requirements have been met. While
successive Presidents have waived the Jackson-Vanik Amendment
restrictions on Armenia during the past decade, the passage of the
Knollenberg bill, would grant Armenia permanent normal trade
relations status, without the need for semi-yearly Presidential
determinations.

The text of the Armenia PNTR provision is provided below:

Title II, Section 2001

Subtitle A – Miscellaneous Provisions

SEC. 2001. TERMINATION OF APPLICATION OF TITLE IV OF THE TRADE ACT
OF 1974 TO ARMENIA.

(a) FINDINGS. – Congress makes the following findings:

(1) Armenia has been found to be in full compliance with the
freedom of emigration requirements under title IV of the Trade Act
of 1974.

(2) Armenia acceded to the World Trade Organization on February 5,
2003.

(3) Since declaring its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991,
Armenia has made considerable progress in enacting free-market
reforms.

(4) Armenia has demonstrated a strong desire to build a friendly
and cooperative relationship with the United States and has
concluded many bilateral treaties and agreements with the United
States.

(5) Total United States-Armenia bilateral trade
for 2002 amounted to more than $134,200,000.

(b) PRESIDENTIAL DETERMINATIONS AND EXTENSIONS OF NONDISCRIMINATORY
TREATMENT.

Notwithstanding any provision of title IV of the Trade Act of 1974
(19 U.S.C. 2431 et seq.), the President may:

(1) determine that such title should no longer apply to Armenia;
and

(2) after making a determination under paragraph (1) with respect
to Armenia, proclaim the extension of nondiscriminatory treatment
(normal trade relations treatment) to the products of that country.

(c) TERMINATION OF APPLICATION OF TITLE IV.

On and after the effective date of the extension under subsection
(b)(2) of nondiscriminatory treatment to the products of Armenia,
title IV of the Trade Act of 1974 shall cease to apply to that
country.

Cambridge Chronicle, MA
Nov 18 2004

Green building comes to life for Tobin students

“Everybody walk up the stairs to the fourth floor,” called out Bill
Deignan, a city planner at the recently renovated City Hall Annex. As
they neared the top, a girl asked her friend, “Why can’t we take the
elevator? I’ve got asthma!”

After the eighth-graders from Tobin School had relaxed into the
conference room swivel chairs, they gazed up at the skylight and
learned about the solar panels hidden on the roof of this historic
building. “What if you have a meeting at night, do the lights still
go on?” one student asked.

They were clearly engaged and listened intently as Deignan
described how a “green building” meant there was less indoor air
pollution and was healthier for someone with asthma. Maybe the stairs
weren’t so bad after all.

For most of them, the Nov. 9 field trip was the first time they
had entered a “green building” and the first time they had been in
the office of someone working for their own government. These
students were learning about what makes their government tick as well
as the reality of energy efficiency and new technologies.

This field trip focused on energy use is part of a Sister City
program pairing Tobin School students with eighth-graders in Yerevan,
Armenia. The program received a Sustainable Development Seed Grant
from the State Department this year. Science teachers Tad Sudnick and
David Petty have been leading the study. Three groups of students
toured the building, applying what they had learned in science class.

They touched the sustainably harvested wood paneling on the
walls. “Cherry?” mused a boy. “Isn’t it supposed to be red? Maybe it
needs a little more oxygen.”

Independent Online, South Africa
Nov 15 2004

Trial resumes in alleged E Guinea coup plot

By Rodrigo Angue Nguema

Malabo – The trial of 19 defendants accused of seeking to overthrow
the president of this small, oil-rich West African nation, Teodoro
Obiang Nguema, was scheduled to resume on Tuesday after a two-month
recess.

The second act of this judicial saga opens two weeks before the
hearing in South Africa of charges against Mark Thatcher, son of
former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who is accused of
bank-rolling the alleged coup plot here.

