Chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the Government continues discussing Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure-proposed projects for 2020.

The Prime Minister first referred to the garbage problem. “Unfortunately, our country is covered with garbage. This is a record that does not contain any news, but my trips across the country led me to a sad conclusion that we seem to live in peace with the rubbish. To be honest, I cannot understand the scene when Armenian citizens are standing, talking, sometimes even organizing a picnic when the environment is completely littered with garbage. Our refuse tolerance puts up with corruption and abuse,” the Prime Minister said, noting that the problem has macro, local and individual components.

“At the macro level, we need to have a waste recycling strategy, and take concrete steps to that end. As regards the local aspect, I think that our citizens do not call for sufficient consistency from local authorities in terms of addressing specific waste management issues. We recently saw a garbage crisis in Yerevan, and we saw an end to that crisis. But when we realize that some community leaders have hired fake people in municipalities and have spent a good deal of money on fake jobs, while their communities are in the trash, the first thought that comes is that the citizens have failed to formulate the tasks. Coming to the individual level, I should state that I do not see any fight against garbage in our country. If we had not tolerated garbage at the individual level, we would not have tolerated it at the local level or at the macro level,” Nikol Pashinyan said, noting that today there is garbage in the water system and canals, too.

“It is commonplace in Armenia to see people throw something out of a car window. There are cigarette butts in the streets of Yerevan. The municipality is obviously supposed to clear the streets, but this problem will remain unresolved unless our citizens realize that they must reprimand all those who dump all kind of garbage, no matter what the consequences. Our job is to prevent, not to punish the dumpster. Some kind of tolerance to garbage has been formed in our country for a long time now. There is an atmosphere of reconciliation, which needs to be reversed. We have to declare war on garbage in Armenia. I do not mean that it will be a blitzkrieg. At least we should adopt a line of intolerance to garbage at the individual level,” the Head of Government said and gave specific instructions. In this context, reference was made to the steps aimed at clearing the country of waste, including opportunities for waste sorting, landfill management and waste recycling.

During the consultation the Head of the Migration Service Armen Ghazaryan presented the plans foreseen by his service in 2020. In particular, the process of issuance of certificates of purchase of apartments for people in urgent need of housing, who were displaced from Azerbaijan in 1988-1992, was reported. He advised that the 1.5 billion drams allocated by the government will help address the housing needs of 112 families deported from Azerbaijan; 2,169 billion drams envisaged by the state budget for 2020, will be provided to 183 households. According to Armen Ghazaryan, this will solve the housing problem of the refugees living in 10 administrative districts of Yerevan, including those several hundred people residing in Shengavit district and other communities of the republic. The Migration Service Head stressed that no such project had been implemented since 2009.

In conclusion, reference was made to the launch of visa liberalization negotiations with the EU and the reforms envisaged in the field of migration.