Friday, March 28 2014

 

Dr.
Dariusz Prasek, Director for Project Appraisal with the EBRD's Environment and
Sustainability Department, kindly agreed to tell about EBRD’s policy in the
mining industry in an interview with ArmInfo.

 

 

Mr.
Prasek, Yerevan hosted an international conference entitled "Responsible
Mining in Armenia: Opportunities and Challenges” on 25-26 March. Responsible
mining and transparent activity of the mining companies became spotlights of
the conference. The public is concerned that the national legislation in the
field of environment either does not meet the international standards or is not
fulfilled. What do you think about it?     

 

 

Bringing
the national environmental standards in line with the international ones helps
improving the general environmental criteria and norms over time. This will
have a positive impact on the mining industry regulations in the country.

 

Do we
have much to do to meet international standards?

 

Armenia has
already carried out a big work to regulate the legislation in the field and to
apply international standards.

 

Do you think Armenia may come across an
environmental disaster in the future due to the current regulation and
exploitation insensitivity?   

 

I cannot
say whether the mining projects will lead to an environmental disaster in Armenia
or not. But I can unambiguously say that we make sure that the projects with
the EBRD’s participation are prepared in compliance with international
criteria. I would add that the current development of science allows developing
and applying mining technologies that do not violate the environmental
standards.    

 

Are the
EBRD’s current environmental requirements tougher than the national
requirements?

 

I cannot
assess the requirements, because Armenia is holding no more negotiations with
the European Union in application of European standards. Meanwhile, we are
committed to the EU guidelines.

 

Can we
say that the EBRD’s stake in any company’s capital is a landmark to attract
investments?  

 

I can say
that if the EBRD has a stake in a company’s capital, we expect that company’s
activities to meet international criteria. We also demand that the company
should be open and ready for publications about its activities. Very often our
participation means that the company must be open to the public.