Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s press conference took place at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex. Before answering questions from media representatives, the Prime Minister delivered opening remarks.
“Dear representatives of the mass media,
Dear compatriots following us on television and social networks,
The Government formed as a result of the People’s, non-violent, velvet revolution of 2018 has formulated as a primary strategic task: the ensuring of the sustainability of our statehood, the Republic of Armenia, and the formation of the necessary conditions for this. The implementation of this strategic task is proceeding in a positive direction. Despite the challenges, the Republic of Armenia has shown and continues to show reliable resilience and is on a reliable development trajectory.
I am sure that the questions to be raised at today’s press conference will mainly relate to challenges, but before giving specific answers to them, I would like to draw the attention of those present and the public to the fact that the Republic of Armenia is not the only country in the world facing challenges. Many countries in the world, if not all, are facing unprecedented challenges.
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Our state has faced conscious and unconscious challenges throughout its existence. The peculiarity of today is that, along with the challenges, including at the cost of victims and sacrifices, the Republic of Armenia has created unprecedented opportunities for itself, and the most important opportunity is to turn the theoretical thesis of the permanence of the state, the Republic of Armenia, into a practical reality. The primary task of the government is to manage the challenges and use the exceptional opportunity that has been formed today. The ideology of the Real Armenia serves this goal, which I can now say with confidence is widely accepted among the people of the Republic of Armenia. Moreover, it is an ideology born in the consciousness of the people, which was simply put on paper by the representatives of the people. This ideology is already bringing concrete results, and the key ones are the continuous development of the independence and sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia, external and internal stability, democracy, the rule of law, economic development, and the effective fight against corruption, terrorism, and hybrid challenges.
The balanced and balancing foreign policy serves the agenda of permanence of our state, as a result of which the international prestige of the Republic of Armenia is steadily growing. The practical expression of the growth of our state’s international prestige is the expected holding of two prestigious international events in 2026, the European Political Community and the COP 17 biodiversity summits, in the Republic of Armenia next year. Armenia is a reliable partner both in the north and in the south, in the east and in the west.
Dear representatives of the mass media,
Dear people,
In the 2021 snap parliamentary elections, the “Civil Contract” party received the vote of confidence of the people with the slogan “There is a future, there is a future”. Today, 11 months before the next parliamentary elections, I can announce that this slogan is being implemented and has been implemented. Developing the slogan “There is a future, there is a future,” I now say that the future is today. In other words, the future has already entered our reality.
Of course, today the future is taking its first steps, but it is obvious that today we are not walking towards the future, but we are walking in the future, and the future in our reality will no longer begin tomorrow, but begins today. In the past seven years, this very conceptual and perceptual change has taken place in Armenia, and this is an epoch-making change.
Dear representatives of the mass media,
Now I will be happy to answer your questions, which may relate not only to the future, but also to the present and the past.
Thank you very much.”
Nikol Pashinyan then answered numerous questions of interest to about 30 media representatives.
At the end of the press conference, the Prime Minister touched upon economic indicators: “From 2018 to 2025, the Government of the Republic of Armenia has invested more than 2.5 billion dollars in the regions of Armenia under various programs. In a period of seven years, never before have so much state investments been made in the regions of Armenia, or investments in general. Among them, a program worth 256 billion drams was implemented in the capital Yerevan. Compared to 2018, subsidies to communities have more than doubled, from 48 billion to 90 billion. From 2010 to 2017, the Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Plant paid 187 billion drams to the state budget over seven years, and from 2018 to 2025 – 464.2 billion drams. That is, 277 billion drams or 148% more, and this number also includes dividends and shares that have been paid.
In the first half of 2017, budget tax revenues amounted to 550 billion drams, in the first half of 2025 – 1 trillion 356 billion drams, which is 805 billion or 146% more than in 2017. Compared to May 2018, in May 2025, jobs increased by 242,331 or 44%. The average salary increased by 131,000 drams or 74%. And compared to this number, we also had 25% inflation, we record a real growth of 50%. The total wage fund has increased by 146 billion drams or 151%, income tax by 24 billion drams or 100%, although we, as you know, have reduced the tax. The mechanism for confiscating illegal property has started working in full swing, and during this time we have returned $536 million worth of property to the state or community.”
The Office to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia