Prime Minister Introduces New Minister to the Staff of the Ministry of Economy

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has introduced the newly appointed Minister Vahan Kerobyan to the staff of the Ministry of Economy. This was announced by the information and public relations department of the Prime Minister's Office.

The Prime Minister thanked former Minister Tigran Khachatryan for his work, expressed satisfaction with their joint efforts, and added that his dismissal has no political motivation. Nikol Pashinyan expressed hope that Tigran Khachatryan's potential will still be involved in the further development of the economy.

The head of government wished Vahan Kerobyan success in his future activities and noted, “Mr. Kerobyan is coming to the public sector from the private sector. The last time we interacted, it was in the context where Mr. Kerobyan criticized the government for not paying adequate attention to business and the private sector. And now, he has the opportunity to listen attentively to the business, the private sector, and to raise the issues of that sector in the government, and not just raise them, but also immediately deal with their solutions.”

According to the Prime Minister, discussions regarding Vahan Kerobyan's candidacy were held with the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the heads of two standing committees of the National Assembly. Nikol Pashinyan expressed hope that this framework will make Mr. Kerobyan’s work in the ministerial capacity more effective.

“This is essentially a model that we should test and see how well it works when there is a real opportunity to come directly from the sector with knowledge of the problems and look at reality from a different perspective to try to make it better,” the head of government said.

Tigran Khachatryan thanked the Prime Minister and the ministry staff for their collaboration. “Mr. Prime Minister, there hasn’t been a single issue in our area of responsibility during these two years that we have identified and have a solution proposal for, and that we have presented to the government discussions under your leadership and it has gone unanswered. I hope that during this period, we have been able to resolve a significant number of problems. There have been very difficult times that were changeable, because the factors that emerged in the economy, especially during the last 9-10 months, have impacted various sectors with unexpected force,” said Tigran Khachatryan, adding that there have been numerous responses from the private sector that the government's decisions, especially in the form of anti-crisis measures, have had targeted, focused importance, creating a precondition for positive changes.

“I believe that this is how the private sector is waiting for the Ministry of Economy to continue to operate. I am very pleased that Mr. Kerobyan comes from the private sector, having a good understanding of the issues present there. Essentially, he has the same work style, valuing the same principles. I wish him great success and want to assure you that the ministry's staff is professional, knows its problems, and under your leadership, Mr. Kerobyan, will continue to solve issues just as they have been doing until now. I hope and believe that successes will not take long to arrive,” said Tigran Khachatryan.

Vahan Kerobyan thanked the Prime Minister for providing such an opportunity and Tigran Khachatryan for his work over the past two years. “Although I have criticized, nevertheless, your work is deserving of respect and admiration because the team that was formed and the problems that arose before the end of this year’s first quarter were solved excellently. Simply, in my opinion, the coronavirus and the wartime situation have created new realities, and the order of challenges has changed. That is, both in terms of speed and the scale of problems, we are now entirely in a different reality. I believe the team that I got the chance to meet today is capable of solving these problems, because I feel that fire and the drive to solve the not-so-easy problems facing our country.

“The vision of ‘Armenia-2050’, despite the horrors of war, will nevertheless remain in the focus of our attention. It will be the benchmark we must follow for an average economic growth of 10 percent and so forth. We have no other option but to succeed,” said the newly appointed minister.