Government’s strategic direction is to preserve Armenia’s biodiversity – acting PM

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. The government provides assistance to the residents of the provinces so that they will stop illegal deforestation by engaging in certain business activities, Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during today’s Cabinet meeting, adding that this solves two issues. “The goal and strategic direction of our government is to preserve and develop Armenia’s biodiversity, and we are moving on with this logic”, he said.

Pashinyan said that they don’t say that there shouldn’t be mining industry in Armenia, quite the contrary, they say that it must be carried with the highest international standards and they will take consistent steps to establish these standards.

He stated that it is necessary to show the citizens that they can receive more benefit by not cutting the forests. The acting PM informed that citizens were provided with 55.000 cubic meters of firewood without damaging the forest. According to him, if the country’s biodiversity is organized correctly, they will benefit by more than 10 times.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan