The Regional Studies Center (RSC) held its latest in a series of closed monthly briefings on Wednesday, 28 September. This month's briefing featured presentations by RSC Director Richard Giragosian and Senior Analyst David Shahnazaryan focusing on three main areas:
- an analysis of the domestic political situation in light of the recent cabinet change and with parliamentary elections set for April 2017;
- an assessment of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, including the military security situation in the aftermath of the April 2016 “four-day war” over Karabakh; and
- a presentation of the outlook for Armenia-Turkey “normalization” in light of recent regional developments.
Among the forty-five participants, several ambassadors attended the briefing, including German Ambassador Matthias Kiesler, Italian Ambassador Giovanni Ricciulli, Japanese Ambassador Eiji Taguchi, Margareta Kristianson, the Chargé d’Affaires at the Embassy of Sweden, and Amias Moores, the Deputy Head of Mission of the UK Embassy, as well as officials from the Embassies of Brazil, Bulgaria, France, Lithuania, Switzerland, and the EU Delegation to Armenia, along with representatives from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), United Nations, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Halo Trust, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the Armenian Ministry of Defense, among others. Newly appointed Canadian Defence Attaché to Armenia, Colonel Shawn Bindon, also attended the briefing, coming to Yerevan from the Canadian Embassy in Moscow.
As an independent “think tank,” the Regional Studies Center (RSC) offers a regular series of monthly briefings in order to serve as a resource for the diplomatic community and international organizations in Armenia by providing an alternative source of objective analysis and information on a regular basis.
