Dear people, dear citizens of the Republic of Armenia,

Today we celebrate the International Day of Labor and Workers' Solidarity.

This is a really important day because everything we see in our environment, everything we interact with, is necessarily the result or consequence of someone's work done or not done. Work done and not done, successful and not so successful, is what has made each of us who we are.

Work, the perception of work, working conditions are what have made the modern world what it is. Over the past century, the perception of work has changed significantly and is changing at a rapid pace.

If in the past work was considered a factor limiting human freedom, today's perception is that work should bring freedom, well-being and happiness to a person. In today's world, doing work you love and enjoying the work you do is an important factor and component of happiness. In today's world, it is not possible to build prosperity without work. And the earnings obtained as a result of work should give a person the opportunity to live freely, including to travel widely.

These are, of course, ideals, but these ideals are already achievable in many cases, if the work is based on high qualification, that is, education, with the understanding that education is not only a matter of childhood and youth, but also a lifelong task.

However, there is a painfully significant gap between the ideal and the reality, because today thousands of people in the Republic of Armenia live in poverty. Some of them have jobs, others are unemployed.

But as before, I am convinced that poverty can be overcome only by work, combined with education and qualification improvement. Unfortunately, this formula cannot realistically be applied to the representatives of the older generation, who would need to use such a formula due to their social status.

But the Government's efforts are aimed at creating opportunities for training, qualification improvement and motivation for representatives of the middle-aged adults.

The most important long-term thing to do in the way of overcoming poverty is the reform of the education sector: pre-school education, general education, vocational education and training, higher and post-graduate education, with the aim that the education system should reveal the talent of a person, give him the opportunity to do the work he loves and be happy at work, live a free and prosperous life.

It can definitely be claimed today that the main reason why a person lives in poverty is the education he did not receive at the time, or the inadequate quality of the education he received, or being out of the logic of education lifelong.

It is my belief that every person is talented, and proper education can reveal his talent so that a person has the opportunity to build his well-being through work. The case of people who are unable to work or have limited work ability is a completely different situation, although what has been said can be related at least to some extent to our fellow citizens of the mentioned group. As far as labor rights are concerned, the most important solution to this problem lies not only in proper laws and regulations, but also in a caring and knowledgeable relationship between employers and workers.

Dear people, dear citizens of the Republic of Armenia,

I congratulate all of us on the occasion of the International Day of Labor and Solidarity of Workers, and again I want to give special thanks to our citizens and residents of our country who work, create results and pay taxes prescribed by law. Our state is based on their work and their work deserves a bow.

Glory to the martyrs and long live the Republic of Armenia.