2024 APRI New York Meeting

Armenia’s New Balance: Russia, the West and the Future of the South Caucasus

Yerevan, Armenia

  • October 11, 2024

APRI New York Meeting, themed “Armenia’s New Balance: Russia, the West and the Future of the South Caucasus” took place on October 11, 2024 in New York City.

The forum included distinguished experts in regional and global affairs, including leading voices engaged in shaping Armenia’s policy future. The three-hour conference covered Armenia’s new foreign policy balance between Russia and the West, the potential impact of the US presidential election on global stability, Armenia’s ongoing security and defense reforms, and the quest for peace and stability in the South Caucasus.

In addition to serving as a vital platform for discussing Armenia’s foreign policy and peacebuilding in the South Caucasus, the event took place alongside the 93rd General Assembly of the Armenian General Benevolent Union. The assembled audience of community leaders, philanthropists, and young civic activists will present a unique opportunity to engage with some of the most constructive voices in the Armenian diaspora.


Quotes that inspired us:

  • “Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past—let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” John F. Kennedy

     

  • “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Eleanor Roosevelt

     

  • “It is simply in the nature of Armenian to study, to learn, to question, to speculate, to discover, to invent, to revise, to restore, to preserve, to make, and to give.” William Saroyan 

13:00

Lunch and Registration

14:00

Musical Guest

14:10

Words of Welcome

  • Lara Setrakjian, President, APRI Armenia

14:20

The US Election and Strategic Interests in the South Caucasus

In the opening session of the APRI New York Meeting, Senior Director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center Ambassador John Herbst discusses the upcoming US elections and how they could impact US foreign policy
in the South Caucasus.

  • Ambassador John Herbst, Senior Director, Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center
  • Moderator: Nvard Chalikyan, Research Fellow, APRI Armenia

14:45

Armenia’s Foreign Policy Pivot in a Multipolar World

Armenia is undergoing a significant transformation in its foreign policy, engaging both new country partners and traditional allies to build up its resilience in military, political, and economic domains. The panel will
assess the current state of Armenia’s foreign policy diversification, the potential for a new diplomatic architecture, and the impact of ongoing geopolitical events on the South Caucasus.

  • Dhruva Jaishankar, Executive Director, Observer Research Foundation America
  • Anatol Lieven, Director, Eurasia Program, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
  • Garo Paylan, Visiting Scholar, Europe Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  • Michael Rubin, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
  • Moderator: Anahide Pilibossian, Vice President, Strategy and Development, APRI Armenia

15:35

Musical Guest

15:45

Armenia’s Security in the Quest for Regional Peace

In a turbulent and unstable region, Armenia is advancing its security and defense capabilities to protect its territorial integrity. But there remain many challenges and open questions. Where does Armenia’s security
balance stand today? How can foreign partners engage with Armenia to build up its deterrent and defensive capacities, diminishing the risk of future conflict?

  • Colonel (Retired) Robert Hamilton, Head of Eurasia Research, Foreign Policy Research Institute
  • Nerses Kopalyan, Associate Professor-in-Residence of Political Science, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
  • Leonid Nersisyan, Senior Research Fellow, APRI Armenia
  • Margarita Tadevosyan, Executive Director, Center for Peacemakingtion, George Mason University Practice, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University
  • Moderator: Lara Setrakian, President, APRI Armenia

16:35

Armenia’s Conservative Outreach: On Foreign Policy and Religious Freedom

Armenia’s recent diplomatic and military challenges dovetail with the threat to religious freedom worldwide. This discussion will evaluate how Armenia can position itself as a cornerstone of the international religious
freedom agenda to craft a more effective foreign policy.

