Pashinyan highlights government's stakes in ZCMC, Amulsar at party congress

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan again waved a metal hammer tied with three-color ribbons as he highlighted his government's efforts to reclaim assets he said were stolen from the Armenian people at the 7th congress of the ruling Civil Contract party on Saturday.

Holding up the hammer as a symbol of determination, Pashinyan claimed asset recovery is a systematic and ongoing process.

“What was stolen from the people is being returned step by step,” he said. “The plunder was not carried out all at once and stored in one place. It was taken gradually and hidden piece by piece, and now it is being recovered the same way. We have already reached the large chunks, the most recent example being the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA).”

He stressed that the investigation into the 1 March 2008 post-election events will also continue, vowing that no perpetrator will remain unpunished.

Pashinyan emphasized that his government’s policy is rooted in the rule of law, not authoritarianism. He described the hammer as a symbol of construction rather than destruction.

“Thanks to the creative power of this hammer, the Republic of Armenia now holds significant stakes in the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC), the Amulsar mine and Viva Armenia,” he said. “Since 2018, Armenia has remained on a path of economic growth, with the exception of the year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic.”

He also underlined that the government’s popular mandate is fully operational, applying equally to billionaires and, when necessary, to archbishops.

“In every case, it serves Armenia’s statehood, independence and sovereignty,” Pashinyan concluded.