Decision on exploitation of Amulsar to depend on expertise conclusion: Armenia’s PM

Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan referred at the NA today to the information that Lydian is going to apply to arbitration court, saying that this perspective does not scare them at all.

“Let them do it, we are not afraid of them. If there is anything to be afraid of than you should be afraid of it, not we,” the premier stated.

Clarifying the position of the government in the issue of exploitation of Amulsar, Pashinyan said, “We have allocated 300,000 USD from the state budget to involve leading international companies for expertise. This expertise is to give answer to one question –whether the risks that may be created as a result of exploitation of Amulsar are controllable or not. Are they admissible or not? If the conclusion is negative, i.e. it is stated that there are environmental risks for Jermuk and Sevan water system, the project will be closed. If it is stated that the risks are not big and controllable the project will continue,” the PM stated.

The head of the government explained the protraction of the issue with the rejection of Lydian Armenia to cooperate with the government.

“If you remember I went to Jermuk, gathered all the three parties and urged to work together on the basis of facts. My problem is that I have nothing to be based on for making a decision. I cannot do it at approximate calculations,” he said, adding that the decision will be based on expertise conclusion.