Certification of servicmen basis for enhancing Armenian army`s  efficiency 

ArmInfo.  The National Assembly Committee on Defense and Security held discussions related to the situation in the country's armed forces. This was announced at a meeting of the committee on May 5 by its head Andranik Kocharyan.

According to him, the discussions were held with the participation of  the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces. The  analysis of the presented data shows that significant work has been  done in the army, including on the issue of combating crime, but this  is not enough yet. "It is very important for us to understand where  we started the reforms in the Armed Forces and what we have come to,"  Kocharyan said.

He added that the issues discussed included the project for  calculating salaries for sergeants. According to the head of the  committee, the fact that the salary amount for contract sergeants is  clearly fixed should not interfere with the process of certification  of servicemen, which is a basic element for increasing the  effectiveness of the country's Armed Forces. The main goal of the  reforms, as Kocharyan noted, is to form a completely new environment  in the army.

Meanwhile, according to Gegham Manukyan, a member of the National  Assembly from the opposition faction "Armenia", it makes sense to  raise the salaries of experienced military personnel without  conducting certification. In particular, he spoke about one  artilleryman who had been through fire, water and copper pipes, but  due to heart problems, he was unable to pass the certification exams.  As a result, his salary today is much lower than the salaries of  other military personnel.

However, Deputy Defense Minister Arman Sargsyan did not agree with  this initiative, emphasizing that the certification is aimed at  increasing the motivation and professional level of military  personnel.

At the meeting of the commission on May 5, the amendments to the law  "On remuneration of persons holding state positions and civil service  positions" were discussed in the second and final reading, according  to which special coefficients will be applied to the salaries of  contract sergeants of the Armed Forces of Armenia. According to the  document, it is envisaged to establish a coefficient of group 9/9 for  army (general staff) sergeants, group 9/8 for corps sergeants, and  group 7/4 for senior sergeants. The adoption of the bill, as Deputy  Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia Arman Sargsyan noted  in his speech, is aimed at the full implementation of professional  contract military service in the Armed Forces of the Republic of  Armenia. He emphasized that in the process of implementing reforms in  the RA Armed Forces, the development of the sergeant system is of  primary importance as a key condition for the creation of  professional armed forces. To this end, the government's policy  includes promoting the development of the sergeant corps in the Armed  Forces. As a result of the changes, salary coefficients will also be  established for the positions of regimental (brigade) sergeant and  battalion (division) sergeant.  Study of the sergeant system of the  armies of Western countries, as well as the Eastern ones. 

The results of the study of the European Union showed that the  sergeant system above the regimental level includes the presence of  sergeants of the general staff and army directions, who manage the  activities of lower-level sergeants and ensure the command vertical  of the sergeant system. The full implementation of the professional  sergeant system in the armed forces of the Republic of Armenia and  the proper provision of their life activities also presupposes the  creation of the positions of army (general staff), corps sergeant and  senior sergeant in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, for  which it became necessary to establish salary coefficients for these  positions.