I participated in the Kunming Dialogue, and the work done by our colleagues from China, as well as the co-chairs from Canada, made a great impression on me, and it opens up huge prospects for Armenia.

Armenian Environment Minister Hambardzum Matevosyan on Monday stated this during a press briefing held in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, on the sidelines of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.

“We [i.e. Armenia] are closely cooperating with Chinese colleagues. And during a bilateral meeting with my Chinese colleague, I stated that Armenia is very interested in the Kunming Biodiversity Fund [i.e. a mechanism created at the initiative of China] and has submitted applications for three projects.

I do not know which of them will be approved, but I hope that at least one will receive support. It will be useful also for Armenia. The projects prepared and submitted by us concern the monitoring and conservation of [Armenia’s] Lake Sevan’s biodiversity, which is extremely important for Armenia.

We have a relevant scientific department that deals with the conservation of the lake’s ecosystem; in particular, with the Sevan trout issues. I hope that one of these projects will be approved by the Kunming Biodiversity Fund, and this will be a significant support for Armenia,” Matevosyan noted.

He recalled that one of the goals of COP17 is to conduct a global review of the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The minister of environment of Armenia added that the Kunming Biodiversity Fund in this sense creates another opportunity on the path to the practical implementation of the set goals.