YEREVAN, OCTOBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia NIkol Pashinyan informed about the negotiations on building a new nuclear power plant in Armenia, ARMENPRESS reports Pashinyan said during the parliament-Cabinet Q&A session, answering the question of MP Sergey Bagratyan representing Civil Contract Party.

Bagratyan reminded that recently the Chairman of the Board of Directors of GeoProMining Company announced about investing 2 billion USD in mining, he also spoke about 1.5 billion investment to build a new copper smelter.

“Let’s note that for the first time since the 2000s, Armenia and the people of Armenia are co-owners of the Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine. I hope that this share will increase, but to such an extent that it will not distort the market nature of our economy," Pashinyan said.

The Prime Minister noted that when it was announced that the Government was becoming the co-owner of the Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine, there were opinions that there was a dark and suspicious deal. "If the owner of that 15 percent was not the Government, but an offshore company, and the owner of that offshore company was another offshore company, and the offshore owner was a member of the Prime Minister's or any minister's family, then it would be a dark deal," he said.

Pashinyan noted that there are people sitting in the part of the hall representing the opposition who have made such deals during their activities, and believes that law enforcement agencies should seriously investigate into those deals to find out their cause and effect, including potentially treacherous deals.

An offer was made to Armenia by one of the owners of "Geopromining" company, a member of the Board of Directors, we discussed the offer, we saw that the offer corresponds to the economic and state interests of Armenia. “This includes two very important components: the first is the construction of a copper smelter, which means that Armenia will no longer export concentrate and import ready-made copper from somewhere else to be used in other products, but copper will be produced in Armenia. Second, the construction of a new nuclear power plant is part of this program, and this large company has undertaken investment commitments for the establishment of a copper smelter, which has been duly recorded, and negotiations on the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Armenia have already started”, PM Pashinyan said, adding that the participation of the Government in that process is important for that the nuclear power plant cannot be a fully private company, the Government should have active participation in it.

Pashinyan noted that now the Government's task is that the construction of a new copper smelter kicks off by June 2025. "And we must try to make the construction of the nuclear power plant happen in parallel. It would be good if the operation of the copper smelter and the nuclear power plant coincide," he said.