Below is the unedited official version of the speech delivered by Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan at the 6th Pan-Armenian Armenia-Diaspora Conference in Yerevan.

I welcome the participants of the 6th Pan-Armenian Armenia-Diaspora Conference and wish it fruitful work.

The Conference gives us the opportunity to discuss the common issues that we are concerned about and plan our activities with an eye on the future and taking into consideration the lessons of the past.

First and foremost, my belief is that Armenia has a huge potential. I am convinced that we have all the chances to become a modern and progressive country and to respond adequately to internal and external challenges.

Today’s world, including Armenia, is going through structural reforms. We are implementing reforms in all parts of our country, in all aspects of life, to secure Armenia’s worthy place in the world.

That is why our reforms aim not only the settlement and resolution of today’s burning issues, but they also seek to lay the groundwork for making Armenia competitive in a changing world.

To become competitive and develop, we need sustainable, long-term growth in all lifeline areas of public life. That is why we need a sharp increase in effectiveness in all spheres, and we need fundamental transformations that can change the way we think and act.

This is our team’s ultimate goal, and we do not see any reason why we can not succeed together.

Dear Compatriots,

Over many centuries, we have struggled and mobilized our forces just when we felt threats to our survival... We are proud of the fact that our nation, unlike many other nations, maintained its identity and was able to develop and make achievements.

We have gone through trials, persecutions, oppression, genocide and attempted extermination ... In all our troubles, our nation has never lost its self-esteem, dignity and did not give up the dream of having an independent Armenia. Our hardships are incomparable to those privations our ancestors went through.

As a result, we exist today; we have our INDEPENDENT statehood. This is the supreme value.

I am convinced that building a modern, efficacious, logical, evolving country on the basis of deeply-rooted good traditions is an inspiring endeavor that we have to unite around.

We need to ask ourselves how we can participate and how we can serve that purpose. We must ask ourselves why others can, and we not, and thus we will make a point of it.
I am convinced that today we all look forward to building a Free, Safe, Fair and Intelligent Armenia, and we have all the preconditions for it.

Today we are a 25-years-old, young, independent, victorious nation. We stand firmly by our Artsakh, guaranteeing its right to self-determination and freedom of expression, ready to respond to any encroachment at any moment.

Today we have an over 7 million-strong Diaspora. Many have stood by Armenia since its independence, representing Armenia at all corners of the globe, participating in the process of building our country in different formats. We are deeply grateful to them and appreciate this approach.

It is also a fact that some of you were objectively or subjectively disappointed. What shall we do now: feel hurt and carry on like that?

I am convinced that we have no right to be despondent, disappointed, frustrated, and disdainful to each other. It is just illogical and will lead us to a deadlock. Even if we do not have our share of sin, we all have something else we can do.

We need to straighten our back and continue building together the country we all dream about; the country that wakes up every day with firm determination to build, develop and add something new for the sake of its supreme value – the man.

We need an advanced and developed country that will have a gravitational force and will reverse the migration trends and will be able to resist such a painful phenomenon as is the isolation from the community, namely the “emigration from the Diaspora.”

On this road, we must be realistic, sincere and constructive, get rid of all kinds of illusions, we must clearly and sincerely assess the expectations and reality of both Armenia and the Diaspora.

We need to agree on our further steps and future visions, evaluate our shortcomings, look forward optimistically, work out and persist.

Everyone can have a direct and immediate role in our development and reform process, regardless of citizenship, position, profession or irrespective of how many days is spent in Homeland: in a word, all those who are not indifferent to the fate of Armenia and wish to participate in the future of their homeland.

See full speech HERE