Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan has addressed the state of Armenia-EU relations and the outlook for their development, speaking at a panel discussion titled “The EU as a Strategic Partner: Perspectives from Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia” at the World Policy Conference.The panel also brought together Lasha Darsalia, Deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia; Dmytro Kuleba, former Foreign Minister of Ukraine; and Roman Vassilenko, Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to the EU, NATO, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Kostanyan opened by noting that the world has changed considerably in recent years, producing a more complex environment in which traditional approaches no longer always hold.

“Today, many things have changed. We are apparently living through extraordinary times — and while that was also true two years ago, the situation today is even more complicated, which means conventional approaches do not always work,” he said, stressing the need for unconventional solutions.

Turning to Armenia-EU relations, he highlighted the law passed by the Armenian parliament last March, formally initiating the EU membership process — describing it as one of the most significant steps on Armenia’s EU aspirations track.

“This is a clear political statement about where Armenia’s government and people see themselves in the future,” he said.

He was quick to add, however, that Yerevan holds no illusions about the timeline.

“We are not naive enough to think that Armenia will become an EU member state in 2028 or 2030. This is nonetheless a political declaration that signals the direction in which we are working,” he said.

Kostanyan described the process as setting a new and ambitious reform agenda aligned with European standards. He also noted that Armenia is currently the only country in the world with which the European Union is conducting a visa liberalisation dialogue.

He further highlighted the Armenia-EU Strategic Partnership Agenda, adopted last December, which he said establishes a clear framework and roadmap for cooperation — for the first time incorporating security and economic dimensions, going beyond the scope of the 2017 CEPA agreement.

“As our European partners like to say, Armenia-EU relations have never been closer,” Kostanyan said, adding that this is not the final destination and that further milestones lie ahead. He also announced that the first-ever Armenia-EU summit will be held in Yerevan on 5 May, immediately following the European Political Community Summit, which Armenia is also hosting.Kostanyan acknowledged a structural tension in the relationship, observing that European bureaucracy sometimes struggles to keep pace with the rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape in the region.

“Sometimes we are slowly rushing — but we must make sure we are not falling behind,” he said, echoing a point raised in conversation with Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Darsalia.

He also argued that the concept of the “European Neighbourhood” is in need of reinterpretation. When the Eastern Partnership was established, he noted, the South Caucasus marked the eastern boundary of that neighbourhood. Today, he said, that boundary must extend further.

“A strategic European neighbourhood cannot exclude Central Asia,” Kostanyan said, adding that the three South Caucasus countries now play a vital role in connecting Central Asia with the European Union.