Co-chairman of the Armenian-Chinese intergovernmental commission, head of the European department of the Ministry of Trade of China, Syu Tunkayn recently announced that the joint Armenian-Chinese factory, “Nairit-Chance”, was going to produce synthetic rubber. The Chinese surprised the Armenians with the fact that they are going to invest 26 million USD in the factory. We could perhaps be very happy hearing this news if we didn’t have the sad past of this deal.
“Armenia is ready to continue and intensify cooperation with China,” Prime Minister Serge Sargsyan reported at the meeting with Chinese Ambassador to Armenia Tzo Syuelyan, which was held in connection with the completion of his diplomatic mission.
"Over the last years Armenia and China have made huge efforts to build the foundation for the development of friendly partner relations," the press service reported referring to Sargsyan’s statement. In his turn, Tzo Syuelyan expressed gratitude to the government and the prime minister for constant care and assistance throughout the years of his mission in the country. He said that the development of the Armenian-Chinese relations is stable and dynamic. "The purposeful work of the Armenian government played a significant role in this," Mr. Syuelyan reported. At the meeting, they expressed satisfaction with the results of the fifth session of the Armenian-Chinese intergovernmental commission. Results of the work done and issues of expanding economic and humanitarian cooperation were discussed at the meeting. On behalf of the Armenian government, the prime minister thanked the ambassador for his contribution to the development of Armenian-Chinese relations during the five years of his diplomatic mission, and wished him success in his further activity.
A large amount of material of the past activity of the factory was provided to us by the former head of the laboratory of “Nairit”, Gilbert Muradyan. In 1999, China was offering Armenia to annually buy 15,000 tons of rubber. The Armenian side doesn’t stay indifferent to this offer, and in 2000 they sent Albert Sukiasyan to China for that purpose. The latter was the director of Nairit in 1992-96. In 2000 he was the head of the chemical department of the Ministry of Industrial Development, and currently is the director of Nairit-2. As a result of the negotiations, the Armenian side offered China not to buy the rubber from Armenia but create a joint enterprise of rubber production in China. In Armenia, people were pretty skeptical about this version because of the lack of energy resources and lack of roads. According to the joint contract, Armenia was supposed to invest 14 million USD, which was 40% of the stocks of the enterprise. The third line could enable Nairit to annually have 50 thousand tons of productivity (currently it is 8,000), and our government thought that it not a very expedient project for Armenia. The Chinese side was very interested in this transaction. This country had two old rubber-producing factories, and the premium production of rubber was highly desired to be moved to China as soon as possible. This becomes clear by reading the letter of “Chance” sent to the Armenian Embassy in China: “Starting from 1998, the demand of the rubber of China exceeds the supply. Despite the fact that the two Chinese rubber-producing companies are working intensively, they are not able to satisfy the demand of the market. At present, Nairit has a great chance to enter the Chinese market. Please send us information about the people whom Nairit is planning to send here.” As you see this person was mistaken only by 30 times in his calculations. Sooner or later the factory would have to take the risk of making great expenditures. According to the joint contract, China was obliged to annually give 4 million USD to Armenia, starting from 2004. As you see, the promises had been delayed for three years. One letter tells us that the contract was signed for 17 years, and 7 years has passed since the 17-year contact was signed. In the coming 10 years Armenia will receive a 40-million USD profit. If we calculate our expenses 25+5+30 (Dyubon technology, lines and new network), then we have 58 million, that is 18 million more than our profit. The interesting thing is that all the managers of Nairit had many arguments with the Ministry of Industry. Perhaps only in 10 years the statesmen of Armenia will tell us how Armenia benefited from this deal. But definitely certain individuals did.