Harutyunyan to Pashinyan: By the end of 2021, Artsakh plans to exceed  the budget-planned indicator on own revenues by more than 13 billion  drams

ArmInfo. The prospects for the economic development of Artsakh and forthcoming joint programs were discussed with the participation of members of the governments of the  Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh, headed by Prime  Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and President of the Republic of  Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan.

According to the press service of the Prime Minister during the  meeting, Pashinyan noted that during the period after the 44-day war,  the joint agenda has changed significantly. "During this period, we  have done quite a lot of work in this direction, but there is still a  lot of work to be done," he said.  The prime minister pointed out  that the aid programs should be transformed into development programs  in order to reformulate the restoration of normal life in Artsakh and  restore the normal development of Artsakh's economy. "Here, of  course, it is very important to find ways to launch banking  instruments in Artsakh, which should help economic development and  create an investment environment," Pashinyan said.  In turn, the  President of the Republic of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan noted that  they definitely managed to maintain a stable social situation in  Artsakh at the expense of the resources provided by the Armenian  government. "Of course, we still have housing problems, but social  payments made it possible to solve the problems that we see. In  social terms, the purposeful policy of the Government of the Republic  of Armenia solved these problems, in parallel we were able to  implement certain economic programs, but we must understand that the  economy needs an infusion of much more resources. In all directions -  agriculture, energy, traditional industries, due to which the Artsakh  economy had developed, suffered great losses, "Harutyunyan said.   According to the President of Artsakh, according to the draft state  budget for 2021, they planned their own revenues in the amount of  16-17 billion drams, but this year the figure will certainly be  exceeded at 30 billion drams. "The largest taxpayer and employer, the  Kashen mining complex of the Base Metals company, is already working  at 15-20%, and if we manage to implement the planned energy and water  projects, then from March-April next year it will work at 80-90% of  its capacity, and this will provide an additional 20-25 billion drams  of revenues to the state budget of Artsakh, "he said.  To this end,  as pointed out by Harutyunyan, water projects have already begun in  Artsakh, which will be completed in 3 months, and in terms of energy,  it will take much longer. At the same time, we have already begun the  construction of a 17 megawatt hydroelectric power station on the  Charektar-Getavan section. "At the first stage, we will attract  resources from various sources, it will be an open joint-stock  company, which will allow attracting the resources of investors. We  have such experience of working with Artsakh HPP, and we have set the  task to operate this capacity in the winter of 2022-2023. On the new  road, we are already planning a project for the construction of a  more powerful high-voltage hydroelectric power station, which gives  such an opportunity. Our second important project concerns the  construction of a hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 25  megawatts on the Sarsang-Mataghis section, and in this case we will  already be self-sufficient, "he said.

In terms of agriculture, certain programs have already been launched,  in particular, for the construction of new gardens.