ARMENPRESS reports Pashinyan addressed the message from the Republican Square in front tens of thousands of people. The message runs as follows,
“Dear people,
Proud citizens of the Republic of Armenia,
Proud citizens of the Republic of Artsakh,
Proud Diaspora Armenians:
I appeal to you live from the heart of Yerevan, the capital of the Republic of Armenia and the whole Armenian nation, from Republic Square, where we carried out a non-violent, velvet, popular revolution in the spring of 2018.
2019 was the first full year following the Revolution. In my December 31, 2018 message, I promised that by the end of 2019, we would have reached new heights, record new achievements, and, above all, our country’s social and economic life would have been improved. Now I am pleased to report that we have seen many visible, tangible and measurable results over the past year.
By the end of 2019, Armenia will have the largest economic growth not only in our region, not only in the Eurasian Economic Union, not only in the CIS and the whole post-Soviet space, but also presumably in the European region. Armenia is sure to be one of the world’s leading countries in terms of economic growth in 2019.
The citizens of the Republic of Armenia can see and feel the changes in our economy. During 2019, as many highways were repaired in Armenia as in 2015, 16, 17 altogether. Salaries of the military, rescuers, teachers, foresters, many health workers have increased, pensions, benefits and the minimum wage will be raised as of January 1, 2020.
We have implemented social programs: since 2003, the state had assumed a commitment to provide housing for 300 orphanage children, who will eventually get apartments. We are addressing the retired military’s housing needs: more than AMD 8 billion has been allocated to that end. 1.5 billion drams shall be earmarked to provide housing for 121 refugee families. No such project has ever been implemented in Armenia before.
I am pleased to state that Armenia has reached the lowest-ever poverty level. Our country’s foreign currency reserves have reached unprecedented volumes beyond the mark USD 2.8 billion. The state budget’s tax receipts were exceeded by over 100 billion drams in 2019.
The Armenian government is implementing many programs to help thousands of families overcome poverty and build prosperity through work. It is also important to note that about 84 thousand new jobs have appeared in Armenia since May 2018, the number of unemployed is decreasing sharply. What is more, there are thousands of vacancies in Armenia today.
Dear Compatriots:
The list of our achievements can go a long way. However, I am making this list not only to summarize 2019 but also to set our benchmarks for 2020.
We celebrate the New Year with high spirits, stronger self-confidence, and renewed faith in our own strengths and our future.
2020 is to be a year of nationwide mood, self-confidence and personalization of faith. In the New Year, even the skeptics will have confidence and enthusiasm for their own strengths and future, and we must give citizens strength and confidence to believe that they can succeed in education, career and entrepreneurship; that they can produce, get rich and enrich the country through fair, creative and literate work.
We have made extensive changes to the Tax Code to make 2020 an exceptional year for our citizens’ economic activity. Hundreds of millions of dollars have come to the Republic of Armenia after the Revolution,, and every citizen should think about what creative entrepreneurship project he can get from this national wealth and what share of national wealth he can create.
Dear compatriots,
The time is high to materialize what seemed to be impossible in Armenia. In 2018, very few people believed in the non-violent velvet popular revolution and in 2019 very few believed that we could boast economic ach...
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