Armenia conducts a multipolar foreign policy, which we call a “balanced and balancing foreign policy.” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday stated this during the SCO+ summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, addressing the question of what contribution Armenia can make in building a multipolar world.

Pashinyan added as follows: “The meaning of this policy is as follows: when the gravitational pull of any geopolitical pole becomes so strong that it can undermine our independence, we intensify our relations with another pole that has sufficient gravity for this situation in order to maintain our balance on the complicated path of sovereignty and independence.

The main goal of such a policy is to maintain and strengthen sovereignty and independence. And while developing these strategies, we came to the conclusion that it is impossible to have independence and sovereignty while living in conflict conditions, and multipolarity in this sense should be expressed first of all in the region where you live.

This is the reason why, deepening our friendly relations with neighboring Iran and Georgia, we [i.e. Armenia] are going on the path of building interstate relations with our other two neighbors, Azerbaijan and Turkey; and this, of course, becomes more tangible thanks to the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan established on August 8 last year with the support and participation of US President Donald Trump.

Now we are working with Azerbaijan and Turkey to open our interstate communications, including through the implementation of the TRIPP project, the implementation of which will begin on the ground in the coming months. This will open up new transport opportunities not only from east to west—that is, from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, but also from south to north—connecting the Persian Gulf to the Black Sea. So, all countries in the region will benefit from the implementation of the project.

And returning to Armenia’s multipolar foreign policy, PM Pashinyan stated: “In recent years, Armenia has been establishing strategic relations with Georgia, China, Kazakhstan, the USA, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania, the European Union. Our relations with India and Iran are actually of a strategic nature; we are now working on its document formulation.

The Republic of Armenia shares the multipolar vision of the world. Emphasizing the key role of the UN in building a multipolar world, I would like to inform that in October of this year, the COP17 conference on biodiversity will be held in Armenia under the auspices of the UN, and I invite you all to participate in this important event emphasizing the multipolarity of the world.”