ArmenPress
March 24 2004

$544 MILLION TRANSFERRED BY ARMENIANS ABROAD IN 2003 TO RELATIVES

YEREVAN, MARCH 24, ARMENPRESS: The amount of cash sent home by
Armenians working abroad, the main source of income for thousands of
families, reached last year some $544 million, as much as Armenia’s
budget was, showing an $85 million growth over the previous year.
According to Armenia’s Central Bank, Russia accounts for most of
the remittances increasingly handled by local commercial banks. Some
$395 million were remitted from Russia, followed by the USA- almost
$60 million, Germany-$13.1 million and Switzerland-$10.2 million.
The amount of money transfers to USA from Armenia last year was
$63.5 million, to Russia-$56.7 million, $40 million were remitted to
the United Arab Emirates, $26 million to Turkey and $23 million to
Iran.
Commissions charged for such services have considerably dropped as
a result of growing competition among the local banks specializing in
the business.

Houston Press
March 24 2004

Capsule Reviews
A picture of our opinions on local exhibitions

“Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective of Drawings” Born in Turkish Armenia
in 1904, Vosdanik Adoian would grow up to be Arshile Gorky, one of
America’s most important and influential artists, but he would never
forget the land of his birth and the village of his difficult
childhood. This intimate retrospective at the Menil Collection
follows Gorky’s progress from his apprenticeship to the masters
through his cubist exercises to his breakthrough in the 1940s. Aided
by a return to drawing from nature and abetted by the surrealists,
Gorky experienced a creative explosion as he filtered the world
before him through his imagination and memory — he drew on his
agrarian childhood for the sinuous shape at the heart of the lyrical
The Plow and the Song. The vitality and energy of his drawings make
their abrupt cessation (Gorky committed suicide at age 44) all the
more poignant. As installed in the Menil, the exhibit has been
judiciously edited down from the ungainly sprawl and visual overload
of the Whitney’s version. Don’t miss the drawings of his mother,
especially the portrait on loan from the Art Institute of Chicago, or
the Nighttime, Enigma, and Nostalgia series. Through May 9. 1515 Sul
Ross, 713-525-9400.

PRESS RELEASE
March 24, 2004
Embassy of the Republic of Armenia
2225 R Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20008
Tel: 202-319-1976, x. 348; Fax: 202-319-2982
Email: [email protected]; Web:

Pan Armenian Cultural Festival to be held in Armenia on August 14-23, 2004

A pan-Armenian Cultural Festival will be held in Yerevan, Armenia on August
14-23, 2004. The festival is organized by the Armenian Ministry of Culture
and Youth to promote cultural ties and cooperation between Armenian
organizations and individuals in Armenia and Diaspora, present modern and
traditional Armenian art forms, and promote expression of artistic and
creative spirit in Armenia and Diaspora.

Participation in the festival is open to all cultural and artistic groups
and individuals, as well as representatives of cultural organizations, and
cultural liaison officers of the Armenian communities. The program of the
festival will be finalized in July, after applications from the participants
and suggestions are reviewed.

The deadline for applications is July 1, 2004. For detailed inquiries and
application forms, please contact the Embassy of Armenia, or the Ministry of
Culture and Youth, Government House 3, Yerevan, 375010, Armenia, Tel.
(+374-1) 521972, 526065, fax: (+374-1) 523922, email: [email protected], Web:

RIA Novosti
March 24 2004

RUSSIA’S LEADING FOREIGN TRADE BANK GETS ARMENIAN SAVINGS BANK
CONTROL BLOCK

YEREVAN, MARCH 24. (RIA NOVOSTI). The Moscow-based Vneshtorgbank will
acquire 70 per cent stock of the Armenian Savings Bank. Mikhail
Bagdasarov, the latter’s board president, and Andrei Kostin, his
counterpart of the Vneshtorgbank, signed a respective contract in
Yerevan today.

The Armenian block comes as a first-ever sizeable Vneshtorgbank
acquisition in the post-Soviet area, Mr. Kostin said to the media
after the signing ceremony.

Armenia has regained domestic political stability, and its economy
needs ever more money. Then, there are big Russian-based companies
with interests in Armenia, and they must be encouraged, he remarked
to substantiate the deal.

The Vneshtorgbank, or VTB, has ambitious plans for the Armenian
Savings Bank now that it is principal stockholder. Thus, it intends
to increase the authorised capital fivefold, and spectacularly
enhance the range of services, added Andrei Kostin.

