PRESIDENT NAMES NEW CABINET, A LOT LIKE THE OLD ONE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000764

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/10/2017
TAGS: PGOV KDEM AM
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT NAMES NEW CABINET, A LOT LIKE THE OLD ONE

REF: YEREVAN 660

YEREVAN 00000764 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: Steve Banks, Pol/Econ chief, reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (U) President Robert Kocharian named the new cabinet in a
decree published late June 8; well ahead of the
Constitutional deadline. The Constitution requires that the
new cabinet must submit its program to the National Assembly
within 20 days, i.e. by June 28. the parliament will then
have five days to approve the program, and by implication,
the new cabinet. The new cabinet members have full authority
from June 8, however.


2. (U) According to the new power sharing agreement between
the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and the Prosperous
Armenia party (PA),as well as ARF Dashnaktsutyun, the RPA
now controls nine ministerial portfolios, the PA - three, and
the ARF three. (Though, in fact, the ARF truly control only
two of their three ministerial posts. The third, the Labor
and Social Welfare Minister, is a Dashnak serving at the
pleasure of the RPA). Appointment of the Ministers of
Defense and Foreign Affairs remains a presidential
prerogative, independent of party politics. The cabinet
structure has been supplemented by two new posts: the
Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs (derived from the
previous Ministry of Culture and Youth affairs and the Sports
Committee) and the position of a Deputy Prime Minister, which
was given to the Minister of Territorial Administration.

--------------
CABINET COMPOSITION BY PARTY AFFILIATION
--------------


3. (U) The composition of the new cabinet based on the party
affiliations is as follows below. Ministers who have been
reappointed to the same position they held in the previous
cabinet are marked with an asterisk. Previous ministers who
have moved from another portfolio are marked with a
double-asterisk and their previous ministry is listed in
parenthesis.

REPUBLICAN PARTY OF ARMENIA (RPA)
- Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Territorial
Administration - Hovik Abrahamian*
- Minister, Chief of Staff of the Cabinet - Manuk Topuzian*
- Minister of Trade and Economic Development - Nerses
Yeritsian
) Minister of Justice - Gevorg Danielian
- Minister of Nature Protection - Aram Harutyunian**
(formerly Urban Development)
- Minister of Energy - Armen Movsisian*
- Minister of Finance and Economy - Vardan Khachatrian*
- Minister of Transport and Communication - Andranik Manukian*
- Minister of Culture - Hasmik Poghosian*

PROSPEROUS ARMENIA (PA)

- Minister of Health - Harutyun Kushkian
- Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs - Armen Grigorian
(Newly created ministry)
- Minister of Urban Development - Vardan Vardanian**
(formerly deputy minister of Transport and Communications)

ARMENIAN REVELUTIONARY FEDERATION "DASHNAKTSUTYUN" (ARF)

- Minister of Labor and Social Affairs - Aghvan Vardanian*
- Minister of Agriculture - David Lokian*
- Minsiter of Education and Science - Levon Mkrtchian*

PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTMENTS (NON-PARTY AFFILIATED)
- Minister of Foreign Affairs - Vartan Oskanian*
- Minister of Defense - Mikhail Harutyunian* (newly promoted
to Defense Minister in April 2007)

--------------
BRIEF BIOS ON NEW MEMBERS
--------------


4. (C) Bio information for the newly arrived members of the
cabinet.

JUSTICE MINISTER: Gevorg Danielian (49 years old),moves over
and up from his previous post as the First Deputy Prosecutor
General, which he held since 2004. He worked his way up
through the Prosecutorial system starting from 1989 as a
department head. Prior to that he served in the Ministry of
Internal Affairs, and taught in the Yerevan State University,
Law Faculty. Danielyan was a very useful contact for us in
the PG's office, working with us on TIP and operational law
enforcement cooperation. He was the senior GOAM official to

YEREVAN 00000764 002.2 OF 002


participate in our March 2007 U.S. study visit focused on
prosecuting election fraud. We expect him to be eager to
engage in substantive discussion on reform, but he will
likely be more conservative than his predecessor, who now
heads the powerful State and Legal Affairs committee in
parliament.