The prosecution asked for the case to be suspended in August, hoping
to obtain more information from Thatcher. But he has denied having
anything to do with the alleged coup, and has made it known through
his lawyers that he would not cooperate with the Equatorial Guinea
authorities.

They have denied seeking to overthrow Obiang
The defendants include eight South Africans, a six-man Armenian air
crew and five Equatorial Guineans, including a former deputy
minister.

They have denied seeking to overthrow Obiang, who has ruled over one
of the world’s poorest country with an iron hand since 1979

when he deposed and executed his uncle, and who has stashed millions
of dollars in oil revenues in a US bank, according to a US
Congressional report.

South African Nick du Toit told the court in August that he had
recruited personnel and taken charge of logistics for an attempted
coup, which authorities claim was masterminded from Madrid by exiled
oppositionist Severo Moto Nsa.

Du Toit said he had accepted the job at the request of Simon Mann,
the alleged leader of an alleged mercenary band arrested in Zimbabwe
in March while reportedly on its way to Equatorial Guinea.

Called for the death sentence against Du Toit
A Zimbabwean court sentenced Mann to seven years in jail on weapons
charges, 65 others to one year in prison for breaching immigration
rules and the two pilots of their aircraft to 16 months.

According to the prosecution, the defendants were in charge of plans
to receive 70 mercenaries from Zimbabwe and guide them to their
targets.

Only Du Toit, head of an air transport and fisheries company here,
has acknowledged having a marginal and non-operational role in the
alleged plot and has exculpated his fellow defendants, one of whom, a
German citizen, died in prison. They have categorically denied
knowing about any plot against Obiang.

In the absence of confessions, the only evidence against the
defendants is fragmentary – mysterious contracts they were supposed
to have signed and examples of weapons supposed to have been acquired
for the operation.

Nevertheless, prosecutor Jose Olo Obono has called for the death
sentence against Du Toit, and prison terms ranging from 26 to 86
years for the others.

Their outlook took a turn for the worse last month when Obiango, who
calls himself God, said “exemplary” sentences would be pronounced
against them. – Sapa

Dutch Arrest Alleged Kurdish Rebels
By TOBY STERLING

AP Online
Nov 13, 2004

A nationwide anti-terrorism operation netted 38 suspected members of
a Kurdish rebel group Friday, including “militant trainees” being
prepared at a rural campground for fighting in Turkey and Armenia,
officials said.

The detainees are all alleged members of the former Kurdistan Workers’
Party, or PKK, a rebel group which now calls itself KONGRA-GEL and is
branded as terrorist by the United States and the European Union. The
group seeks to carve out an independent Kurdish state in the mountains
of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey.

More than 200 police were involved in the second major operation
in the Netherlands in a week, after special forces used tear
gas to end a standoff with alleged Islamic radicals in The Hague
Wednesday. Prosecutors said the two operations were unrelated.

Nine arrests were made Friday in raids in The Hague, Rotterdam,
Eindhoven, Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, and the town of Capelle aan
den Ijssel.

Most of the arrests came in a sweep of an alleged paramilitary training
camp near Boxtel. Police seized night vision goggles, packages of
clothing intended to be sent abroad, instruction materials, passports
and identity cards, prosecutors said.

“More than 20 people were being trained for armed conflict
… including terrorist attacks” a statement by prosecutors
said. “Trainees were taught special war tactics.”

There were also indications that “a number of the trainees were
destined for Armenia,” it said.

Other detainees allegedly arranged money transfers, passports and
passed along information to PKK members in Turkey and Armenia,
prosecutors said.

The detainees, whose names were not released, included 33 men and
five women.

Prosecution spokesman Wim de Bruin said the group had been under
observation for several months and that “the course was nearly
finished.”

“We wanted to prevent the group from leaving the country and putting
to use the knowledge they had gained,” he said.

Boxtel’s mayor, Jan van Homelen, said the suspects were PKK members.

The PKK, which recently renamed itself KONGRA-GEL, ended a five-year
unilateral cease-fire in June and has carried out a number of attacks
recently, most in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast.

