00:01, 1 January 2024

YEREVAN, JANUARY 1, ARMENPRESS.  Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has issued a congratulatory message on New Year and Christmas, the PM's Office said.

The message reads as follows:

"Dear people, dear citizens of the Republic of Armenia,

2023 is melting before our eyes, and 2024 will enter our homes in minutes like an eager teenager.

We are closing 2023 with high economic growth and first of all I want to thank the people who worked in 2023, were creative in their work, created added value and paid the taxes stipulated by the law.

It’s first of all thanks to those people that we got the opportunity to double the salaries of military personnel and teachers, and today there are teachers and private military personnel in our country with a salary of 450 to 500 thousand AMD.

It is thanks to the people who work, are creative in their work and pay the taxes stipulated by law that we were able to take care of the basic needs of our brothers and sisters who became refugees from Nagorno Karabakh.

It is thanks to the people who work, are creative in their work and pay the taxes stipulated by law that we were able to bring the minimum pensions into line with the minimum food basket for the first time in the history of the Third Republic.

It is thanks to the people who work, are creative in their work and pay the taxes stipulated by the law that for the third year in a row, from January 1, the salary of researchers will increase.

It is thanks to people who are creative in their work, bring new ideas, and are not afraid of the responsibility of realising those ideas, that since 2018, 190 thousand jobs have been created in Armenia.

People who work, are creative in their work and pay the taxes stipulated by law deserve words of praise and gratitude, and I hope that the eagerness brought by 2024 will give them new charge, new strength, new ideas.

Dear people, dear compatriots,

As the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, I address you with a New Year message for the 6th time. And the retrospect of our joint journey evokes feelings of pain, regret, but also pride. We have talked and talk much about pain and regret, but on this New Year's Eve, I want to bow and express my pride for each of you, that with unbearable burdens on our shoulders, we were able and are able to lead our state, the Republic of Armenia, through the extremely complicated path of strengthening independence and sovereignty.

When I think about the path we have passed, I understand that this history is beyond the understandings of wrong and right decisions, and we are moving through the only possible path, even though extremely vicious, that will allow us to inherit a state for our generations.

We have passed most of this path, but we are not safe from new trials and difficulties ahead and we need not to shake, not to waver in our determination to have an independent state and to inherit that state to our generations.

I also want to apologize to each and every one of you, to all citizens of the Republic of Armenia, to all our brothers and sisters who became refugees from Nagorno Karabakh for the pain you have suffered in recent years.

I apologize not because I have committed any crime before you or I have forgotten any responsibility or obligation before you even for a moment, but because I know your feelings and I have the same feeling.

But this feeling cannot in any way undermine my duty as the head of the state, which means that all my decisions and actions must be based on the state interest of the Republic of Armenia. This is the reason why I consider it a priority to find formulas for the normalization and deepening of relations with our neighbors in our region, and I will continue to resolutely follow that path for the sake of the state, for the sake of the future, for the sake of generations.

It is the duty of the head of the state to tirelessly and constantly repeat that we need to understand many things more and more fully, we need to look at and review many things in order to irreversibly understand that the motherland is the state.

Motherland is the state. If you love your homeland, strengthen your state.

Motherland is the state. If you love your motherland, pay your taxes.

Motherland is the state. If you love your motherland, improve your education.

Motherland is the state. If you love your motherland, build your and your country's well-being, get rich and make others rich with work.

This is the state interest of the Republic of Armenia. It should be a guide for all of us, and I am sure that the year 2024, that eager teenager, will become a symbol of the state and state understanding for us.

Dear people, dear compatriots,

Fill the glasses and raise a toast for the Republic of Armenia.

Glory to the martyrs and long live the Republic of Armenia.

Long live the Republic of Armenia!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!"