The Regional Studies Center (RSC) held its latest monthly briefing on 30 March, with a presentation by RSC Director Richard Giragosian focusing on an analysis of domestic political developments in Armenia and an assessment of regional developments (briefing notes attached).
In a special presentation hosted by Anahit Simonyan, the head of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Operations in Armenia, RSC Director Richard Giragosian offered a lecture on Armenia for a visiting group of three dozen graduate students and faculty from the Pazmany Peter Catholic University in Budapest, Hungary. Giragosian’s presentation traced Armenia’s course of democratization, economic development and conflict resolution through the period of independence, with an added focus on the broader context of Armenia’s performance in meeting the UN’s set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals. A discussion, with Dr. Balint Kovacs, the head of the visiting Hungarian group, then followed the presentation.
The Regional Studies Center (RSC) has actively supported the European Union’s Eastern Partnership (EaP) program and as an active member of the Eastern partnership Civil Society Forum, contributes to the deepening of ties and association between the EU and Armenia, as well as the other five members of the EaP (Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus and Azerbaijan).
Representing the Regional Studies Center (RSC), Dr. Haykak Arshamyan participated in a three-day seminar on the “Integration Processes of Armenia in the Current Geopolitical Environment,” held on 18-20 March in Aghveran, Armenia. The seminar, which was organized by the Yerevan Press Club (YPC) with the support of the Armenian office of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) Foundation, included presentations by the head of the European Union Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Antoni Świtalski entitled, “The Process and Perspectives of EU-Armenia Relations,” and by Yerevan Press Club President Boris Navasardian, who presented a report on “The Information Component of the Armenian Integration Processes.” Arshamyan was also a speaker on a panel devoted to the latter topic.
As part of a group of a dozen Armenian civil society organizations, RSC Director Richard Giragosian met on 16 March with a visiting delegation from the European Commission and the Human Rights Strategy and Policy Implementation Division of the EU’s European External Action Service (EEAS).