YEREVAN, JANUARY 16, ARMENPRESS.  Following the solemn ceremony of handing “Order of Homeland” to National Hero of Armenia Hovhannes Chekijyan, President Sargsyan had a meeting with some of the intellectuals that attended the ceremony around a tea table.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Armenian President’s Office, at the beginning of the meeting noting that during the past years he periodically held meetings with intellectuals, President Serzh Sargsyan once again underlined the role and the mission of the intellectuals in the life of the country and offered to have an open and sincere discussion about Armenia and its future, particularly, under the light of the new governance system as a result of the Constitutional changes. Serzh Sargsyan expected to hear the positions, suggestions, as well as concerns and assessments of the intellectuals on the reality in the country.

The participants of the meeting highlighted such meetings and discussions, talked about their visions of Armenia’s future, issues of public concern, including education of the youth, the huge role of the state to educate good citizens, preservation of the purity of the Armenian language and a number of other issues.

The President also answered the questions of the intellectuals that referred to the security of the country and foreign policy. The participants of the meeting asked President Sargsyan, as a person who has run very important positions for years and has passed through the hardships of the war, what criteria the next president of the Republic should meet.

Presenting his vision on the next president of the Republic of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan noted that the person to assume that post should be someone who has passed a serious path, has reputation inside the country and abroad, and can properly present Armenia in other countries, meaning to fulfill his representative functions. According to Serzh Sargsyan, the next president should know foreign languages, have broad connections in both Diaspora and Armenia, enjoy high reputation, and what is most important, be an impartial individual who has never been in politics and has never been a member of any political party.