Tunyan Publishes His and Pashinyan's Work Letter

MP Babken Tunyan from the "My Step" faction of the National Assembly has published a portion of his correspondence with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on his Facebook page, with the Prime Minister's consent. He stated, "First of all, I want to say that I am publishing this work letter sent to me by the Prime Minister on June 26, 2019, with Nikol Pashinyan's consent. I also want to mention that if there are any doubters about its authenticity, I can invite them and show the emails.

Now, let’s get to the main topic. It is a bit long, but I will try not to bore you and to express myself clearly. In the summer of 2019, the government sent a draft law to the National Assembly that was aimed at closing a 'loophole' in the law. With the help of this loophole, several newly established companies began to export metal scrap without paying duties (thanks to obtaining a certificate of Armenian origin). Within a few months, export volumes grew so rapidly that local producers working with this scrap risked losing access to raw materials.

The draft was sent to the National Assembly as urgent, and it needed to be adopted quickly—24 hours after the first reading. In other words, the government wanted to resolve this issue as soon as possible. The law stipulated that regardless of the source of origin, a duty had to be paid upon export.

Naturally, the companies involved in metal scrap exports began to protest. They even blocked streets with trucks. They claimed that they collect and export light metal scrap (for example, car bodies), which no one in Armenia wants to buy or use anyway. They also argued that they are solving an environmental problem. Additionally, they claimed that they had incurred expenses, purchased equipment, and signed contracts, needing time, while the government wanted to immediately close off the path for scrap exports.

As always in the National Assembly, before making a decision, we began to weigh the pros and cons. First, we reached an agreement that the government would abandon the urgent 24-hour regime. We were given a week until the second reading. During that time, we met with those exporting scrap, and several MPs visited metal reception bases, as well as factories working with metal scrap. We saw everything with our own eyes and were convinced that local producers actually need that raw material, including car bodies. They accept, process, and wish to increase volumes.

Later, we sat down and with the help of specialists made calculations to determine a balanced duty rate that would not deprive local producers of raw materials while not setting a “water price” for scrap reception. We gave the exporters two months to allow them to export the scrap they had already collected. Meanwhile, local producers issued a statement that they were ready to accept scrap at 40 drams per kilogram.

In short, we ultimately arrived at a consensual and reasonable solution. During this process, we had quite heated debates with the government on this issue—both public and non-public. Many will remember my speech when I stated that if the Customs Committee cannot distinguish between heavy metals and light ones, then we do not need such a Customs Committee.

During this time, I also wrote to the Prime Minister that there is a problem in essentially defending the interests of small businesses engaged in scrap exports. This, I reiterate, was before we had meetings and visits and independently got convinced of everything. This letter is the Prime Minister's response to my letter. Pay attention not only to the specific issue of metal scrap but also to the Prime Minister's general approach to the vision of our country's economy.

Since the opportunity has arisen, I should mention that this is not the only case. To find the right solution, any somewhat serious topic goes through similar discussions, sometimes heated, which, of course, are not publicly discussed. And after all this, someone stands up and declares that the company exporting metal scrap belongs to the Prime Minister, that there is a mafia operating under his protection in scrap export, and so on, and so forth... I leave the conclusions to you."