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.