During a question-and-answer session with government officials in parliament today, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan touched upon the question about the government becoming a co-owner of the Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine.

“The Government of Armenia, moreover, the people of Armenia are the co-owner of the Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine for the first time since the 2000s, and I hope the share of the people and government of Armenia grows. When it was announced that the government is becoming a co-owner of the Combine, there were opinions that this is a dark and suspicious deal. If an offshore company was the owner of 15% of the Combine, and the owner of the offshore company was another offshore company, and the owner of the latter was, say, a member of the family of the Prime Minister of another minister, it would be a dark deal,” Pashinyan said.

Touching upon GeoProMining Armenia’s investment program, Pashinyan said one of the owners of the company made Armenia an offer, the government considered it and saw that it meets the state and economic interests of Armenia because it contained two key components, including the construction of a copper molding factory and the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Armenia. “GeoProMining Armenia has assumed the obligations for investments with respect to the copper molding company and has already launched negotiations over the construction of a new nuclear power plant in the country. The nuclear power plant can’t be a full-fledged, private institution, and the government needs to show active participation. Our interests met,” he said.