The Government of the Republic of Armenia

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Republicans,

Dear Guests,

First of all, I wish to thank you for having put forward of my candidature for the presidential elections of the Republic.

Following the parliamentary elections of last May, we have come to be facing a new political situation with these elections having radically changed the status of our party. Now we have a majority in Parliament and this makes the Republican Party of Armenia responsible for the future of our people and our State.

This means that the electoral program of our party is approved by our people and, in order to achieve the objectives set forward, it is necessary to ensure political, as well as economic stability and predictability in the country.

The presidential elections provide such exceptional opportunity for the next five years as may imply:

- Assuming of full responsibility;

- Harmonious cooperation between legislative and executive authorities,

- Avoidance of senseless political conflicts,

- Historical possibility for realization of important and ambitious programs.

Dear friends,

Today's world is full of many serious challenges:

- New geopolitical centers of power are being formed,

- Military parity is impaired, terrorist movements are being proliferated,

- Economic competition is getting more extensive,

- The gap between rich and poor countries goes deepening.

The political, military and economic disproportions available in global politics, the ever escalating fight for natural resources may have affect adversely our country if we fail to get prepared for the worst.

The rise in fuel and food prices on global markets has already had a negative impact on each Armenian household.

We live in a region full of numerous contradictions and dangers. From time to time, in almost any of our neighboring countries there happen events that are susceptible to disturb us:

- Unsettled inter-ethnic and political problems in Georgia,

- Tension in the Iranian-American relations,

- Aggressive stance of Turkey,

- The delay in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

All this demands additional efforts and resources from us.

Concerning the domestic challenges, I would like to say the following. During the past 15 years, which were difficult and inconsistent, we were able to build an independent statehood based on the main democratic principles. Today's task is to strengthen the statehood, form an atmosphere of fairness, peace and legality.

Having left behind many hardships and ordeals, we could make sure once again that the only pledge for success is our people.

The aforesaid draws contours of bases of our further development: A powerful State that would unite Armenians all over the world and a strong Diaspora with Armenia as the Motherland. The potential of the Armenians scattered worldwide is our chief asset for defying the mentioned threats.

The future president of the Republic should focus the efforts towards the formation of modern centers of economic, scientific, cultural and political cooperation which would expose and use the above-stated potential.

Ensuring a competitive edge on a global and regional scale is another priority for the years ahead.

Dear friends,

Global integration and the European one, in particular, which has 3 components as stated below, seem to be essential to the competition-based liberal economy:

1. Introduction of the best available international experience and standards for our citizens and managing entities which, on the one hand, will raise efficiency in their activities and, on the other hand, will stimulate the cooperation with foreign partners, including the creation of such mechanisms as may protect their interests abroad.

2. Expansion and deepening of bilateral interstate relationships to increase trade turnover, improve services and strengthen the cultural cooperation.

In this respect, the Armenian-Russian relations set a very good example.

3. Membership of international organizations and deepening of cooperation with the purpose of protecting the political, economic and other interests of our country in an integration-driven environment. I am confident that the main principle of our foreign policy proceeding from the threats facing our country is the harmonious use of bilateral and multilateral ties.

The failures and achievements of the past allow us to assert that Armenia will not succumb to the threats coming from Turkey and Azerbaijan and will continue abiding by the principle of building the interstate relationship without any preconditions, considering that this is the only way not only for mutually advantageous cooperation, but also for the decision of the existing problems.

In view of the above, the issue of Artsakh will remain in the center of attention of the President. As you may remember, our position in the question of the settlement of the Karabakh conflict is based on the following principles:

- The right of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determination must be recognized internationally and conditions must be provided for realization thereof,

- Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh should have a common border,

- The safety of borders and the security of people of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic should be guaranteed.

Any reasonably thinking man understands that the decision of even small tasks, especially, the settlement of conflicts is supposed to take time. This implies phased action.

An eventual accord between all sides of the Karabakh conflict should contain in a single package the decision of all the questions and those mechanisms which should provide realization of these decisions.

The president of the Republic should create such an atmosphere of cooperation as would allow all active forces to participate in the development of our economy.

We should avoid making the mistakes and failures of the first years of independence without personalizing them. Hereinafter, we should think of building a prosperous and protected society instead of reflecting upon overcoming poverty. Residents of even the farthermost, frontier villages should live a dignified life.

Another task for the President of the Republic will be the establishment of such an environment as would help the government achieve the goals stated in both the electoral program of the Republican party of Armenia and the program of government activity as approved by the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia.

The second-stage reforms as specified in the Government Program are as follows:

- Strengthening of national security and sustained economic development,

- Education and a science,

- Formation of an effective control system,

- Harmonious development of our regions,

- Social security for the citizens of Armenia.

