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CENN Daily Digest - August 11, 2005

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  • CENN Daily Digest - August 11, 2005

    CENN - August 11, Daily Digest
    Table of Contents:

    1.. "Union of Tourist Operators of Armenia " Makes Decision to Boycott
    Yerevan Hotel "Europe"
    2.. Pipeline will Pass Through the Bottom of Caspian Sea
    3.. Discussion of "Millennium Challenges " Program Pass successfully
    4.. National Citizens' Initiative Examines Likelihood of Revolution in
    Armenia






    1. "UNION OF TOURIST OPERATORS OF ARMENIA" MAKES DECISION TO
    BOYCOTT YEREVAN HOTEL "EUROPE"



    Source: ARMINFO, August 1, 2005


    The "Union of Tourist Operators of Armenia" at a general assembly of
    tourist organizations included in it made a decision to boycott Yerevan
    Hotel "Europe."



    The union informs ARMINFO that Hotel "Europe" uses the unstable
    situation with the AMD/USD exchange rate and speculates on it, waging a
    wrong price policy proceeding from the exchange rate of 500 AMD per 1
    USD, which does not correspond to the rate established by the Armenian
    Central Bank. Factually, it means artificial rise in prices during the
    tourist season by some 10-15%, which is groundless and inadmissible. In
    the course of the meetings of the Union representatives and the hotel's
    leadership, several attempts were made to explain that the approach is
    groundless and inadmissible in the tourist business. However, the
    leadership of the Hotel "Europe" (Director N.Tataryan) expressed
    unwillingness to listen to the opinion of experts. Hence, the Union made
    a decision to unilaterally stop the relations with the above hotel up to
    resumption of new negotiations and proposals by the Hotel's owners.



    It should be noted that the "Union of Tourist Operators of Armenia" was
    registered in December 2002 and unites 12 tourist companies, which have
    distinguished themselves as serious organizations in the native tourist
    market: "Intur," "Armenia Travel + M," "Armen tour Travel," "Sputnik,"
    "Tatyans Travel,""Avarayr," "Menua Tour," "Levon Travel," and others.





    2. Pipeline will Pass Through the Bottom of Caspian Sea



    Source: "Rezonans", August 4, 2005


    On September 2005 the contract between the governments of Azerbaijan and
    Kazakhstan will be signed on transportation of Kazakh petroleum through
    Bako-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main exportation pipeline. After that the
    construction of pipeline that will pass through the bottom of Caspian
    Sea and will connect Kazakhstan with Azerbaijan will be included in
    agenda.



    "British Petroleum" declares that four foreigner companies working in
    Kazakhstan on "Kashagan" petroleum deposit at the same time are the
    auctioneers of Bako-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (their quota is 15%);
    therefore they can transport petroleum by the main exportation pipeline.



    As for the other companies working in Kazakhstan, declares bp, for the
    transportation of petroleum extracted by them through
    Bako-Tbilisi-Ceyhan transportation tariff should be agreed with
    auctioneers.





    3. DISCUSSIONS OF "MILLENNIUM CHALLENGES" PROGRAM PASS
    SUCCESSFULLY



    Source: ARMENPRESS, August 4, 2004


    This year the qualification round of the "Millennium Challenges" program
    will end and afterwards the negotiations over preparation of the
    agreement will launch, Tigran Khachatrian, deputy finance minister, told
    at a press conference.



    He said within the frameworks of the program a group of experts from US
    arrived in Armenia to assess the separate points of the program from
    qualification viewpoint. At present the effectiveness of the points is
    being discussed i.e. whether they will secure economic growth and
    promote the poverty reduction.



    T. Khachatrian said the discussion of the program is going on
    successfully and added that they have reached positive response over two
    major points which are connected with the construction of community
    roads and ensuring water supply. The two issues have been assessed as
    important factors for securing economic growth and promoting poverty
    reduction in Armenia. The deputy minister also noted that the first real
    investments in the program will be made in 2007.





    4. National Citizens' Initiative Examines Likelihood of
    Revolution in Armenia



    Source: ACNIS Info, August 10, 2005


    The National Citizens' Initiative (NCI) today convened a roundtable on
    "The Probability of Revolution in Armenia: Preconditions and
    Consequences." The meeting brought together public figures, policy
    makers, media representatives, analysts and experts.



