Armenian government to take stock of mining sector

YEREVAN, August 23. /ARKA/. The government of Armenia will analyze and evaluate the efficiency of the mining sector, Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources Arthur Grigoryan said at a government meeting on Thursday. The government approved today the list of measures, designed to  ensure the implementation of the concept of subsoil use.

The minister pointed out the absence of a clear-cut  policy and a strategy that would allow the government  to carry out concrete actions for the development of the sector.  

‘To develop such a strategy,  we need to conduct a study to analyze the situation in the mining sector in order to identify its problems and advantages," Grigoryan said. He said the plan of actions will be financed by grants to come form the World Bank and other donor organizations. 

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in turn that the mining sector today is the main engine of Armenia's economic growth, but added  that this model of economic growth is unacceptable and the government is going to change it.

Pashinyan added that the growth generated by sale of mineral recourses is not inclusive as the population does not feel its results.

"It is necessary to take various measures to increase control over the mining sector, to raise responsibility within  it and to develop such operational rules that the public see that the national wealth gives the country as much benefit as it should," Pashinyan said. --0--