President Serzh Sargsyan held a meeting at the Ministry of Nature Protection

President Serzh Sargsyan visited today the Ministry of Nature Protection. The President of Armenia held a meeting with the leadership of the Ministry. Before that, in line with his visits conducted recently to other state bodies, the President conversed with the employees of different departments of the Ministry, inquired about their working conditions, activities conducted in the framework of their functions, and forthcoming programs.

At the assembly hall of the Ministry, the Minister of Nature Protection, Deputy Ministers, Head of Staff and Head of the Agency for Management of Bioresources reported to the President about works conducted in their respective areas, existing problems, and future projects.

In particular, Minister Aram Harutyunian presented the main results of the Ministry activities for 2010-2013, underlining works aimed at the prevention of demaging effects on the environment, reasonable use of natural resources, their restoration, environmental monitoring, state expertise and works related to the issuance of licenses and spoke about challenges existing in this area, including the excessive consumption of water resources as a result of the fast growing sub-areas which use groundwater. The Minister reported also on the process of implementation of the directive given by President Serzh Sargsyan during the meeting held in September which was related to the elimination in Ararat and Armavir marzes of the illegal deep-water wells. After familiarizing with the situation, Serzh Sargsyan tasked to keep under special control the process of implementation of the issued tasks and to present monthly reports on the situation.

First Deputy Minister Simon Papian presented the prospects of development of the RA nature protection area from the viewpoint of transition to “green economy”, examining this issue in the context of the events and envisioned processes implemented in framework of the National Environmental Security Strategy adopted in 2010.

Deputy Minister Khachik Hakopian spoke about the cooperation of the Ministry with the public and mass media and corresponding statistics on the works implemented in that framework. He reported on the activities with public environmental organizations which are engaged in this area, public hearings of the resolutions drafted by the Ministry and public discussions on the drafts which have been submitted for the expert opinion. He also spoke about steps taken by the Ministry towards the improvement of the legal base of the area, eco-education and institutional structure.

Head of the Agency on Management of Bioresources Artashes Ziroyan presented the program of state strategy and actions in 2014-2020 regarding the development of special conservation areas in the Republic of Armenia which envisages expansion of the ecological borders of the special conservation areas, application here of international experience and closer cooperation with other states.

The Head of Staff Edgar Pirumian presented the structure of the Ministry, current and future programs aimed at the enhancement of work efficiency.

After listening to the reports, the President directed questions to the rapporteurs and expressed readiness to answer questions of the participants of the meeting which related to the works of the Ministry and beyond. The employees of the Ministry of Nature Protection asked the President about developments after Armenia’s decision to join the Customs Union, results of the state visit of the RF President to Armenia, prospects of the construction of new roads to Artsakh through the funds of the recently concluded tele-marathon. They also raised a number of question related to the social area.

Responding to the question on promising prospects of the Customs Union and Armenian-Russian relations, President Sargsyan underscored that he shares optimism of the person who asked the question. “With regard to the Armenian-Russian relations and Customs Union I observe positive changes; I observe existence of good opportunities. Of course, I will tell in a greater detail about the Customs Union later, because I don’t think it is appropriate to speak about all privileges and opportunities before the negotiations are concluded. When the negotiations are concluded, at that time indeed we will talk in detail about opportunities. Obviously, different segments of our society may comment my words in different ways and state again that negotiations are kept secret. Next, they will come and say that they have an opinion too, etc. I would like to repeat that there are no negotiations in the world which are discussed in detail with each segment of the society.

Under concrete circumstances, we will present the results of our negotiations to the National Assembly and these agreements should be ratified or adopted by the Parliament. And thanks God our current National Assembly represents very well interests of our society and its different segments.

As for the visit of the President of the Russian Federation, in my opinion, it confirmed the strategic nature of our relations. We have agreements, which were signed and which became property of the public at large. We are talking just about that. The visit itself, reached agreements really create impressive opportunities: opportunities in the economic area and much closer cooperation in the security area. I believe in the economic area, energy, industry, more precisely in jewelry production, diamond cutting, chemical industry, etc., there are many-many agreements and opportunities. Broad prospects are opening also in the area of agriculture. Only in 2013, we increased exports to the RF by 25 percent, one quarter. That’s a huge number. However one thing should be clear for us all - the Russians are not going to work for us. We must be able to translate these opportunities into reality, we must work in a more organized way, must be able to get results. If we are not able to do that, we might get assistance or help, but no one is going to work instead of us. This must be absolutely clear,” President Sargsyan underscored.

At the conclusion of the meeting, speaking about activities of the Ministry of Nature Protection and ecological issues, President Serzh Sargsyan noted that these issues are, naturally, in the center of attention of the authorities and the public. According to the President, it is obvious that the Ministry of Nature Protection is the one primarily responsible for them, as well as the experts and specialists of the area. According to Serzh Sargsyan in the lack of general attention and care towards the environmental issues, the unnatural and merciless exploitation of nature could end in catastrophic results. The President said that the desire of the people to look into these issues and voice their opinion and present their proposals for addressing the problems, to preclude negative developments and ensure natural development is quite understandable. Serzh Sargsyan underlined that the primary objective of the Ministry is to systematize in a short period of time all problems existing in the area of ecology, including procedures pertinent to the area of responsibilities. Speaking about the use of illegal deep wells and other problems of the area, the President stressed that voice of the people who take interest in these issues, of the representatives of the civil society should be heard – it is too within the scope of the Ministry responsibilities. “I feel totally normal about such movements. In general, I believe that development of our country without mature civil society is simply impossible. Any restrictions imposed here would be a very short-sighted policy. We will be gradually becoming a more open society and gradually not only ecologists but different organizations will make their voices more audible. I urge the employees of our Ministry and representatives of these organizations to refrain from demonstrative steps, shows; if they are representatives of environmental organizations, their main goal should be the promotion of environmental issues rather than creation of new problems for our state.”

At the conclusion of the meeting, the President wished success to the staff of the Ministry and stressed the importance of setting clear deadlines for the resolution of all raised problems. The President highlighted the importance of such approach for other areas as well.

Today, a group of employees of the Ministry of Nature Protection have received commendations for their diligent and efficient work: Hovik Aghinian, Head of the Division of hydro-geological research and monitoring of fresh water of the “Center for Hydro-geological Monitoring” non-profit organization, Andranik Ghulijanian, Head of the Zikatar refuge of the “Zikatar Environmental Center” non-profit organization, Grisha Muradian, Head of the water usage authorization division of the Water Resources Management Agency, and Julietta Stepanian, leading specialist of the strategic programs and monitoring division of the Department for environmental strategic programs and monitoring received Presidential Letters of Commendation.