May 6, 2019 - 17:41 AMT
U.S.-Armenia strategic dialogue in focus of upcoming meeting

A session focusing on the strategic dialogue between Armenia and th United States will be held in Yerevan Thursday, May 7, the Foreign Ministry reveals.

Deputy Foreign Minister Grigor Hovhannissyan and Deputy Assistant Secretary George P. Kent will head the Armenian and American delegations, respectively.

In late 2018, the Congressional Armenian Caucus leadership urged the U.S. State Department to elevate the U.S.-Armenia strategic dialogue through the U.S.-Armenia Task Force and an increased focus on short and mid-term economic deliverables.

In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Jackie Speier (D-CA), Dave Trott (R-MI) and David Valadao (R-CA) and Vice-Chairs Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) noted that “now is the time to build off Armenia’s democratic progress, taking our bilateral relations to the next level – in the political, economic, military, and cultural arenas. As a complement to the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement Council administered by the U.S. Trade Representative, the Task Force managed by our Department of State provides the perfect platform for setting the broad aims and policy objectives for our renewed and re-energized partnership – with a sharp focus on concrete bilateral initiatives that will drive short and mid­term progress on key deliverables and shared goals.”