YEREVAN. – Armenia will attract new funds to upgrade the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant. The Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, Suren Papikyan, stated this at Thursday’s session of the parliament.

According to him, now the authorities intend to change the format of respective funding. "Armenia considers it right to attract new financial resources," Papikyan explained. "We are negotiating with our partners not to extend the agreement which had expired."

He reminded that the renovation works at the nuclear plant are being carried out with a loan of up to $270 million and a $30mn grant provided by Russia. "Earlier, it was planned to start the payments as of 2020, then that period was postponed for a year," the minister said. "But now there is a risk that the work will be delayed due to the spread of coronavirus. That’s why when the time comes to repay the loans, it is possible that the work will not be completed in full."

Suren Papikyan noted that Armenia has loans that it has received but has not used yet. According to the minister, these loans can be used to upgrade the nuclear plant.