Republican Party of Armenia

In the wake of today’s government sitting, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan referred to the problem of Indian buffalo meat which has been speculated recently by some political forces.

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan – I am asking Abram Bakhchagulyan to brief us on the situation with buffalo meat imports into Armenia, taking into account the recent political speculations on this theme: The best way to combat such speculations is to provide the public with comprehensive information on the matter.

Head of State Food Safety Service by the Ministry of Agriculture Abram Bakhchagulyan - Dear Mr. Prime Minister, dear colleagues, 6 economic entities imported 10324.93 tons of buffalo meat into Armenia from India in 2011 with the following breakdown:

Mush Ltd - 2.3%
Avan Supermarket Ltd - 3.5%
Armen Hamik Brothers Ltd - 6.5%
Mokonat Ltd - 9.5%
Pargev Ltd - 17%
Alex Grig Ltd - 61.2%

5284,651 tons of buffalo meat was imported by 5 entities during the past 9 months with the fll breakdown:

Avan Supermarket Ltd - 11.06%
Sam Love Group Ltd - 13.05%
Alex Grig Ltd - 18.14%
Armen Hamik Brothers Ltd - 23.52%
Pargev Ltd - 34.23%

The meat is imported by entities having at least 10 year-long experience in meat industry. The meat is processed in a single production area, including a slaughterhouse, a meat processing shop and cold storage in line with international standards. The licenses are issued by internationally recognized licensing authorities, with corresponding sources of hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) system and minimum international standards ISO 9001:2000.

Each batch of the buffalo meat imported into the Republic of Armenia is overseen by Armenia’s permanent representative for food security in India who before approving the exports examines on the spot each batch of the animals to slaughter, makes veterinary inspection records and all relevant documentation, after which circulates a certificate of conformity concerning the product.

The certificate is attached to the set of shipping documents.

According to Government Decree N1442 of October 21, 2010, shipping documents should include an appropriate veterinary certificate issued by the competent authority or certificates and sources of hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) system concerning animals, raw materials of animal origin, food, feed, fodder mixtures, fodder additives and food import, export and transit of imported products. During the border clearance the State Food Security Service carries out visual inspections and checks of documents and reference documents.

If visual examinations fail to reveal any breaches, the freight is allowed for import. Mr. Prime Minister, it has to be noted that only once for the past 2-year period we had some suspicion about the imported product. We conducted a laboratory examination and no mismatch was detected.

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan - Mr. Khachatryan, I would like to know whether the companies concerned are complying with their fiscal liabilities.

State Revenue Committee Head Gagik Khachatryan - Mr. Prime Minister, we keep on checking these companies and will submit a certificate of conformity in due course.

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan - Very well, I think that this problem should be your focus. Dear colleagues, I would like to inform you that some political parties are trying to malign me by linking my name with the buffalo meat importers.

I want you to know that I have no connection whatsoever with the aforementioned 5 companies – neither friends, nor relatives. These companies are not hiding behind me. Mr. Bakhchagulyan’s statement made it clear who owns these 5 companies. I suggest putting this information on record so that people could know who is importing buffalo meat into Armenia and in what volumes.

In any case, we will keep the matter in focus and will closely follow developments to ensure that the importers comply with the safety standards and meet their tax obligations.