Water and food security issues are a priority for us: President Armen Sarkissian (video)

President Armen Sarkissian met with the President of the National Water Cooperation NGO Arevik Hovsepyan, President of the EcoLur Information NGO Inga Zarafyan, and Director of the Environment Group, and former Minister of Nature Protection Erik Grigoryan.

They discussed issues related to water resources and water security at the meeting.

Noting that today our country faces many challenges due to the war, global economic crisis, the coronavirus epidemic, and many other reasons, President Sarkissian considered water and, connected with it, food security issues equally important. He stressed that taking into account global and regional developments and security challenges, we should also think about our country's water and food security. "Water and food security issues are a priority for us; we must pay great attention to these issues," he said.

He expressed readiness to listen to the concerns, viewpoints, and proposals of the specialists and experts dealing with this field, so that the presidential institution could support the publicity, discussions, and solutions of these issues as much as possible.

Representatives of environmental organizations considered the issue extremely urgent and presented their concerns. They attached particular importance to the issues of effective management of water resources, legislative and institutional solutions in this regard, climate change resource reassessment and scholarly studies, as well as change in the attitudes of using water resources. Considering the effective management of water resources a priority in terms of ensuring food security, there was particular concern over the absence of special ministries for these spheres.

It was emphasized that in the case of joint ministries coordinating several spheres, important issues dissolve in general problems and receive less attention.