Armenia’s new cabinet positively disposed to reforms – Hovik Abrahamyan  

Below is Tert.am’s interview with former Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan.

Mr Abrahamyan, after your resignation as the prime minister of Armenia, you are no longer perceived as a public figure; your interest in politics also seems to have faded away. You do  not even attend the sessions of the Republican Party’s Executive Body.

Of course, I have been more passive over the recent period though I don’t agree at all that I have ceased to be a public figure. I do not simply think that being a public personality would be of any use shortly after resignation.

As for my non attendance at the sessions, your allegations are not absolutely true. Yes, I had a valid reason to miss several meetings, but those are exceptions rather than a regularity. I am readily pleased to be have my involvement in the party’s activities.

In your resignation speech, you spoke of the society’s polarization, stressing the importance of new approaches to overcome the problem. So do you think the new approaches by the new government contributed to that? What is your evaluation of Karen Karapetyan’s cabinet, and the society’s attitude to his work?

The prime minister and his cabinet have started very successfully. They are positively disposed and absolutely free to act, having a rather strong political support to rely on. So all we need to do now is to wish them good luck, as objective success is also very important against the backdrop of the rather changeable the world economics.  

 
Mr Abrahamyan, looking back on your tenure as prime minister, what would you highlight as the major achievement of those years? Many believe it was the kick-start of the Iran-Armenia energy projects. What would you single out?

I am not absolutely inclined to consider my tenure as prime minister a detached and isolated period. That period is within the domain of the ruling [Republican] party’s 2007-2012 and 2012-2017 [electoral] platforms, whose implementation was thoroughly and profoundly addressed  by our country’s leader at the [Republican Party’s] recent congress. The depth of those evaluations will be more fundamentally perceived only in the course of time; that’s my strong belief.  

As for the most important achievement, I can add only one thing which, however, is not limited to those years. Regardless of your occupation and the scope of the decisions made, [the important thing] is to use your first chance to lend a helping hand to those in need. This was my internal belief, which will be my guideline also in future.  What I treat as my achievement is the smiling looks of those who finally managed to break the deadlock they were facing. I always keep that in mind. What I see in our people is a deep wisdom that helps them to very quickly differentiate their own kind from strangers. They very rapidly overcome any pain or injustice upon seeing sincere support and warmth, and an unbiased willingness to help by people who they feel are really like them.