Ararat Mirzoyan Meets with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard Verma

On June 17, Armenia's Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan met with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard Verma, who arrived in Armenia as part of the first official visit of a delegation of U.S. mayors and local self-government representatives.

The two discussed the expansion of the Armenia-U.S. bilateral partnership agenda and regional developments. Referring to the final session of the Armenia-U.S. strategic dialogue held on June 12 in Yerevan, Minister Mirzoyan stated, “As you know, we conducted the second final session of the strategic dialogue between Armenia and the United States. This time, we not only emphasized our desire to enrich our cooperation in new directions, but we also decided to work towards enhancing bilateral relations to a new level—strategic partnership. Thus, we are on the right path, we have tangible results, and we will discuss more.”

In response, Richard Verma noted, “Strategic partnership is greatly important for the United States, and from the discussions here, we want to have a clear roadmap on how we can make progress in key areas—peace and prosperity, economy, trade, and people-to-people interactions, and continue our cooperation towards a new level.”

The interlocutors discussed issues of decentralized Armenian-American cooperation, emphasizing the establishment and expansion of cooperation between Armenia's regions and cities and U.S. states and cities.

Ararat Mirzoyan and Richard Verma also assessed the development of Armenian-American relations within the context of strengthening Armenia's resilience. They addressed the successful progress of reforms aimed at bolstering democracy and the rule of law in Armenia and the valuable support from the U.S. in this regard.

In the context of regional security issues, Minister Mirzoyan presented efforts toward normalizing relations with Azerbaijan, including efforts towards signing a peace agreement. They also discussed issues of economic and transport connectivity and the opportunities presented by the implementation of the Armenian government's “Peace Crossroads” project.