APRI Armenia’s Vice President of Strategy and Development, Anahide Pilibossian, was recently invited to speak at the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung panel discussion in Berlin: “Armenia Has Voted: A new impetus for democratic progress?”
During the panel, Anahide shared insights on Armenia’s foreign policy, regional connectivity, and the shifting dynamics with the EU, Russia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan.
Key highlights:
- “Western-focused diversification” has been Armenia’s trajectory and is likely to continue.
- Following the recent waves of diplomatic engagement that have strengthened EU-Armenia partnership, the focus must turn to implementing the strategic documents and meeting the commitments.
- The game-changer for the region will be opening the Armenian-Turkish border. It would remove Armenia from economic isolation and provide it with a direct connection to the EU’s customs union, which overall will strengthen regional connectivity.
- To move forward, the Armenia-Azerbaijan-Turkey diplomatic deadlock can be overcome. The United States possesses the diplomatic capacity to support this effort.
- With a peace agreement initialed and strong US diplomatic weight in play, there is a momentum we cannot afford to miss. This is a rare window to transform the region into a peaceful, thriving bridge connecting Europe with Central Asia and the Middle East.
