ArmInfo.On September 9, RA Minister of the Environment Romanos Petrosyan held the first working meeting-discussion with representatives of KfW Bank online.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Ministry and KfW Bank. According to the press service of the Ministry, during the meeting the parties touched upon the progress of joint programs in a bilateral format and issues of their expansion. There were discussed 14 grant programs of socio-economic and environmental sector with a total budget of 350 thousand euros within the framework of the Support Programme for Protected Areas - Armenia (SPPA-Armenia)worth 8.25 million euros. They also touched upon the Biodiversity and Sustainable Local Development in Armenia program, coast in 23.2 million euros, which aims to sustainably manage biodiversity-rich areas and reduce anthropogenic impact on these areas, strengthen the capacity of stakeholders at the local and national level, and create opportunities for sustainable financial assistance in these territories.
Within the framework of a grant provided to Armenia by the Caucasus Nature Fund in 2020, salary increments and other operating expenses of employees engaged in the protection of specially protected natural areas are financed. The parties discussed the components of regional cooperation.
The last item on the agenda was the loan agreement, within the framework of which the Ministry of the Environment initiated a series of legislative and institutional reforms related, inter alia, to sustainable management of forests, biodiversity and specially protected natural areas.
It is noted that the expansion and strengthening of international cooperation is one of the priority directions of the RA Ministry of Environment.
