Participation of Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia in the panel discussion “South Caucasus: A Strategic Hub in the Making”

Within the framework of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Vahan Kostanyan participated in the panel discussion entitled "South Caucasus: A Strategic Hub in the Making."

Other panelists included Hikmet Hajiyev, Assistant to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Head of the Department of Foreign Policy Affairs of the Presidential Administration; Levan Zhorzholiani, Head of the Government Administration of Georgia; and Akif Cagatay Kilic, Chief Adviser on Foreign Policy and Security to the President of the Republic of Türkiye.

Question. "Talk to me about the opportunities you see through peace and continued diplomacy with your neighbors, and the strength of South Caucasus going forward."

Vahan Kostanyan. "Thank you very much. Allow me also to join congratulating Turkish colleagues with the excellent organization of the forum.

Just if I may also reflect on what Hikmet and Levan said, especially coming to a point that now there are totally different dynamics. You know, these dynamics between Armenia and Azerbaijan are also visible from the forums. If previously, let's say one year ago or two years ago, you had Armenian and Azerbaijani representatives on the same podium, everybody would come expecting to see a good fight. Now we are here to discuss the possibilities of a common future, cooperation, and to have a real dialogue. And this is very symbolic that there are four representatives of the same region sitting together to discuss the cooperation and the future that we see together.

So I believe that the historic event of August 8, which happened last year in Washington, will be a game-changer, not only for Armenia and Azerbaijan, but for the whole region, including Georgia and Türkiye. And this is an inclusive process.

You're speaking about the uncertainties in the world. And at some point, it's even shocking to think that, you know, South Caucasus is one of the most stable regions at the moment in the world, when the logistical chains and supply chains are disrupted everywhere, when there are ongoing wars, etc, etc. Now, the stability that we have in the South Caucasus is the biggest competitive advantage that we have. But the destruction of these supply chains, for example, is not going to last forever. And we need to be smart enough and quick enough to materialize the competitive advantages that we have.

And as it was coming to reaching peace, which took political courage, political decisions, now we need to move forward with new political, very important decisions on opening of the communications in the region, creating additional interlinkages between our countries, but also becoming a bridge and an impeded connectivity between Europe, Central Asia, Far East. And at the end of the day, stability and peace were a very important layer of the developments that we had, for example, with Azerbaijan last year.

I guess Hikmet will share my opinion that peace between us is the most important guarantee for the independence of Armenia and Azerbaijan and for the sovereignty of Armenia and Azerbaijan."

(...)

Question. "Vahan, I want to bring you back in. You know, there is so much disinformation in the world, so much conflict at the moment, and so much disharmony, but what we are seeing from the South Caucasus is great cooperation. Just come in on how people are working together positively and building stability, and helping bridge divides."

Vahan Kostanyan. "Thank you. Also, to reflect on some of the thoughts that were heard here. So, probably to start with building stability and peace, it takes everyday care. You need to invest every day in order to have peace institutionalized, as we in Armenia try to call the process that we are having.

But also, it's important that we are building economic ties. It was mentioned already that we started trade with Azerbaijan. Hopefully, in the near future we'll also be exporting some goods from Armenia to Azerbaijan.

Energy security - this is one of the very important components of possible cooperation, not only bilaterally but also from a regional perspective. As it was rightly mentioned, a TRIPP project, which Armenia is going to carry out with our United States colleagues, is about multimodal connectivity, is about the railways, roads, but also about energy grids and pipelines. And here we have our own interest to diversify the energy supply to Armenia but also to become a transit hub for energy resources coming from Central Asia, Azerbaijan, and going to Europe.

We have an interest in the Black Sea Submarine Project, as Armenia currently is the biggest producer of green energy among South Caucasus three, and as Georgia and Azerbaijan are also working to increase our renewable capacities, investing a lot in solar, planning to have a new nuclear power plant built, etc.

And here cooperation with the EU is very crucial for us. For us, it's not only economic cooperation but this is also a choice of the people of Armenia, who have European inspirations. And we are currently working on different dimensions to start with gradual or sectoral integration with the European Union. And in this regard, of course, Georgia's European future is also very important for us, based on geography but from a philosophical point of view as well. And we also have a law adopted last year on launching the EU accession process of Armenia, which step-by-step the government of Armenia will be carrying out. In the future, if we manage to become an EU member state, … and a Turkish colleague is smiling, given Turkish experience."

Question. "So Vahan, just on that point, just come in on that. I know Akif Bey is laughing but how important is the EU for you guys? What is your ambition there? What is the aspiration and what is the timescale?"

Vahan Kostanyan. "I cannot speak about the schedule in 2028 at the moment because we believe that we need to implement a vast majority of reforms. And for us, the process of EU integration, first of all, is about reforms, it's about raising the quality and the standards of governance and economy, etc, in the country. But if in the future we become an EU member state - I cannot judge whether Türkiye will be an EU member state or not at the moment - but this will create additional economic opportunities for us as well as Türkiye is a member of the customs union. But hopefully, we'll not wait that long with Türkiye to boost our economic relations as well.

Probably the last comment also to share the feeling that I had from the previous round of exchange, I should highlight that all the speakers sharing the panel have very open minds regarding the future. But I should also highlight that open minds require open borders. Hopefully, this will be changing in the near future."