Today Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan paid a working visit to Syunik Marz of Armenia. Nikol Pashinyan first met with Syunik community residents and thanked them for the warm welcome. “Syunik is Armenia’s backbone; the region is of great strategic importance and deserves special attention and we keep it in the spotlight. I know it is not that easy, and therefore, I wish to thank you for holding fast, working and struggling on this piece of land.

I know the difficulties you have been through. But what matters most today is the freedom and the respect for your rights you have earned together with us, and we have the opportunity to build a better future for our children. We need to find a way to live and work with each other. And our methodology and purpose of solving a problem is as follows: we have to create an opportunity for our people to get engaged in creative activities in their homeland,” Nikol Pashinyan said, adding: “First of all, I have greatest respect for working people. I know that hard-working people are living here, otherwise Syunik would not have been standing that firmly on its feet. I want to thank you again for your work.”

Then Nikol Pashinyan answered several questions of interest to Syunik residents, which bore on the prospects for community development, job creation, agriculture, irrigation and drinking water. The Acting Premier advised that the Government was going to implement a farm machinery leasing program. At the same time, he urged the farmers to set up agricultural cooperatives, which would make land development more effective. Nikol Pashinyan underscored that the Executive will take consistent steps to ensure uninterrupted irrigation water supply and tackle the problem of anti-hail stations. He once again urged the residents of Syunik to seek higher labor productivity and develop their own economies, giving assurances that the taxes paid to the State budget would no longer be stolen.

“I can guarantee that even if there are still taxes stolen elsewhere today, no penny will be stolen from now on. In some instances, public funds are still spent inefficiently, but they will be spent as effectively as possible in a while. And I am asking you not to sell property, on the contrary, build new ones, create and pay taxes. We should treat the State budget of our country just like the sum spent on our common needs,” the Acting Prime Minister said.

Then Nikol Pashinyan met Hunan Poghosyan, the newly appointed governor of Syunik Marz. The Acting Prime Minister said: “If Yerevan is the head of Armenia, Syunik is the backbone of Armenia, and the harder the backbone, the stronger the State will be. We are preparing for snap parliamentary elections, and it is crucial for us to complete the post-revolutionary period of our non-violent, velvet revolution. Of course, public administration system’s efficiency is of utmost relevance in this regard.”

Acting Minister of Territorial Administration and Development Suren Papikyan touched upon the burning issues faced in individual communities and the government programs for their solution, after which Nikol Pashinyan answered the questions raised by the community heads in attendance.

In response to a question about firewood, the Acting Prime Minister said that he had issued appropriate instructions, according to which the local population should be provided with winter fuel for sanitary cuts. “But the point is that we have to give up the forestry business as it is harmful to the environment,” Nikol Pashinyan said, highlighting the use of alternative fuels, including pellets.

“That is the prospect because forests are a key asset, and they should be handed down to the next generation. In general, we need to abide by that logic. Our studies evidence that pellet is higher in calorie, so we just need to boost its production,” the Acting Prime Minister said, noting that it is far cheaper than wood.

Issues related to communities’ empowerment, enlargement and multi-apartment buildings were discussed during the meeting.