In Armenia’s political establishment, discussions about the need to re-establish a separate ministry responsible for energy have intensified once again. Following the 2019 administrative reform, which abolished the Ministry of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources and merged it with the Ministry of Territorial Development and Administration, the energy sector came under the jurisdiction of the newly formed Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure.
However, the absence of a dedicated ministry is increasingly perceived as a systemic issue: key matters lack proper institutional support, and no specialized deputy minister has been appointed for the energy sector for a long time. Amid growing needs for strategic planning, energy security, and modernization of the infrastructure sector, the question of establishing a separate ministry is becoming increasingly relevant.
Babken Tunyan, a deputy from the “Civil Contract” faction and deputy chairman of the parliamentary committee on economic issues, believes that given the ambitious goals the government has set in the energy sector, this area should be managed by a dedicated agency.
“Energy encompasses a wide range of specific yet strategically important issues. The sector should be overseen by a full-fledged minister, with each deputy responsible for a specific direction: one for nuclear energy, another for hydropower, a third for solar energy, a fourth for distribution networks, and so on. Currently, we have a situation where a single deputy minister bears all the responsibility, with very limited administrative resources. Now, even that deputy minister is gone, and the sector is effectively overseen by the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure. To effectively address the challenges at hand, it is necessary to either significantly strengthen the energy direction within the existing ministry or seriously consider the creation of a separate Ministry of Energy,” Tunyan emphasized.