Saturday, January 26 2019 15:11

ArmInfo.  On January 26, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan held a meeting with the leadership of the Defense Ministry and the senior officers of the  Armed Forces of Armenia.According to the press service of the  government of the country, Pashinyan stressed that "the normal  development of the armed forces is an absolute priority for Armenia,"  noting the importance of meetings in such a format.

According to the Prime Minister, ensuring the security of Armenia and  Artsakh remains the most important task, its guarantor is the Armed  Forces of Armenia and the Artsakh Defense Army, in the context of  which the questions of combat readiness, combat capability and  modernization of the Armed Forces become an absolute priority. "We  must constantly work in this direction, having short-term,  medium-term and long- term goals, as well as an action strategy," the  premier said.

RA Defense Minister David Tonoyan presented to the RA Prime Minister  the main defense achievements in 2018 and the main priorities of the  work. "In 2018, especially since June, we had a relatively fairly  quiet period, primarily due to the efforts of the political  leadership of Armenia and clear tactics and the actions of our armed  forces. In this regard, I want to confirm that our army will follow  political agreements, but, if necessary, is ready to force the enemy  to accept favorable conditions for us by appropriate actions, "said  David Tonoyan.

According to the minister, in 2018, one of the main achievements was  the protection of the armed forces from the influence of political  processes, which was demonstrated during the parliamentary elections,  as well as changes related to the draft process. "Radical steps have  been taken to improve the transparency and fairness of the  conscription process in order to strengthen and clarify the  relationship" state-soldier-family ". The sun was able to demonstrate  the process of improving the supply of food and living conditions to  servicemen, as well as in protecting the rights of servicemen, "the  defense minister said.Tonoyan also stressed the development of  effective cooperation withallies and partners within not only  existingagreements, but under new arrangements. According to  him,structural changes in the army's command and control system also  approachthe end of "There are a number of legislative amendments  aimed at improving, simplifying and increasing the effectiveness of  the management system, procurement procedures, increasing the combat  readiness of the armed forces, transparency and accountability of the  army," said the minister.

Presenting the main directions of the development of the Armed Forces  in 2019, Tonoyan stressed the importance of continuous improvement  and complementarity of compulsory military service and contract  service. "We also consider as the most important priority the  improvement of our material and human resources management system  based solely on responsible reasonable decisions, excluding possible  bias and abuse," said Tonoyan.

He called it important to continue working to improve the capacity of  the armed forces personnel. "In this regard, we attach great  importance to improving the educational professional level of  military personnel, replenishing the Armed Forces with modern weapons  and military equipment." David Tonoyan added that one of the  priorities is the adoption of measures for the further development of  the military-industrial complex, as well as the further expansion of  international defense cooperation.During the meeting, Prime Minister  Nikol Pashinyan was briefed on the current regional  military-political and operational situation on the  Armenian-Azerbaijani contact line. The Prime Minister was given  relevant instructions.