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President Serzh Sargsyan met with the members of the Public Council on July 6. 

The meeting focused on a wide range of issues related to the internal as well as foreign policy, ranging from the problems of the state policy on culture, risks related to the water resources of Ararat Valley up to the problems associated with the preservation of the historical and cultural heritage in Yerevan and proposals aimed at the modernization of the telecommunication system.

Considering that the extensive agenda involves different areas and each of them independently, according to the President, could become a topic for consultations, President Serzh Sargsyan expressed hope that the presented issues and corresponding documentation have already been discussed at the Public Council and the Council will continue to work them over with the relevant agencies, trying to be useful to these agencies in finding efficient solutions for the raised issues.

Serzh Sargsyan noted that the highlighting of the problems which interest our society during such meetings and consultations with the President doesn’t necessarily mean that the Public Council has finished its job and from now on these issues have become the President’s problem. “If an issue relates to our foreign policy or national security, I may accept that, however in all other cases, it is assumed that you continue to push these issues forward with the same vigor and make efforts, along with the state structures, to find solutions acceptable for the society and the state,” President Sargsyan said at the beginning of the meeting.

Before turning to the agenda items, Chairman of the Public Council Vazgen Manukian spoke about the activities of this four-year old structure; a skeptical attitude toward the Public Council which was present right after its creation and its criticism. He said that now, after certain work has been done there is a positive attitude of the public toward the Council and its achievements. Mr Manukian also spoke about current problems of the Council and ideas regarding its future. “In fall, concluding our work, we will present to our society and the President results of our activities of four years and, hopefully, also in fall, we will have a law on the Public Council. At any rate, the draft law will be introduced in the National Assembly in early fall,” the Chairman of the Public Council said.

For the structure under his leadership, Vazgen Manukian stressed the importance of authority which any such structure should have and underscored three important factors to achieve that: personal repute of each member of the Public Council, the degree of independence and unrestraint of the Public Council in raising different issues, and at the same time, its impartial and non-populist stance.

President Serzh Sargsyan concurred that the Public Council has traveled a difficult road since its creation and has gone through some harsh criticism. “As the saying goes, any good deed is reprehensible. We have to learn to work in these conditions. I believe that we have left behind the part of the road which had to be traveled together and in fall I will be ready to discuss the draft law you’ve mentioned,” President Serzh Sargsyan said.