Today’s transaction is Armenia’s most lucrative throughout the
post-Soviet years, Mr. Bagdasarov said, in his turn. Armenia still
has its 30 per cent stock, and no big decisions can be taken without
its consent, he emphasised.

Mikhail Bagdasarov described the deal as “not merely mutually
lucrative but necessary for unhampered progress of Armenian-Russian
economic contacts”.

Times Union, NY
March 24 2004

State court administration’s loss is Russia’s gain

Albany– Tireless Joseph Traficanti Jr., who oversaw operations in 57
counties, takes on challenge overseas

By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff reports

Joseph Traficanti Jr. was known for his sterling character, keen
intellect and tireless enthusiasm in his 13 years as an Office of
Court Administration deputy administrative judge, his soon to be
ex-boss said Tuesday.
The 61-year-old Kingston resident oversaw court operations in 57
counties outside New York City, staffed by more than 3,000 judges and
6,000 court personnel, and always took on additional work cheerfully,
Chief Administrative Judge Jonathan Lippman said.

But now he’ll use those skills to help developing nations establish a
solid court structure, Lippman said. Traficanti announced his
departure for a career with the U.S. Agency for International
Development project in Russia — and the World Bank project in
Armenia.

“I really am leaving the best job in the world,” Traficanti said
Tuesday. “But if I’m ever going to do something different, it’s
time.”

Traficanti said he knows he will be leaving tangible proof of his
efforts behind.

The court-mandated drug treatment initiative he led now numbers 114
alternative-to-incarceration programs statewide, with another 71 in
various planning stages.

Sharp reductions in criminal and civil caseload backlogs, as well as
alternative dispute resolution initiatives across the state also made
a difference, he said: “This is a new mountain to climb. It’s
frightening and exciting.”

Albany County Judge Stephen W. Herrick called Traficanti’s departure
a great loss.

Herrick has run the county drug court since February 2002, a program
he also started in Albany City Court in 2000.

“I don’t know how anyone can replace him,” Herrick said. “He’s just a
wonderful human being.”

Court of Appeals Chief Judge Judith Kaye added: “I have no doubt that
his vast experience in court administration will be a great asset to
other nations in the fledgling stages of democracy and in modernizing
their judicial systems.”

Traficanti began his career as the town attorney of the town of
Rochester. He also served in the Ulster County district attorney’s
office and conducted a private practice.

He ascended to the bench in 1982 as Ulster County surrogate judge and
has served as acting state Supreme, County and Family Court justice.

He leaves for Russia in May.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 24, 2004 Wednesday 8:26 AM Eastern Time

Armenia ready to develop economic ties with neighbouring states

By Tigran Liloyan

YEREVAN

Armenia is ready to establish and develop economic relations with all
neighbouring countries without any preconditions, Prime Minister
Andranik Margaryan said.

In his meeting with EU Special Envoy to the South Caucasus Heikki
Talvitie on Wednesday, Margaryan said these relations would provide a
foundation for the peaceful settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenia’s membership in the Council of Europe and the compliance of
obligations before the CE will allow the country to hope that it will
be able to integrate into a European family, the Armenian prime
minister said.

In his view, the EU efforts to strengthen economic cooperation with
European countries and reforms in Armenia prove that these are real
goals.

Talvitie said the European Union was discussing a possibility of
involving the South Caucasus in Wider Europe/New Neighbours
Initiative. Ambassador Talvitie said he is hopeful that this process
would yield positive results. He is in Yerevan on a four-day visit as
part of an extended regional tour

In order to achieve this goal the EU envoy stressed that it would
necessary to develop regional cooperation, encourage economic
relations between the region and West European countries, and settle
the existing conflicts, in particular the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Talvitie said he is ready to help find a peaceful solution to the
Nagorno-Karabakh problem.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 23, 2004 Tuesday

Group of illegal immigrants to be deported from Russian Far East

By Marina Shatilova

VLADIVOSTOK

Over 30 illegal immigrants, most of them citizens of the People’s
Republic of China will be deported from the Russian Far-Eastern
Maritime territory shortly as part of a special operation codenamed
Illegal Immigrant, press officials at the territorial administration
said.

The operation began a mere three days ago, and yet it has helped
expose hundreds of people who broke Russia’s immigration laws.

The press officials said inspections had embraced 120 enterprises
that hired foreign workers, as well as more than 1,200 foreigners
having jobs here.

In about 400, encroachments on the foreign citizens sojourn
regulations were exposed.

