Armenia - OCHA-06: 01-30.Jun.98
Armenia - OCHA-06: 01-30.Jun.98
OCHA-06
Armenia
June 1998
HIGHLIGHTS
- American Billionaire Kerk Kerkorian has pledged USD 250 million to
Armenia
- Coordination Meetings on Humanitarian Issues were convened at the UN
House
- Abundant rains and floods continued to cause considerable damages to
communities and agriculture in several regions of Armenia
SITUATION OVERVIEW
Economic Performance
American billionaire of Armenian origin Kirk Kerkorian visited Armenia in
21-22 June. President Robert Kocharian announced on 23 June that American
billionaire of Armenian origin Kirk Kerkorian has pledged USD250 million to
Armenia. Mr. Kerkorian has established a USD100 million fund for the
development of small and medium-sized businesses. The President said that
an agreement on mechanisms of utilisation of the first USD10 million has
already been worked out. USD85 million will be used for the reconstruction
of two highways, one of which is the Gegharkunik-Siunik highway, which will
allow cutting the Georgia-Iran route by 50 km. Later jointly with Georgia a
northern section of the highway will be built to connect Armenia with Poti
and Batumi sea ports. USD15 million will be allocated for the restoration
of the earthquake zone. The sides also agreed on the necessity of
introducing high technologies in Armenia. President said that a special
government agency should be set up to implement and supervise these
programmes.
Minister of Industry and Trade Gagik Nanagoulian and the Chairwoman of the
Russian State Committee for the Development of Small Business, Irina
Khakamada, signed a memorandum on the promotion and development of small
business in the two countries. The memorandum aims to promote the
establishment of joint ventures and development of trade in the sphere of
small and medium business.
The German Siemens company has established its office in Armenia. The
company is planning to implement 40 million DM-worth projects in the areas
of electricity supply, telephone network, transport, supplying medical
equipment and other infrastructure development projects.
Prime Minister Armen Darbinian reported that Armenia registered 6.3 percent
economic growth in the first five months of 1998. Mr. Darbinian added that
direct foreign investment in the Armenian economy reached USD100 million
during that period, and is expected to total USD250 million by the end of
the year.
Other Issues
Director of the Institute for Training of Personnel of the State Emergency
Management Administration Hamlet Matevossian reported that a group of
Armenian governors from Lory, Tavoush, Vayots-Dzor and Kotayk participated
in emergency management training course in France. Before taking the
course, the governors went through preliminary training organised by French
specialists in Armenia. Under the programme several participants of SEMA?s
rescue detachment took a training course in a French rescue centre. The
emergency management-training programme started in November 1997 and will
be continued within the next three years. The training of the regional
administration workers and the managers of high danger factories have been
scheduled for mid-September when five French rescue experts will arrive in
Armenia to study Armenia?s experience in emergency management. As part of
the programme, France will donate to Armenia 360 special rescue uniforms.
Armenia is willing to invest USD10 million in the exploration of oil
deposits, President Robert Kocharian said, adding that explorations carried
out up to now show that the possibility of discovering oil in Armenia is
quite large. The exploration activities are implemented by the
Armenian-American geological prospecting company under the agreement signed
in October 1996. Joint exploration activities are to be carried out for 12
years, and the oil and gas extraction for 30 years. The total cost of the
project is USD100 million.
SECTORAL SUMMARY OF EVENTS
Food Security/Agriculture
CARE is currently involved in the implementation of a US-sponsored
programme of development of the private agricultural sector in the Shirak
marz. A commercial centre ?Agroinvest,? was set up in Giumri for conducting
commercial transactions in purchasing seeds and fertilisers. The allocation
of credits is made through the Shirakinvest Bank, with an annual interest
rate of 20 percent. USD 500,000 have been allocated for spring fieldwork
this year. It is possible that similar programmes will be launched in the
other regions as well. CARE is currently working out a programme of small
and medium-sized business development. One of the main goals of the
programme, to be implemented in Giumri, is to create new jobs.
A delegation of the Japanese state company JICS arrived in Armenia to
discuss conditions for providing a Y 400 million (about USD 3.080 million)
grant of the Japanese Government to improve food production in Armenia, as
well as organisation of tender about delivery of harvesters, equipment and
fertilisers to Armenia by March 1999.
Health, Nutrition & Sanitation
The United Armenian Fund?s 99th airlift arrived in Yerevan on 15 June
carrying USD2.2 million of humanitarian assistance, mainly medicines and
medical supplies to be distributed to hospitals throughout Armenia by the
Ministry of Health (MoH). UNICEF assisted the MoH in printing 100,000
brochures on management of acute respiratory infections, and another
100,000 brochures on treatment of diarrhea. The brochures with a sachet of
oral dehydration salts will be distributed to all mothers of children under
one year of age through the children?s polyclinics and village health
posts. The French National Committee provided funding for UNICEF.
