Politics

2007-10-08 14:11:00 Azerbaijan reserved special opinion on Organization Development Concept adopted at CIS summit

ArmInfo. Azerbaijan reserved special opinion of the Organization Development Concept adopted t CIS summit, a source in CIS Secretariat told, the "Trend" reports with reference to ITAR-TASS. "The Concept was not signed by Georgia and Turkmenistan. Azerbaijan joined the document, signed it but reserved special opinion as regards it. It means that Baku will take part in execution of the document but not on all its items. The Concept is put in force anyway, however, only the countries, which signed the document,
obliged to follow it in full.

According to the "Nezavisimaya Gazeta", referring to the source in CIS Executive Committee, "Baku emphasized that it does not consider itself a member of any international organization but rather a
member of some club, while the agreements, being reached at the summit, have no status of international agreements". Moreover, Azerbaijan insisted for the provisions, aimed at the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict settlement, to be fixed in the Concept. A "whole block on Nagorno Karabakh" is contained in Azerbaijan's "special opinion", a source in CIS Executive Committee told "NG". In particular, Baku wanted for the summits to be held neither in Armenia nor in Azerbaijan, under the developed conditions. In the opinion of official Baku, along with a joint terrorism-fight, the CIS countries should fight against separatism as well. However, no matter how Robert Kocharyan and Ilham Aliyev treat each other,
they shook hands before the CIS summit, the source reports. To note, Armenia, as well as Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus signed all the documents.


2007-10-06 20:38:00 Probability of Armenian first president's participation in forthcoming election has reached 50%, his teammate says

ArmInfo. "The probability of the Armenian first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan's participation in the forthcoming presidential election has reached 50%. Indeed, the ex-president said about that at one of his recent regional meetings with the activists of the Armenian Pan-National Movement (APNM)," Vahagn Khachatryan, a representative of the oppositional Alternative movement and former mayor of Yerevan, told journalists at the Azdak club, Saturday.

According to him, the goal of L.Ter-Petrosyan's visits to the country's regions is to see the situation on the spot. L.Ter-Petrosyan has already visited all the regions of Armenia. He had sincere conversations with his followers, and it became clear that there is hard work to be done, and all the problems cannot be solved at once. "By the way, some representatives of local administrations also attend these meetings, and they are not afraid of consequences despite the atmosphere ruling in the country," V.Khachatryan
said.

At the same time, it was difficult for the oppositionist to say when L.Ter-Petrosyan's followers will start mass meetings in Yerevan and other populated areas. "In any case, we'll pass to a more active phase of actions, as we are denied air time, and it remains for us to have direct contacts with people," V.Khachatryan said. To recall, after the meeting with L.Ter-Petrosyan, Academician Rafael Ghazaryan has recently given a guess that the meetings with the ex-president's participation may start in late October.


2007-10-06 20:36:00 Action of protest against occupation of Jerusalem held in Nardaran

ArmInfo-TURAN. Approximately 1,000 citizens from the village of Nardaran held a protest action today against the occupation of Jerusalem. The action took place in the Imam Hussein Square and participants called for the withdrawal of occupying forces in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Azerbaijan." The action's participants spoke about the need to "resist the occupation of Muslim territories." It also proposed that all Muslim countries observe on the state level the day of Jerusalem.

Speakers stated they were ready to shed blood for their freedom and cried out Shiite slogans "Every day Ashura! Kerbala -everywhere!" At the end of the action participants burnt Israel, Armenia and Great Britain's flags.


2007-10-06 20:33:00 A representative of Alternative movement: Instead of analyzing the problem, they try to impress on society that Armenian first president wants to sell Karabakh

ArmInfo. "Instead of seriously analyzing the problem, our political opponents in power try to impress on the society that Armenian first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan wants to sell Karabakh," Vahagn Khachatryan, a representative of the oppositional Alternative movement and former mayor of Yerevan, told journalists at the Azdak club, Saturday.

