Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended an event at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs dedicated to the Day of the Diplomatic Service Employee.

The Prime Minister thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs employees for their service and congratulated them on the Day of the Diplomat, the state's most vital institution. Nikol Pashinyan noted that sometimes we lose sight of the apparent reality that diplomacy is the most essential tool for ensuring the country's external security. A state may be prosperous because it can provide its external security through diplomacy and create a favorable environment in the outside world.

"The mission of the diplomatic service is to create a more favorable position and situation for the interests of Armenia and the Republic of Armenia in the external world so that what the Republic of Armenia has to say is more understandable and acceptable in the external world. But I must emphasize once again that to do this, it is essential to thoroughly understand the external environment in which we operate because the content of what we have to say and the success of what we have to say depend on this," the head of state said.

According to the Prime Minister, what and how we present ourselves as an independent state should depend on the perceptions and recognition of the external environment because different levels of that recognition can also change our ideas about what we have to say and our positioning.

"A straightforward thing: We must be sure that what we consider right and fair is considered right and fair in the external environment because if we do not have this recognition, we will very often meet surprised looks, and we will have surprised looks in mutual feelings of not understanding simple realities and simple truths," noted Nikol Pashinyan, once again referring to the thesis he recently voiced, according to which the modern world continues to remain a largely unfamiliar place and environment for us. According to the Prime Minister, if this does not seem so obvious at first glance regarding the global world, this thesis will be more understandable and clear when we try to test it from the perspective of individual countries, individual regions, individual relations, trying to look from this perspective and understand how well we know the world, individual countries of that world, individual relations of those countries, etc.

According to the head of state, in this regard, as much as the world continues to remain an unfamiliar place for us, we continue to remain an unfamiliar place, an unfamiliar state, an unfamiliar environment for the world.

"And we must admit this to each other; otherwise, we cannot make progress and must also seek and find specific solutions. In this regard, of course, the strengthening and continuously developing the capabilities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the diplomatic service is significant. Of course, on a global scale, we may not have done much, but I am happy to note that in recent years, we have solved the problem of infrastructure development. It may seem simple, but for example, we recently visited the new building of the Armenian Embassy in Great Britain, a physical infrastructure, a territory belonging to the Republic of Armenia. Still, these nuances are also critical in diplomacy. When I say they do not recognize us, we do not recognize them, including with such attributes that countries somehow recognize each other and express their attitude.

It is also very important to create unquestionable comfort in relations with the Republic of Armenia. I am happy to note that France has a new embassy building. Of course, we keep this issue in the spotlight so that the physical infrastructure of our foreign relations and diplomatic service is at the most appropriate level and continuously developed," the Prime Minister noted, adding that the government is also trying to create a system of material guarantees for diplomats.

According to Nikol Pashinyan, it is noticeable even to the naked eye that the previous period was a very active diplomatic year. "We are establishing new relations that we did not have before; we are developing and refining our previous ties, and this should be viewed in the context of a balanced and rebalancing foreign policy. The key reason for this rebalancing is maintaining a balanced state of the Republic of Armenia. In other words, our task is to maintain a balanced state of service to the interests of the Republic of Armenia through the balance of foreign relations.

In terms of cognition, I must return to the thesis that we proposed, and we must also be very precise in interpreting the expression "serving the state interests of the Republic of Armenia." The study and understanding of the modern world show that by saying state interests, we must first understand the economic development of the country because when we consider the nuances of foreign policy, international relations "When you delve deeper into the procedures, practices, and mechanisms, you understand that the economy and economic development are at the core of everything because there cannot be such a situation when economic relations are not in a normal state, are not in a state of development, and the country and diplomacy are in a state of development," the head of state emphasized.

According to the Prime Minister, linguistic thinking is also significant in our vocabulary. For example, one of the most used words in international diplomacy is deal, which means transaction in translation.

"We do not always and not everywhere view foreign relations with the logic of a transaction; on the contrary, the word transaction has a negative connotation or subtext in our minds, while the primary goal of international relations is to conclude transactions in the literal and figurative sense of the word. "In essence, the result of international relations is numerous, as many treaties as possible, but on the other hand, there are also non-contractual transactions, verbal agreements, gentlemen's agreements, interstate agreements, and in this regard, to assess the effectiveness of our foreign policy and foreign affairs, we should try to have numerical expressions here as well, for example, how many deals we have concluded in the previous period, how many agreements we have concluded, how many documents we have signed and what content they have brought to various spheres of the policy of the Republic of Armenia," Nikol Pashinyan noted.

According to the Prime Minister, this is a very important approach, we should be able to express the results of our activities everywhere in numbers. Moreover, according to the head of state, if it is possible to express this in financial figures, it would be much better, understanding that this is not always and not everywhere possible. Still, on the other hand, experience also shows that activities that cannot be expressed in numbers continue to remain theoretical, not bringing precise practical results.

Regarding the peace process, Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that the peace agenda is one of the priorities of the Armenian government. "But on the other hand, we must also understand, and we knew from the beginning, that serving the peace agenda is not easy. I think that our attitude should be the following: If we have adopted it, it means that it corresponds to the state interests of Armenia, and therefore, we must solve our problem and do it precisely as a result of the formulas I mentioned, through a better and deeper understanding of the world, the region, relations, challenges, opportunities, and threats. I want to believe that we are going this way; I see that we are going this way. This path must be continuous because flexibility is essential in diplomacy. Still, it must also be in the right balance with consistency," the Prime Minister said.

According to the Head of State, this flexibility must also become more effective in better understanding the world, our environment, the region, and relations and in assessing the international situation more promptly and comprehensively.

"Assessment of the situation is critical because nothing exists apart from a given moment, a given situation. Everything that is being discussed today is, first of all, connected with today's context. Of course, anything, including foreign relations, has a historical and future context. Here, too, it is necessary to form the right balances, and the right balance does not mean everything is equal because it depends on where the fulcrum is. After all, today is that fulcrum. After all, in one case, the right balance may be maintained at that fulcrum under the conditions of dominance of one of these wings. I hope this idea did not sound too complicated because any balance depends on where the fulcrum is, and the fulcrum is today, today's demands, today's conditions, today's threats and necessities," the Prime Minister noted.

Concluding his speech, Nikol Pashinyan once again congratulated on the occasion of the professional day and emphasized that the diplomatic service in our country has been continuously developing since its establishment and is still developing today. According to the Prime Minister, for this development, it is important to return to reflection.

"We must be able to ask ourselves questions, naturally, the more pleasant these questions are, the more useless they are; the more unpleasant these questions are, the more useful they are because asking pleasant questions does not require great courage or great effort, but I think that we must be able to ask ourselves unpleasant questions, and we do it, and we are right to do so," said the head of state and thanked the diplomats for their work and unwavering dedication.

Next, the inauguration ceremony of diplomats appointed to the diplomatic service took place, during which Diplomats received diplomatic certificates from the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia. Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan awarded a group of diplomats the 2nd degree Medal of Honor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia.