‘SOS TEGHUT’ HOLDS A PROTEST ACTION IN FRONT OF VTB BANK (ARMENIA) AGAINST CREDITING TEGHUT PROJECT

ArmInfo
2009-05-05 19:13:00

On May 5, the NGOs unified in "SOS Teghut" held a protest action in
front of VTB Bank (Armenia) against crediting the Teghut project. To
recall, the bank is going to provide the Armenian Copper Programme
(ACP) company with $280 mln for implementation of the project on
developing the Teghut copper-molybdenum deposit. At the same time,
ecologists think that development of the deposit will not only affect
the region’s environment, but will also have a negative effect on
the health of residents of the nearby populated areas. As it was
mentioned for several times, the environmental risks in the ACP project
submitted for consideration of the government were lowered several
times. Moreover, development of the Teghut deposit runs counter to
Armenia’s legislation and international conventions.

Notwithstanding this, Head of Advertisement and Public Relations
Division of VTB Bank (Armenia) Alexander Avetisyan, who met the
participants in the protest action, pointed out that the bank is not
going and will not violate any legislative standard. The bank has
no policy aimed at violating the legislation, he said. If some big
project is contrary to some regulatory act it must be dismissed.

As regards the displeasure of SOS with the fact that the president of
VTB Andrey Kostin has not responded to their petition, Avetisyan said
that he could do nothing about it and urged his comrades to wait. "I am
sure that VTB is taking this problem very seriously," Avetisyan said.

Chairwoman of EcoLur NGO Inga Zarafyan said that the Teghut project
violated 11 national laws, 7 international conventions and 2 articles
of Armenia’s Constitution. "I think that sponsors must be responsible
for the projects they finance. Particularly, development banks clearly
say in their programs that they are ready to reduce some negative
effects. In contrast, commercial banks say that their only goal is
to earn money. By this action we urge commercial banks to show more
responsibility for their programs especially the ones that may prove
destructive for the country," Zarafyan said.