Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan participated in Artashat city in the event dedicated to the start of the work of the Ararat regional division of the Police Patrol Service.

Minister of Internal Affairs Vahe Ghazaryan, Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan, representatives of foreign diplomatic services and other officials were also present at the event.

The Prime Minister congratulated the residents of Ararat region on the occasion of the debut of the Patrol Police and expressed hope that along with the work of the service, they will have a deeper sense of safety.

"I want to emphasize that the core goal of the Police reforms is to give the citizens of the Republic of Armenia a greater sense of protection. Moreover, the service of the Patrol Police until now leads us to the conclusion that this is not really a slogan, because with the establishment of the Patrol Police, we also want to change the quality of citizen-police relations.

And I want to emphasize the importance of good conduct. It is very important that the new patrol officers do not spoil the already formed image in any way and strengthen the feeling of supremacy of law and equality of all before the law among the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, because the state and statehood are built upon this. And we should never forget about this.

I want to record also the new understanding of the State-Motherland concepts in our daily work, because according to our understanding, the State is the Motherland, and the Motherland is the State. And if someone loves his Motherland, then his feeling of loving the Motherland should be expressed by strengthening the State, strengthening state institutions. With the establishment of the Patrol Police, we are introducing a very important institution that strengthens our State," Nikol Pashinyan emphasized, adding that the State is not only the official, the state is the citizen, the combination of the tools for protecting the legal system, the rights of people, security, property, and dignity.

The Prime Minister thanked the international partners for supporting the Government in establishing the Patrol Police. "A total of 29 billion AMD was spent to establish the Patrol Police. Of those 29 billion AMD, 20 billion were spent from the state budget of the Republic of Armenia, 6 billion were provided by the United States of America, and 3 billion by the European Union. I would like to thank our partners and all taxpayers of the Republic of Armenia for making this process a reality.

I want to give special thanks and congratulations to the women serving in the Patrol Police and welcome their presence and participation. Of course, we all understand what kind of obstacles they have overcome and still overcome. I assume that they had a difficult conversation with their family members on this topic, they have overcome and still overcome the hardships of the environment, but I want you to know that we encourage and welcome you. Thank you for taking that responsibility," said the Prime Minister, informing that in the near future a new reception will be organized in the Patrol Police to recruit 300 new officers. About 80 percent of those 300 employees will be women. Nikol Pashinyan expressed hope that the women serving in the Patrol Police will encourage others with their dedicated work, because, according to him, it is important to increase the involvement of women in the Police in general.

"Dear attendees, dear colleagues, I once again congratulate all of us and first of all our officers of the Patrol Police, I wish success, the responsibility to be zealous, consistent and principled in work. I am sure that it will be so, because after all, the people who have received the appropriate training have entered the service here. The level of their training was checked, and according to the results of the examinations, they entered the service of the Patrol Police.

I congratulate all of you and wish you success for the sake of the Republic of Armenia."