After the visit of Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Davit Khudatyan to Iran, the impression was created that Armenia and Iran are starting a new phase of cooperation with new projects. But in fact, all the programs that are being talked about existed a long time ago. Their foundations were laid by the previous authorities, which, however, have been successfully failed or frozen by the current authorities in recent years.

It is not just about the construction of the third high-voltage line, which should have been ready long ago, but is still under construction. Even now they hope that the line will be ready at the end of this year. Although there are still no hopes that this period will be preserved. More than once, they announced the deadline for the construction of the line, but these announcements were left hanging in the air.

Let’s remind that the construction of the third high-voltage line, which was started by the previous authorities, was planned to be completed in 2020. last. Already the year 2026 is coming to an end, but it is still being built.

The importance of the construction of this line has been discussed many times. This should give an opportunity to double the volumes of gas for electricity exchange between Armenia and Iran.

The program has been operating since 2009, but due to infrastructure capacity issues, it is not fully operational. That is why it was planned to build the third line, which should significantly increase the efficiency of the project. However, the construction of the line was delayed so much that the contractual terms of the gas-for-electricity supply project almost ended.

Last year, it was extended for a few more years, but the portions of previously approved exchanges were also changed. It changed to the detriment of Armenia. Now, from the implementation of that project, Armenia has far less gas than it did at the beginning of the project.

It is expected that it may change again in the near future. Although without it, the volume of gas that remains with Armenia today as a result of the transaction, will remain even after the construction of the third power transmission line and the increase of exchanges, it will not be a tangible volume in the structure of domestic consumption. It is pointless to have high hopes for it.

In the same way, it is pointless to hope for the direct purchase of real gas. Theoretically, Iranian gas can be an alternative for Armenia, but its price will be twice or three times higher, which does not fit into the solvency of Armenia’s economy and consumers. It is not surprising that the authorities of Armenia do not consider real gas as an alternative to Russian gas.

The best that can be is an expansion of electricity supply in exchange for gas, which can provide tens of millions of cubic meters of additional gas for Armenian consumers, nothing else.

As for the transit of Iranian gas through Armenia, the necessary infrastructure does not exist at the moment, nor will it exist in the near future.

Six years ago, the third Iran-Armenia high-voltage line was supposed to be operational, but it is still not operational today. Not only that, but also the other plans planned with Iran, the foundations of which were laid in the time of the former, have failed.

One of such projects was the construction of a hydroelectric power plant on the Araks River. We are talking about the same Meghi nuclear power plant, which was agreed upon with Iran a long time ago. Still in 2007 On March 19, Armenia and Iran signed an intergovernmental agreement in Meghri, by which it was planned to build two interconnected hydropower plants: Meghri hydropower plant on the Armenian side and Gharachilar hydropower plant on the Iranian side.

Later, on the Armenian side, a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the hydropower plant was also held. But the construction was postponed, and after the Communists came to power, it was removed from the agenda.

At one point, it was decided that the parameters of the construction of the hydropower plant should be changed, the capacity should be reduced. But that was not realized either. In the last 6-7 years, the authorities never even mentioned it, and it turned out that the program initiated during the previous years remained on paper.

The same applies to the creation of the Iran-Armenia-Georgia-Russia electric energy corridor, the foundations of which were laid 10-11 years ago. The authorities of that time carried out a lot of work in the creation of that corridor. On the initiative of Armenia in Yerevan in 2015 a quadrilateral meeting was held, a memorandum of understanding was signed. 2016 the second meeting was held, during which the road map for the creation of the North-South corridor was also signed.

After the change of power, this strategic plan also passed into history. One of the important infrastructural projects planned for its implementation faced obstacles caused by the authorities due to political motives.

We are talking about the construction project of the new Armenia-Georgia high-voltage line, which was supposed to be the continuation of the third Iran-Armenia power transmission line to ensure the capacity of the corridor.

This junction was planned to be launched in 2020-2021. At that time, both the third Iran-Armenia and the new Armenia-Georgia lines should have been built. Years later, we have the fact that both of them do not work.

The construction of the Armenia-Georgia power transmission line has not even started. Although a large amount of work had already been done for its implementation. The issues related to financing, at least the financing of the first phase, were also resolved.

A project implementation consultant was selected, and a tender was announced for the selection of contractors. However, later they canceled all that and stopped the implementation of the project. Tenders have been announced several times in recent years to select contractor companies, but all attempts have failed.

Even today, the implementation of the project is at the same stage as 8 years ago. Not taking into account that during this period, Armenia managed to pay significant sums in the form of fines in exchange for defaulting on the loans taken.

After all this, they are talking about some incredible agreements with Iran, when they existed a long time ago and were delayed, postponed or frozen during the years of the KP government.

HAKOB KOCHARYAN

—

I understand very well what those exporters, businessmen feel, whose businesses, which they created from scratch, with the investment of their life and greatest effort, are facing the danger of destruction. Gagik Tsarukyan, the President of PAP, wrote about this from Kentron Correctional Institution.

“In the previous message, I presented my thoughts on charity. Now I want to share my thoughts about business.

