During parliamentary discussions on ratifying the TRIPP agreement, opposition Armenia faction MP Mesrop Manukyan said the document lacks financial calculations or assessments showing how much revenue Armenia could earn.
“Gentlemen, you are proposing obligations for Armenia lasting up to 99 years, yet you have not presented even a calculation of the economic benefits Armenia would receive over a single year,” he said, according to Panorama.am.
Manukyan said Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, who presented the draft agreement, had been unable to provide calculations demonstrating TRIPP’s economic efficiency during discussions in a parliamentary committee.
According to the opposition lawmaker, the Ministry of Finance stated in its summary of comments on the draft only that revenues to the state budget were anticipated, but that their financial impact could not be assessed.
Manukyan also drew attention to an observation by the National Assembly staff that the submitted draft contained no financial or economic justification.
In his assessment, publishing the projected costs of implementing TRIPP would also make it possible to determine the scale of the project’s infrastructure, including whether it would involve only a railway or a much larger transport route.
“It is obvious that you do not know what is going to happen, because there are no financial calculations or assessments, nor is there any indication of how much Armenia will earn. Meanwhile, according to my modest calculations, the annual benefit will amount to a few hundred thousand dollars, or there may be no benefit at all.
“This assessment is based on the volume of goods transported along the Baku-Kars railway. Those fairy tales about millions coming in have no basis. It is a false agenda,” he said.
Manukyan also alleged the existence of private interests in the project.
He recalled that when he raised questions about businessman Sokolov on the day Ruben Rubinyan was elected, many had considered his concerns abstract. However, he said, Deutsche Welle and Reuters subsequently covered his remarks, including the potential conflict of interest he had raised and Sokolov’s shareholdings in Viva Armenia and the Teghut mines.
The MP also described a provision exempting the company from profit tax as absurd, arguing that the project’s potential profitability had not yet been established.
“The impression is that you are saying, ‘Trust us, everything will be fine.’ That is not how things work,” he said.
Addressing Civil Contract party member Taron Chakhoyan, Manukyan continued:
“Mr. Chakhoyan, I get the impression that you still think you are working at the state non-commercial organization running fake accounts, and you fail to realize that it is you speaking.
“You say no reservoirs were built under the former authorities. During Robert Kocharyan’s tenure alone, 46 reservoirs were renovated. Civil Contract had absolutely nothing to do with the Vedi reservoir, because the previous authorities launched that project, and you merely struggled to finish the final part.
“You should talk about the Kaps reservoir, where more than $100 million has been allocated, but the work has not been carried out and there are no results.
“One piece of friendly advice: everyone knows it is you speaking here. You are not a fake account, and you will be held accountable for what you say.”
Anna Grigoryan, head of the opposition Armenia parliamentary faction, has announced that her political force will vote against the Armenian-U.S. framework agreement on the TRIPP project. According to her, “Azerbaijan’s interests are reflected more directly in the document than Armenia’s.”
