Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan had a meeting with the President of the Republic of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan.
In his speech, the President said: "Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for our regular meeting. We solved problems after the previous meeting, but in these difficult times, perhaps we should be prepared for surprises, unfortunately. In that sense, it is very important that the Government continues to implement its planned programs.
I want to say that following the work of the Government, I consider it very important. In other words, the Government ensures the continuity of its 2021-2026 Action Plan. I want to draw attention to one important fact. You keep talking about institutional changes and state institutions. Perhaps the biggest omission in our state during these 30 years was that we could not or did not want to do it due to various motives, on the contrary, even in individual cases, it was better refrain from those reforms, which were aimed at accomplishment of state institutions.
The works that are being carried out since 2018, which are aimed at the formation of new state institutions, in many cases go forward with difficulty, because it is difficult to change those bad traditions rooted in the past. At our previous meeting, we talked about the constitutionality, the judicial system, I think that you have a much better understanding and assessment of the situation and you and the government are most interested in that. I am sure we will succeed here.
One more observation. I want to thank you personally for your approach to the earthquake, as well as the government. I mean to express our condolences and willingness to help our neighboring country Turkey, also for the treatment towards our friendly Syria. In fact, it was appreciated in both countries, it deserved special appreciation in Syria. I think we could not do otherwise, because the wounds of the Spitak earthquake are still fresh in our memories, and besides, there was a tragedy in our neighboring country, we could not do otherwise. I want to specially thank you also for those decisions."
In his turn, Prime Minister Pashinyan noted. "Thank you, honorable Mr. President, I am glad to see you, and thank you for the reception. Of course, we have discussed various issues many times and our approach continues to be that our response to the challenges we face in general should be not only symmetrical but also asymmetrical. By saying asymmetrical, I mean the following, that in general, unfortunately, today there are so many problems that we can constantly be pushed into the mode of solving the problems of this moment, this minute, today, which is also necessary.
But on the other hand, it is very important to advance the agenda of long-term strategic planning and strategic reforms, starting with the education sector and continuing in all sectors without exception. Our main goal is that the state, the state system should continue to work efficiently, irrespective of individuals. In all cases, the importance and role of an individual is very great, but still, this system must constantly push, motivate, and to a certain extent force that individual, an official, to do constructive work.
In this regard, I would like to express special gratitude to you for supporting the activities of the government, because the agenda of these reforms, in fact, cannot be implemented without the support of the President of the Republic. We see that support, we feel it, and it is extremely important.
You mentioned the catastrophic earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Thank you for your attitude towards those decisions, because yes, it was really a very big disaster and to be indifferent to all that simply could not and cannot be understood in any way. Especially in the context which I also mentioned in my New Year's address, that if we want to ensure the permanence of our state, we must work to change the quality of our relations in many directions, but first of all in our region, because regardless of everything, we are here, and the countries around us, our neighboring countries are also here.
First of all, we should work on changing the quality of those relations, of course, understanding that we are not so naive to think that it depends only on us. Of course, it does not depend only on us and we do not forget any circumstance.
The issue is in what direction we want to make efforts. It is very important that we discuss all these issues often. 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 of the Republic, which is really very important, thank you for that."