    NCI coordinator Hovsep Khurshudian welcomed the audience with opening
    remarks and wished the participants fruitful work. "The final hopes that
    Armenia's rulers would find strength and decency in themselves to change
    the destructive course which is taking the country toward the Middle
    Ages, and that they would initiate the first steps to the public demand
    for fundamental transformation seem to be thwarted. Consequently, headed
    by the progressive political powers, the society itself must engage in
    fundamental value metamorphosis, and in the outcome, Armenia would find
    its rightful place in the family of free, dignified and prosperous
    societies," Khurshudian said.



    During her policy intervention, National Press Club chairperson Narine
    Mkrtchian put an emphasis on the implementation of socio-political
    changes, and the historical necessity for the establishment of a new
    political system. She talked in detail about the existing preconditions
    in the country, which, in her view, would cause a revolution. And these
    are: the absence of authoritative legitimacy; the political elite's
    inaptitude to form a progressive social order; corruption; clan-based
    rule; dilapidation of ethics at all levels; and other abuses, to which
    economic, inner-authoritative and parliamentary crises have also
    accumulated, resulting in one general systemic exigency. "Whereas, in
    countries like Armenia, the resolving of systemic crises is possible
    only by means of revolution," Mkrtchian mentioned.



    ACNIS analyst Hovhannes Vardanian made a breakdown of the domestic and
    external preconditions for a rebellion. According to his observations,
    the revolts that have taken place in the post-Soviet region are
    primarily a consequence of the public's extreme social polarization,
    poverty, widespread corruption, an atmosphere of arbitrariness and
    rights for the privileged, and other adverse phenomena. In the words of
    Vardanian, revolutionary developments in Armenia are being nourished by
    the factor that the incumbent administration is not capable, in any way,
    of carrying out true systemic reforms. "The current situation, which can
    be characterized by the inactiveness and ineffectiveness of state
    authorities, unbridled arbitrariness by high degree bureaucracy,
    advanced level of bribery and corruption, and the explicit violation of
    law and order, is leading the country toward anarchy and chaos, and the
    rule of the jungle, when the big and strong eats up the small and weak,
    and this makes the chance of a revolution in Armenia simply inevitable,"
    Vardanian said. Among external stimuli, he set aside the "snowball
    effect." In his opinion, from this vantage point, the parliamentary
    elections to be held in Azerbaijan this fall might turn into a serious
    test for Armenia.



    Susanna Barseghian, another ACNIS analyst, deemed the printed media's
    role important in the formation of public opinion, and by means of a
    content analysis, she made a distinction of the ideas the media could
    form when portraying the likelihood or unlikelihood of a revolution in
    Armenia. "When reflecting on the probability of a revolt in Armenia, on
    one hand, the oppositional and pro-governmental press keeps talking
    about choosing the 'right time' for a democratic revolution, and on the
    other hand, it refreshes the inevitability of a 'state coup,'"
    Barseghian maintained, pointing out the important findings of her
    analysis. According to it, in May alone, 13 Armenian periodicals have
    printed 153 articles, or one report per one and a half issue, on the
    likelihood of a revolution, and that constitutes 2.8% of the total
    publications printed in the researched newspapers.



    The remainder of the session was devoted to exchanges of views and
    policy recommendations among the public figures and policy specialists
    in attendance. Noteworthy were interventions by former minister of state
    and board member of the Heritage Party Hrach Hakobian; Edward Antinian
    of the Liberal Progressive Party; Noyan Tapan news agency political
    analyst Davit Petrosian; Moushegh Lalayan of the Republican Party; ACNIS
    analyst Alvard Barkhudarian; Ruzan Khachatrian of the People's Party;
    "Areg" Youth Association chairman Gerasim Barseghian; Alexander Butaev
    of the National Democratic Union; and many others.



    The National Citizens' Initiative is a public non-profit association
    founded in December 2001 by Raffi K. Hovannisian, his colleagues, and
    fellow citizens with the purpose of realizing the rule of law and
    overall improvements in the state of the state, society, and public
    institutions. The National Citizens' Initiative is guided by a
    Coordinating Council, which includes individual citizens and
    representatives of various public, scientific, and educational
    establishments. Five commissions on Law and State Administration,
    Socioeconomic Issues, Foreign Policy, Spiritual and Cultural Challenges,
    and the Youth constitute the vehicles for the Initiative's work and
    outreach.



    For further information, please call

    Tel: (37410) 27-16-00 or27-00-03

    Fax (37410) 52-48-46;

    e-mail [email protected]

    or visit www.nci.am





    CENN INFO
    Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN)

    Tel: ++995 32 75 19 03/04
    Fax: ++995 32 75 19 05
    E-mail: [email protected]
    URL: www.cenn.org
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