In the Armenian economic development strategy, even before the coronavirus crisis, there was an approach according to which Armenia should not be a country supplying raw materials, said Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday during his live on Facebook.

“Imagine that we get ingots from ore mined in Armenia, or we get finished products from them. This means new jobs, new technologies, this means that raw materials have been circulating for a long time, and we have the highest possible level of added value,” he noted.

According to him, there are several projects in Armenia, including the development of metallurgy. “According to last year, we recorded a very important indicator when we had unprecedented economic growth over the past 10 years, and manufacturing became the leading sector of our country's economy.”

Regarding the creation of metallurgical enterprises in Armenia, Pashinyan noted that there will be environmental discussions in this regard.

“I see two important poles,” he said. “Of course, we have said that Armenia should meet the highest environmental standards, but the ecology should not become an absolute value. We must find the right balance between civilization and ecology.”