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Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has attended a reception organized by Save Armenia on the occasion of his visit to the United States.
Co-Chair of the International Religious Freedom Summit, Save Armenia Member of the Board Sam Brownback welcomed PM Pashinyan’s visit and emphasized the commitment of the organization to support Armenia in advancing its agenda. He said that Save Armenia’s goal is to unite Christian leaders and other stakeholders in supporting Armenia.
Save Armenia co-founder Robert Nicholson, diplomats, public figures and politicians also participated in the event.
In his remarks, PM Pashinyan thanked the organizers of the event and said it is an honor to be present at the reception with organizations and friends who have supported Armenia and the Armenian people for decades.
“Of course, I have to say that now Armenia is at a crossroads, at a highly important period of time for our country. It is very important to define, to determine the best method of supporting Armenia on this important and difficult path. Our region is generally extremely difficult, full of deep historic confrontations that are reflected today. But I think today we must focus on the kind of agenda that would open prospects for the future, which is the most important thing. If you ask me what’s the most effective method of supporting Armenia from the U.S. perspective I’d say it would be the inclusion of the agenda of achieving peace in South Caucasus in the list of priorities of the U.S. political elite because we promote freedoms, including religious freedom, but you know I think the best tool to protect freedoms of the people is sustainable peace because a conflict environment is the most convenient environment to violate all possible human rights. This is why we are now focused on the peace agenda, because we believe that in our region the existence of sustainable peace is the only way to guarantee a proper environment for democracy, protection of human rights, and development of Armenia. I hope you know that now Armenia moves towards democracy, we try to deepen democracy and place it on institutional foundation for it not to be dependent on political will of ruling forces. This is very important. I believe that democracy is irreversible in Armenia. Now, there is only one tool through which an attempt is made to derail Armenia’s path of democracy, it is the tool of war, escalation and conflict. This is why we are so much focused on this agenda, because we believe that peace is highly important and crucial for freedom, including religious freedom, democracy and development, for the future and happiness of our people. We certainly also rely on our friends, our friends at Save Armenia. We highly appreciate what has been done so far and we hope that your support will be continuous and you will be more and more focused on supporting the peace agenda. We hope that our peace agenda will also become your agenda, which, I think, will serve for global prosperity, global victory of democracy, freedom and happiness,” Pashinyan said.