Ever since Armenia’s independence declaration our glorious ministry of economy or (ministry of glorious economy) has changed its name so many times that we cannot remember all of them.
But one thing was fixed as there was a moment when it used to be called ministry of trade and industry. Afterwards, the word industry disappeared perhaps because it wouldn’t be very “nice” to have ministry of something that doesn’t exist. The ministry of industry would first of all be not understood by the young generation because they hear about industry of Armenia during the years of their education at Polytechnic institute. Of course our young people know about Petak and Surmalu fairs but would hardly believe that in the place of Petak we had lathe-producing factory after Dzerzhinsky and in the place of Surmalu was the cannery, where people would go to work instead of trading goods now. The elder citizens of Armenia also recall this because they have spent most of their lives working at factories. Not only do they recall but also dream that some day they will work again. Moreover, they are dreaming by knowing that this is never going to happen. But the Secretary of the National Security Council Artur Baghdasaryan rippled the souls of these people 2 days ago. All the TV channels convinced that the first session of the intergovernmental commission was held on April 13 aimed at discussing the issues of the development of the military-industry complex. The session was moderated by Artur Baghdasaryan. The news that rippled the should of the people was the following, “The commission is to resolve two issues. It will conduce to the elaboration of the charter of the development of the military-industry complex and will undertake concrete steps to help it efficiently function.” On the next day all the former engineers and heads of productions, who are now playing backgammon in the yards, would ask each other, “Have you heard that they might re-launch the activities of MIC factories? For the young generation let us mention that MIC stands for military-industry complex. And most part of the big factories of Armenia is included in this complex. Let us come back to the backgammon players. The ones, who didn’t have the luck to hear this rumor, would ask who says that? “Artur Baghdasaryan,” would respond the rumor deliverers by knowing in advance that the fact of mentioning this name zeroes the validity of the rumor. Then they would say that they don’t quite believe that either but maybe they are attempting to do something. One of those vague rumors was that after the visit to Russia and Belarus the first results were registered. The representatives of the military-industry complex of those countries visited Armenia and domestically scrutinized the possibility of cooperation. It is quite possible to understand these people. Regardless of the fact of the boring topic of opening the factories, regardless of violation of previous promises of Artur Baghdasaryan people are inclined to believe in what they really sincerely wish. But are there real grounds to believe this rosy prospect? We’d really wish to say yes but unfortunately we can’t. The reasons are various. Let us first start from the point that the so-called “charter” already makes us smile. We have so many such charters – making Armenia an investment center, building a techno park in Gyumri, forming an electronic society in Armenia, etc. If these charters have been already adopted than the charter on MIC should still be adopted. Secondly, these factories used to operate in a big system, which was destroyed after the collapse of the USSR meanwhile destroying the consumption markets. It would be naïve to think that our Russian and Belarusian friends haven’t bought anything from anyone in 20 years and have waited till their Armenian counterpart would start to provide “chips” and “mechanical boards.” This means that the market is already occupied. But our officials are also speaking about the internal market. Baghdasaryan has also spoken about the increase of the defensiveness of our country and provision of necessary military equipment to the military forces of Armenia. It would be very interesting to know what equipment Baghdasaryan is exactly speaking about. At least one example would be enough. Besides that the factories that were part of the previous military-industry complex have turned into ruffles and ruins. The premises are left without care; the devices (the ones that were not sold to the Iranians) are useless. Only to improve the premises hundreds of million of dollars are necessary, not to mention the technologies. And the most important issue is the labor capacity. The basis of a factory is neither the building nor the equipment. The basis is the personnel. In a factory only 50 people (mainly administration and guards) work instead of the previous 3000 personnel. The rest had to adapt to market relations by mainly using their skills in the trade sector. After a 20-year procrastination even in the event of a great wish these people won’t be able to run industry. And it’s totally meaningless to speak about the new generation because they neither have a wish nor knowledge. However during the soviet years only the electronic product factories of the military-industry complex employed 120 thousand people. For comparison let us mention that in metallurgy the number was only 5000. And finally it is difficult to believe that currently the ministry of economy is able to provide relevant operation for this sector; resolve issues, provide demand by negotiating with the Russian purchasers. Here we have various departments with “glamorous” titles but it is really doubtful whether we still have specialists, who have idea of industry. It is doubtful because their demand is not that much. Currently we want more professional coffee break and training organizers. Frankly said, this is the case when we heartily wish to be mistaken. But it’s mildly said not honest to inspire people with fake hopes especially by considering the fact that the members of the coalition exclude by-elections.