Armen Sarkissian has been sworn in as the 4th President of Armenia in a ceremony presided over by the chairman of the National Assembly and attended by high ranking officials of the Armenian state, the Armenian Apostolic Church and foreign dignitaries.
Under the provisions of the new constitution the President will be a symbolic head of state with no executive powers. The special sitting of the National Assembly took place at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex.
The new president swore the oath of office, saying "Assuming the office of President of the Republic of Armenia, I swear to be loyal to the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, be impartial in the exercise of my powers, be guided only by public and national interests, and to do everything in my power in order to strengthen national unity."
After the pontifical blessing and prayer of His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, President Armen Sargsyan delivered a speech. The new president said that
"Today the peaceful and negotiated settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict remains a key issue for our country and whole people. Its first guarantee are powerful Armenia and strong Artsakh. In order to achieve fair solution and protect the inseparable rights of the people of Artsakh, we must continue building firm, economically developing, flourishing and strong Armenia. For such Armenia we must provide the best environment for self-expression of our citizen".
Armen Sarkissian said it's necessary to jointly fight against all negative and defective phenomena existing in the state system, public, environment, starting from corruption to social injustice, from indifference to irresponsibility. "It is necessary for each of us to act in this uncompromising and fair fight. We will succeed if we not only criticize, but also propose to unite and work jointly instead of creating watersheds", the Armenpress news agency quoted the new president as saying.
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source: commonspace.eu with president.am
Photo: President Armen Sarkissian sweraing his oath of office at the inauguration ceremony on 9 April 2018 (picture courtesy of the press service of the president of Armenia)