He recalled the hysterics in the National Assembly when the first president of Armenia was resigning in 1988. "Several deputies were almost standing on the chairs and accusing Levon Ter-Petrosyan of corruption. They also promised to show some document. 10 years have already passed, and they are still going to show me that document. Meanwhile, our opponents don't speak about the Armenian Supreme Council's decision whereby our country may sign a document on the conflict settlement only with the Karabakh authorities'
consent," V.Khachatryan said.


2007-10-06 20:30:00 Return of Armenian first president to active politics seriously changes the situation in the country, one of his teammates is sure

ArmInfo. "The return of the first Armenian president to active politics seriously changed the situation in the country: everyone understood that the expectations of those, wishing it, begin to came true. At the same time the opponents started to worry", the representative of "the Alternative" opposition socio-political movement, ex-mayor of Yerevan Vahagn Khachatryan said during his meeting with journalists at the "Azdak" club, Saturday.

He criticized the work of mass media controlled by the authority, which, he thinks, were ordered not to make Levon Ter-Pterosyan's well-known speech of September 21 public, but only to give personal comments. "Looking at the screen, I was trying to understand, what in the first president's speech dissatisfied the TV channels. But I failed to, as the speech itself, or any serious fragments from it weren't aired", V. Khacahatrian said. At the same time, the politician expressed confidence that after Levon Ter-Petrosyan's
appearance in active politics, the culture of political debate, itself returns to the Armenian reality. "We aren't going to follow the rules of game dictated by the authorities, we won't fight with them on the level of gossip and black PR. On the contrary, we are going to present our program and to offer a way of bringing the country out of crisis. None of us will descend to the level of the opponents' political hysterics", the oppositionist said. Vahagn Khachatryan said, that according to data available, the
Public television of Armenia is finishing shooting a film fully directed to
the anti-agitation of the time of Levon Ter-Petrosyan's presidency. "The only thing we demand, is to be given an opportunity to answer on the same TV channel", the representative of "the Alternative" movement summed up.


2007-10-06 20:28:00 George Bush repeated his attitude to tragedy of Armenian people

ArmInfo. USA President George Bush repeated again his negative attitude to the draft Resolution of the Congress, in which mass destruction of the Armenians in the territory of Ottoman Turkey is called Genocide. As radio "Liberty" reports, G. Bush had a telephone talk with Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Erdogan. The text of the Resolution will enter the US Congress's Committee of Foreign Affairs the next week. It is expected to be approved. Armenia claims that the Turks killed one and half million of Armenians
during the World War I. Turkey refuses to call this tragedy a Genocide.








Economy

2007-10-06 21:24:00 'Industrial Investors' Russian group got control over Agarak Copper-Molybdenum integrated plant in South of Armenia

ArmInfo. "Madneuli" JSC, a subsidiary of the "Industrial Investors" Russian financial-industrial group (FIG) has got control over the Agarak Copper-Molybdenum integrated plant (CMIP) in South of Armenia, which belonged to the Comsup Commodities American Company, a government-close source told ArmInfo.

The Agarak deposit is rich with copper, the average content of which in concentrate makes up 26,2%. In 2006, the Agarak CMIP mined about 2,4 mln tons of ore. In May, 2004, the Comsup Commodities acquired 100% of shares of the "Agarak Copper-Molybdenum Integrated Plant" CJSC at $600,000 and invested over $20 mln in the enterprise's development. To recall, the "Industrial Investors" group has recently outbid 82,4% of shares of the Starlight Gold Company, the capital asset of which is the "Ararat Gold Recovery
Company". The transaction is closed and the total sum of sale of the block of stocks made up $86 mln. AGRC develops the Sotk gold deposit in Armenia, the reserves of which are assessed of 80 tons (2,6 mln ounces).

The source noted that specialists of the "Industrial Investors" are in Armenia and deal with the project of recovery of ore-mining from Sotk and upgrading of the mining-and-processing integrated works. The "Industrial Investors" Russian FIG already possesses a right for exploitation of a number of average deposits in Armenia and is negotiating on acquisition of big industrial enterprises. Visit of President and the main owner of the group Sergey Generalov to Armenia is expected in the near future, the source
notes.

