THE BRITISH AVOID INVESTING MONEY IN BAKU-CEYHAN OIL PIPELINE CONSTRUCTIONIn London they doubt the ecologic safety of the project and believe that it contradicts with the European Convention on human rights. By the end of October the international financial institutions will have to decide their attitude towards the project of the construction of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. The time expires but the bankers have not yet decided whether they are going to finance the construction or not. September 22, 2003 PanARMENIAN.Net - ''The British government not wishing to allocate money for construction of the oil pipeline urged the World Bank and other international credit organizations not to finance the construction of the pipeline.'' This is a quoting from an article published in ''525th newspaper'', Baku. It seems that in Azerbaijan they have started to understand that the so called ''century's project'' may fail. We shall remind that the project has been operated by the British petroleum. However, this company has refused to finance the project alone avoiding bearing all the responsibility. They preferred to attract other investors counting first of all on the World Bank and the European Bank of reconstruction and Development. But up to now none of the potential donors has agreed to finance the construction of the pipeline through seismically dangerous territories. The WB management decided to postpone the discussion of the project. The reason of the refuse was the pressure made by the Ministry of environment and natural resources of Georgia. Besides, the project also contains danger for the human rights. Leaders of the ''Amnesty International'' human rights organization believe that ''the agreements signed between the government of Turkey and the consortium create conditions for ignoring the rights of thousands of people living through the route and contradict to the European Convention on Human Rights''. It is known that the transit agreement obliges the government of Turkey to pay compensation to the consortium. According to the representative of the ''Amnesty International'' professor Sheldon Leader, this means that Turkey will be obliged to violate the rights of its citizens if they start to contradict to the business interests. ''This is a very dangerous precedent,'' the professor Leader says. The management of Amnesty International believes that ''having social obligations, the British Petroleum has no right to encourage the Turkish government to give up its liabilities on protection of human rights''. So, the British human rights protectors urge the government not to assist the project. However, it seems that the government dopes not hear the voice of the human right protectors. Recently speaking at the session of the House of Lords the Minister of Trade, Lord Saneberry said that the Expert department of the credit service can not decide anything about providing a credit for construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. According to him, the department may give credit only in case if it is sure that the pipeline is not dangerous for the environment and the human rights. And yet there are not bases to be sure. Most popular in the section Who is who in the web of so many Sargsyans Controversy in quotations There will be no ideal solution Split of opposition votes More articles in this section 6 simple facts about Armenia–Karabakh–Azerbaijan triangle Everything you need to know Main arguments of Armenia’s first President Next Karabakh proposals will be even worse Bizarre election promises Church taxation and restoration of monasteries in Western Armenia | Armenia border residents dissatisfied with delimitation Residents Kirants are dissatisfied with the results of the delimitation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Armenia, Azerbaijan sign protocol on demarcation coordinates Armenia’s government took on May 15 another step towards handing over four border areas to Azerbaijan. U.S. warns Georgia not to side with Moscow against the west Georgia has been warned by the U.S. not to become an adversary of the west by falling back in line with Moscow. Power of One Dram sums up two-year program with Teach for Armenia Idram Junior also joined the companies during the visit, bringing with it a fascinating intellectual game for children |