Prime Minister attends 2024 best athletes award ceremony

The awarding ceremony for the winners of the "Choosing the Best of the Year in the Field of Sports 2024" contest, which took place on January 31, was attended by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, President of the Republic Vahagn Khachaturyan, Speaker of the National Assembly Alen Simonyan, Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan, Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan, as well as heads of various sports federations, athletes, and coaches.

According to the Prime Minister’s Office, in his speech, Prime Minister Pashinyan first thanked the athletes for their performances in 2024.

The PM noted that many medals were won but, unfortunately, no gold medal was secured at the Olympic Games.

Along with words of appreciation, the Prime Minister also touched upon a theme that has undergone wide discussion.

According to the source, the Prime Minister addressed the topic of the universal declaration system and added that through this system, the Government plans to return 70 billion drams annually in the form of social credits.

"What is social credit? If a person takes a child to a sports club, pays for it, and pays income tax, up to a maximum of 100 thousand drams per year, we return that payment. And we are talking about 800 thousand people. But, of course, those who, for some reason, avoid taking their children to sports clubs,whether due to payment issues or other problems, now, thanks to this system, I assure you, tens of thousands of children will participate in sports," Pashinyan said.

At the same time, the Prime Minister emphasized that the greatest incentive to encourage children to participate in sports is our great athletes. Pashinyan expressed words of honor, appreciation, love, and respect for those holding high the flag of the Republic of Armenia on behalf of the country.

According to Pashinyan, the most vivid examples of national unity are the athletes, because "when our athletes raise the flag of Armenia, everyone unites around our athletes. In that moment, a national consensus is formed, regardless of political views - whether one is an oppositionist, a pro-government figure, wealthy, less secure, insecure, employed, unemployed, living in Armenia or abroad. At that moment, national unity is formed."

Afterwards, Prime Minister Pashinyan presented the awards.