Deputy: In the development of relations with Iran, the Free Economic  Zone "Meghri" will play a decisive role

ArmInfo.With the development of relations with Iran, the free economic zone in Meghri (on the border with Iran - red) will play a decisive role. This was  announced on October 8 at the meeting of the parliamentary Commission  on Regional and Eurasian Integration of the National Assembly of the  Republic of Armenia by the chairman of the commission, deputy from  the Prosperous Armenia faction Mikael Melkumyan.

According to him, the problems that have arisen around the FEZ  "Meghri" require consistent solutions.  "Not a single community  leader who held an illegal tender, and no question as a whole can  interfere with our case, "the deputy noted, adding that in three  months the issue will be discussed again at a meeting of the  commission.  Mikael Melkumyan also informed that in the near future  Meghri will be provided with gas. According to him, the commission  headed by him held an away meeting in the region.  "There we learned  that there has been no gas in Meghri since Soviet times. We raised  this issue in the National Assembly during a meeting with government  representatives. The Armenian Prime Minister recorded this in his own  room, and a few days later we were informed that the relevant  measurements ", - the deputy noted.  On September 11, ArmInfo, citing  RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, announced the start of the process  of returning illegally privatized lands adjacent to the Meghri Free  Economic Zone (FEZ) on the border with Iran. According to the prime  minister, the Armenian government and the investigating authority did  everything in their power to resolve the issue as soon as possible.  The line for the judiciary, he noted.  Recall that on March 7, at a  government meeting, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced  that former senior officials, being insider aware of plans to found  Meghri's FEZ in advance, managed to acquire adjacent lands at  ridiculous prices. "During my last year's visit, it turned out that  there was no state land for the project," Pashinyan said.  Already in  early August, the General Investigation Department of the General  Directorate for Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the  Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia completed a  preliminary investigation in a criminal case instituted on the fact  of alienation of land in the territories adjacent to the Meghri FEZ  as a result of fake imaginary auctions with the assistance of a group  of persons through forgery by the former head of the Karchevan  community of the Syunik region.  On the basis of sufficient evidence  acquired in the criminal case, 6 persons were charged, including the  former head of the Karchevan community (two episodes) for committing  official falsification under Article 314 of the RA Criminal Code, an  employee of the municipality participating in the fictitious auction,  and 4 bidders - for assistance in committing official forgery.  As  the head of the Armenian Ministry of Economy Tigran Khachatryan  previously reported, at this stage, the land area attached to the SEZ  does not exceed 2 hectares. In the future, it should reach 10 ha, and  then expand to 50 ha. However, negotiations with private landowners  did not lead to the desired result.  The total cost of constructing a  free economic zone in Meghri is estimated at $ 32 million, of which $  28 million is capital expenditure. The construction of a free  economic zone on the border with Iran is one of the priority  investment programs of the RA government and provides for the  creation of a free economic zone with an area of 10-15 hectares, with  the possibility of subsequent expansion to 45-50 hectares. It is  assumed that there will operate 100-120 companies, whose revenue for  10 years will amount to $ 52 million. It is planned to export  manufactured products to Iran, the EAEU, the Middle East,  Turkmenistan and others. Over the past 10 years, the total  investments of all companies are planned to be increased to $ 350-400  million. The functioning of the SEZ is already enshrined in law in  the EAEU Customs Code. In total, seven such zones will operate in the  EAEU under the duty-free system.