Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the ceremonial session dedicated to the establishment day of the State Protection Service of the National Security Service.

Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan, Director of the National Security Service Armen Abazyan, Head of the State Protection Service Sargis Hovhannisyan and other officials were also present at the event.

The Prime Minister congratulated the representatives of the State Protection Service on the occasion of the holiday and noted that the State Protection Service performs special functions that are extremely important for the normal functioning of the state.

"I must emphasize that we have survived and are still surviving a rather difficult period, and during this period the State Protection Service properly fulfilled its task and performed its function. This deserves appreciation. However, like any public administration body, starting from ministries, departments, we should never be satisfied with the quality of our work and should try to improve it every day, especially since work is a phenomenon that always has room for improvement”, the Prime Minister said.

According to Nikol Pashinyan, the State Protection Service is entering a new stage of institutional development. The Prime Minister reminded that according to the Government's Action Plan and the adopted political decision, the State Protection Service will function as a body under the Prime Minister in the near future, following the legislative changes. In this regard, Nikol Pashinyan emphasized the development of the institutional capacities of the State Protection Service.

“I am talking about increasing the quality of the personnel’s work and technical equipment. In this direction, of course, we must be consistent and solve the the tasks set before us.

Once again I want to thank all of you for the work done, the service and wish all of us success in solving the tasks set before us, because indeed our Motherland is going through very difficult times, and the overcoming of these difficult times must be carried out at a proper level, so that as a result of all this we have a safe, developing, developed country, where every citizen of the Republic of Armenia will feel confident and will look to the future with more confident eyes and feelings”, the Prime Minister said.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan awarded a group of employees of the State Protection Service of the National Security Service of Armenia with the Medal for Combat Service, the Prime Minister's Commemorative Medal and the Prime Minister's Letter of Appreciation for their dedication and bravery while performing their duties.

NSS director Armen Abazyan also presented awards to the head of the State Protection Service Sargis Hovhannisyan and a group of representatives of the Service.