VIDEO: Nikol Pashinyan's Speech at the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan delivered a speech at the Future Summit held within the framework of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly. His address has been published on the official website of the Prime Minister of Armenia and on the YouTube channel. We present Pashinyan's speech for your attention.

Nikol Pashinyan notably mentioned in his speech: “Mr. President of the General Assembly, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is particularly special for me to speak at the 'Future Summit' because I received my current mandate as Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia under the slogan 'There is a Future.' All the problems that we have today are directly or indirectly connected to decisions made or not made at some point in the past, and the same can be said about today’s successes and achievements.

We cannot change anything in the past; we also cannot change much in the present because today is already somewhat the past. But projecting the future is the most important task of today. The agenda of tasks is already known: peace, security, prosperity, freedom, justice, human rights, artificial intelligence, climate. But the concept that we must base our vision of the future on is crucial.

And so, how do we build the future? What I’m about to say may sound strange, but the most important thing we can do for the future is to shape positive discourse and focus on the possibilities of creating the foundations for them, regardless of whether they currently exist or not.

One of the reasons for today’s global crisis is that international platforms have long become arenas for mutual accusations, threats, deadlocks, and declarations of crises. I find it hard to remember positive discourse on international platforms in my name or in the names of other leaders. There are objective reasons for this: the material for positive discourse is limited. Perhaps it is because, at some point in the past, positive discourse was scarce or absent.

We usually come to the UN to declare how bad things will be, because there are many facts to support that, and it doesn’t take much effort to see them. Efforts must be made to glimpse and think about the prerequisites for a good future, because what happens in reality first occurs in our minds.

My party adopted the slogan 'There is a Future' under conditions when it seemed there was no hope for optimism in our country and region. This is how it is on a global level now. And I want to express this belief at the Future Summit: There is a future, and I have my contribution to that.

Unlike the previous three times, I will focus more on opportunities in my speech at this year’s General Assembly than on blaming neighboring countries. This will allow for a positive discussion and possibilities. Yes, for now, let’s just talk, because 'In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.'

Therefore, we must start with good words. We should put forward the theorem 'There is a Future' and work towards its proof. Let’s do that. Thank you for your attention.”