President Serzh Sargsyan today received the participants of the 8^th Pan-Armenian Forum of Journalists held on 20-24 October under the title “Armenian Statehood: Axis of Unity” in Armenia and Artsakh. Overall, the forum organized by the RA Ministry of Diaspora gathered nearly 140 editors and journalists from 31 countries around the world. RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan was attending the meeting, as reported the press service of the President of the Republic of Armenia to Hayern Aysor.

The head of state welcomed the forum, which is being held for the eighth time in Armenia and is dedicated to the 25^th anniversary of the two Armenian republics.

“You represent a great force. With your activities, you convey energy and make us feel confident so that we can fulfill our duties by exerting our maximum efforts. During one of our previous meetings, we talked about the fact that, from our perspective, we need to set aside two major factors. The first is the work of journalists and media outlets that is specifically targeted at the Armenian community, that is, work that is aimed at preserving the Armenian identity. The second is consolidation of journalists of Armenian descent or with Armenian roots and working in different countries around the world. In the first and second case, in this rapidly changing world, it is very important for us Armenians to be able to find the right ways of working, manage to keep people interested in the topics that we work on, publish and wish to have an influence on this or that issue. I think that, in both cases, it is very important to stay true to the faithfulness of a journalist. It is also very important for us to be able to combine our efforts and identify the essential problems, the solution of which requires our vigor and potential,” President Serzh Sargsyan said.

Stating that a journalist can never achieve success by making attempts to deny little lies with bigger lies or establish legitimacy with illegitimate acts, the President of the Republic emphasized that the sharper the pen of a journalist is when presenting the truth, the more helpful it will be and won’t cause any harm, and he or she may cause big problems in case of using the pen, journalistic abilities and the influence of media outlets carelessly.

After his welcoming speech, the President suggested holding the meeting in a question-and-answer format so that he could have the chance to answer all the questions concerning the journalists.

The journalists and the heads of media outlets asked the President about Armenia’s views and position in the process of negotiations over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution, the reforms that Armenia will be undertaking in compliance with the new Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, the strengthening of Armenia-Diaspora relations and the existing potential, including the opportunities for fully using the potential of the journalistic community, the state policy on engaging foreign investments in Armenia’s economy and several other issues.