THE COUNTRY TO BENEFIT AS A RESULT OF COOPERATION
VASAK TARPOSHYAN

Hayots Ashkhar
Published on March 01, 2008

"Rule of Law" party has responded to Prime Minister S.
Sargsyan’s proposal on forming a coalition government.

Yesterday, the leaders of "Rule of Law" and the Republican Party signed
a cooperation agreement in the Government. In the frameworks of the
agreement, A. Baghdasaryan will take up the post of Secretary of the
Security Council under the President, and a coalition government
will be formed, Prime Minister SERGE SARGSYAN said after signing
the document.

"I am happy that Arthur Baghdasaryan replied to our call for governing
the country with joint efforts. In response to his reply, I proposed
that ‘Rule of Law’ party form a coalition government together with the
Republican and ‘Prosperous Armenia’ and offered Mr. Arthur Baghdasaryan
to take up the post of Secretary of the Security Council under the
President.

I think this will fully enable Mr. Baghdasaryan to be involved in the
country’s governance system and participate in the whole process of
its development. The position of Secretary of the Security Council
is a high position; it is the third or fourth highest position in
our republic. I am sure that it doesn’t even matter how high the
position is. We have spoken about it with Mr. Baghdasaryan. The
important thing here is that it enables him to be in command of the
entire information and have an active participation in the processes
taking place in all the spheres.

I think this is also good in a sense that we will have the opportunity
to form, perhaps for the first time in our country, a Security Council
with its machinery and active competences, which will certainly have
quite a positive impact on the state and public-political life.

Faithful to his statement on forming a coalition government,
S. Sargsyan also desires to see ARFD in such coalition.

"When I speak about forming a coalition with ‘Prosperous Armenia’
party, it doesn’t mean that Dashnaktsoutyun will not be involved in
such coalition. I believe we’ll receive an official response from
Dashnaktsoutyun as well. In that case, it is quite possible, and I
will be very happy to have a coalition consisting of four parties."

Touching upon the political agreement achieved, ARTHUR BAGHDASARYAN
attached importance to the fact that it is supported by around 70
percent of the voters.

"As a result of the political cooperation agreement we signed in the
2008 presidential elections, we have 1 million 150 thousand supporters,
which makes up around 70 percent of the voters. This means estimable
confidence of Armenia’s future political authorities and determination
in solving a great number of internal and external problems faced
by the country. This also means that the newly elected President of
Armenia will demonstrate more confidence and decisiveness in facing
all the existing challenges, implementing bold and serious positive
reforms in the life of our country and people."

During the talks, A. Baghdasaryan made a revelation he found very
important. "The newly elected President has a serious willingness and
determination to synthesize our pre-election programs as well. There
is a desire to implement significant positive changes in the country."

To substantiate his statement, A. Baghdasaryan brought the following
example:

"During our conversations, it became clear that in the course of the
coming 5 years every possible step will be made to eliminate all the
shacks in the towns of Gyumri and Vanadzor. There is a problem that
troubles a lot of people 20 years after the earthquake. That is, I
want to bring a concrete example. There are a lot of quite specific
and realistic programs in a number of other spheres as well, and we
fully welcome it."

A. Baghdasaryan also mentioned that their decision for cooperation
received the approval of the whole political team of "Rule of Law"
party.

"It received approval by the two leading structures of our party:
the political council and the administration. With dignity, we squeeze
the hand lent to us because we believe that the country will benefit
as a result of such cooperation. We are sure that we are starting an
honest cooperation to the benefit of our country’s development and
the people’s welfare."