Armenia and India deepen ties during state visit in New Delhi

During his state visit in New Delhi on Monday, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stated that a ‘comprehensive deepening of our partnership with India constitutes a foreign policy priority for Armenia’. Later that same day, Mirzoyan and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar signed two cooperation agreements.

‘Through joint efforts and determined commitment, we have achieved very concrete results in many areas of mutual interest, including economy, security and defense, information technology, education, and culture’, Mirzoyan said during his speech at the Indian Council on World Affairs (ICWA).

In particular, Mirzoyan highlighted that bilateral cooperation in the field of security and defence has been continuously expanding. He noted that Armenia welcomes the first consultations between their respective defence ministries, while adding that they are ‘convinced’ the appointment of resident military attaches is ‘an important step towards the development of deeper cooperation’ in this field.

Mirzoyan also stated that Armenia aims to ‘significantly increase bilateral trade volumes in the coming years’, putting a specific emphasis on providing opportunities for Armenian companies to establish business ties with India.

He also stated that Armenia was ‘deeply interested in promoting dialogue and cooperation within the framework of the North-South International Transport Corridor project and the Chabahar Port Development Initiative’, citing the importance of the Armenia–India–Iran trilateral cooperation format.

Besides defence and economic development, Mirzoyan also announced that Armenia was actively working to establish direct flights between Yerevan and New Delhi.

During his speech, Mirzoyan also touched upon the ongoing negotiations with Azerbaijan to establish a peace deal, noting that ‘Armenia has consistently worked towards establishing a sustainable peace in the South Caucasus’.

While listing the progress the two countries have made, Mirzoyan warned that Armenia’s ‘constructive approach’ has not been ‘fully reciprocated’ by Azerbaijan, citing high-level public statements implying territorial claims against Armenia, including the ‘Western Azerbaijan’ narrative.

Mirzoyan also discussed the ongoing process of normalising relations with Turkey, stating that the two countries have agreed to open the border to holders of diplomatic passports and citizens of third countries.

Touching upon Armenia’s relations with Georgia, Iran, the EU, and the Eurasian Economic Union, Mirzoyan compared the government’s ‘balanced and counterbalanced foreign policy’ approach to that of India’s ‘strategic autonomy’.

Later on Monday, Mirzoyan had a private meeting with Jaishankar, during which he highlighted that ‘Armenia wants to ‘build stronger economic, trade, technological and cultural ties with India so that both our peoples benefit from this relationship in the decades and centuries to come’.

As a result of their discussions, one Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Diplomatic School of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia and the Sushma Swaraj Foreign Service Institute of the Republic of India, while a second MoU was signed on the basis of cooperation in the field of drug regulation between each country’s health ministry.

Since 2020, Armenia has increasingly been looking towards India for military support, as opposed to continuing to heavily rely on Russian weaponry and ammunition. In turn, Azerbaijan has been deepening ties with Pakistan.

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OC MediaArshaluys Barseghyan