“We are establishing our U.S.-Armenia Strategic Partnership Commission,” outgoing U.S. Secretary of States Antony Blinken announced before signing the commission’s charter with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in Washington.
“This commission gives us a framework to expand our bilateral cooperation in a number of key areas: economic matters, security and defense, democracy, justice, inclusion and people-to-people exchanges,” he said.
“It really lays the foundation for even deeper cooperation and builds on our shared principles. We are increasingly strong partners and I think that is for the good of both of our countries as well as the region and beyond,” Blinken added during the signing ceremony.
For his part, Mirzoyan said that the document underscores recent years’ “remarkable growth” of U.S.-Armenian ties.
“We deeply value the unwavering U.S. support for Armenia’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.
Blinken stressed that that support will continue, pointing to the security component of the bilateral Strategic Partnership Commission Charter.
“Next month, in the coming weeks, we will have a customs and border patrol team to work with their Armenian counterparts on border security capacity building,” he said. “Strengthening security cooperation, enhancing Armenia’s peacekeeping capabilities through Eagle Partner [exercises] … is enhancing Armenia’s capacity to be a strong partner as well as to mind its borders.”
Armenia - U.S. soldiers march during the opening ceremony of a joint exercise with Armenian troops, Yerevan, July 15, 2024.
Blinken did not elaborate on that assistance. Armenia’s borders with Iran and Turkey have for decades been protected by Russian border guards. The Armenian government has so far indicated no plans to seek their withdrawal despite its decision last year to push them out of the sole Armenian-Iranian border crossing and Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport made amid a deepening rift with Moscow.
Blinken also gave no indications that Washington will provide Armenia with weapons or other significant military support. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin likewise signaled no such plans after holding talks with Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikian last month.
Blinken and Mirzoyan signed the document less than a week before U.S. President Joe Biden will complete his term in office and hand over power to Donald Trump. Mirzoyan said in this regard that Yerevan will work with the incoming U.S. administration in trying to achieve the “ambitious goals” set by the charter.
Mirzoyan and James O’Brien, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia, announced plans to “upgrade the status of our bilateral dialogue to a Strategic Partnership Commission” after chairing a session of a U.S.-Armenian task force in Yerevan in June. Russia’s Foreign Ministry warned at the time that closer ties with the U.S. could only create additional security risks and economic problems for Armenia. Moscow reacted more cautiously to the development earlier on Tuesday.