Friday, 25 April 2008
RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan introduced to the staff of the system of emergency situations newly appointed Minister for Emergency Situations Mher Shahgeldyan. Considering that a new ministry had been established, the Prime Minister touched upon the reasons behind its creation and the tasks of the ministry. Tigran Sargsyan stated in particular:
"What are the reasons behind the establishment of the new ministry? You know that the question of emergency situations has been high on the government's agenda for the last 20 years. Characteristic is that these situations were caused not only natural phenomena, but also there were situations caused by the human factor. The ministry will have 3 basic tasks: firstly, it has to develop a policy for foretelling emergency situations and, if so, it will have to implement such a policy as would enable us to be prepared to emergency situations of different type. Secondly, what action must be taken in case of emergency situations, what kinds of organizational tasks must be addressed and what tasks will be set upon individual entities? This means that the ministry should provide accurate answers to all these questions and any public agency would have to comply with these rules. The third priority is the elimination of the consequences of emergency situations. Indeed, here we must be highly organized so as consequences are eliminated with minimal outlays and at short notice. It is understood that the mentioned tasks imply the development of accurate policies in all 3 directions. A distinctive feature for the new ministry is that it will have to deal with the whole body of public agencies and government departments as the foregoing tasks must be addressed through joint efforts, and the Ministry of Emergency Situations will assume the role of coordinator.
What shall we do next? We must specify the structure of the ministry: ministry divisions, autonomous units under the direct control of the ministry and their relationships. Quite naturally, we need to provide a clear description of its relationships with the ministries of territorial administration and nature protection, with numerous functions having to be specified within these ministries considering that these structural changes must be reflected in their terms of reference, and we should answer any question as promptly as possible. We look forward to your support in order the above-said are solved as soon as possible and the newly appointed minister could proceed to work at once Mr. Shahgeldyan is a well-known political figure. Besides he is a well-known scientist and has made a serious contribution to the development of the concept of national security. He has long been involved in the decision of said questions. He has a good command and is the theorist of this sphere. I happened to discuss with him similar issues facing the country as early as many years ago. And for this very reason, I am confident that he is well aware of the tasks stated above and, together with you, he will manage to carry them out as quickly as possible."