It has been on Europe’s list of terrorist organizations since
April. Dutch prosecutors said those arrested Friday will likely be
charged as members.

“Apparently there’s been a training center there for a long time,
and that’s why it was decided to step in,” Van Homelen said on
national television.

Van Homelen said as far as he knew, the suspects did not use weapons or
explosives in their training, which he described as “more theoretical.”

Prosecutors said the suspects said they were Kurdish but were
considered Turkish nationals by the Dutch state.

On Monday, The Hague’s district court blocked the extradition of
alleged PKK leader Nuriye Kesbir to Turkey for her suspected role
in a series of bombings in the 1990s. The Justice Ministry said it
would appeal the decision.

Official says Armenia’s 2d mobile co to start operations Aug ’05

Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire, Russia
November 11, 2004

YEREVAN, Nov 11 (Prime-Tass) — A second Armenian mobile operator,
K-Telecom, would start its operations in Armenia in late August 2005,
Armenia’s Justice Minister David Arutyunyan told reporters Thursday.

Arutyunyan said that K-Telecom would receive its frequency over the
next two to three months.

He said that at present the Armenian national telecom company ArmenTel
had the licenses for the frequencies, and that this situation could
not be changed overnight.

“We estimate that K-Telecom will receive the 10MHz frequency in
about seven months, which will enable the company to start commercial
operations a few months after that,” Arutyunyan said.

On November 4, Arutyunyan said that the Armenian government had awarded
a license to K-Telecom to become the country’s second mobile operator.

Arutyunyan said that the Armenian government had approved the removal
of ArmenTel’s exclusive right to provide GSM, mobile satellite
and mobile radio communication services by amending the company’s
license. End

Armenian paper mulls reasons for security chief’s resignation

Aykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
10 Nov 04

Karlos Petrosyan is unlikely to have resigned voluntarily as head of
the Armenian National Security Service, according to an article in
opposition newspaper Aykakan Zhamanak. An MP told the paper that
Petrosyan had left his post because President Robert Kocharyan
wanted to redistribute spheres of economic influence amongst the
“oligarchs”. Moreover, Petrosyan is a supporter of parliament chairman
Artur Bagdasaryan, whose pro-French tendency has recently been losing
out to American ideology, opposition MP Mayak Ovanesyan said. The
following is the text of Naira Zograbyan’s report in Armenian newspaper
Aykakan Zhamanak on 10 November headlined “Mystical resignation. The
resignation of the head of the National Security Service remains
a mystery”:

Over the last few days the resignation of the head of the
National Security Service, Karlos Petrosyan, has caused the most
scandal. Certainly it would be frivolous to think that Karlos
Petrosyan himself wrote his retirement application, which is the
official version. Especially since we were talking to him on 27
October and he did not intend to leave his post.

For several days now political circles have been talking about the
reasons for the resignation. The first of the reasons put forward are
numerous stories connected with Karlos Petrosyan’s son. According to
some sources, Robert Kocharyan could not forgive an event that took
place about two years ago, when Petrosyan’s son in a jeep crossed
the cortege that was accompanying Kocharyan. According to the same
source, this story was added to the story of a stolen jeep, driven
by Petrosyan’s son. By the way, they say that this car was put on
international police lists. But these stories ended and if Kocharyan
had decided to retire Karlos Petrosyan because of his son’s impudent
behaviour, he would have done it earlier.

By the way, yesterday [9 November] during a talk with an official the
latter said that recently a group of public and political functionaries
gathered in a private house not far from Yerevan to discuss settling
today’s crisis in Armenia by means of pan-national mutiny. Karlos
Petrosyan knew of this meeting but did not tell Robert Kocharyan
about it.

