Armenia’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Yervand Zakharyan, has deferred from responding to a Hetq inquiry regarding various recent developments at the Nairit rubber plant.

Zakharyan, in his response to a June 5 letter sent by Hetq, argued that the questions we raised are currently being discussed by the Armenian government and interested parties and that answers were only possible once the discussions ended.

Hetq had sent the following questions regarding Nairit:

1 – How have negotiations proceeded regarding the appointment of new management and the restarting of the plant?

2 – What were the results of negotiations between the Armenian government and the companies Rosneft and ITERA?

3 – In your capacity as the new minister what steps are you taking to get the plant up and running?

4 – How do the plant and the RA government (being that your ministry owns 10% of the plant) propose to pay the settlement amounts decided in the Moscow court cases?

5 – How were the shares of Megateks Group managed? Have they been sold or are they still being being held by Artshininvest Bank?  If sold, at what price?

Upon receiving Minister Zakharyan’s reply, we drafted another set of questions  requiring answers purely based on fact and which in no way could have any relevance to the discussions supposedly now taking place.

1 - How were the shares of Megateks Group managed? Have they been sold or are they still being being held by Artshininvest Bank?  If sold, at what price?

2 – What are the liabilities of Nairit right now?

3 – What are the current debts of Nairit to Electricity Network of Armenia, Yerevan Water and the Vorotan Hydro-Plant Network?

4 – Where is the money coming from to pay Nairit employees?

5 – When will these discussions by the RA government and interested parties on Nairit conclude?

Today, we received a letter from the ministry that again sought to avoid providing answers. The ministry replied that Nairit related financial matters are being discussed and that answers will be forthcoming after such discussions are concluded.

Photo: Minister Yervand Zakharyan