Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan visited Yerevan’s Meridian Expo Center today, where preparations for the COP 17 biological diversity summit is to be held this October.

While contractors told Pashinyan that work at the center is progressing according to plan, the site faces significant public scrutiny and environmental criticism due to botched construction and waste management practices.

To accommodate the event, workers began extensive leveling and asphalting of the areas adjacent to the building.

Hetq journalists have documented that massive heaps of soil, rocks, and construction waste resulting from this work were dumped directly down the slopes into the Hrazdan Gorge. The debris damaged local trees and filled parts of the Hrazdan River channel.

(See: Yerevan’s COP-17 Botched Preparations: Construction Waste Tumbling Into Hrazdan Gorge)

The dumping caused immediate outrage among local activists and civil society organizations. The Yerevan Municipality had previously promised to designate the Hrazdan Gorge as a specially protected nature area. Critics pointed out the blatant irony of destroying a local ecosystem to prepare a venue meant to host a global conference focused on protecting biological diversity.

In August 2026, a coalition of civil society organizations formally appealed to the Ministry of Environment, the Yerevan Mayor, and the Environmental Protection and Mining Inspection Body, demanding a halt and an investigation into the illegal dumping.

However, the Inspection Body ultimately closed the administrative proceedings regarding the construction site violations, sparking further dissatisfaction from environmentalists.