As part of his official visit to India, Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan gave an interview to WION, a leading Indian media outlet focusing on foreign policy issues.

In the interview, Minister Mirzoyan answered the questions on the agenda of Armenia-India bilateral cooperation, highlighting the areas with significant development potential, mutual support on international platforms, as well as on the efforts to establish peace in the South Caucasus, alongside with other key regional and international topics.

The full interview was broadcast by WION on March 11, 2025, and its content is presented below.

 

Question: India and Armenia share a very close relationship. With me is the Foreign Minister of Armenia. Here, in Delhi, he had talks with the External Affairs Minister. So, welcome to WION. My first question is - How do you characterize the India-Armenia relationship? What are the areas of cooperation you see between the two countries?

Ararat Mirzoyan: Well, thank you for the invitation. Speaking about relations between Armenia and India one should remember that these relations – relations between the peoples of India and Armenia – have a history of several centuries. Remember that in the 18th century there was a vibrant Armenian community in India – community of intellectuals, of traders, who were helping for global positioning of India in terms of trade and economy, but also they had huge contribution into cultural perspective both in Armenia and India. It is interesting to know that, for instance, the first ever Armenian attempt to have a written constitution of the future Armenian Republic was written in India. Also, the first ever Armenian published periodical was published in India, in Madras, nowadays Chennai. 

So, coming back to modern days history, India was among the first states recognizing independence of the Republic of Armenia back in 1991, and interestingly only four years later we succeeded to sign the Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation between our two states, quite a serious document. Since then the political dialogue but also the interaction in various fields has been developing, and especially in recent 3-4 years we have made a significant upgrade of relations, we have very intense mutual political visits, political consultations between our Foreign Affairs Ministries, including the Ministers. Also we constantly meet in frames of Intergovernmental Commission on Cooperation, where we mark the areas and specific steps that we can bilaterally implement. So, if you ask how I would describe the relations – these are very close and friendly relations, which are being developed.

Question: Let me just talk about the meeting you had here, in Delhi. We saw the meeting between you and the Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar. What were the conversations like? What were the key outcomes of the conversations and key outcome of your visit here, in Delhi? 

Ararat Mirzoyan: Well, first of all, we had the opportunity to evaluate what already has been done, how the previous agreements that we have had have been implemented, but also to talk about the future possible and potential projects and areas of cooperation.

Question: Լet's talk about the defense relationship. This is a relationship that has been growing. You got systems from India as well in the past few years, something that has been talked about. So, if you can perhaps talk about this relationship, how you basically are increasing your defense cooperation with India and obviously. here are reports which suggest that you imported the Indian defense equipment as well. So, if you can perhaps talk about or give a broader overview about this.

Ararat Mirzoyan: Well, obviously, defense is one of the directions, one of the areas where we have very close cooperation with India and I suppose this cooperation will continuously be deepened. But what I would like to mention is that this cooperation and specifically trade of some specific equipment made in India and bought by Armenia is not intended to be used or however in any other sense, it's not against any other third party. You probably are aware that Armenia has a peace agenda, we are engaged in peace negotiations with our eastern neighbor but also in general, we very much are focused on establishing peace and stability and normalizing our relations with our neighbors. So, we are in the middle of the process of reforming our defense sector, reforming our army, modernizing our army, and here the Indian experience in some specific areas as well as the equipment made in India are of interest to us. But again, this is for reforming the Armenian defense system, and there is no intention to use these systems against any other third party.

Question: I was coming to that point.  We have seen comments coming from Azerbaijan in the aftermath of the reports coming that you have imported India-made defense assets, especially Pinaka. So, if you can perhaps talk about the reaction coming from Azerbaijan?

Ararat Mirzoyan: Well, I basically already reflected on this topic and Armenia's intention is only modernizing its own defense capabilities, modernizing the defense system as a whole and here the equipment brought not only from India but also elsewhere as well has the intention of having a better army with better defensive capabilities. Armenia does not have any intention of aggression against any third country.

Question: Connectivity: this has been another key pillar of the relationship. I've heard your previous comments where you have mentioned Chabahar port. Now, how do you plan to use the Chabahar port for wider connectivity when it comes to the world and to India? 

Ararat Mirzoyan: Well, as any other country in the world, now Armenia is doing its best to have or promote its logistical routes to become part of global transit routes. And here, exploring new opportunities is very important for Armenia. Moreover, we have come up with our own initiative, “Crossroads of Peace”, which basically supposes to unblock all transport and transit infrastructure in the South Caucasus, first of all, but also the initiative goes beyond the South Caucasus, especially having in mind that if implemented, this project will have a positive influence not only on the three countries of the South Caucasus. So we are interested in exploring new transit routes, including ports, railway, electricity cables, internet cables, etc.

And to implement this, we, of course, first of all, focus on the negotiations with our neighbors, including Azerbaijan. We made a mutually beneficial proposal for both countries, but also we continue our negotiations about opening our borders and reusing, relaunching our railway infrastructure, connecting Armenia with Türkiye. So, as part of the ”Crossroads of Peace”, we can consider not only the North-South direction, but also the West-East, or as you wish, East-West direction.

