Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Vahagn Khachaturyan participated in the second workshop titled “Improving the business environment through dialogue” in Jermuk.

The goal of the workshop is to strengthen constructive and accountable cooperation between the public and private sectors of Armenia, based on previously discussed sectoral issues and proposals for their possible solutions. Representatives of the Government, parliament, state bodies, and the business community participated in the workshop.

Welcoming the attendees, Nikol Pashinyan reminded that this is the second workshop held in such a format this year. The Prime Minister noted that the effectiveness of the first workshop held in Dilijan is obvious: “It is very important that the business community also has such a format for discussing issues with the Government, where it will be possible to discuss the raised issues in a more expanded format. It is also important that the discussions be general, so that we can extract from individual cases the phenomena, successes, and problems that have general significance."

Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that the discussion of issues should take place with political and socio-psychological processes taking place in Armenia in mind. “What is happening in Armenia today? For quite some time now, a certain change in thinking has been taking place in Armenia, and I think that in parallel with the change in these political and socio-psychological layers, we must have a certain change in economic thinking,” the Prime Minister noted, adding that we often encounter ways of thinking and formulas that are not equivalent to the changes taking place in Armenia.

According to Nikol Pashinyan, this can be encountered both in the Government, in state bodies, and in the business community. In this regard, the Prime Minister emphasized the need to review policies and ways of thinking. “In recent years, we have had an average economic growth of more than 7%, which is very good, which is the result of all of our work, and I would also like to thank the business community of the Republic of Armenia, and all business entities and citizens working in Armenia, creating results, and paying taxes as prescribed by law. But, in my opinion, we are entering a completely new phase, where our ways of thinking about economic policy formation, our ways of thinking about engaging in economic activity, must at least be revised. And we must bring them into line not with today, because bringing them into line with today means being late, but we must talk about bringing our thinking into line with the process, dynamics, and short-term, medium-term, and long-term strategies and developments. Our economy and we are also part of the global world, and we must be able to be in line with the developments of the world with our ways of thinking and acting,” the Prime Minister said.

Nikol Pashinyan noted that it is necessary to find the fulcrum in the context of specific problems, working around which we will be able to form long-term ideas and strategies, which will not be only the strategy of the Government or the political majority, but will be the strategy of the Armenian economy.

The Prime Minister informed that at the first Cabinet meeting in 2026, it is planned to adopt the economic policy doctrine, the draft of which is already in the finalization stage. “There, we will indicate what main directions we should work on in the long-term perspective of the Armenian economy, in particular, until 2050, so that our economy is competitive and developing, based on the logic and understanding that the state interest of the Republic of Armenia is economic development,” Nikol Pashinyan emphasized.

The Prime Minister referred to the narrative “unification around the state, unification around state interests” and pointed out that the fulcrum and axis of this unification is economic development. "No goal in any field, cultural, sports, social, can be achieved without economic development. And therefore, this statement that Armenia's state interest is economic development, I think, is the basis in the context of which we should try to create new formulas. And it is precisely around economic development that we must ensure the consolidation, in particular, of the Armenian business community and society in general, because there is no person who does not participate or have a relationship with Armenia's economic development, and therefore with the state interest."

The Prime Minister wished the attendees success in discussing the busy agenda of the workshop.

Next, discussions were held in three thematic areas reflecting the issues raised by the business community: directions for improving the investment environment, predictability of regulations and administration, and accountable and participatory governance. Representatives of the Government, the Central Bank, the business community, as well as non-governmental organizations dealing with business environment issues participated in the panel discussions.

Nikol Pashinyan made a closing speech, expressed gratitude for organizing the workshop, spoke about the importance of changing economic thinking, and in this context emphasized that political changes are lasting and fundamental if they are accompanied by a change in economic thinking. The Head of Government also touched upon the change in the perception of taxes and noted: “I see that this change is happening, of course, this change is also happening in parallel with the fact that a person sees that the tax he paid has come under his feet, mud has become asphalt, a dilapidated school has become a new school, etc..”

The Prime Minister also spoke about the importance of developing domestic expert potential, the involvement of universities and research institutes in decision-making, and the creation of sectoral unions, where the potential of the Government and the private sector will be united.

Summing up his speech, Nikol Pashinyan noted: “Success is that we know how to learn, and when we know how to learn, it means that we will solve all the problems set before us.”