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| November 3 |
US State Department officials visited
Yerevan this week, as part of their regional tour that also includes
stops in Baku and Ankara. Ambassador at Large and Special Advisor
to the Secretary of State for the Newly Independent States Stephen
Sestanovich and US Special Negotiator for Nagorno Karabagh Carey Cavanaugh
were received by President Robert Kocharian, as well as by the Foreign
and Defense Ministers. Discussing
the Karabagh peace process, American diplomats called for more direct
talks between Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents. Sestanovich said
such direct negotiations were "very valuable and important."
The US Eurasia Foundation unveiled a new private printing press in
Yerevan this week. The $800,000 press was presented to the Gind Publishing
Company, as part of the Foundation's "media strengthening program"
and is already publishing nine national newspapers. The presence of
a new independent publishing house, in addition to the state-run Tigran
Mets, is expected to contribute to improved quality of print publications
in Armenia. The US Agency for International Development and the private
Cafesjian Family Foundation contributed to the project. In the past
five years, the Eurasia Foundation has allocated about $6 million
in grants and loans to Armenia |
| November 10 |
The Committee of Ministers of the Council
of Europe (CE), the top decision-making body of this European Human
Rights organization, issued a resolution this week inviting Armenia
to become a full-fledged member. The CE Parliamentary Assembly voted
to recommend Armenia as a member in June of this year, but tied its
full admission to that of Azerbaijan. As a result, Armenia's full
membership has been delayed due to concerns CE member states have
relating to the human rights situation in Azerbaijan. The CE invited
both states simultaneously, even though it qualified this week's parliamentary
elections in Azerbaijan as not meeting its standards and demanded
a re-run in many of the electoral districts where violations were
most rampant. The CE intends to send a new observation group to Azerbaijan
to monitor the re-runs.
The Armenian Social Investment Fund (ASIF) got a boost this week with
the launching of its second program designed to rehabilitate Armenia's
social infrastructure. The $29 million program is financed with a
$20 million low-interest loan from the World Bank, with the rest coming
from Armenia and Western donors. ASIF was set up in 1995 and has since
spent about $17 million for improvement of educational facilities,
roads, water supply, and irrigation, mostly in rural areas of Armenia.
The new program envisions implementation of 450 similar micro-projects
targeting the most vulnerable communities throughout the country.
The Yerevan branch of the American "Leda Systems", established
only a month ago, will get $1.5 million in investments over the coming
year, company executives announced this week. Founded by a former
Armenian citizen Vahram Mouradian, the company has branches in Europe
and South-East Asia and expects to double its workforce in Yerevan
by retraining Armenian programmers. The Armenian government declared
expansion of software engineering and other high technology industries
as one of its top priorities. |
| November 11 |
The Foreign Ministry of the
Republic of Armenia and The Armenia Fund hosted a gathering / reception
for Diasporan businessmen and professionals who currently are residents
of Armenia.
President Robert Kocharian was in attendance. The president
spent over an hour in one-on-one discussions with attendees of the
event.
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| November 11-15 |
The European Parliament this week renewed
its call on Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide and to take
steps to improve its relations with Armenia. In a resolution dealing
with Turkey's progress towards accession to the European Union, the
European Parliament urged "the Turkish Government and the Turkish
Grand National Assembly to give fresh support to the Armenian minority,
as an important part of Turkish society, in particular by public recognition
of the genocide which that minority suffered before the establishment
of the modern state of Turkey." It also urged the Turkish government
"to launch a dialogue with Armenia aimed in particular at re-establishing
normal diplomatic and trade relations between the two countries and
lifting the current blockade."
Armenia strongly welcomed the resolution. In a statement made by the
Armenian Foreign Ministry's spokesman, the Armenian leadership said
it believes that "this step will be a serious incentive for Turkey
to soberly assess its past and embark on a dialogue with the Republic
of Armenia." The European resolution follows actions last week
by the French Senate and Pope John Paul II, affirming the Armenian
Genocide. The Italian Parliament is planning to take up the issue
in the next few days |
| November 11-16 |
A high-level delegation from the US
Department of Defense traveled to Yerevan this week as part of a regional
tour that includes stops in Baku and Ankara. The delegation, led by
the Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers
and Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Walter Slocombe, met with
President Robert Kocharian, Defense Minister and Secretary of the
National Security Council Serge Sargsian, and members of the National
Assembly's committee for defense and security. During the talks, the
US and Armenian officials focused on bilateral military cooperation
and Armenia's participation in NATO's Partnership for Peace program.
