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

The Prime Minister congratulated Gevorg Papoyan and wished him success in his new capacity, emphasizing that the existing economic activity in the Republic of Armenia and the further development of its potential are of strategic importance to the Government. "I have publicly stated my point of view, and I continue to hold the 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, and counted in the form of economic development.

Further economic growth, GDP growth, and ensuring high growth are very important, 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 vital here. I think it's also a good opportunity for Mr. Papoyan, who was involved in the processes in the parliamentary format and from the parliamentary platform while heading the Committee on Finance, Credit, and Budgetary Issues, to be aware of that side of the issue, it's an excellent 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 change 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. Still, I do not want to make any comments now that you know the circumstances under which Mr. Kerobyan was dismissed. Still, we must also be careful not to violate any presumption of innocence and not have any influence on the exam results either. I am sure that the examination of the matter will be completely objective, and we will have answers to the questions. Unfortunately, we have 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 things imperfectly in our daily work, from me to the rest. The line that should be a guideline for assessing our integrity is whether we infringe on the state budget funds. This is an important criterion. We all understand that there are many objective problems, starting with paying salaries in the public administration system, to which we are not able to provide a systematic solution and are going for partial solutions. But that has nothing to do with the topic because the rule of law is our absolute priority. Again, we cannot hope that all of us are flawless in our actions, but we must also be diligent about the legality of spending funds belonging to the state and the people."

The Prime Minister 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 did not face a situation where I thought it was not right to enlarge the ministries. On the contrary, we should go in such a way as to ease several functions—cumbersome bureaucratic processes, so that the work of the ministries will also decrease. People's relations with the ministries will also decrease. Still, decrease does not mean 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 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 more muscular, stronger, and more vibrant, and in that sense, of course, I think that the role of the Ministry of Economy is critical because, yes, the solution to several problems lies in the development of the economy itself. 

In that sense, I want all of us 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 more robust and much more resistant state after us. In this sense, we already have specific benchmarks regarding our work: qualitative changes in the economy, that is, in our economy diversification, and so on. Our understanding of diversification is apparent. The result must be that just as we have to depend on all corners of the world, eventually, all corners will rely on us to our extent.

This is a fundamental, perhaps ambitious idea, but there is no alternative to having our place and doing in the family of countries of the world. In this regard, our Government has adopted a significant political commitment: it is the idea of leadership. We should also take the lead in economic policy. What does this mean? It means that we should not react to the existing phenomena and try to adapt to them or find solutions but be proactive and anticipate them ourselves, going 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. He called on his colleagues to always be proactive and offer new ideas.