10:32,

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS. The tense international situation creates serious threats for Armenia, but the skillful management of these threats could create equally serious possibilities for the country, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said.

“The international situation escalated significantly over the past two years,” Pashinyan told lawmakers during a joint committee hearing on the 2024 state budget. “The likelihood of a nuclear war has become a serious topic of discussion among politicians and experts. We are living in conditions of a collapsing world order that existed since the end of the Cold War. This situation creates serious threats for Armenia, but the skillful management of these threats could create equally serious possibilities for our state,” Pashinyan said.

He said that the management of threats in turn requires a conceptual work.

“What does independence mean to us? What’s our collective understanding of our sovereignty and independence, what kind of a tool is statehood to us and what purpose do we need it for? The expert public discussions of these questions is a national security agenda,” Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan said that adjusting the conceptual foundations of the statehood is of key importance.

He proposed a new state concept – ‘the homeland is the state, you love your homeland, strengthen your state’.

“In a collapsing world order, the only tool of ensuring our security is the identification of our homeland with the state, its territory, internationally recognized borders and territorial integrity.”