Work on the draft law on establishing the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Armenia is nearing completion. Minister of Justice Karen Andreasyan said this in the National Assembly on Tuesday—during the parliamentary hearings on the establishment of the aforesaid ministry in Armenia.

According to the minister, within ten days after the end of these hearings, the Ministry of Justice will expect various proposals from the participants of these discussions—and regarding amendments and addenda to the aforesaid bill. At the same time, in September, this proposed law will be sent to the parliament for debates.

"I would like to emphasize that this is not a reestablishment, but a creation of a new [interior] ministry, which is a very important step for the law enforcement system of Armenia," explained Andreasyan.

He noted that the concept of creation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which will be presented during the hearings, is completely new. According to him, this is a completely different, new approach.

"This will not become an ordinary renaming of the ‘Police’ to the ‘Ministry of Internal Affairs.’ The Police will retain their undoubtedly important role, but will become the 'heart' and important part of a civil structure, such as the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be," said the representative of the Armenian government.

Also, Andreasyan stated that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia will not be created from scratch. In the interests of ensuring a more prompt implementation of the reform, the basis for the creation of this ministry will be the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

"We wanted to find a solution that would not bring additional costs and additional burden for the state. We decided not to assemble the department from scratch, but to combine the rich potential existing in the Police with one of the functioning civil structures, thereby creating a new, quite interesting structure.

We intend to ensure the combination of the Rescue Service, Police, and other very important services. And from this point of view, the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be very rich and well interconnected. At the same time, huge resources will be saved," assured Karen Andreasyan.