  • Ambassador Sam Brownback, Co-Chair, International Religious Freedom Summit, Former US Senator from the State of Kansas, Former US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom
  • Moderator: Lara Setrakian, President, APRI Armenia
Open Popup
Speaker Name
Ambassador Sam Brownback
Affiliation
Co-Chair, International Religious Freedom Summit, Senior Fellow, Global Christian Relief, Board Member, Save Armenia, Chairman, National Committee for Religious Freedom
Bio
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Ambassador Sam Brownback
Co-Chair, International Religious Freedom Summit, Senior Fellow, Global Christian Relief, Board Member, Save Armenia, Chairman, National Committee for Religious Freedom
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Speaker Name
Nvard Chalikyan
Affiliation
Research Fellow, APRI Armenia
Bio
Nvard Chalikyan is a Research Fellow at Applied Policy Research Institute (APRI Armenia). Her areas of interest are the geopolitics of South Caucasus, Armenia-India relations as well as the US-Russia relations. Nvard is an international relations specialist, with over 10 years of professional experience, working in think tanks in Armenia and internationally. She has published articles in Armenian and international outlets. Ms. Chalikyan holds MPhil in politics and international studies from the University of Cambridge, and MA in political science from the American University of Armenia.
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Nvard Chalikyan
Research Fellow, APRI Armenia
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Speaker Name
Colonel (Retired) Robert E. Hamilton
Affiliation
Head of Eurasia Research, Foreign Policy Research Institute
Bio
Colonel (Retired) Robert E. Hamilton, PhD, is the Head of Research at the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Eurasia Program. In a 30-year career in the US Army, spent primarily as an Eurasian Foreign Area Officer, he served overseas in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Germany, Belarus, Qatar, Afghanistan, the Republic of Georgia, Pakistan, and Kuwait. Hamilton also worked as a Professor of Eurasian Studies at the US Army War College. He is the author of numerous articles and monographs on conflict and security issues, focusing principally on the former Soviet Union and the Balkans, and a book on China-Russia relations, forthcoming in Fall 2024. He is a graduate of the German Armed Forces Staff College and the U.S. Army War College and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy, a master’s degree in Contemporary Russian Studies, and a PhD in Political Science, both from the University of Virginia.
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Colonel (Retired) Robert E. Hamilton
Head of Eurasia Research, Foreign Policy Research Institute
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Speaker Name
Ambassador John Herbst
Affiliation
Senior Director, Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center
Bio
Photo
Ambassador John Herbst
Senior Director, Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center
Open Popup
Speaker Name
Dhruva Jaishankar
Affiliation
Executive Director, Observer Research Foundation America
Bio
Dhruva Jaishankar is Executive Director of ORF America, which he helped establish in 2020. From 2016 to 2019, Jaishankar was a Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at Brookings India in New Delhi and the Brookings Institution in Washington DC. From 2012 to 2016, he was a Transatlantic Fellow with the German Marshall Fund (GMF) in Washington DC. Before that, he worked as a research assistant at the Brookings Institution in Washington and as a news writer and reporter for CNN-IBN television in New Delhi. In 2015-2016, Jaishankar was a Visiting Fellow with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. He holds a B.A. in history and classics from Macalester College, and an M.A. in security studies from Georgetown University. His research has been published in several books, policy reports, and publications including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and Survival.
Photo
Dhruva Jaishankar
Executive Director, Observer Research Foundation America
Open Popup
Speaker Name
Nerses Kopalyan
Affiliation
Associate Professor-in-Residence of Political Science, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV)
Bio
Photo
Nerses Kopalyan
Associate Professor-in-Residence of Political Science, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV)
Open Popup
Speaker Name
Anatol Lieven
Affiliation
Director, Eurasia Program, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
Bio
Photo
Anatol Lieven
Director, Eurasia Program, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
Open Popup
Speaker Name
Leonid Nersisyan
Affiliation
Senior Research Fellow, APRI Armenia
Bio
Leonid Nersisyan is a defense analyst and a Senior Research Fellow at the Applied Policy Research Institute of Armenia (APRI Armenia), focusing on military reform, defense technologies, and the interplay of geopolitical and regional stability. Leonid’s research interests include Russia and CIS countries’ armed forces, defense industry and technology, armed conflicts, and arms control. He is co-author of the books Waiting for the Storm: The South Caucasus, Storm in the Caucasus and The Air War in Ukraine: The First Year of Conflict.
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Leonid Nersisyan
Senior Research Fellow, APRI Armenia
Open Popup
Speaker Name
Garo Paylan
Affiliation
Visiting Scholar, Europe Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Bio
Photo
Garo Paylan
Visiting Scholar, Europe Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Open Popup
Speaker Name
Anahide Pilibossian
Affiliation
Vice President of Strategy and Development, APRI Armenia
Bio
Anahide Pilibossian is the Vice President of Strategy and Development of APRI Armenia since its launch in 2022. Between 2013 and 2022, Anahide was a member of BlackRock’s EMEA Public Affairs team, the leading asset management firm, where she engaged with policymakers and other stakeholders on stakeholder capitalism and climate finance. She also worked as a research and policy officer in a London-based think tank, Tomorrow’s Company. Anahide graduated from the London School of Economics in 2008 earning a MSc in Comparative Politics, Politics and Markets. She also graduated from Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne in 2007 with a Master 2 in International Economic Law.
Photo
Anahide Pilibossian
Vice President of Strategy and Development, APRI Armenia
Open Popup
Speaker Name
Michael Rubin
Affiliation
Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Bio
Photo
Michael Rubin
Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Open Popup
Speaker Name
Lara Setrakian
Affiliation
President, APRI Armenia
Bio
Lara Setrakian is an award-winning journalist and the President of the Applied Policy Research Institute of Armenia, an independent, nonpartisan think tank based in Yerevan. Her work focuses on advancing regional stability, sustainable prosperity, and civic engagement in the South Caucasus. She is also the Co-Founder of News Deeply, an innovative digital media company focused on critical global issues, now in partnership with The New Humanitarian.
Photo
Lara Setrakian
President, APRI Armenia

