Minister of Environment Hakob Simidyan met a delegation headed by the World Bank's Regional Director for Sustainable Development of Europe and Central Asia Sameh Vahba.
Deputy Minister Aram Meymaryan took part in the meeting.
Welcoming his colleagues, Minister Hakob Simidyan congratulated Mr. Vahba on his first visit to Armenia and stated that there is considerable experience of effective cooperation between the Ministry of Environment and the World Bank.
"We are very pleased that environmental issues have begun to play a key and important role in the agenda of cooperation with the World Bank," the Minister said and expressed hope for continued constructive cooperation.
During the meeting, the parties touched upon the law "On Amendments to the RA Law "On Atmospheric Air Protection" and the draft law "On Amendments to the RA Law "On Environmental Impact Assessment and Expertise". Mr. Vahbay highly appreciated Armenia's readiness to contribute to the improvement of legislation in the field of nature protection in parallel with economic development.
A wide range of issues related to the sphere were discussed. The Minister informed his colleagues that work is currently underway to develop an industry strategy for the environment, and that at the end of this important process, a clear range of existing problems in the field and ways to solve them will be outlined.
The program of the Green Armenia platform, which is being implemented with the financing of the Climate Support Fund, was touched upon. The purpose of the platform is to promote and stimulate the "green" recovery and transformation of Armenia. As a result of the discussions that unfolded during the meeting, the agenda of the next meeting of the platform was formed.
The program "Improvement of integrated sustainable ecosystems of Armenia" was discussed. Currently, work has begun on the development of a project application.
A special discussion was given to the field of solid waste management.
The Minister presented legislative reforms aimed at regulating the sphere and proposed to cooperate even more closely in the framework of supporting the rational use of raw materials and energy in the production process and the circular economy, comparing the legislation of the Republic of Armenia with the relevant EU legislation, as well as the possibilities of introducing waste sorting mechanisms in the Republic of Armenia that are subject to reuse or reuse, recycling, restoration and recycling.
At the end of the meeting, the parties agreed to make such meetings periodic and give progress to the agreements reached through working discussions.