Armenia`s State Committee for Water Economy Head and French  Ambassador discussed prospects of Armenian-French cooperation

ArmInfo. Head of the State Committee for Water Economy of Armenia Arsen Harutyunyan received the Ambassador of France to Armenia Jonathan Lacote.

As the press service of the Committee informs, the parties discussed  the potential of partnership between the public and private sectors,  the construction of the reservoir of Vedi and other issues.

Arsen Harutyunyan briefed the Ambassador on the Armenian-French  cooperation in the region and stressed the work done in cooperation  with the French Development Agency as an example of mutual effective  cooperation. Harutyunyan expressed hope that with the assistance of  the Ambassador Lacote, it will be possible to preserve this positive  experience in all the sectors of the Armenian-French cooperation.

Also, Harutyunyan described in detail about cooperation with the  French company "Veolia Jur" as a model of public-private partnership.

Touching upon another very important program of Armenian-French  cooperation, Harutyunyan noted that the construction of the reservoir  in Vedi is proceeding at a progressive pace. Construction is likely  to be completed six months before the planned date. It is planned  that the new reservoir of Vedi will be used in the irrigation system  in 2020.

Ambassador Lacote thanked for providing exhaustive information about  the Armenian-French cooperation in this field. He expressed the hope  that the meetings with the head of the State Committee for Water  Management would be of a permanent nature.

As a result of the construction of the Vedi reservoir, the demand for  irrigation water from Lake Sevan will decrease by approximately 18  million cubic meters, and from the main channel of Artashat - more  than 11 million cubic meters, which will certainly increase the water  supply of 2,800 hectares of irrigated land.  Thus, the impact of the  project will cover about 6,000 hectares of land.

The construction of the Vedi Reservoir and irrigation systems is  financed by the French Development Agency and financed by the  Government of Armenia. The total cost of construction is 90 million  euros.