Minister of Environment Romanos Petrosyan today participated  in the  official online launch ceremony of the EU- and Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)- funded “Environmental Protection of Lake Sevan” (EU4Sevan) project. The event brought together the  EU4Sevan donors, officers of  public administration, Gegharkunik regional and local self-government bodies, diplomatic corpus in Armenia, public and private sector partners and experts to celebrate the official launch of the project.
In attendance were the Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin, H.E. Mr. Michael Johannes Banzhaf, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Armenia, Mihaela Stojkoska, UNDP Resident Representative a.i., Deputy Minister of Environment Anna Mazmanyan, Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Vache Terteryan, Gegharkunik Region Governor Gnel Sanosyan.
The Minister of Environment Romanos Petrosyan made opening remarks.
The Minister expressed a vote of thanks for the efforts made for the settlement of the problems of Lake Sevan, afterwards  referring to the bottlenecks of Lake Sevan.
Lake Sevan is of great geopolitical importance for the Republic of Armenia, as the largest source of regional high-altitude (alpine) freshwater. As a natural-territorial complex, the lake is closely interconnected with different elements of nature, has a crucial climate-forming significance, both in Armenia and regionally-globally. It is a natural resource of strategic national importance, the preservation of which we all have to do.
Meanwhile, presently the issue of decrease in freshwater resources due to climate change and reduction of precipitations has a special place among the global environmental issues.

Thanking his colleagues for their continued support of the sectorial reforms, the Minister reaffirmed the willingness of the Ministry of Environment for continued cooperation to ensure the full-fledged and effecient implementation of the activities envisaged by the project.
EU4SEVAN project aims:
 to enhance water monitoring and management capacities of Lake Sevan catchment basin,
to ensure improved wastewater treatment through nature-based solutions and to support the local stakeholders in ecosystem-friendly and water-protecting land-use and cultivation,
to raise awareness about the significance of the protection of Lake Sevan among the basin communities, the private sector, and other stakeholders, to  improve Lake Sevan ecosystem governance in Armenia.
The funding of the project is equivalent to 5.7 million euros in AMD, and the implementation period is 48 months (September 2020 - August 2024).