Again, if implemented, this project is going to be beneficial for many players in the world.

Question: Trade. It remains small overall, if you look at it, essentially what are the ideas which the Armenian side might have to increase trade with India? If you can perhaps talk about it and where the Chabahar port lies in terms of your engagement with India to increase trade?

Ararat Mirzoyan: If you look at the economic aspect of our relations, indeed, I would agree that there is a huge untapped potential here. Our cooperation in other sectors is much ahead, and we should implement and make additional efforts also to ensure that the economic potential and trade potential is being realized more properly. And here, again, we should speak about logistics, about the geographical distance, but we also know that there is still homework to be done.

For instance, I remember during my first visit to India back in 2022, I brought a large group of Armenian businessmen who were interested in making business with their Indian counterparts. Today, with Minister Jaishankar, we had the opportunity to discuss the necessity and the opportunity of bringing a group of Indian businessmen to Armenia, and I believe this should be a process, an exercise, that should be repeated from time to time to renew or to help the businessmen to establish new ties, new contacts. But also, we can understand, we can agree that there are areas where the geographical distance does not play that big role. For instance, information technologies, high technologies, artificial intelligence, in which both Armenia and I'm sure, and I see that India is very much interested, but not only interested, we both have huge capacities and capabilities here. We have the experts, we have the potential, both of us, I mean. So we can collaborate here as well, and if we dig further, we can obviously and certainly find new areas where we can help to increase the numbers.

For instance, I can bring another example: direct flights between us, and there are certain Armenian carriers who are interested in establishing direct flights, and I know that there was a conversation among Indian carriers as well. And if there is a direct flight, we understand that this will come to help not only to improve people-to-people contacts, not only to improve cultural ties, but also tourism, which is a sector of economy. It also brings money to both, to the visitors and also the host country.

Question: You talk about the people-to-people relationship. Now, the bedrock of any relationship is a strong people-to-people relationship, and for that, tourism and students do matter in this relationship. You have many Indian tourists, the FM also mentioned and thanked you for making sure that the Indian students are safe and secure in Armenia. So how are you pitching Armenia as a tourist destination and a destination for Indian students? 

Ararat Mirzoyan: This is a very good example, by the way, here. We have had Indian students who study mainly in medicine, but it's not restricted only to medicine. It's already more than a decade, a couple of decades, but we see that the interest is growing, and we are very much interested in keeping, having and getting the students from India. But also, I assure you that in India as well, there are universities and there are specialties in which students from Armenia can be interested. So most probably, we should multiply our efforts in this area. 

But I would like to add another layer to this, another nuance to this conversation. Armenia is launching a large-scale project, the establishment of an academic city, where we want not only to combine several Armenian universities and respective institutions, but also to invite some new reputable institutions to play a role here. And I believe that this will attract more students from India. But if we continue speaking about some influx, you mentioned students, I would like to add another group, coming from India to Armenia. There is another area where, through recent couple of years, we have noticed some changes. We see that there is some labor migration from India to Armenia as well. We haven't had this experience years ago.

Question: Are you pointing to illegal migration? 

Ararat Mirzoyan: No, legal migration. And we see that there is a demand in Armenia, but also this is an area which should be regulated. And today we had the opportunity to exchange views on this with Minister Jayashankar as well. 

Question: Are you basically saying that you want more Indians to come to Armenia, the skilled Indians, to help your economy, are you saying that? 

Ararat Mirzoyan: I would put it in another way. We are okay with involving labor force from India, but this should be to an extent which can be okay for the Armenian economy and the workforce in Armenia as well. So there is a demand, but we should regulate. By the way, the aim of regulation is not only to regulate the amount of the workforce which can be transferred from country to country, but also to make sure that all the rights of the labor migrants are secured. 

Question: Let's now go to the international domain and let's talk about how both countries are working together internationally. How do you see India's support for Armenia when you were facing a lot of issues with your neighbors, especially Azerbaijan? So how would you see India's support and India's role in the South Caucasus? 

Ararat Mirzoyan: Well, when we speak about cooperation between Armenia and India on international fora, I would say that here we have very close cooperation. We support each other's candidacies. We very often and very frequently support each other's initiatives on various international platforms.

As for the normalization process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, there I should say that we are very close, I mean Armenia and Azerbaijan, are very close to finalization of the draft of peace agreement between the two countries. And if we succeed to, well, first of all finalize the drafting and then sign the peace treaty, that would be one of the strongest pillars of the peace and stability in South Caucasus. And this comes also to complement some other tricks and negotiations and agreements that we already have with Azerbaijan. For instance, we just, several months ago, succeeded to sign and then ratify the regulation of the works of border commissions working on the delimitation of the border between two states. 

I already had the opportunity to mention the proposal regarding the unblocking of transport infrastructure in the region. And also I can add our proposal to Azerbaijan, the proposal regarding the joint mutual arms control and verification mechanism. So all these tools can help us to establish lasting, long-lasting peace in our region. All the countries that can also have a positive role by welcoming the constructive steps of the two parties, two countries. On the other hand, of course, I should also note that the agreements we have already accomplished with Azerbaijan, they have been accomplished through bilateral direct negotiations. And hopefully we will get there soon. 