Anyway, National Assembly Deputy Mayak Ovanesyan said that he is aware
of the only real reason for Karlos Petrosyan’s resignation. “Nobody
takes into account a very important condition: on the post-Soviet
territory Karlos Petrosyan became the only head of security who is a
big oligarch as well and provided protection for the oligarchs and
deputies who deal in wheat and other imports of goods of strategic
significance. Nothing unusual has taken place: simply a redistribution
of spheres of economic influence has occurred. Kocharyan has adopted
a decision to take the economic spheres belonging to Karlos Petrosyan
and redistribute them among other clans. One must not search for other
reasons for his resignation. And very soon you will see that in future
the means of Karlos Petrosyan’s economic group will be redistributed
among other economic circles. Petrosyan’s clan will start retreating
and this will be a forced retreat,” Mayak Ovanesyan is sure.

But why was, let us say, [Defence Minister] Serzh Sarkisyan’s economic
clan better than Karlos Petrosyan’s? And why has Kocharyan decided
to redistribute Petrosyan’s economic spheres just today? Mayak
Ovanesyan has an answer to this question too: “The point is that
Karlos Petrosyan was openly supporting Artur Bagdasaryan [chairman
of the National Assembly]. That is, he was simply giving direction
to the political processes, and if his political role as head of
the National Security Service grew day by day, it could break the
whole political field. Because in countries like Armenia it is one
thing when the defence minister deals in policy and quite another
thing when the national security head is simply giving direction to
political processes. Moreover, one should also take an external world
factor into account. It is known that the Law-Governed Country Party
[Orinats Yerkir] is regarded as a pro-French force, but recently
in our region the question was put in another way: will a general
Western ideology win or specifically an American ideology about which
President Bush has spoken many times? It is evident that recently
American ideology was more influential in our region. For this
reason it is natural that France should decrease its appetite in our
region, and the resignation of Karlos Petrosyan, who is a political
‘protector’ of the French protege, the Law-Governed Country Party,
should be seen in the context of the decrease in France’s appetite,”
Mayak Ovanesyan is sure.

Of course, it would be correct to have just Karlos Petrosyan’s comment
on the numerous reasons for his sudden resignation, but he is refusing
to answer any questions. When talking with us before his resignation,
Karlos Petrosyan said that if somebody can prove that he owns cafes,
territories and other property or sponsors something, he is ready to
go to any notary’s office and give all this to that person as a gift.

Status of Collective Security Treaty on rise – Russian spokesman

RIA news agency
10 Nov 04

Moscow, 10 November: The Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO) continues to develop dynamically as a military and political
organization, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Yakovenko
said in an interview to RIA news agency.

“Following the session on collective security in Astana in June 2004,
the CSTO continues to develop dynamically as a military and political
organization. The unanimous approval of the resolution granting the
CSTO an observer status with the General Assembly by the 6th Committee
of the UN General Assembly Session speaks for the CSTO’s rising
prestige as an international regional organization,” Yakovenko said.

In the run-up to the meeting of the [CSTO’s] Council of Foreign
Ministers, Yakovenko said that the CSTO is a multifunctional military
and political integration body, comprised of Armenia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. The CSTO’s main task
is to create an advanced collective security system, capable of
responding to any possible threat to the security of the member states.

“The issues of responding to new challenges and threats, namely
terrorism and other violent manifestations of extremism, drug
trafficking, illegal migration, organized crime, are at the top of
CSTO’s agenda. The work in this sector is coordinated in the framework
of the CSTO by the Committee of Security Council Heads of the CSTO’s
member states,” Yakovenko said.

“The Collective Rapid Deployment Force in Central Asian collective
security region (CRDF), created in 2001 and comprising Russian,
Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Tajik units, played an important role in stopping
the activities of Islamic extremists’ groups in Central Asia. In the
time since it has been set up, CRDF has evolved into an important and
almost crucial factor of ensuring peace and stability in Central Asia,”
he said.