APRI Armenia is committed to creating an inclusive environment forvdialogue in an atmosphere of mutual respect. It is our duty and obligation to maintain an exchange of ideas that is free from harassment, discrimination, and threatening or disrespectful behavior. We expect all speakers and participants to abide by these guidelines.

APRI Armenia reserves the right to refuse admittance to or remove any person from its events at any time. This includes, but is not limited to, attendees behaving in a disorderly manner or failing to comply with our community guidelines. We do not tolerate harassment of event participants in any form.

We hope you will enjoy the company of the distinctive speakers, facilitators, and participants who attend our events. We convene in the spirit of mutual understanding and with an appreciation of what each individual brings to the whole conversation.

Artists in Residence

Ara Dinkjian is an Armenian born in the United States in 1958. His earliest professional musical experience was accompanying his father Onnik Dinkjian, a renowned Armenian folk and liturgical singer.
Ara learned several Western and Eastern instruments (piano, guitar, dumbeg, clarinet) and in 1980 graduated from the Hartt College of Music, earning the country’s first and only special degree in the instrument for which he has become most well-known, the oud.
For more than 40 years, he served as organist in the Armenian Apostolic Church. Throughout his musical life, Ara has continued to develop his highly personal compositional style, which blends his Eastern and Western roots. In 1985, to help realize these compositions and musical concepts, Ara formed his instrumental quartet, Night Ark, which recorded four CDs for RCA/BMG and Universal/PolyGram.

Ara’s compositions have had a universal appeal. His songs have been recorded by world-famous instrumentalists and singers in 16 languages, demonstrating that music does indeed unite people and cultures.
The documentary film “Garod” tells the story of how Onnik Dinkjian kept Armenian folk music alive in the diaspora, and handed it down to his son Ara.
Ara Dinkjian continues to compose, perform, record, and teach, while creating his own unique musical landscape.

Photo Gallery

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Session Recordings

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Co-sponsor

Supporters

Megerian Carpet
Gagarin Project

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