Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the ceremonial session dedicated to the establishment day of the State Protection Service.
The Prime Minister first congratulated the personnel of the service on the occasion of the holiday, thanked them for their work and wished them success in their future activities.
Nikol Pashinyan noted that the State Protection Service has been operating as a body under the Prime Minister for almost a year and emphasized that it is an important decision, because with that decision, another effective special unit ensuring the security of the state was created in the person of the State Protection Service. “Of course, we don’t have the belief or delusion that it can be done as a result of one or two actions. We must work consistently in this direction in order to continuously and consistently raise the capabilities, skills, and professional level of the State Protection Service,” said the Prime Minister and added that one of the most important goals of the decision to make the State Protection Service a subordinate body to the Prime Minister and separate it from the National Security Service was that the National Security Service would have more opportunity and time to focus on its main and core functions.
According to Nikol Pashinyan, it is understandable that the State Protection Service cannot operate so quickly without close cooperation and support of the National Security Service, but in general, it is definitely unmistakable that this strengthens the National Security Service, because it gives an opportunity for the National Security Service to focus on its key functions. “Of course, on the assumption that state bodies do not act in isolation at all. Today, the State Protection Service or the National Security Service, the Police, investigative bodies cannot function without each other. In general, a state system cannot operate in non-interacting mode. But it is very important that each of them individually has the opportunity to focus on their core and main functions. And in this regard, of course, the State Protection Service, as a special service that ensures the security of the state and the public, must continuously develop and strengthen,” said Nikol Pashinyan.
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The Prime Minister referred to the delusion among the public or in certain circles that the State Protection Service ensures the security of only high-ranking officials. “Actually, it’s not the whole truth, but part of the truth, because the SPS ensures the safety of state institutions, as well as the public and citizens, because the events where high-ranking state officials participate, citizens also participate in those events, they are in the vicinity of those events,” Nikol Pashinyan noted and emphasized that in this sense, the SPS also ensures the safety of citizens and the public, and in a broader context, disrupting the work of state bodies can pose security threats to the public, the state, and the safety of each individual.
In his speech, Nikol Pashinyan also referred to the agenda of reforms in the SPS and emphasized that the agenda of these reforms should be consistently continued. “The system of social guarantees for service workers is among the priorities of those reforms. We also implement a voluntary certefication process at SPS. And I am happy to record that, in general, this process is going well, where we are solving two problems at the same time. The first, as I said, is to ensure that people in such an important service are properly remunerated, but also that they have that remunaration if they are properly trained. I think this is a principle that should be at the basis of the activity of not only the State Protection Service, but the entire state system,” the Prime Minister emphasized and added that the voluntary certification process implemented in the State Protection Service is also positive in the sense that many servicemen in the very process of their certification have finally reaffirmed that they had all these necessary qualities before the certification, which is an important assessment of the service. “Regardless of that process, the continuous development of professionalism has always been on the agenda, has always been implemented, which is very important and deserves appreciation with the understanding that times change, challenges and demands change, and of course this normal development should continue non-stop. For this, we need to create legislative, legal, and institutional prerequisites,” the Head of the Government emphasized.
Summarizing his speech, the Prime Minister thanked once again for the difficult but important and effective work done, wished success and safe service to everyone and added that the issue of technical and staffing of the State Protection Service will not be solved with one action and at once, but of course , there is a clear idea of the sequence of steps to solve this issue.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan awarded a group of employees of the State Protection Service with the Prime Minister’s Commemorative Medal, Prime Minister’s Letter of Appreciation and valuable gifts for their dedication, conscientious and efficient work while performing their duties.
INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT OF THE OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