Another goal of the operation is to identift the foreigners who
illegally get jobs in the Maritime territory.

Sources at the interior department here say over 16,000 foreigners
were brought to responsibility for different offences last year
alone. Most of them were holders of Chinese, Azerbaijani and Armenian
passports.

Of that number, 120 people were detained for criminal offences and
700 more, for getting illegal jobs.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 24, 2004 Wednesday

Minsk Group can’t play positive role in Karabakh conflict -Aliyev

By Sevindzh Abdullayeva and Viktor Shulman

BAKU

Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev said the OSCE Minsk Group’s
current approach towards the Karabakh conflict did not allow it to
play a positive role in its resolution.

“The position of the Minsk Group is not translated into efforts to
resolve the conflict and boils down to watching the process,” Aliyev
told journalists upon arrival from Uzbekistan where he had been on a
two-day state visit.

Aliyev said he had repeatedly reminded the Minsk Group co-chairmen
about the need to mediate the peace efforts within the framework of
their mandate. “However when we are told that the presidents of
Azerbaijan and Armenia should come to agreement themselves and the
co-chairmen will support whatever decision they make, it is not
mediation,” the president said.

Evaluating the work of the Minsk Group since its creation 12 years
ago, Aliyev said, “Nothing positive has been done over this time”.

“I cannot say that the Minsk Group was indifferent to the problem. It
tried and tried to contribute to the settlement efforts, but there
has been no result so far,” he said.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 24, 2004 Wednesday

Armsberbank to become Russian Vneshtorgbank subsidiary

By Tigran Liloyan

YEREVAN

One of largest Armenian banks — Armsberbank became a subsidiary bank
of the Russian Vneshtorgbank. Under the agreement signed on Wednesday
Vneshtorgbank purchased the controlling interest or 70 percent of the
Armenian bank stock.

Vneshtorgbank President Andrei Kostin noted that this is the first
such action on the post-Soviet space. The purchase of the Armenian
bank is another step to implement the strategy of the Vneshtorgbank
development that envisages the development of the network of
subsidiary banks in Europe and CIS countries.

“The political stability, rapid economic growth and certainly growing
needs of the country’s economy are among causes of Vneshtorgbank
activities in Armenia,” Kostin emphasized. Armsberbank will provide
loans to Russian enterprises operating in Armenia including the
national gas producer Gazprom, power grid United Energy Systems of
Russia and Airlines Sibir.

Apart for the investment activities the Vneshtorgbank leadership
intends to continue development of traditional banking services for
population, Kostin pointed out.

“Armenia will gain much from the deal,” one of leading Armenian
businessmen and chairman of the Armsberbank board Mikhail Bagdasarov
remarked. According to him, “Vneshtorgbank coming to Armenia cut the
distance between the countries and their economies, and it will make
Russia and Armenia closer.”

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 24, 2004 Wednesday

Azerbaijan warns against opening of Turkey-Armenia border

By Sevindzh Abdullayeva and Viktor Shulman

BAKU

The European Union and some influential countries are exerting
serious pressure on Turkey to make it open its border with Armenia,
Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev said.

“If Turkey opens the border with Armenia, the resolution of the
Karabakh conflict will become impossible,” he warned on Wednesday.

“In his this Azerbaijan will lose a very important lever and further
negotiations within the framework of the peace process will be
impossible,” the president told journalists.

He believes this will halt negotiations.

“If the interested parties genuinely want the Karabakh conflict to be
resolved peacefully, they have to stop putting pressure on Turkey,”
Aliyev said.

At the same tine, he expressed confidence that Turkey will not give
in to this pressure. “The Turkish-Azerbaijani brotherhood is above
everything else both for us and for the people of Turkey,” he said.

Aliyev also criticised the OSCE Minsk Group for its inability to play
a positive role in the resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

“The position of the Minsk Group is not translated into efforts to
resolve the conflict and boils down to watching the process,” he
said.

Aliyev said he had repeatedly reminded the Minsk Group co-chairmen
about the need to mediate the peace efforts within the framework of
their mandate. “However when we are told that the presidents of
Azerbaijan and Armenia should come to agreement themselves and the
co-chairmen will support whatever decision they make, it is not
mediation,” the president said.

Evaluating the work of the Minsk Group since its creation 12 years
ago, Aliyev said, “Nothing positive has been done over this time”.

“I cannot say that the Minsk Group was indifferent to the problem. It
tried and tried to contribute to the settlement efforts, but there
has been no result so far,” he said.