The 2020-2036 Least-Cost Energy Development Plan for Armenia, drafted within the scope of the USAID Market Liberalization and Electricity Trade Program, is not mandatory for the Government of Armenia and can only serve as a certain guide, but nothing more than that. This is what Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures of Armenia Hakob Vardanyan told journalists today.

He stated that the Government is developing a strategy for development until 2040 in which the calculations made in this Program are also taken into consideration. “However, the baseline data of the USAID’s experts might not be in line with the data that Armenia is guided by. For instance, Armenia is leading a policy according to which the country will remain as a country with nuclear power and will have a nuclear power station,” Vardanyan explained.

When asked how acceptable the price of natural gas ($299) presented in the report is, the deputy minister clarified that this is merely the assumption of the partners of the USAID and that the price of natural gas in Armenia has always been determined after talks between Russia and Armenia and it is impossible to model the talks.