President Vahagn Khachaturyan had a meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan

Today, President Vahagn Khachaturyan had a meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

In his speech, President Vahagn Khachaturyan noted: “Mr. Prime Minister, thank you. We have solved some issues since our previous meeting. During these tough times, we should unfortunately be ready for surprises. In this respect, it is very important that the government keeps carrying out its plans. I want to say that following the work of the government, I find this to be very important. This means that the government continues the implementation of its plans for 2021-2026. I want to highlight a very important fact. You keep speaking of institutional changes and state institutions. Perhaps the biggest omission of our state during these 30 years was that we didn’t manage to or didn’t want to do that out of different motives, and on the contrary, in some cases it would be better not to carry out some reforms aimed at the establishment of state institutions. The work that has been done since 2018, that is aimed at the formation of new state institutions, moves forward with difficulty in many cases, because it is difficult to change those bad traditions that have been rooted in the past.

During our previous meeting we were talking of the constitutionality and the judicial system, and I think that you picture and assess the situation better and you and the government are the most interested parties in it. And I am sure that we will succeed there. Another observation. I want to personally thank you and the government for your approach to the earthquake. I mean to express our condolences and willingness to help our neighbouring country Turkey. Also for the attitude to our friendly Syria. In fact, it was appreciated in both countries, especially in Syria.

I believe that we couldn’t have a different attitude, as the wounds of the Spitak earthquake are still open in our memories, and besides, a tragedy has occurred to our neighbouring country, so we couldn’t behave otherwise. I want to thank you especially for these decisions.”

In his turn, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted: “Esteemed, Mr. President, I am pleased to see you, and thank you for the reception. Surely, we have discussed various problems many times, and we still have the same approach that our response to the challenges we face in general should be both symmetrical and asymmetrical. And by saying asymmetrical, I mean that unfortunately, there are so many problems in general, that we can be forced into the regime of solving the problems of this moment, this minute, today, which is also necessary. But on the other hand, it is very important to foster the agenda of long-term strategic planning and strategic reforms, starting from the education field, and going through all the fields with no exception. Our main goal is for the state and the state system to work efficiently, irrespective of individuals. In any case, the role and the significance of individuals is very big, but nonetheless, this system should constantly push, motivate, and to a certain extent force that individual, an official, to do constructive work. In this respect, I want to thank you for your support to the activities of the government, because the agenda of these reforms, in fact, cannot be implemented without the support of the President. We see that support, we feel it, and it is extremely important.

You spoke of the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Thank you for your attitude to those decisions. Yes, I think it was really a very big disaster and being indifferent to all that simply could not be perceived in any way. Especially within the context of my New Year speech, where I noted that if we want our state to last, we should work on changing the quality of our relations in many aspects, but first and foremost, in our region, for we are here and so are the countries surrounding us, our neighbouring countries, regardless of anything. First of all, we must work on changing the quality of these relationships, realizing, of course, that we are not so naive to think that it depends only upon us. Of course, this does not depend on us only, and we do not forget about any circumstance. The problem is in which direction we want to go or aim our efforts.

It is very important, indeed, that we often discuss all these issues. I think many people know that we meet not only in official formats, but also informally. There is understanding, harmony and support from the President, which is really very important, thank you for that."