Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the gala concert of the original song contest-festival at the republican level in Jermuk, which was followed by the award ceremony.

Several dozen participants from different regions of the Republic of Armenia have applied to participate in the contest, which is being held for the second year with the support of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports. They performed both as individual performers and represented their educational institutions. The 12 best participants performed at the gala concert in Jermuk.

The performances were followed by the award ceremony for the 12 participants. In addition to the best participants, the participants’ teachers and educational institutions also received monetary awards.

The awards were presented by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan and Deputy Minister Education, Science, Culture and Sport Daniel Danielyan.

Following the award ceremony, Prime Minister Pashinyan made a speech, thanked and congratulated everyone on the occasion of a beautiful evening. In his speech, the Prime Minister noted that the holding of this award ceremony among schoolchildren and students is aimed at drawing up impressions about the Republic of Armenia. “We talk a lot at the political level about what we want to see Armenia as: peaceful, safe, developed, democratic, but behind all that there is a very important factor: we want the Republic of Armenia to be creative as well, because all the factors I mentioned, nevertheless, require and expect creative work behind them,” noted Nikol Pashinyan.

In this context, the Prime Minister emphasized that investments should be made at the level of general education and at the level of extracurricular education, and in parallel with the “300 Schools, 500 Kindergartens” program, another program will also be implemented in the direction of art schools, in particular, in the direction of building, reconstructing, overhauling, and providing property to music schools, so that more students have the opportunity to engage in creative activities.

The Prime Minister added: “I want to emphasize that we have opened and are opening a very important opportunity for the private sector. There are already art centers here that won awards. We encourage this and I also want to emphasize that we have created an opportunity to direct huge amounts of funds to this type of activity through the universal declaration system, including by directing a huge amount of social credits to that sphere of activit. And I am convinced that these opportunities, what we are doing and what we are saying, will definitely bring with them new people, new voices, new songs, new works. It is important that this festival and this contest specifically relate to original song, that is, to those who create these songs and perform these songs. I think that based on the results of two years, we have taken very important steps. We must continue these steps and will definitely hold a contest in this format every year, we will meet, talk, encourage and stimulate creativity in the Republic of Armenia.”

Nikol Pashinyan once again congratulated all participants and award winners, as well as congratulated everyone on the occasion of the New Year and Christmas, expressing confidence that the high New Year's mood will be maintained and developed through joint efforts.