STEPANAKERT. - Defense Minister of Armenia Vigen Sargsyan on Monday introduced the new large-scale project “Observation post,” which is aimed at making the army more transparent.  

President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, who is on a working visit to Artsakh, on Monday met with a number of demobilized or serving servicemen, who have been awarded for their selflessness and courage. The meeting was attended by Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan, as well as legendary servicemen, including Lieutenant General Norat Ter-Grigoryan and Major General Arkadi Ter-Tadevosyan, whose path can serve an example for the current servicemen.

At the meeting, the President proposed to speak on the issues of concern to the servicemen, as well as their ideas about the modernization, reforms, further strengthening and development of the homeland. He also urged them to make proposals. Apart from this, Sargsyan expressed willingness to respond to the issues of interest to the meeting participants and listen to their opinion about the “I have the honor” and “I am” initiatives put forward by the defense minister.

During the meeting, Defense Minister Sargsyan introduced the subsequent large project “Observarion post,”which is being implemented within the framework of the modernization and reforms of the defense sphere. Thanks to the project all the demobilized servicemen will take part in a multi-layer and comprehensive survey to discuss all the issues related to the conditions and efficiency of their service, as well as acquired experience and the system in general. The generalized survey results will serve as a basis for the targeted reforms.

“We should be bold on the way to modernizing and developing the army in order to bring this sphere into the field of transparency and accountability from the strategic point of view, at the same time making the defense sphere a platform for the formation of new approaches of the state administration,”the defense minister said, adding that in leading societies army cannot remain outside public developments.

Sargsyan also stressed that the agenda of the project includes issues, which have been of concern to Armenian citizens for many years on end, starting from the conditions of soldiers’ service to the question on what the army will give to the soldier in more measurable and tangible domains.

“After all, every Armenian not only has to but also should wish to serve in the army. The steps, which will be taken within the framework of this project, will pursue this end. Army is a sphere, which each Armenian family deals with. Thus we are all the benefactors of this project,” he noted.

Sargsyan stressed that the more accountable and transparent the army is, the more coordinated its activity will be, the coordinated institutions being among the most powerful ones. According to him, the third large-scale project after the “I am”and “I have the honor” of the nation-army ideology comes to confirm this.  

President Sargsyan welcomed and underscored the importance of introducing such a project, instructing to periodically report on the results.