To note, the "Madneuli" JSC is one of the biggest extracting companies in Georgia. It has a license for exploitation of the Madneuli deposit located in the south of Georgia at 80 km from Tbilisi. The total ore reserves make up 60 mln tons. The ore mining volume makes up over 2 mln tons a year and the volume of the gold-copper concentrate production makes up 60,000 tons. "Quartzite" is a subsidiary of the "Madneuli" JSC, which carries out processing of gold- containing spoil-dumps of its deposit by a heap-leach
method. The annual volume of production makes up over 30,000 ounces of gold-silver bullions.


Interview

2007-10-06 21:02:00 'Golden' responsibility of Iberian

The history of gold extraction in Meghri region has old-established traditions gold was mined here even in the days of Alexander the Great. However, the newest period of gold extraction counts about ten years. In 1999, the right for exploitation of the Lichkvaz-Tey and Terterasar gold mines was transferred to Sipan-1 Company, which had built a gold-mining factory and operated four years until it was sold to the Australian Iberian Resources. In 2007, the latter joined the Tamaya Resources Company by amalgamation
and, appearingly, a new page of the gold history opens at present in Meghri. As the editorial office has become aware, the Tamaya Resources Company announced an international contest to audit extension of the mine and construction of a new factory. It is scheduled to carry out the audit on several directions: ecology, health, labour safety and the social area. We have tried to clarify the purposes and objectives of this undertaking from Head of the Armenian branch of the Iberian Resources Manvel Bagratyan.

- Mr. Bagratyan, please, introduce the Companys plans for the production extension, first.

- After amalgamation of Iberian and Tamaya in the beginning, 2007, we decided to extend extraction and production. Presently, the production opportunities are limited to 90,000 tons of ore a year with an average concentration of 9,6 grams of gold per 1 ton. As a result of extension, we schedule to process 800,000 tons per annum to finally receive 100,000 ounces of gold. This is rather a substantive production indicator, which our relevant approach on all the directions of our activity. In view of this, we schedule
to determine an optimal policy of the Companys activity on all directions via expert assessments.

- After a sorrowful experience of other gold-mining companies in Armenia, such an approach is rather curious. What does the project imply specifically?

- There is nothing unusual in what we have planned. The advanced experience of similar productions of the developed countries indicates necessity of a full-scale audit. In this project, we have set a task to the experts to reveal the possible discrepancies between our and best world practices in line with the standards of such organizations as the World Bank, the International Financial Corporation and others. For example, we schedule to bring the social-economic aspects of our activity to the standards of the
World Financial Corporation. We also intend to get an assessment of our current corporative liability and develop a strategy of involvement of the regions population. In general, the project includes a wide spectrum of tasks from assessment of the environmental systems control to determination of the policy of preservation of the historical-cultural heritage. As for the aspects of health service and labour safety, they will be determined with respect to our employees and the local population.

- As a rule, gold mining and extraction envisages solution of serious ecological problems, first of all. Which of them will be considered at this stage?

- In fact, the nature becomes one of the first victims in case of improper or irresponsive approach. Fully realizing our responsibility, we attach primary importance to solution of these problems. The audit programme embodied an impressive list of environmental problems: exploitation of mines, ore displacement and processing, control of tailing dumps, safe and long-term exploitation of natural resources, control liquid wastes, recultivation of territories of the open mine and storages , etc. We systemized the
influence of the mine exploitation on the environment by four groups: the total ecological influence, environment contamination, possibility of contamination of the air and water pools. Every group contains ten parameters each, which determine different risks of our projects specificity. In view of this, the experts are set a task on revelation of omissions in the area of ecology and the social constituent of our activity. Moreover, they have to determine the compliance of our activity to the national legislation,
as well as the permits and licenses we have got. In addition, we intend to receive an assessment of compliance with the international standards. Based on this material, the auditors will be set a task on introduction of a list of proposals for elimination of non-conformances.

