Text by: Tigran Zakaryan
Armenian foreign policy is currently engaged in a frantic search for new partners while trying to foster the old alliances. While Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited Moscow for the first time following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan held extensive talks with the OSCE Minsk group’s French and US co-chairs.
Another remarkable activity by the Armenian foreign minister was his visit to India, meeting with the top officials there. Interestingly enough, prior to the visit, Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan had received the Indian ambassador discussing with him prospects in military cooperation. In New Delhi, Mirzoyan discussed with Indian officials transit corridors between the Black Sea and the Persian Gulf crossing through Armenia, which was also part of the agenda of his later talks with the Georgian foreign minister in Yerevan.
Currently, Ararat Mirzoyan is on an official visit in the US, where he already has met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and with whom he signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Civil Nuclear Cooperation. While the US State Secretary welcomed the “dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan”, Ararat Mirzoyan highlighted Washington’s role as an OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing country and supporter of the talks with Ankara.
This revitalization of the Armenian foreign policy – which some might regard as belated – is an active response to most severe challenges in the region. Armenian foreign policy needs to look for all possible avenues of fending off the multiple threats to its security and independence while taking bold steps to break outdated stereotypes on the world order and the balance of power globally and regionally.
