YEREVAN. – If an investor is found, it will be possible to resume operations at Nairit chemical plant—in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan—in eighteen months.

Head of the Nairit Trade Union Committee, Hrach Tadevosyan, noted the above-said at a press conference on Wednesday.

“Nairit should be viewed as a brand of Armenia, since it is a unique enterprise, and the resuming of its operations is important,” he said. “I believe that only a political will and decision is needed to resume operations at the plant.”

In Tadevosyan’s words, the World Bank (WB) audit conclusion, according to which putting Nairit back into operation is not beneficial to Armenia, is incorrect because even though the WB had held this view ever since 1990, the plant had never had a problem with selling its product.

And the ex-press secretary of Nairit, Anush Harutyunyan, for her part, added that the plant’s former employees will go all the way until Nairit resumes operations.

The overdue salaries of all Nairit workers have been paid in full. These wage arrears were paid by the state, and on the account of the profits of state-run energy companies.

The plant workers had assembled outside the Government Building and the Office of the President numerous times, and demanded a solution to their salary-related problems.

The Nairit chemical plant, which manufactures synthetic rubber, does not operate since April 2010.

The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Yervand Zakharyan, had stated that if a potential investor is found, the Armenian state would be willing to freeze debts and put the plant back into operation.