RSC Director Richard Giragosian and Senior Analyst David Shahnazaryan each addressed the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s 89^th Rose-Roth Seminar in Yerevan on 19 June.  In a panel entitled “NATO’s Partnership in the South Caucasus, RSC Senior Analyst Shahnazaryan gave a presentation on the need for greater NATO engagement in the South Caucasus, with an additional focus on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the outlook for resuming the process of Armenia-Turkey “normalization.”

In light of recent developments, the Regional Studies Center (RSC) held a special closed briefing on Wednesday, 21 January, to assess the implications of the recent tragedy involving the murder of an Armenian family by a rogue Russian soldier stationed at the Russian military base in Gyumri.

In cooperation with our Georgian partner organization, the Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC), the Regional Studies Center (RSC) held a joint discussion panel on 5 December entitled, “Regional Divergence: The European Union and the Eurasian Union.” Hosted by the Open Society Institute Georgia Foundation (OSGF), the discussion was moderated by OSGF Executive Director Keti Khutsishvili and featured welcoming remarks by Nino Evgenidze, the Executive Director of the Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC), followed by presentations by RSC Director Richard Giragosian and EPRC Senior Research Advisor Giorgi Bakradze.

On 28 November, the RSC provided a special training on analysis and “critical thinking” for 25 staff members from several committees of the Armenian parliament. As a component of the RSC Parliamentary Support project, this staff training was the latest of our activities designed to enhance the institutional capacity of the Armenian National Assembly through analytical support and technical expertise in the areas of parliamentary oversight, committee hearings, legislative review and the public policy process.

Several RSC staff members participated in an international expert workshop organized in Berlin on 25 November by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) focusing on the “Repercussions of a Changing Geopolitical Environment on the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict.”