UNICEF is sponsoring the Adolescent Health Promotion Center of a national
NGO, Armenian Family Health Association, to provide counseling and medical
services on sexual and reproductive health. By October 20 training sessions
will be conducted for 400 parents and 400 adolescents from 20 targeted
Yerevan schools.
Education, Training & Child Care
A World Bank funded programme ?Child Initiative? aimed at creating
mechanisms to return children from orphanages to their families is under
way in Armenia. Programme coordinator Babken Babajanian reported that the
research conducted at 10 orphanages showed that one of the basic reasons to
keep children having parents at orphanages is the poverty of their parents.
However, social conditions at orphanages cannot substitute home and family
for the children. Among possible mechanisms to implement the programme is
to give some social privileges to the families which will take their
children back. In this case a special Community Centre can be set up to
serve as a mediator in that process. The functions and abilities of the
Centre will be specified after an analysis of the sociological research to
be conducted by the Sociology Department of the Yerevan State University.
According to Mr. Babajanian, in case the model of Community Centre is
successfully tested, an agreement may be reached between the Government and
the WB on complete implementation of the programme.
UNICEF and UNDP are supporting the Ministry of Education and Science (MoES)
to conduct four pilot workshops involving 80 school headmasters from
Yerevan, and the marzes of Ararat and Siunik. The training introduces three
specially developed modules covering leadership and management skills and
legislation in education. The pilot workshops are the final stage of
project development before the nation-wide implementation begins in
September. The project has been co-sponsored by the MoES, UNICEF, UNDP and
the WB.
Following a request from the MoES, UNICEF supported a group of
psychologists to provide post-trauma psychological rehabilitation to the
children and families of three villages in Ararat marz affected by a tragic
bus accident on 7 June.
To increase the awareness of children in Shirak marz in their rights,
UNICEF is supporting ?Meghvik? Children?s Educational Centre to organise a
mobile puppet theater. With the assistance of professional puppeteers, the
children of the Centre have produced a show, which through a fairy tale
introduces the basic principles of Armenian Law on the Rights of the Child.
During summer holidays the mobile theater is visiting children?s camps
organised in the marz.
Shelter
Based on a request by the Gumri city authorities made to Hayastan All
Armenian Fund, the Jinishian Memorial Programme?s (JMP) United States
Advisory Committee has approved the allocation of a grant worth USD 280,000
in May 1997 for a housing project in the city. The official opening
ceremony of two residential buildings in the city was held on 19 June.
Forty needy families became the beneficiaries of the JMP housing project.
The JMP representatives made great efforts to ensure that only the most
needy families from the list provided by the mayor?s office move to the new
flats. The beneficiaries are not allowed to sell the flats within ten years
period of time.
Development-related Activities
World Vision International celebrates ten years of work in Armenia. World
Vision Armenia focuses on family employment as a means to food security,
health and education for children in Armenia. WV started its operation in
Armenia with provision of humanitarian assistance and in 1996 the
programming began to focus on sustained development of the economy. WV
development project includes the formation of community-based credit
lending institution development and board development of the credit
institutions as a means for long term-sustained community focused and
directed lending. WV will pull away from the day-to-day operations and let
the board and local SEF Branch Manager direct their branch but maintain an
oversight, auditing and monitoring role. The development of the SEF, the
first and currently the only non-bank Credit Lending Institution in Armenia
and the Caucasus, was initiated mainly to provide credit directly to small
businesses. The primary goal is to increase employment opportunities for
Armenians at wages that sustain a family of four. During the past two years
over 4,500 businesses have been counseled and/or assessed while over 3,200
jobs were created and sustained, 4,700 dependents have been supported of
which 2,700 were children. Capital input by WV has been cash in the form of
USD1 million and this has been provided to over 1,200 Armenian businesses.
2,500 business owners and managers have received basic business training,
business plan development and market training. In the process WV has
discovered that support to small business sector has been the most
effective tool to combat and alleviate poverty. With the funds provided by
the German GTZ development agency in August 1997 World Vision started to
work with the IESP project office to stimulate a micro enterprise
development in the Sisian region. Within the programme, grants worth USD
65,000 were provided to 174 small businesses in the region. Grant
activities ended this May 1998, and the implementation of a new small
business loan programme (loans up to USD 20,000) and a revolving capital
fund of USD 225,000 began in June. Funding is provided by GTZ/IESP and WV
Germany and includes establishing a commercial community-based credit
institution in Sisian. During the next three years WV plans to expand the
development project beyond Sisian to other southern regions of Goris and
Kapan. In 1998 WV is continuing its development activities in other regions
of the country as well. Issues relating to children, health and education
are being reviewed. In addition WV has undertaken an assessment in the
villages of the Tavoush marz, along the Armenian-Azeri border. An
assessment of shelter, health and economic needs is being evaluated related
to reconstruction and reconciliation activities.
