YEREVAN. – Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is chairing a regular meeting of the Security Council of Armenia.

The issue of approving the National Security Strategy is also being discussed at the sitting.

In that context, PM Pashinyan delivered a message in which he noted as follows, in particular:

"When examining our national security issue, I believe we should first examine the issue of our national identity because national security is about protecting national identity, protecting it from physical and substantive threats.

Over long years, our national identity has developed so much that today we can shape our goal: to ensure in the coming millennia the existence and normal development of our generations on planet Earth, in the territory of the state of Armenia, and to consider what we have to do today also from that point of view.

The most key component of national identity is the connection with the very roots and the sense (…) of ownership of the heritage, values formed during the history of the nation.

The Republic of Armenia is the guarantor of the security and freedom of the Armenians of Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)]. The Republic of Armenia is a pan-Armenian state and represents all Armenians around the world.

The Armenian state is the only guarantor of the existence and development of the Armenian people.

Contributing to the dialogue and multilateral relations of civilizations, peoples, states shall be an expression of our commitment to assisting in international peace and stability. Armenia is ready to become a platform for such a dialogue.

(…) in the strategy, the source and guarantee of the existence of the state of Armenia is considered to be the will of the Armenian people (…).

And our greatest task is to bring the fate of our people and state out of this cycle when geopolitical factors become the key factor that determines the existence or non-existence of our state, and our state must be based on the will of our people.

And, in fact, with this National Security Strategy, we are setting a new benchmark before us.”