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At a regular government meeting on Thursday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan weighed in on the introduction of a new social system in the country.

According to the PM, the government led by him has had the task of introducing a new social system from the very first day of its work, as the existing social assistance system does not encourage people's economic activity.

“At least at the preliminary level, we have specified our conceptual approaches outlining our future steps. Work on formation of the system has yet to continue,” Pashinyan said, adding that during Wednesday’s discussions on the matter a decision was adopted to involve more government agencies in finalizing the new system.

Nikol Pashinyan noted that people who are unable to work, have certain restrictions and cannot objectively meet their own needs, should receive a full-fledged social support in Armenia.

“As for the employable people, we need to adopt the kind of attitude towards them and create systemic conditions to motivate those people to work rather than not to work,” he said.

Pashinyan agreed that the proposed system is rather complex and is still in a raw phase, requiring further discussions. He called the government members’ attention especially to the families with children and the people’s educational needs.

“In other words, we don't always have to simply pay people a certain amount of money per month. We need to make sure that the children and adults receive education and professional skills,” he said.

Nikol Pashinyan called for public debates on the matter.