According to the Russian minister of transport, the co-chair of the Armenian-Russian interstate commission Igor Levitin the Russian government would like to give Mars to a private Russian company which he said is ready to revitalize it with large-scale investments. “But the plant’s efficient and competitive functioning requires either the creation of a free economic zone or a techno park,” Levitin told journalists. He said he hopes the Armenian government will agree to the proposed tax breaks. “We all got convinced once again that Russian-Armenian economic cooperation has a great deal of potential for further development,” Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, the commission’s Armenian co-chairman, said at the end of the meeting. He said the two governments should continue to “work consistently” to achieve that development. Opening the meeting earlier in the day, Sargsyan expressed hope that the Armenian and Russian presidents “will positively evaluate the results of our work.” Citing Kremlin sources, Russian news agencies have said economic issues will dominate Medvedev’s talks with President Serzh Sargsyan. “Economic cooperation between our countries continues to develop steadily and it is quite natural to hope that bilateral trade will reach $1 billion this year,” the commission’s Russian co-chairman, Transport Minister Igor Levitin, said for his part. The Armenian government said in a statement that Russian-Armenian trade was high on the meeting’s agenda along with the fate of Armenian enterprises that were handed over to Russia in payment of Yerevan’s $100 million debt to Moscow. Most of those enterprises, notably the Mars electronics factory in Yerevan, have stood idle since then. The two sides also announced an agreement to set up a Russian-Armenian joint-venture in Armenia that will manufacture bitumen, a construction material used for paving roads and streets. Armenia is heavily dependent on its imports from abroad. Levitin said the plant will not only meet domestic demand but also export some of its production. The commission apparently avoided discussing in detail possible Russian involvement in other, far more large-scale, economic projects planned by the Armenian government. That includes the construction of a new nuclear plant and a railway linking Armenia to neighboring Iran. “The issue is still in the discussion stages as experts are preparing to make feasibility evaluations,” said Sargsyan. “So naturally, decisions will be made only after the [feasibility] studies are over.” In the news conference Igor Levitin brought up the issue of the construction of oil refinery in speaking about the Armenian-Russian relations, the economic indices. It is known that the issue of the construction of the refinery was set forth during the presidency of Robert Kocharyan. It was to be an Armenian-Russian-Iranian project, the refinery was going to be built on the border of Iran and Armenia. And now, after lasting silence, Levitin again brought up the issue of the project but not in a reassuring tone. Regnum reports that it is not feasible to build an oil refinery with a capacity of 5 million tons in Armenia. “The proposal to build a plant of a capacity of 2 tons is not feasible either … the issue is still under consideration but it is necessary to understand where the production will be going,” Regnum cites Levitin.
