Armen Sarkissian participated at the Eurasian Media Forum discussions: Armenia can become a cooperation bridge between Eurasia and the European Union

In the framework of the 16th Eurasian Media Forum, President Armen Sarkissian participated at the “Globalization: The World in the Search of New Development Models” discussions.

At the beginning of the discussions, speaking about the idea of deglobalization, President Armen Sarkissian noted that he didn’t believe in that notion.“Globalization is not over yet, it will go on and will happen even faster. It has not started today, years or decades ago, it started hundreds, thousands years ago with the Silk Road or even earlier. At that time, the world had already was globalized and globalization scenarios were different. Today, globalization continues,” he noted. Armen Sarkissian agreed with the participants of the discussions that there were difficulties for the process of globalization at different levels, and today the most significant problem pertains to the management of that process.

“Armenia is a small country but a global nation, and I believe we will become the nation which knows how to adapt. A nation, which throughout its history had gone through the unimaginable tragedies and started a new life. It is an important quality in the new world which has less certainty and more uncertainties,” the President of Armenia said.

He underscored that Armenia has always been and remains at the crossroads. “Armenia is a crossroad. For that very reason, our country learned to work with everyone, has close relations with the Russian Federation and members of the Eurasian Economic Union. But, at the same time, Armenia has signed the agreement with the European Union, and there is no contradiction there. Moreover, Armenia has an advantage, and the international community should use this advantage because Armenia is the only country which has deep relations with the EU, as well as with Russia and Eurasia. So, why not to use Armenia’s opportunities as a bridge?” President Armen Sarkissian noted.

The President of Armenia responded to various questions of the participants. In particular, referring to the observation that the social media could replace the traditional one, he noted, “I don’t think so. Eventually, they will merge. The one will not replace the other, rather the two of them will become one entity.”

The President noted that in the globalized world social networks unite people. He spoke of the quantum nature of politics and noted that the contemporary political figures are using the new tools – social networks, properly. Responding to the question on the relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, President Armen Sarkissian said that currently the two countries are conducting negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the NK conflict.

He reminded that from the Armenian side the negotiations are conducted by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the Azerbaijani side – by President Ilham Aliev and Minister of Foreign Affairs of that country. “I bring my full support to a peaceful settlement of the conflict. However, this issue doesn’t distance Armenia from international relations, or the opportunity to serve as a bridge between Eurasia and the European Union,” President Sarkissian noted.