I started from scratch, without any influential friends, inherited capital. I started with a small business, I went through all the difficulties. I say this for one simple reason. I know the entire content of Armenian business first hand.

I say confidently. the business class played an exceptional role in the establishment, success and development of the Republic of Armenia.

From the very beginning of independence, from the stage of enormous difficulties in the 90s: blockade, dangerous roads, collapse of the economic system, financial crisis, war, it is largely thanks to the talent, hard work and patriotism of our businessmen that Armenia withstood the trials and took the path of development.

Our businessmen achieve incredible success in different parts of the world, enjoy respect and prestige.

I have publicly said many times that the backbone of Armenia is the small and medium business. The stronger this class is, the more it has the opportunity to develop, the stronger our country will be. And it is the task of the state to help this layer with the right economic policy.

I’ve also said that it can take years to build a business, it can take years of hard work, but it can take months, if not weeks, to break even.

I especially want to talk about foreign, export markets. In today’s world, no one waits for anyone. Finding a market, adapting is an extremely difficult task. Product quality and price are certainly important, but personal connections, trust, and established relationships are also important.

Now many of our exporters are facing serious problems. It is a big mistake to think that the issues will be resolved one day and the Armenian exporters will return to their traditional markets. Time does not stand still in business.

I warn you, everything is not so easy. Our places in the market are already occupied by others. They don’t even hide it, they do it openly and showily. Many Armenian products are now replaced by Azerbaijani products. I told about this process a month or two ago.

There are no permanent markets. If this continues, if the problems are not resolved, tomorrow Georgian, Azerbaijani, Moldovan, Uzbek and other countries producers will take the place of Armenian cognacs, wines, vodkas, cheese, fish, agricultural products, flowers, any other products. This is life, this is the cruel law of business.

And it should be well understood that this is not only the problem of businessmen. The loss of the consumer market will disrupt the entire cycle. Everyone will feel the consequences of this.

We really have a talented business class. I am always happy to communicate with representatives of small and medium-sized businesses. I know their worries and problems 100 percent. It is an indescribable pain for me to see the difficulties of this layer. I see the problems and many issues seriously concern me. I also see the solutions that will allow us to avoid the worst.

I put the political connotations aside.

The person who is being treated with obvious injustice speaks in me. Throughout my life, in my homeland, they try to present what I have created and built as unfair property. What I built was built from scratch, what I acquired was half-destroyed, half-demolished, and I built them into modern, highest-standard enterprises. Thank God, all the facts have been preserved. But in me now also speaks the person who made it from scratch, who at the beginning had nothing but his hard work and faith, and who, having gone through a very difficult path, achieved great success. I understand very well what those exporters and businessmen feel, whose businesses, which they created from scratch, with the investment of their life and greatest effort, are facing the danger of destruction. Our state rests on these people, these people are the economic backbone of our country. Their benefit is the benefit of the whole country, their loss is the loss of all of us. The state should move with this awareness,” he said.

—

Lawyer Arsen Babayan writes: “The criminal prosecution, arrest and detention of Martun Grigoryan is also illegal because the mandatory condition of overcoming parliamentary immunity defined by the Constitution and the Code of Criminal Procedure was bypassed.

Thus.

As confirmed by the ECtHR in the Ekle case, the criminal charge (prosecution) is an autonomous concept and does not require an official paper decision. It begins when a person’s condition is “substantially worsened” by law enforcement actions.

– May 11 wiretaps and internal observations.

Although these actions are covert and the individual may not have known about them, they are clear evidence that the state targeted him as an alleged criminal.
On May 24, the investigative body published that wiretapping, thus making MP Martun Grigoryan famous.

– May 22 searches.

This is the turning point. When the deputy’s apartment, office and car were searched on May 22, his condition had clearly and significantly deteriorated. He actually acquired the status of a suspect because that suspicion was aroused in the search warrant decision itself. According to the case law of the ECtHR, a search is a classic example of a substantial exposure of the situation. Therefore, according to the meaning of the Convention, the actual criminal prosecution against the MP began on May 22.

Article 96 of the RA Constitution guarantees that a criminal prosecution against a deputy can be initiated only with the consent of the National Assembly (except for cases of being caught at the time of committing a crime or immediately after).

– The fact that the body implementing the proceedings did not formally make a “decision to initiate public criminal prosecution” until August 2 (when the powers of the 8th convocation of the National Assembly were terminated) is a legal deception.

– The state, well aware of the constitutional requirement to obtain the consent of the National Assembly in order to overcome the status and immunity of a person as a member of parliament, applied a procedural trick. actually carried out all intensive actions aimed at criminal prosecution (wiretapping, search) against the person, but artificially delayed granting official status, waiting for the immunity period to expire (August 2).

– The immunity of the deputy provided by the constitution is intended to protect the deputy not only from the word “accused” written on paper, but from the actual machine of state coercion. Since the actual prosecution began on May 22, the Prosecutor General was required to apply to the National Assembly for permission to prosecute the MP. Failure to do so rendered the entire process illegal.”

—