Tuesday, October 22 2019 14:54

ArmInfo. In the first half of 2020, it is planned to complete work on the development of a strategy for the mining industry. Deputy Minister of Territorial  Administration announced this on October 22 from the rostrum of the  Parliament and Infrastructure Lilia Shushanyan, who in the first  reading introduced amendments to the Subsoil Code and the package of  related laws.

According to the deputy minister, the development of the strategy is  carried out with the assistance of the World Bank. After approval of  the document, the government will develop short-term, medium-term and  long-term programs for the development of the sphere.  Until all  these issues are resolved, the problems of the mining industry will  be resolved at the legislative level, and the package presented by  the Cabinet of Ministers is part of these programs. The package  provides, in particular, to streamline the administration in the  subsoil use system, including when extending the terms of permits  issued. Applications for extension of the terms of subsoil use are  submitted to the competent authority 6 months before the expiration  of their validity. The applicant, on the basis of the studies, must  provide the coordinates of the mine, as well as all the necessary  statistics. Another change concerns the application of a one-time  permit mechanism, which concerns the construction of roads,  reservoirs, tunnels and underground warehouses. The term for making  decisions on the operation of the field will be 60 working days.

In addition, the names of all ultimate beneficiaries (shareholders,  members of the Board of Directors and management structures) involved  in the development of the field, by January 30, 2020, are obligated  to post their data on a special website or on the portal of the state  register. According to the deputy minister, all these data will be  available not only to the government, but also to the public.  Publication will be subject to information about the owners, whether  it be one person or a group of related persons.

As expected, voting on the package will be held in the country's  parliament on October 23.  Recall that the publication of real owners  of companies is an obligation of Armenia to the international  coalition " The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative"  (EITI), which the republic has become a member of since March 2017. 

The main goal of the legislative initiative is to ensure transparency  in the field of natural resources management. The first step has  already been taken in this direction - from January 1 of this year.  The archive fund, which provides all the information on the bowels of  Armenia, has become available to all interested parties.  EITI is a  coalition of governments, companies, civil society, investors and  international organizations. It was created in 2002 at the initiative  of then Prime Minister of Great Britain Tony Blair at the conference  on sustainable development in Johannesburg. The goal of the  Initiative is to increase transparency and improve the quality of  governance in the extractive industries through periodic publication  of reports, compliance with standards and strengthening institutional  capacity. As part of the Initiative, extractive companies should  disclose the amount of their tax and non-tax payments to governments,  and governments should publish reports on their income.  The  transparency of information on the amount of income achieved by EITI  standards allows parliaments of countries, non-governmental  organizations, as well as citizens themselves to control the  activities of companies and the Government. Such civilian control not  only complicates abuses in this area, but will also contribute to  more efficient development of countries as a result of improved  economic conditions and more active attraction of foreign direct  investment. As international experience shows, mining companies only  benefit from greater transparency, thanks to the creation of equal  and predictable economic relations.  Today, EITI covers 52 countries  that have submitted 332 fiscal reports, which brought profit to the  budget of the participants of the initiative in the amount of $ 2.3  trillion.  It should be noted that more than 670 solid mineral  deposits with confirmed reserves, including 30 metal ones, are  currently registered in the state balance of mineral reserves of  Armenia. About 400 of these deposits are exploited, including 23  metal ones. There are 7 copper-molybdenum deposits, 4 copper, 14 gold  and gold-polymetallic deposits, 2 iron ore and 1 aluminum ore in  metallic minerals.