The full text of the interview has been published on the RIA news
agency site at

European Bank Report Finds Former Soviet Oil Economies Booming
By Mark Baker, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
Nov 10 2004

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) this
week confirmed what many in Russia, Ukraine, and Central Asia had
already suspected — their economies are booming. In its annual
Transition Report, released yesterday, the bank said higher oil and
other commodity prices are fueling skyrocketing annual growth for
many countries. In fact, the former Soviet Union is now the world’s
second-fastest-growing region in the world — behind only China and
neighboring countries in Asia. But the high prices won’t last forever.

Prague, 9 November 2004 (RFE/RL) — Willem Buiter, the EBRD’s chief
economist, said that from an economic standpoint, Russia and the
countries of the former Soviet Union have never had it so good.

Speaking to RFE/RL today from the bank’s headquarters in London,
Buiter said that with oil prices at around $50 a barrel and prices
of other commodities soaring, growth in the former Soviet Union could
reach 7 to 8 percent next year:

“Oil and gas prices are dragging Russia itself and Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan merrily along with them — and strong
cotton prices [as well],” Buiter said. “Gold prices do the same for
Kyrgyzstan, and for aluminum it’s Tajikistan. So we have a range
of very favorable international conditions. Not only are the prices
[of their commodity exports] higher, but also for their noncommodity
exports, there’s buoyant demand.”

The bank’s Transition Report — issued each November — is viewed as
a scorecard for the postcommunist countries in Europe and the former
Soviet Union the bank was established to help. The report forecasts
economic growth in each of the countries and also evaluates them on
reform efforts.

Buiter said, however, that while growth rates are rising, progress
in implementing reforms — things like simplifying tax codes and
cracking down on corruption — is lagging. In countries from Russia
through Central Asia and Ukraine, he said there was relatively little
effort made at reform in the past year.

There might even be an inverse relationship between oil wealth and
reform — meaning that the more natural wealth a country possesses, the
less pressure the authorities there feel to implement positive changes.

“The main consequence of nature’s largesse seems to be a slowdown
in reform efforts,” Buiter said. “Basically, easy growth and easy
government revenues from taxation and royalties make the sense of
urgency felt by the authorities to pursue reform less acute. So,
if anything, I think this commodity boom is slowing down reform.”

Buiter cited Kyrgyzstan as an exception. In this year’s report,
Kyrgyzstan was praised for introducing economic reforms the EBRD says
will serve them well in the future: “The main things that they’ve
done right [in Kyrgyzstan] is that they liberalized quite [a lot].
There was progress in structural reforms. They privatized the Kumtor
gold mine, which accounts for 10 percent of [the size of the Kyrgyz
economy] on its own. They have taken steps to enhance open transparency
in businesses. They adopted an anti-corruption law in March [2003].”

The report says that even in oil- or commodity-poor states — like
Armenia and Georgia — economies are growing in step with regional
growth. But Buiter said in these countries, successful reform efforts
are important to ensure continued growth.

“Reform, reform, reform. And implement the reforms. Don’t just pass
the laws. Anybody — or nearly anybody — can do that. Implement
on the ground. And in order to implement with the limited public
administration capacity you have, you have to keep it simple,”
Buiter said.

The EBRD is relatively active in all but two formerly communist
countries — Belarus and Turkmenistan.

Buiter said the past year simply brought more of the same misery to
both countries.

He listed Turkmenistan’s many problems: “[The] total lack of reform.
The frightening backwardness of the public administration. In the
case of Turkmenistan, the destruction of its human capital by its
dismantling of serious higher education, and indeed undermining even
secondary education, makes one worry greatly about the future of
the country.”

And he said Belarus doesn’t fare any better: “They had a fraudulent
[referendum recently], and the country is moving steadily away from
the canons of democratic and transparent pluralist societies that our
bank is supposed to support and work in. Belarus and Turkmenistan
are the two worst cases in our bank’s portfolio. One really feels
for the people of these countries who have to live through these very
difficult times.”

Neither Belarus nor Turkmenistan meets the EBRD’s democratic standards
as spelled out in its charter, and the bank has had to greatly reduce
its lending and support activities in those two countries.