At the very end of today’s discussion—as I have reported earlier, Lydian’s representative and representatives of all relevant ministries were present—I said that I am asking the question for the last time: Is there any data in the conclusion of Elard that suggest that the Amulsar Project should undergo a new EIA [environmental impact assessment]? The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, noted this in a Facebook post.

“Why did I ask this question? Because I had said at the livestream on August 19 that my conviction on this matter is 99.9 percent, not 100 percent, based on the results of the consultation that took place same day in the morning,” he added. “All those present, including the representative of the Ministry of Environment, as at the August 19 consultation, gave a negative response.

“I was already getting ready to close the consultation when the representative of the Ministry of the Environment said that, nonetheless, he believes that the question should be answered after a more in-depth study.

“After that, I instructed the staff to send the Elard [Lebanese consultancy firm] conclusion to the Ministry of the Environment—with the respective instruction.”