SpecialEurasia organised an official mission to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, to discuss with local official representatives, business people, analysts and security practitioners the current situation in the country.
Project name: Discovering & Analysing Armenia
Date: from October 21st, 2022, to October 28th, 2022
Partners: Opinio Juris, Notizie Geopolitiche
Scope: meeting with local official representatives, entrepreneurs, media experts and security analysts to analyse the current situation in Armenia; assessing investment opportunities and national economic trends; discovering the role of culture and religion in the society; producing reports, risk assessments, market analyses, and interviews for the international and the Italian audience.
Geopolitical scenario: in September 2022, Armenia faced a military escalation with Azerbaijan at its border, which alarmed the international community regarding the stability of the South Caucasus. The country led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who took power in 2018 after the Velvet Revolution and was confirmed as the government leader after the 2021 Parliamentary elections, should face several challenges linked to regional geopolitics, the necessity to boost the socio-economic development, especially after the pandemic, and the threat of Azerbaijani military aggression against its sovereign territory and the Republic of Artsakh (especially after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict). On the other hand, Armenia can balance these challenges with economic development projects based on its significant mineral resources (gold, copper, molybdenum, zinc), significant financial support from international organisations, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the membership inside the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and partnership agreement with the European Union (EU).
Considering the South Caucasus' current geopolitical scenario, we discussed with Vahagn Khachaturyan, President of the Republic of Armenia, the country's prospects in the changing world and possible regional developments to assess local stability and security and evaluate Armenia's potentialities.
SpecialEurasia met with Sergey Ghazaryan, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Artsakh in Armenia, with whom we discussed how recent regional geopolitical dynamics in the Caucasus had influenced the current situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.
SpecialEurasia met with Paruyr Hovhannisyan, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, with whom we discussed Yerevan’s regional and foreign policy and Armenia’s strategy to protect its sovereignty and citizens.
SpecialEurasia met with Hripsime Grigorianand Artur Hovhannisyan, members of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, to investigate the Government's domestic politics and assess the national situation.
SpecialEurasia met Vahan Kerobyan, the Minister of Economy of the Republic of Armenia, to investigate current Armenian economic trends and performance, the main drivers’ sectors, investment opportunities and fiscal policy.
During SpecialEurasia's official mission to Yerevan, our team met with Armenian female entrepreneurs who founded the brand Udivila, which promotes Armenian culture and attempts to carve out a slide of a market where Armenia has not yet been present.
On October 21st, 2022, SpecialEurasia began its special mission in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, to analyse the current situation in the country, assess socioeconomic trends and investigate possible future developments.