- What company, will carry out an audit - a local or a foreign one?

- The Tamaya Resources announced an open international tender for the audit conduction, where our requirements were marked, among which is the ISO certification on environmental control and ecological assessment of mines and the relevant organizations. As a result, we have gathered a group of experts, well-known enough in this sphere, who will arrive in Armenia one of these days. Head of the group is an auditor of the Institute of Environment Management and Assessment of Great Britain Alister Cadden. The group
also includes two profiled specialists more, Sophia Grahan and Martin Broderick, as well as an international adviser and social analyst Paul Lorence. Their resumes, the work experience in similar projects, including the British Petroleum and the Shell, instill confidence that we shall get professional answers to all the questions we are interested in.

- Are you ready to accept all the proposals of experts, being unaware of them beforehand?

- We are ready to accept any professional proposals related to the activity of the Iberian and Tamaya, which will be aimed at enhancement of the level of solution of the problems of ecology, health service, labour safety and others. At last, the expediency of extension of the mine and construction of a new plant will be determined based on the audit results. Preliminary investigations will be carried out before that, with involvement of all the interested parties: the Company itself, the authorized state structures
and the public. All the alternative proposals on organization of one or another tasks will be taken into account at this stage. This concerns not only the future but also the past and the present. The ecology problems have always been and still are of exclusive importance for Tamaya. At present, we have one ecologist in the state, however, we envisage to establish an environmental department in the near future. Water monitoring is carried out by our order, and we schedule to start monitoring of the air pool.

- Otherwise saying, your are ready to listen to the opinion of not only the foreign experts but also the local organizations, isnt it?

- Undoubtedly.



Interview by Rouben Grdzelyan, 06.10.2007



Finance and banks

2007-10-05 18:30:00 Central Bank of Armenia registers a branch of Araratbank in Tsaghkadzor

ArmInfo. The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) has registered a branch of the Araratbank in the resort town of Tsaghkadzor. The CBA press-service told ArmInfo that this decision was taken by the CBA chairman on October 2.

ArmInfo was told in the Araratbank that now the bank has 7 branches, 4 of them in Yerevan, the rest - in Tsaghkadzor, Gyumri, and Nagorno-Karabakh. By the end of 2007, a branch will be opened in Davidashen district of Yerevan, and two regional branches - in Abovyan and Echmiadzin.

To note, one of the Araratbank's branches is the only specialized Western Union branch in Armenia. The bank is expanding its relations with the Western Union company to acquire the first level partner status. In this connection, possible creation of a network of branches specializing in transfers under the Western Union system is being currently considered.


Ecology

2007-10-06 15:53:00 'Symphony of stones' to be destroyed again

ArmInfo. The unique quadras known as "Symphony of stones" are again being destroyed Garni. As it became clear to ArmInfo correspondent, it is already two days that destruction of
unique and picturesque monument of the nature is taking place not far from the pagan temple of the I century Garni, in the Azat river gorge. Two years ago ArmInfo managed to signal in time about a similar fact and to prevent destruction of the unique quadras.

That time Ecology Minister Vardan Ayvazyan promised to involve the stones zone in the administrative territory of Khosrof park, but local authorities prevented that stemming from their own ideas and benefit. Today several local residents supported by the village administration continue doing vandalism,
"cutting" beautiful basalt quadras created by the nature and being a subject of vital interest of numerous tourists, and use them like construction material. The head of Garni village administration is
responsible for this, but he did not want to have contacts with the press. It is not clear if the government will meddle in this matter or not. The village "businessmen" need these quadras, which are
perfect by form and processed by the nature over hundreds of years, for sale. The quadras are so perfect that they may be used in construction of cottages without processing. According to the unspecified information, the head of Garni village administration himself "legally" allowed cutting of the stones. But the latter does not simply answer telephone calls of journalists.