In the end of the last year Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan stated that starting from then the government will strictly fight against monopolies and oligopolies. Days after this statement Sargsyan corrected his words by saying that fight against oligopolies doesn’t imply fight against oligarchs. This was one of the few cases when Sargsyan was telling the truth. It is true the government fight against the monopolies and oligopolies in varies methods and via various charters and conventions. As of the monopolists and oligarchs then the government fights against the ones, who hinder the activities of the oligarchs. For example, the current session of the National Assembly is hearing two key bills (Bill on Geographic Marking and Bill on Trademarks). In the event of adoption of those bills only two major companies will have the right to produce Jermuk mineral water. One of them is Jermuk Group, which belongs to an NA MP Ashot Arsenyan and the mother factory of Jermuk, which according to certain information belongs to one of the relatives of Vardan Oskanyan. The adoption of this bill will result in the annulment of the operation of 13 separate companies, which were previously licensed to use the brand name Jermuk. This means that they will lose their at least their small position in the Jermuk market. After the attitude of the government in relation of Bjni mineral water the adoption of this bill will be a real present for Jermuk Group, which already has a monopolistic position in the market. And after all this some people claim that the government is not supporting the domestic producers.
