Reuben Vardanyan, the newly appointed State Minister in the self-declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic on Wednesday (9 November) continued with the process of administrative changes in the territory of which he is now de facto prime minister.
Speaking to a gathering of the territory's officials in Stepanakert, Ruben Vardanyan singled out three principles which he said he wanted to be the basis for work: teamwork, transparency and professionalism.
"I came not just to take the position of state minister, but to work together with you in a crisis situation. Teamwork is important to me, and I am ready to work together with all of you on that principle. The second is transparency. we must do everything to ensure the transparency of our work, decisions made and implemented programs. Another important principle is professionalism. I am sure that all of you have come a long professional way, but in order to be competitive specialists in the current reality, we must all continue to work towards the development of our abilities," he emphasised.
The Minister of State also introduced his newly appointed advisers and indicated their areas of coordination at this stage. Artak Beglaryan will deal with foreign political, social, and humanitarian issues, Grigori Martirosyan - infrastructure, Narine Aghabalyan - structural and organizational, Mesrop Arakelyan - financial, and Arman Hakobjanyan - operational issues.
At the start of the meeting the gathering observed a minute silence in respect of all the residents of the territory that had died in the second Karabakh War which ended exactly two years ago.
Vardanyan was until recently a successful businessman based in Moscow. In September he announced that he was rencouncing his Russian citizenship and moving to Nagorno-Karabakh, where shortly after he was appointed State Minister.