Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, together with the President of the Republic Vahagn Khachaturyan, Minister of Emergency Situations Armen Pambukhchyan and Chairman of the Investigative Committee Argishti Kyaramyan, participated in the festive event dedicated to the Emergency Worker Day.

The Prime Minister congratulated the employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) on the occasion of the holiday, wished them high professional skills and as little work as possible. Nikol Pashinyan noted that MES employees play a key role in the management of emergency situations in Armenia.

Nikol Pashinyan delivered a speech, in which he particularly said,

“Honorable President of the Republic of Armenia,

State officials,

Ministry of Emergency Situations,

Dear workers of the Rescue Service,

I congratulate all of us on the Day of the Employee of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Rescue Service had and still have an important and key role in the management of emergency situations in Armenia. And I want to thank everyone for the important work they have done during this time. And I express my words of appreciation to all the workers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, to all the workers of the Rescue Service, because the work you do is invaluable.

I think that we should consistently develop all institutions in our country. I have to record that it is possible that we are meeting for the last time in this format and within this structure, because in the near future the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be formed in Armenia, which will also include some structures of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, in particular, the Rescue Service. Why are we undertaking such changes? I want to talk about the two most important motivations today, which can be placed under one general heading. In general, in our country, in the public system, everywhere, I have said several times, standards corresponding to all modern conditions and requirements are necessary. We believe that working in the Republic of Armenia, especially in law enforcment or power-oriented structures, means to meet certain standards and work according to certain standards.

There should be standards for police, military, rescue workers. First of all, I want to mention the standard of social guarantees and security, because the employees of the services performing the most important function for the state must have a guaranteed social security system. It is our goal that after the formation of the Ministry, there should be a significant, tangible increase in the salaries of both police and rescue service workers, and a very concrete strengthening of the social security system should take place.

But we, in general, have decided that we should be guided in the state administration system by the same logic as we are guided today, for example, in the field of public education. We define a new standard of social guarantees, salary, on the other hand, we expect that every employee should meet the standard of his professional, service skills, knowledge, abilities, which correspond to that high salary. And, moreover, our goal is that this process happens constantly and continuously, because when we, let's say, raise the salary once, then inflation occurs and that salary after five, six, seven years, sometimes even faster, fails to meet our initial criteria.

Therefore, we must keep this mechanism in operation regularly, having two goals: a strong system of social guarantees, but also we must be convinced and sure that everyone who serves or works in our schools, our police, our rescue service, our armed forces meets the expectation that the state has for him, that the people have for him, that the public interest has for him. And I want all of us to commit to this work. Of course, after 2018, there was a certain increase in the salaries of the Rescue Service, but we do not consider it tangible and significant. And we are not satisfied with the situation we have in this regard. We must move forward together. We must be confident that the person who works in the rescue service, in all state services, in the ministries, who holds that position, is able to solve the problem set in front of him at least at some level.

Dear attendees,

Once again, I congratulate and wish all of us energy so that we pass this important path consistently, competently, and as a result we will have a completely new situation both in terms of the social condition of rescue service workers, the system of social guarantees of their families, and the services and management skills they provide. In general, of course, this is the case where one should wish the highest level of professionalism to all rescuers, but at the same time, to have as little work as possible.

Thank you for your service and congratulations once again on Emergency Worker Day."

A number of MES employees were awarded with Medal of the Prime Minister on the occasion of Emergency Worker Day.

Afterwards, the Head of the Government and the President of the Republic watched the ceremonial march of the structural divisions of the Ministry of Emergency Situation of Armenia and the exercises performed by the special rescue squad of the MES. The capabilities, technical equipment and application goals of the displayed special technical means and equipment were presented at the parade ground.

The Prime Minister and the President also watched the ceremony of registering two MES employees in the Guinness World Records.