On October 13-15, 2024 Ms. Armine Margaryan, the President of the “Women & Global Security Architecture” think tank (WGSA) participated in #Forum2000 annual conference held in Prague. In the framework of ‘’What can Western Democracies do for Armenia’s European Choice?’’ panel discussion Ms. Margaryan as a panelist highlighted:
”…As a think tank community representative, I believe, that by investing in Armenia’s security, the EU is simultaneously investing in regional security and stability, in its eastern neighborhood’s security and stability, in its own security and stability. Why? The answer is simple: because Armenia and the EU share the same democratic values, principles of human rights, rule of law, they both are committed to the rules-based international order….”
“… I think, it is obvious that the Armenia – EU relations are developing and deepening dynamically and meaningfully covering a wide range of areas of cooperation – be it assistance measure under the European Peace Facility, be it deployment of EUMA in Armenia or upcoming Armenia – EU new partnership agenda or be it the launch of VLD. At the same time, it is very important to emphasize that all these positive developments are happening in the times of global uncertainty and fragmentation. Furthermore, we are witnessing now a rise of a new phenomenon in the regional geopolitics, which can be identified as anti-Western integrative regionalism of autocratic regimes. So, it is reasonable to think how difficult Armenia’s strategic environment is and how crucial it is for Armenia that the EU maintain consistency in its support to Armenia along with introducing and implementing targeted policies aimed at containing militaristic policies of Azerbaijan towards Armenia. So far, we have not seen any sanctions against Azerbaijan. Just the contrary: we see the EU importing Azeri gas and/or the Russian gas via Azerbaijan. An objective question may rise: to what extent it can prioritize its values over energy supplies from an autocratic regime. You may ask “what is the link between the latter and Armenia – EU bilateral relations?’’. I would say there is a direct linkage as Azeri Russian alliance is the one that challenges Armenia’s efforts to strengthen its democracy.
The Armenian society looks forward to seeing more concrete actions form the EU side to contain above-mentioned regimes which will automatically lead to strengthening security and democracy in and around Armenia …”
Forum 2000 is an annual conference aimed at promoting democratic values, human rights, civil society and religious tolerance. This time it was held under the title “Proving democracy’s resolve and resilience” and critically examined challenges, possible solutions and ways forward around thematic areas such as World Order on the Brink, Fragile Democracies, Democracy and Technology, Forum for Ukraine, as well as challenges of thematic and regional focus.