NEW ARMENIAN PRESIDENT, PREMIER SET TO IMPLEMENT AMBITIOUS PROJECTS

Public TV
April 10 2008
Armenia

[Presenter] The republic’s president and the newly-appointed prime
minister went to the meeting of the cabinettogether today. President
Serzh Sargsyan introduced Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan to the
members of the cabinet. Serzh Sargsyan said that the cabinet would
implement ambitious programmes under the leadership of the new prime
minister.Serzh Sargsyan also thanked the cabinet for working together
with him for over a year.

[President Serzh Sargsyan, addressing the cabinet meeting] First of
all, I wish to thank you for the work in thecabinet. We have been
working for over a year in this format, and I think that 2007 was
a successful year for oureconomy. We succeeded in increasing state
budget revenue, which enabled us to settle some social issues. But
I thinkthat the year 2007 and the years that preceded it were an
introductory period and we should now have more ambitiousprogrammes,
we have to consider that we have completed the first phase of our
reforms and are now passing on to thesecond phase.

I would like to officially introduce Tigran Sargsyan, the new prime
minister of the Republic of Armenia, to you andexpress the hope
that the cabinet will really implement ambitious programmes under
his leadership in the coming years. Iam simply sure it is going to
happen. It is important that each of you do their best and that each
of you become a keymember of the team.

[Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, addressing the cabinet] Dear Mr
President, dear cabinet members, I would like tothank you for your
trust in me. It is a pleasure for any statesman to get a chance to
serve the people, and meanwhile, Iclearly realize that this is great
responsibility. We have worked together for 10 years, and I have always
enjoyed thesupport of the president and the cabinet when working for
the Central Bank. I am sure this atmosphere will continue.

I have been a tough and demanding leader in the Central Bank and this
will continue, but I would like to tell youthat I am for team work, and
I am sure that we can maintain the team work environment in the cabinet
because, as thepresident said, we really have ambitious programmes.

I thoroughly realize the programmes that the National Assembly
[parliament] has approved and also the key provisions of the election
platform of the republic’s president that our people have approved
of. And I think we will be able to implement those ambitious programmes
if we make joint efforts. And I am sure we can do that.

May God help us.

[Serzh Sargsyan] We will do it by all means, we will improve the
collection of taxes, improve the economic field, we will be competitive
and we will take strong action to fight corruption. I think this will
do for today. When we form anew cabinet, we will talk with the cabinet
members, first eye-to-eye and then together, about certain issues.