YEREVAN, OCTOBER 24, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan received on October 24 the participants of the 8th Pan-Armenian Conference of Journalists titled “Armenian Statehood: Axis of Unity” held from October 20-24 in Armenia and Artsakh. Nearly 140 editors and reporters from 31 countries participated in the conference.

The President of the Republic hailed the idea of holding the conference in the Motherland for already the 8th time.

“You are a powerful force. You give us confidence and vigor by your activities enabling us to fulfill our commitments. During one of our previous meetings we talked that two key factors must be singled out. The first one is the activities of the press and reporters aimed at directly Armenian communities, in the sense of preservation of the Armenian identity. And the second is the consolidation of reporters of Armenian ethnicity or origin. In both cases it is of vital importance that we manage to find the proper way of working in this fast changing world so as to be able to keep people interested in the materials we work upon and publish, trying to influence decisions over this or that issue. For both cases I believe it is of key importance to always remain committed to journalistic ethics. It is also very important that we manage to consolidate our efforts and define the important issues for the solution of which we have to spend the majority of our energy and capacities”, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said.

Noting that it is never possible to achieve something in journalism by refuting small frauds by bigger frauds or establishing rule of law by illegal measures, the President of the Republic stated that the realistic and true presentation of events is beneficial and free of harm, while using journalistic powers and influence in an improper way may result in major troubles.

After the greeting speech the President offered that the meeting should go on in a format of questions and answers so as to be able to answer all the questions of the journalists.

The reporters and heads of the media agencies asked questions mainly referring to the Armenian positions and approaches to the negotiation process of Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, reforms to be carried out in Armenia under the auspices of the new Constitution of Armenia, reinforcement of Armenia-Diaspora relations, state policy to attract foreign investments in Armenia and a number of other issues.