Deputy Minister Aram Meymaryan took part in the final forum of the EU-funded Partnership against Pollution of Rural Green Spaces program. The program is aimed at improving the quality of the environment and reducing the dewatering of rivers in rural areas, supporting the introduction of modern waste management experience and environmental awareness in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Romania. 
Welcoming the participants and partners of the forum, the Deputy Minister emphasized the idea of partnership and cooperation laid down in the basis of the program. "The problems existing in the field of the environment do not recognize borders and nationalities, they are universal, interconnected and chain, and the steps aimed at solving them should be supranational, supra-regional and, most importantly, joint efforts and partnership," Aram Meymaryan said. 
The Deputy Minister touched upon legislative reforms in the field of waste management. "A number of reforms are being implemented in the field of waste management in the Republic of Armenia, domestic legislation has been brought into line with European standards with the practical results resulting from them. And in this context, the program is very close to our vision for its purposes: it promotes the introduction of best practices in waste management in selected rural areas of Armenia, Georgia and Moldova, based on EU approaches," the Deputy Minister noted.The Deputy Minister also touched upon the problem of garbage, noting that most of all it is necessary to raise public awareness of garbage problems and the level of education, strengthen the idea of the importance of environmental protection and that the problem is more acute in the case of water pollution and especially in rural communities. In this context, Aram Meymaryan stressed the importance of the component of strengthening the capabilities of rural communities around the implementation of the 3R garbage principle, which will significantly reduce the anthropogenic impact on rivers, especially small rivers. With our steps and daily behavior, we can significantly reduce the amount of garbage that is taken to landfill and harmful to the environment. We need to start with small steps - to provide citizens with knowledge, tools for handling garbage and, most importantly, reuse or sort garbage," the Deputy Minister said in concluding his speech. Arkady Peleshyan, Acting head of the Vanadzor community, and the national coordinators of the program made speeches. A question and answer was organized between the parties participating in the forum. Prizes of the drawing contest on waste information were awarded. At the end of the forum, a cooperation agreement was signed between the twin cities of Vanadzor (Armenia), Tskaldubo (Georgia), Ungheni (Moldova) and Dilijan (Armenia).