Question: Optimistic note, but let's come to the Indian subcontinent. Now, in the Indian subcontinent, one of the biggest worries for India has been the cross-border terrorism coming from Pakistan. What do you have to say about that? Even as Pakistan continues to occupy an area, Pakistan occupied Kashmir. So what is your stance, if you can perhaps talk about it?

Ararat Mirzoyan: Well, Armenia's position is very well known and hasn't changed over the years. We support India's position and perception here on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. And we would only welcome any positive and peaceful progress here. 

Question: But on the issue of cross-border terrorism, what do you have to say on that? Because that's a big issue for India. That's a big worry. Terrorism is something that India has been very vocal about, and especially cooperating with countries when it comes to counter-terrorism. 

Ararat Mirzoyan: Well, Armenia condemns terrorism in all its forms and in all the corners of our planet. And we ourselves have a very sad experience of involvement of mercenary terrorist fighters in the conflicts in our region. So, as I said, we condemn terrorism. And also we see that terrorism can have even worse influence over the regional processes, if supported in cooperation with some states. 

Question: You mentioned mercenary terrorists. Can you perhaps elaborate on that a bit? 

Ararat Mirzoyan: I already said that we had a bad and sad experience of seeing mercenary terrorist fighters involved in the conflicts in our region.

Question: Let's talk about multilateral groupings, the United Nations. India has been calling for reforms of the United Nations Security Council. What's your sense like? Do you support India's bid for the UNSC and also BRICS? That has been an emerging grouping. You have been an observable member in several of those meetings. What's your assessment about the BRICS? Would you like to be a member of the BRICS or how do you see this grouping as? 

Ararat Mirzoyan: Well, we see these days, unfortunately, that all the mechanisms existing in the United Nations organization structure and also all the others even existing beyond the UN structures are not sufficient and are not guaranteeing us and helping us to prevent or manage or stop the conflicts going on here and there on the earth. So it is becoming more and more obvious that most probably the United Nations system needs some reforms. And we know the attitude and approach of India and we support this attitude. 

Question: And BRICS? 

Ararat Mirzoyan: Yes, we have been participating in the works of BRICS as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. You asked for BRICS and we will remain interested in being an observer in this organization and seeing what this cooperation, this format can bring to our region as well. 

Question: Perhaps your views about your normalization of relationship with Türkiye, if you can perhaps talk about it and relationship with Iran, which is quite good. But generally for our viewers, if you can give a broader picture of the relationship with Iran, because for India as well, Iran is a close neighbor. So there are overlaps, there is a trilateral as well, which has been working very well. So if you can talk about these two aspects. 

Ararat Mirzoyan: Well, Armenia has four neighbors. The eastern neighbor is Azerbaijan, with whom we are trying to establish peace and interstate relations, closing the page of the enmity in the region. Our western neighbor is Türkiye, with whom Armenia's borders have been closed for more than three decades. Now we have quite a dynamic dialogue with Türkiye. And this dialogue is aimed at establishing diplomatic relations between us and Türkiye and also opening the borders between two countries. So far we have succeeded to have several small but still tangible steps. Some of the agreements have not been implemented.

We have already agreed that the border should be opened first for third country nationals and also Armenian and Turkish nationals, diplomatic passport holders. So this one, the latter, has not been implemented yet, but we continue our dialogue. And again, if the relations are fully normalized, that would be very beneficial, not only for the two countries, but several other players in the region and beyond the region as well. As for the other two neighbors of ours, the northern neighbor, Georgia, and southern neighbor, Iran, we have had very good relations with these two countries for quite a long time. And we are focused on deepening these ties. And we understand you asked specifically about Iran, because geographically when we look at India and Armenia, we have the intention to deepen the ties. Of course, we should also pay attention to the countries which are between us. And this is obviously one we are very much interested in deepening our cooperation, including in trilateral format, which you mentioned.

Question: And how do you assess the global situation currently? There are two conflicts which are underway. But looking at a kind of a ceasefire, we have the Trump administration as well. In Ukraine, it looks like we could have peace very soon. Same goes for West Asia. So what is the Armenian foreign policy all about these big issues? Because this is something that has been shaking the world for the last few years. 

Ararat Mirzoyan: Well, as you can conclude from everything which I have said before this question, Armenia is very much focused on peace building. Of course, peace building - first of all for Armenia, for South Caucasus, for our neighbors. But also, we think that peace is the only solution for all the other countries in the world as well. And here I would like to separate and focus on two separate dimensions. First of all, the humanitarian dimension. I mean, the sufferings of human beings, be it in Armenia, be it in Ukraine, be it in Syria, wherever you can mention, is unacceptable. Gross violations of human rights, be it anywhere in the world, are unacceptable. We live in the 21st century and unfortunately, we continuously see how people are subjected to massacres, for instance, or how families see the deaths of their family members because of conflicts, is odd. I hope you agree. And the second layer, for Armenia, for the interests of Armenia, we are very much interested in peace in Ukraine, in Syria, the Middle East. Peace is the only way which can allow nations to continue cooperation, to deepen their collaboration, to trade with each other, and to benefit from each other.