“Now, the stability that we have in the South Caucasus is the biggest competitive advantage that we have” Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan said during a panel discussion at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum.

He added that he finds it “even surprising to realise that the South Caucasus is now one of the most stable regions in the world”, at a time when instability is widespread, supply chains are disrupted and wars are ongoing.

“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” he said.

The panel, titled “The South Caucasus: An Emerging Strategic Hub”, also featured Hikmet Hajiyev, head of foreign policy at the Azerbaijani presidential administration; Levan Zhorzholiani, head of the Georgian government administration; and Akif Kılıç, chief foreign policy and security adviser to the Turkish president.

Kostanyan said it was symbolic that four representatives of the region were discussing cooperation and a shared vision for the future.

During the discussion, he also addressed the peace process with Azerbaijan, the normalisation of relations with Turkey, and Armenia’s prospects for European integration. He then outlined the key points of his remarks.

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Achieving peace with Azerbaijan required political courage

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 unimpeded 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.”  

It is in Armenia’s interests to diversify its economy and become a transport hub

“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.”

Partnership with the EU is the choice of the Armenian people

“Сooperation 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.”

Openness to new ideas requires open borders

“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.”