Yerevan Dialogue
Greetings from Armenia! I arrived here on Monday to attend the Yerevan Dialogue, and had a fantastic time. It was the first big event like this that I’ve been to in years where US-China competition wasn’t the bass line of every panel. Lots of talk of regional solutions to regional problems, South-South cooperation, and of course, South Caucasus geopolitics. I’m flying back to Abu Dhabi today and over the next couple of days will try to get caught up on all the news I missed this week.
A few reflections from the Dialogue.
Yerevan is a charming city. I was here briefly in February and didn’t have a chance to explore it much. It’s a great walking city, beautiful public spaces, fantastic food, hugely underrated. I hope to get back soon.
This was the inaugural Yerevan Dialogue, co-hosted by the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and India’s Observer Research Foundation. ORF has tremendous convening power and they brought together a brilliant and diverse group of speakers and participants, including a lot of senior officials.
The PM of Armenia opened the Dialogue with a discussion of progress on the peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and a disucssion of their Crossroads of Peace plan. In both cases I had the sense that there is a lot of things that have to go perfect in order for either to work. It didn’t seem that Azerbaijan is particularly interested in a peace settlement right now, although I need to get up to speed on the conflict. The Crossroads of Peace is aligned with so much of the connectivity agendas we see around the world these days, and the South Caucasus countries are a crucial but under-recognized corridor that would appear perfect for this. In Armenia’s case, however, I worry that being landlocked and sharing difficult borders - Turkey and Azerbaijan especially problematic, Iran and Georgia challenging in their own particular ways - contribute to a tough environment for the investment that the Crossroads requires.
Speaking of Iran, the Islamic Republic’s deputy minister of Foreign Affairs was one of the speakers. Beyond his ridiculous claim that Iran isn’t supplying Russia with any weapons for its war in Ukraine - which got a reasonable rebuke from Luxembourg’s FM - it was interesting to hear Armenians describe Iran as a useful neighbour that contributes to stability. I don’t often here that from Iranian neighbours.
ORF released a dossier for the Dialogue, “The Yerevan Primer: A World in Transition.” I contributed a piece for it, looking at GCC economic engagement in Central Asia. It was interesting to look at a region that doesn’t typically feature too deeply in my work, but it was super interesting to see how much has changed in this space in the past couple of years. Lots of interesting stuff in the dossier, have a look.
OK, flight’s about to board. So long Yerevan, hope to see you again soon.