The Armenian Development Agency has established a Fund for Assistance to
Enterprises within the framework of the World Bank?s credit programme aimed
at developing Armenian enterprises. The fund will grant major loans to
encourage the exports and imports.
Energy
The Prime Minister?s press service reported that an agreement was signed
between the Government, the Armgasind state company, and ITERA gas company
about the supply and sales of natural gas in Armenia in 1998-2012. ITERA
will be supplying 1.5-3.5 billion cu.m. of natural gas to Armenia annually.
?Energy crisis has been entirely overcome in Armenia. Local energy needs
are almost fully satisfied, and energy is being exported to the neighboring
countries,? the Deputy Minister of Energy, Karen Galoustian said at the
seminar organised with the assistance of the Black Sea Regional Energy
Center (BSREC). Mr. Galoustian pointed out that special importance is
currently being attached to raising the sphere?s functioning efficiency by
establishing international joint ventures. The privatisation is also
considered to be important. Mr. Galoustian said that the development of the
energy sector is being implemented in accordance with the ?Programme of the
development of the energy sphere of Armenia till 2010" elaborated by
Armenian specialists together with the WB, USAID and TACIS.
OTHER ISSUES
An International Conference on Human Rights dedicated to the 50th
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was held on 8-9
June in Yerevan. The organisers were the Foreign Ministry of Armenia and
the UNDP. The conference was attended by representatives from the
Government, diplomatic corps, UN Agencies, EU/TACIS, international and
national organisations and academia. The conference focused on the
following topics: legislative and institutional framework for human rights,
women?s, children?s, refugees? and minorities rights, cooperation between
Government and NGOs, international cooperation in the area of human rights.
Coordination meetings with the participation of UN Agencies, international
organisations and NGOs were convened by OCHA on 23 and 25 June at the UN
House. The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss humanitarian issues,
the improvement of coordination mechanisms in this area and other issues of
common interest to the international agencies operating in the country. The
meetings were chaired by Katica Cekalovic, UN Resident Coordinator. Deputy
Minister of Finance and Economy and Head of the Humanitarian Assistance
Commission Working Group Ara Aslikian participated in the second meeting
and made a presentation, mainly on taxation issues. A wide range of issues,
including VAT exemption, reimbursement procedures for VAT expenses, the
HAC?s role in respect of tax exemption, definition between the humanitarian
and development assistance, changes in the current legislative acts related
to taxation matters. Mr. Aslikian ensured that the Government is currently
working out legislative acts to settle taxation matters, which are of major
concern to the international community.
Abundant rains and floods continued to cause considerable damages to
communities and agriculture in several regions of Armenia. Government
commissions were created to estimate the damage caused by floods. OCHA made
field trips to the Siunik marz on 15 June to obtain information on the
situation following intense hailstorms and flooding on 3 and 8 June 1998 in
Kapan City and some 20 communities of the marz. A report on the damage
based on the information provided by the Government commission was prepared
by OCHA and forwarded to donors and international organisations/NGOs.
This report is available on the internet through RELIEFWEB:
http://www.reliefweb.int
United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs - Armenia Field
Coordination Unit Yerevan, Armenia
Ms. Knarik Karnalian
Humanitarian Affairs Officer
Tel./Fax: (003742) 151 749
E-Mail: ocha@arminco.com
Complex Emergency Response / Consolidated Appeal Process (CER/CAP) - Geneva
Mr. Ernest Chipman - Chief
Mr. Arjun Katoch
Tel.: (41 22) 788.1402
Fax: (41 22) 788.6386
Registry E-Mail: Abu.Conteh@dha.unicc.org
Complex Emergency Division (CED) - New York
Mr. David McLachlan-Karr
Tel.: (1 212) 963.0226
Fax: (1 212) 963.1388
E-Mail: mclachlan-karr@un.org
Information Service
Ms. Therese Gastaut - Director
Tel.: (41 22) 917.2300
Fax: (41 22) 917.0030
E-Mail: tgastaut@unog.ch
distributed by
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Volunteers in Technical Assistance
Disaster Information Center lists: listproc@vita.org
sitreps nat-dsr
web: www.vita.org appeal fireline
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
comments/suggestions/requests to incident@vita.org