13:49,

YEREVAN, JULY 12, ARMENPRESS. Armenia plans to create a foreign intelligence agency, Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan said during the parliamentary hearings about the creation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the importance of civil control.

“The government of Armenia is implementing large-scale reforms together with our political team in the Parliament. One of them is the Police reform, the next are the reforms of the Defense Ministry and the Armed Forces. In the context of these reforms we plan to create a separate foreign intelligence body. And the Office of the Security Council has already started discussions with the partners over the creation of this new structure. The Police reforms should be viewed within this broad context. The democratic concept also falls on it basis”, he said.

He said that starting 2018 the government has started a process of democratizing the security field, which is important from the perspective of increasing security, stability and capacities.

He also attached importance to the fact that the Police and the Ministry of Emergency Situations are merging into a single ministry, the Ministry of Interior.

“During the sessions of the Security Council sometimes there are topics relating to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, or functions of the MES relating to defense. And the Ministry of Emergency Situations was not represented in the Security Council. But now, these reforms also create efficiency because the Minister of Interior, as a body coordinating the policy and functions in the field of emergency situations, will have an opportunity to be engaged in the Security Council in the policy development process and in terms of solving the issues”, Armen Grigoryan said.

He believes that these reforms will positively affect Armenia’s democratization process. “We believe that democratization in all spheres of Armenia’s governance is of vital importance for our state. We will continue to move forward on this direction”, he said.