During the discussions of the State budget in the National Assembly, I will state these tasks in more detail by making clear the purpose behind the activities of the Government for the next five years.

And now would like to touch a number of problems which should be the focus of attention of the President of Republic.

It is not a secret that intellectual capacity, the aptitude of generating and disseminating knowledge is the pledge of success in modern world. Our educational system must correspond to the best of international criteria. The solution of this task will be the key to successful development for the Government.

Second, in order to combat corruption, shadow economy, unequal competitive conditions we will have to overcome the existing psychological problems and, if necessary, take a hard stance towards the above-mentioned phenomena.

Tax evasion, bribery should be considered as shameful phenomena and condemned by the society. We should ignore kinship and exclude from the list of our friends and party comrades those people evading from the payment of taxes and we should be tolerant with regard to such vicious phenomena. T'e understanding that this is the most serious illness threatening our State should dominate in us.

We shall demand from law enforcement bodies to toughen the fight against corruption by exposing the detected crimes to public discussion. In this respect, the activity of the Office of Public Prosecutor, the Police, tax and customs authorities should be more transparent, with transparency expected to provide that stringency has been applied fairly.

The society will not have trust the authorities if this struggle is not led by the President of the Republic with the support of the Republican Party.

Dear guests,

To be able to carry out the above goals, we must hold good elections. And I assure you that we have enough political will, experience and organization to defy the haughty statements that can be heard about. Among them, I would like to single out those voiced by the All-Armenian Movement Party, which had absolute authority in Armenia in the period from 1990 through to 1997, made several gross mistakes and was forced to give up office. It has split repeatedly and seemed to have been buried in history. But the AAM has not learned a lesson from its own mistakes and, after over a decade-long pause, is showing signs of revival by declaring that it will see the fight to the last. Moreover, AAM's godfather Levon Ter-Petrosyan publicly declared during a rally that they were going to dismantle the state pyramid. Nonetheless, as I feel deep respect for our people, I must state now that Armenia has been freed from the threats of political revenge though we cannot afford ignoring this factor.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan has lost the sense of reality to such an extent that he believes in revenge and even advises President Robert Kocharyan and me to leave the political arena. Here, I would like to give him a little piece of advice: he had better confess and ask for the indulgence of the people of Armenia for past mistakes. I am confident that he will not do so as he is filled with grudge and is irreversibly behind the times. There is not but a single objective behind his desperate attempts to return to presidency: to revenge all those who happened to speak against him rather than to serve the country and the people on this post. And also to demonstrate that he was right to declare that it is impossible to find an adequate resolution to the Karabakh issue and that Armenia cannot develop if it fails to give up Karabakh, as well as that it is impossible to unite the potential all Armenians and that the national ideology is a false category.

This list can be continued for long. And it is not casual that his nerves have once again handed over and our principled dispute was poured out from the doors of his party into a street intrigue. The reason is obvious. Slowly but consistently we come nearer to the settlement of the Karabakh conflict without making unilateral concessions. Notwithstanding the existing problems, the economy of Armenia is beginning to breathe at full breast, poverty is overcome, the State budget is showing a rapid growth and, as a result, Armenia has been excluded from the list of low-income countries. Civilized parliamentary elections have been held in Armenia and preparations are underway for successful presidential elections. And this means the political death of the AAM and AAM-supporting forces. This is the point.

In conclusion of this theme, I would like to say that holding the high post of President of the Republic Armenia, Ter-Petrosyan had the possibility of devoting himself entirely to the service the Armenian people. For different reasons, he failed to do so and at a crucial for Homeland moment, he gave up the office of supreme commander-in-chief and abandoned the people in extreme despair, with destroyed economy, unhealthy moral and psychological atmosphere, low fighting spirits and, in addition to all this, hanging on us different labels. Then tragic events took place, serious crimes were committed over which they are now speculating with pleasure. But our people, led by President Robert Kocharyan, managed to stabilize the situation and create solid bases for the development of the country. And now they want to destroy the State. They are doomed. Any such attempt will be prevented.

Frankly speaking, every cloud has a silver lining. In all it there is also a positive moment - our people has had an opportunity to be convinced that we different people, that our representations about the future of Armenia are various. And if for these 10 years we did not allow political estimations the reason for this was only and only desire to not bring excessive intensity in a society.

Dear friends,

What is my vision of Armenia five years after?

Education and knowledge for any Armenian household will be the most appreciated assets.

Mutual respect, love and tolerance will be an integral part of our life.

I see traditional Armenian families strong with many children in five years.

Household incomes will at least be redoubled.

Any young family will have the possibility of buying housing and a motor-car.

I assure you that these are quite realistic and feasible objectives.

So onward to Armenia's triumph!

Onward to victorious Armenia!

Thanks for attention.