MINISTER OF TRADE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Nerses Yeritsyan
(36) has jumped several rungs with this promotion to cabinet
rank, from his previous job as the head of Financial
Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA)
and CBA board member. Yeritsyan has significant
international experience, both educational and professional.
Yeritsyan has been an excellent partner. (For more details,
see our recent bio report, reftel). Though happy for
Yeritsian, we are disappointed to lose him as a partner at
the helm of the FIU.

MINISTER OF HEALTH: Harutyun Kushkyan (51) owns the Erebuni
Medical Center in southeast Yerevan (one of Armenia's
largest, and certainly its largest private hospital),and is
also director of the Nairi Medical Center, a downtown Yerevan
hospital which is favored by the U.S. Embassy for its
quality. Kushkyan is a medical doctor, a professor, and
holds a doctorate in medical research (perhaps loosely
equivalent to a U.S. MD/PhD).

MINISTER OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT: Vardan Vardanyan (52) was
formerly the deputy Minister of Transportation and
Telecommunications, since 2004. He was formally chairman of
the Prosperous Armenia party's election campaign. He is very
close to head of PA and oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan, but seems
also to have friendly relations with the dominant Republican
Party.

MINISTER OF SPORTS AND YOUTH AFFAIRS: This new ministry was
created by combining the "Youth" branch of the former
Ministry of Culture and Youth, with the independent state
Committee on Sports. Armen Grigoryan (46),who is not
personally known to us, was most recently deputy chairman of
the sports committee. Before that he worked for the Ministry
of Culture and Youth as head of a department.

MINISTER OF NATURE PROTECTION: Aram Harutyunian (40) moves
over from the Ministry of Urban Development. The move takes
him from one post notorious for its rent-seeking
opportunities to another one with the same tradition.
Harutyunian first joined the previous cabinet as a member of
the Orinats Yerkir (OY) party, but when OY leader Artur
Baghdassarian pulled that party out of the ruling coalition,
Harutyunian defected from OY to the Republicans in order to
keep his ministerial seat.


5. (C) FROM CABINET TO PARLIAMENT: One other minister in the
outgoing cabinet, the notorious Minister of Nature
Protection, Vardan Ayvazian, will join former Justice
Minister David Harutyunian as a committee chairman in the new
National Assembly. Ayvazian will chair the Economic Affairs
committee. That leaves the politicial fate of just one of
the outgoing ministers, Karen Chshmarityan (Trade and
Economic Development),still unknown.


6. (C) PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE CHAIRS: The list of
committee chairs in the new parliament follows below.
Asterisks denote a previous incumbent reappointed to the same
chairmanship (or essentially the same; a few committee
names/jurisdictions have changed as the new parliament adds
three new standing committees).

-- International Relations: Armen Rustamian, ARF*
-- Science, Education, Culture, Youth, and Sports: Hranush
Hakobyan, RPA*
-- European Integration: Avet Adonts, PA (New committee.
Adonts formerly served as Foreign Policy Adviser to President
Kocharian.)
-- State and Legal Affairs: David Harutyunian, RPA
-- Protection of Human Rights and Public Issues: Arevik
Petrosyan, PA (formerly deputy chair of the Civil Service
Council)
-- Defense, National Security, and Internal Affairs: Artur
Aghabekian, ARF (formerly deputy defense minister, and a
close U.S. partner on defense reform)
-- Social, Public Health, and Environmental Issues: Ara
Babloyan, RPA (formerly director of Arabkir Medical Unit)
-- Economic Affairs: Vardan Ayvazian, RPA (former Minister
of Nature Protection)
-- Finance, Credit, and Budget Affairs: Gagik Minasyan, RPA*

GODFREY