President Kocharian told Pentagon officials that Armenia is ready
to expand bilateral military relations. US and Armenia currently cooperate
in humanitarian de-mining, emergency management, and combating the
spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Defense Minister Sargsian
and Defense Secretary William Cohen signed an agreement to prevent
the proliferation of WMD in July of this year. |
| November 11-13 |
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian
and his Azerbaijan counterpart Vilayat Guliyev offered divergent assessments
of prospects for the peaceful resolution to the Karabagh conflict
last week. The two ministers spoke in Strasbourg, where they were
preparing to accept the official invitation from the Council of Europe
to join that organization. Guliyev said the negotiations were in deadlock
and criticized the OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by France, Russia,
and the United States, for not presenting a new peace proposal and
pinning their hopes on bilateral talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani
Presidents. The latest OSCE peace proposal was rejected by Azerbaijan,
and accepted by Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh. Oskanian, on the other
hand, dismissed the talk of deadlock in negotiations, saying that
the two presidents have not had an opportunity to meet lately because
of internal political developments. Such an opportunity will present
itself at the summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States scheduled
for January. |
| November 11-13
|
Armenian leaders this week initiated
a series of meetings aimed at assessing ways to improve the country's
financial situation and spur business activities. President Robert
Kocharian met with over 100 Diaspora businessmen who work in Armenia
to discuss the investment climate in the country. The President pledged
all possible support to Diaspora businessmen in Armenia. In a related
development, the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)
announced plans to provide, in the next two to three years, a total
of $300 million in financing to American companies doing business
in Armenia. The first OPIC-financed project now underway involves
an $18 million credit to AK Development, a company owned by Diaspora
Armenians that is investing in the Armenia Hotel. In addition to tourism
and construction, a Diaspora Armenian-owned company from Argentina
is reportedly ready to participate in the development of Yerevan's
Zvartnots airport.
President Kocharian also met with Thomas Wolf, a senior official with
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) responsible for projects in
the former Soviet republics, to discuss the IMF's support for next
year's Armenian budget. IMF is planning a new $120 million loan package
directed at "poverty reduction and development." An Armenian
news agency quoted an economist with the World Bank (WB), who said
that Armenia is likely to receive the long-delayed $50 million structural
adjustment loan by April. The WB loan is tied to privatization of
Armenia's energy distribution networks.
Armenia's newly-appointed State Revenues Minister Andranik Manoukian
and Finance and Economy Minister Vardan Khachatrian promised to improve
the country's balance of payments. Manoukian met with heads of the
forty largest Armenian companies to discuss their views on problems
that hinder Armenian domestic business growth. He promised to clamp
down on smuggling and requested the private sector's support in the
government's fight against tax evasion. Khachatrian, who replaced
Levon Barkhoudarian earlier in the week, renewed the government's
pledge to pay wage arrears by the end of this year |
| November 11-16 |
President Robert Kocharian this week
backed long-discussed plans for key constitutional amendments and
reform of Armenia's electoral code. According to Armenian news sources,
the Armenian President is ready to cede some of his constitutional
powers to the Parliament and would like to change some of the Constitution's
clauses to prevent potential political deadlock. A special presidential
commission on constitutional reform has been reviewing proposed amendments
for over a year.
In another key development, the President has endorsed a multi-party
plan to change the Armenian electoral code. The amendment would substantially
increase the share of seats in the Armenian parliament chosen through
proportional representation. Today, 75 seats in the National Assembly
are filled with deputies elected in single-mandate districts and 56
from proportional representation. The proposed change would result
in 94 deputies elected from proportional lists and 37 from the single-mandate
districts. The measure's proponents have argued over the years that
their change would make elections more democratic and would contribute
to the stabilization of Armenia's multi-party system. The Parliament
is expected to take up the issue next month |
| November 11-10 |
Armenia's Yerevan Physics Institute
has been selected as the site for the new SESAME accelerator (SESAME
stands for synchrotron-light for experimental applications in the
Middle East). The project is being developed under the umbrella of
the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
to encourage regional cooperation in science. The project also involves
Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Iran, Oman, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Egypt,
and Morocco. The US Congress appropriated $15 million specifically
for this project in FY2001. |
| November 27 - December 11
|
The Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan
met this week for the first time in three months to discuss possible
ways of settling the Karabagh conflict. Robert Kocharian and Heydar
Aliyev met separately in conjunction with the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS) summit in the Belarusan capital of Minsk. CIS comprises
twelve former Soviet republics (the three Baltic states are not included).
Speaking after their face-to-face meeting, President Kocharian noted
that both republics will hold presidential elections in 2003 and expressed
hope that the parties would achieve significant progress before that
year. He noted that peace processes tend to slow down when a country
enters an election season. The two presidents reportedly agreed to
make their talks more frequent, with the next meeting planned for
January. Virtually no bilateral meetings took place in the last three
months, primarily due to parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, as
well as President Aliyev's hospitalization in September.
Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers Vardan Oskanian and Vilayat
Guliyev also had a chance to talk earlier this week. Oskanian and
Guliyev were in Vienna to attend the ministerial meeting of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The OSCE has been a
mediator in the Karabagh conflict since 1992. In his speech to the
OSCE foreign ministers, Oskanian called for new, unconventional methods
of resolving the Karabagh conflict. He also urged Azerbaijan to cease
its consistent anti-Armenian rhetoric in order to improve the climate
for negotiations. Ignoring this request, Guliyev used the OSCE forum
to accuse Armenia of trying to consolidate its gains made before the
1994 cease-fire. He claimed that "Armenia is continuing to increase
its military capability... and is settling territories [held by Nagorno
Karabagh] with Armenians, Kurds, and representatives of other nations."
Nagorno Karabagh officials have repeatedly denied any plans for settlement
of Kurds in Karabagh, but do not dispute that Armenian refugees, mostly
from Azerbaijan, have settled in NKR. |
| November 29 - December 11
|
The Armenian capital hosted a session
of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
(BSEC) this week. Parliamentarians from 11 BSEC member-states, including
Turkey and Azerbaijan, met in Yerevan to discuss ways of improving
the political and economic situation in their region. Welcoming the
delegations, Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly Armen Khachatrian
noted that Armenia views BSEC as a more focused forum that could promote
its relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey. "Economic cooperation
between countries in the Caucasus, and opening of transport routes
will create an atmosphere of trust which is so badly needed for the
resolution of region's complex problems," he said. Azerbaijan
and Turkey have imposed blockades on Armenia since 1989 and 1993 respectively.
Leader of the Azerbaijani delegation, First Deputy Speaker Arif Rahimzade
told journalists after the meeting that Armenia and Azerbaijan are
"moving towards peace." Rahimzade said that while it would
be difficult to establish trade relations before the Karabagh conflict
is settled, he did see opportunities for enhancement of contacts and
exchanges. Rahimzade became the most senior Azerbaijani official to
visit Armenia since independence. Former Armenian Prime Minister Armen
Darbinian visited Baku over two years ago to take part in the TRACECA
forum there. |
| November 21 - December 11
|
President Robert Kocharian paid official
visits to two key regional countries in the last two weeks. Kocharian
was in Greece last week to discuss bilateral political and economic
cooperation with that country's leadership. The President visited
Turkmenistan this week to discuss joint economic projects. Meeting
with his Greek counterpart Constantinos Stephanopoulos, President
Kocharian underscored the two countries' cooperation in international
organizations and regional issues, and called for a boost in economic
ties. Addressing the question of relations with Turkey, President
Kocharian noted that "Armenia is interested in having peaceful
relations with Turkey." All Armenian offers to establish normal
ties have been rebuffed by Ankara, however. While in Ashkhabad, Kocharian
and Turkmen leader Saparmurad Niyazov agreed to resume Turmenistan's
gas deliveries to Armenia. Turkmenistan supplied Armenia with natural
gas for most of early-to-mid 90s. Deliveries were suspended in 1997
due to higher tariffs imposed by Uzbekistan. Armenia has since been
forced to rely on Russia for gas supplies. Yerevan is looking for
ways to diversify its sources of energy. Turkmen gas may be supplied
both through existing Russian pipelines or proposed Iranian lines. |
| November 27 - December 11
|
Armenia's newly appointed Finance and
Economy Minister Vardan Khachatrian proposed major changes to the
government's draft budget and taxation legislation for next year.
The government decreased planned expenditures from roughly $540 to
$445 million to reduce the large budget deficit resulting from the
shortfall in revenues this year. Khachatrian also lowered the projected
revenue figure to $355 million in anticipation of short-term consequences
of planned tax cuts. The government is planning to make drastic, across
the board tax cuts to roughly half their current levels. Khachatrian
said this week that the tax breaks are intended to encourage economic
growth and are an effort to decrease the number of tax evaders. Both
changes will require the National Assembly's approval. The decrease
in expenditures would mean that Armenia would have to postpone repayment
of some of its debt planned for 2001 to subsequent years. The Finance
and Economy Minister insists that the government will pay back wages
and pensions by the end of the year. The National Assembly authorized
the government to use $15 million from privatization proceeds for
the repayment. |
| November 22 - December 11 |
The Armenian government and the Lincy
Foundation have finalized an agreement on the distribution of $165
million in grants and low-interest loans allocated by the US fund
to Armenia. Most of this sum will be provided to domestic small and
medium businesses, as well as foreign companies, to expand their operations
in Armenia.
The remaining funds will be spent for the reconstruction of the earthquake-damaged
areas, improvement of Armenian transport infrastructure, as well as
select cultural sites. |
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