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GOVERNMENT'S GREEN OR WHO WANTS A SHARE OF AMULSAR
The U.K. Ambassador to Armenia Katherine Leach met on June 25 with the
minister of environmental protection Aram Harutiunyan. The ambassador
asked the minister to support the company which is investing in
Amulsar gold mine. As is known, the license to exploit the mine is
to be given to the British Lydian International headed by the former
prime minister of Armenia, chairman of Yerevan, My Love Foundation
Armen Sargsyan. By the way, on his invitation Prince Charles visited
Armenia on May 28 to attend the celebration of the First Republic Day.
The permit of exploitation is not with Lydian yet. The company does
not have the right to exploit the mine yet, and the ambassador has
most probably turned to the minister asking to resolve this issue.
Environmentalists protest against exploitation of this mine. They held
protest actions during Prince Charles~R visit. As a result, he had to
enter Matenadaran through the back entrance to avoid an encounter with
the demonstrators. The Prince~Rs relation to the mines is unknown. We
only know that the Prince and Armen Sargsyan are friends.
It is hard to tell whether the protests of environmentalists helped
to delay a final decision on the issue. It is also hard to tell if
Armen Sargsyan had organized the visit of the Prince to please the
authorities and for a ~Sreward~T. But even if the aim of the visit
was this, it seems to have failed. Otherwise the British ambassador
would not have met with the minister of environmental protection
asking for his help.
By the way, the minister~Rs answer was very interesting. He said that
Armenia is guided by green economy policy so the Amulsar project
should be perfect. Tens of thousands of trees cut in Teghut forest
for opening mines or the concentration of heavy metals in the air
in Alaverdi exceeding the limit beyond which it is danger for human
health is evidence to how strictly Armenia follows a green policy.
Here the issue is not environmental protection or green economy.
Environmentalists were protesting actively against the mineral industry
in Teghut but it did not stop an alliance between the authorities
and investors. So why are they so ~Sgreen~T in Amulsar?
Maybe green is used in a figurative sense. Apparently, some influential
person wants to be a formal or informal shareholder of the Amulsar
project expecting their share from the British company, so the
issuance of license is taking so long. The authorities are indirect
supporters of the environmentalists until they come to terms with
the British company.
The government must have requested a very high price from the British
to turn a blind eye on the protests of environmentalists. Even Prince
Charles saw how determined they are and how difficult it will be for
the government to ignore their protests.
James Hakobyan 11:06 26/06/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/comments/view/30280
From: Baghdasarian
The U.K. Ambassador to Armenia Katherine Leach met on June 25 with the
minister of environmental protection Aram Harutiunyan. The ambassador
asked the minister to support the company which is investing in
Amulsar gold mine. As is known, the license to exploit the mine is
to be given to the British Lydian International headed by the former
prime minister of Armenia, chairman of Yerevan, My Love Foundation
Armen Sargsyan. By the way, on his invitation Prince Charles visited
Armenia on May 28 to attend the celebration of the First Republic Day.
The permit of exploitation is not with Lydian yet. The company does
not have the right to exploit the mine yet, and the ambassador has
most probably turned to the minister asking to resolve this issue.
Environmentalists protest against exploitation of this mine. They held
protest actions during Prince Charles~R visit. As a result, he had to
enter Matenadaran through the back entrance to avoid an encounter with
the demonstrators. The Prince~Rs relation to the mines is unknown. We
only know that the Prince and Armen Sargsyan are friends.
It is hard to tell whether the protests of environmentalists helped
to delay a final decision on the issue. It is also hard to tell if
Armen Sargsyan had organized the visit of the Prince to please the
authorities and for a ~Sreward~T. But even if the aim of the visit
was this, it seems to have failed. Otherwise the British ambassador
would not have met with the minister of environmental protection
asking for his help.
By the way, the minister~Rs answer was very interesting. He said that
Armenia is guided by green economy policy so the Amulsar project
should be perfect. Tens of thousands of trees cut in Teghut forest
for opening mines or the concentration of heavy metals in the air
in Alaverdi exceeding the limit beyond which it is danger for human
health is evidence to how strictly Armenia follows a green policy.
Here the issue is not environmental protection or green economy.
Environmentalists were protesting actively against the mineral industry
in Teghut but it did not stop an alliance between the authorities
and investors. So why are they so ~Sgreen~T in Amulsar?
Maybe green is used in a figurative sense. Apparently, some influential
person wants to be a formal or informal shareholder of the Amulsar
project expecting their share from the British company, so the
issuance of license is taking so long. The authorities are indirect
supporters of the environmentalists until they come to terms with
the British company.
The government must have requested a very high price from the British
to turn a blind eye on the protests of environmentalists. Even Prince
Charles saw how determined they are and how difficult it will be for
the government to ignore their protests.
James Hakobyan 11:06 26/06/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/comments/view/30280
From: Baghdasarian