Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan introduced newly appointed minister Gevorg Papoyan to the staff of the Ministry of Economy.

The Prime Minister congratulated and wished success to Gevorg Papoyan in his new capacity, emphasizing that the existing economic activity in the Republic of Armenia and the further development of the potential is of strategic importance for the Government. "I have publicly stated my point of view and I continue to hold that opinion that the state interest of the Republic of Armenia is the development of the Republic of Armenia, and when I say development, I mean economic development. It is clear that by development we mean all spheres: education, science and so on, but it is ultimately expressed, it can be touched, seen, counted in the form of economic development.

It is very important to ensure further economic growth, GDP growth, high growth, but on the other hand, it is a challenge. In recent years, we say that our economy has grown by 30 percent, we must understand that the more it grows, the more difficult it is to create new growth. And of course, the role of economics is very important here. I think it's also a good opportunity for Mr. Papoyan, who had been involved in the processes in the parliamentary format and from the parliamentary platform, while heading the Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs, being aware of that side of the issue, it's a good opportunity to have a concrete impact on the situation from this other side”, said the Prime Minister.

Nikol Pashinyan also referred to the dismissal of Vahan Kerobyan from the position of Minister of Economy. "I must say directly, I am very sorry that this staff changeover is taking place due to the circumstances known to all of us. I can say words of appreciation regarding Vahan Kerobyan's work as the Minister of Economy, but at this moment I do not want to make any comments in the sense that you know the circumstances under which Mr. Kerobyan was dismissed, but we must also be careful not to violate any presumption of innocence and not to influence the investigation results either. I am sure that the investigation of the case will be completely objective and we will have answers to the questions. Unfortunately, we have some unpleasant situations related to the Ministry of Economy, and not only, and we must, dear colleagues, be very careful," said the Prime Minister.

Nikol Pashinyan stressed that the Government's political position is as follows. “All of us do some things imperfectly in our daily work, starting from me. The line that should be a guideline for assessing our integrity is whether we encroach on the state budget funds or not. This is an important criterion. We all understand that there are many objective problems, starting with the system of paying salaries in the public administration system, to which we are still unable to provide a systematic solution and we are going for partial solutions. But that has nothing to do with the topic, because the rule of law is an absolute priority for us. I say again, we cannot hope that all of us are flawless in our actions, but we must also be particularly diligent about the legality of spending funds belonging to the state and the people."

The Prime Minister once again congratulated Gevorg Papoyan and wished him and the ministry success. "The Ministry of Economy is a ministry formed within the framework of our new vision, and during this time I never faced a situation where I would think to myself that it was not right to enlarge the ministries. On the contrary, we should go in such a way as to ease a number of functions, very heavy bureaucratic processes, so that the work of the ministries will also decrease, people's interactions with the ministries will also decrease, but decrease does not mean to zero, because it is obvious that there are places and cases where the state administration should ensure its direct participation," the Prime Minister said.

Gevorg Papoyan thanked the Prime Minister and the political team for entrusting him with a high and very responsible position. The newly appointed minister assured that he came to the ministry to implement all the plans, ideas and commitments received from the people. "And our people sent us here to make our state stronger, more vibrant, and in that sense, of course, I think that the role of the Ministry of Economy is key, because yes, the solution to a number of problems lies in the development of the economy.

And in that sense, I would like all of us who work in this ministry to treat our work as a service to our people and state, and as a mission, within the framework of which we must pass on a much stronger and much more resistant state after us. And in this regard, I think that we already have certain guidelines regarding our work, which are qualitative changes in the economy, it is the diversification of our economy, etc. Our understanding of diversification is very clear. The end result must be that just as we have to depend on all corners of the world, so eventually all corners of the world would depend on us to the same extent.

This is a very important, perhaps ambitious idea, but perhaps there is no alternative to having our own place in the family of countries of the world. In this regard, I think that our government has adopted a very important political commitment: it is the idea of leadership. I think that we should also take the lead in economic policy. What does this mean? It means that we should not react to the phenomena that already exist and try to adapt to them or find solutions, but be proactive and anticipate them ourselves, go ahead of them. In that case, perhaps the possible complications will not exist or will not be to the extent that could have been manifested in the case of inertia," said Gevorg Papoyan and called on his colleagues to always be proactive and offer new ideas.