By the decision of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Deputy Minister of Environment Gayane Gabrielyan participates in the second high-level International conference for 2018-2028 "Water for Sustainable Development" in Dushanbe, the capital of the Republic of Tajikistan.
"Water for Sustainable Development" 2018-2028. The second high-level international conference in a decade - "Promoting water operations and partnerships at the local, national, regional and global levels".
Current realities show that in order to achieve the 6th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), it is necessary to generate additional efforts. In this sense, the second Water Decade Conference in Dushanbe will focus on how Governments and other stakeholders can accelerate their actions and strengthen partnerships to contribute to the achievement of internationally agreed goals related to water operations, including those included in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Deputy Minister of Environment Gayane Gabrielyan delivered a speech at the forum.
The Deputy Minister thanked for the organization of the forum and the opportunity to share Armenia's experience in the field of water supply and sanitation, as well as the creation and processing of data.
In her speech, Gayane Gabrielyan touched upon the activities of Veolia Jur CJSC, which is entrusted with the function of producing and distributing drinking water in our country, managing wastewater treatment facilities, as well as developing and improving the drinking water network of Armenia.
"In this process, the government plays its role through two key mechanisms - regulation and issuance of permits. Every year, Veolia is obliged to apply to the Public Services Regulatory Commission to clarify the basic tariff, and the government has the opportunity to take the necessary interventions. As for the permit mechanisms, the Ministry of Environment is responsible for issuing permits for water use and drainage, which are part of the management and distribution of water resources, one of the key tools for controlling water pollution in the country.
Although the improved implementation of the water use permit system in Armenia is still limited by certain shortcomings, we are currently actively working to improve the licensing procedures, including for large water users and drainage, in order to simultaneously strengthen the permit process.", - the deputy minister noted.
Gayane Gabrielyan also touched upon the process of creating and processing data․
"It is very important to create and process data, as well as to be sure that beneficiaries use the same set of data when making decisions on water-related issues.
In Armenia, in parallel with the legal and institutional reforms implemented in the water sector over the past 2 decades, the State Water Cadastre of Armenia was developed, which It is one of the most important auxiliary tools for the implementation of the integrated water resources management process in Armenia."
The Deputy Minister touched upon another of the main data-producing structures – “Hydrometeorology and Monitoring Center”, which, among other information, also provides monitoring data on the quantity and quality of surface and groundwater, and in recent years has been working towards strengthening the potential.