The Minister met with the UK Trade and Investment Envoy to Armenia and Georgia

RA Minister of Energy infrastructures and Natural Resources Ashot Manukyan meets with UK Trade and Investment Envoy to Armenia and Georgia Mark Pritchard. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom to the Republic of Armenia Judith Farnworth also took part in the meeting.

Welcoming the guests, Minister Manukyan expressed satisfaction with the Armenian-British cooperation in the energy sector, expressing conviction that this cooperation will expand and develop.

The Minister touched upon the efficiency of the programs aimed at the development of production capacities in the field of renewable energy, particularly for the construction of solar storage accumulator battery. In that context, he also briefed the interlocutors on the construction of “Masrik-1” solar photovoltaic station and “Shnogh” HPP. Ambassador Judith Farnworth noted that the UK Government is ready to deepen economic cooperation with Armenia expressing readiness to attract investments. For his part, Marc Pritchard expressed gratitude to the Minister for presenting sectoral investment projects and reaffirming his readiness to deepen cooperation.

During the meeting the sides attached importance to the establishment of a joint educational center for the retraining of energy specialists. The sides also touched upon the legislative reforms in the mining industry and prospects for their development.

Speaking about Armenia's accession to Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, it was mentioned that cooperation with the British Embassy in Armenia would promote﹐ passing through the international ratification process in 2019 Armenia can be recognized as a country that meets the standards of the initiative.

Attaching importance to the legislative amendments and policy priorities, Ashot Manukyan noted. "In the next 1-2 years we have to reach the mining industry transparency."

At the end of the meeting, the sides willingness of the two countries to make the cooperation more effective in the energy sector.