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"Georgia is a core country of the South Caucasus. It is not possible to visualise the region without Georgia."
30 October 2025
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Region
South Caucasus
The South Caucasus – a region encompassing Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia - is one of strategic importance, not only for adjacent countries, such as Turkiye, Russia, Iran and the Central Asian states, but also for neighbours such as the European Union and the GCC states, and globally for the United States, India, China, Pakistan and Japan.
commonspace.eu team brings decades of experience of working in the South Caucasus and we are pleased to share our insights with our loyal readers through the website, and the sister newsletter, Caucasus Concise.
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2nd South Caucasus Dialogue Forum held successfully in Tbilisi. Next forum will be held in Yerevan and after that in Baku
30 October 2025
The 2nd South Caucasus Dialogue Forum was successfully held in the Georgian Capital, Tbilisi, on Tuesday, 28 October 2025, with the participation of over seventy experts, activists, diplomats and journalists from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia and from a dozen European countries and organisations.
The forum is an initiative of LINKS Europe, working with partners across the South Caucasus.
This year's forum was special because of the participation of around forty Armenian and Azerbaijanis members of the Thematic Groups for a new Armenian-Azerbaijani Dialogue. The 2nd South Caucasus Dialogue Forum provided for a very thorough and interesting discussion of current developments in the region. In the Forum the Armenian and Azerbaijani members were also joined by Georgian participants, as well as representatives of the EUSR Office, EUMA and Ambassadors and diplomats from around ten European countries.
Also actively participating were the members of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Expert Strategic Platform.
During the Forum it was announced that the 3rd Forum will be held in Yerevan in 2026, whilst the 4th Forum will be held in Baku is 2027, accompanying the process and meetings of the European Political Community, which are also expected to be held in the two countries in 2026/7. It was also announced that the members of the Strategic Expert Platform, working under the auspices of LINKS Europe (Dr Dennis Sammut, Chair, Dr Anar Veliyev, Mr Ramazan Samadov and Mr Mehman Aliyev (members Azerbaijan); Mr Stepan Grigoryan, Mr Benyamin Poghosyan and Mr Johnny Melikyan, members Armenia;) shall form the Political Preparatory Committee for the two events.
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Armenia and Azerbaijan meet in Washington D.C. for a week of talks
2 May 2023
On Monday (1 May) the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met with the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for the first day of talks understood to be taking place until latest Friday (5 May). AFP have reported that the talks will last four days.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, along with their delegations, are meeting at the George P. Schultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Virginia, a short distance south-west of Washington D.C.
Mirzoyan, Bayramov and Blinken are understood to have sat down for negotiations at 09:45 local time yesterday, after both foreign ministers had their own individual meetings with Blinken beforehand.
Statements issued by both Armenia and Azerbaijan said that issues of the security situation in the region and the process of normalisation of relations between the two countries were discussed in the meeting hosted by Blinken.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Armenian Service report that the talks are more aimed at "an agreement on the normalisation of relations" rather than a peace treaty, citing a U.S. official speaking to reporters on the condition of anonymity.
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Opinion: The Armenian government needs to communicate better to the public what the EUMA is about
29 April 2023
Efficient strategic communication has become necessary in the South Caucasus as the governments of the region and outside regional and global powers vie for influence in the current highly complex geo-political realities. In this op-ed for commonspace.eu Benyamin Poghosyan argues that one for the priorities for the Armenian government is to explain clearly to public opinion what the recently deployed EU Monitoring Mission is and is not about. Otherwise the same disappointment that emerged towards Russia earlier will surely appear as regards the European Union also.
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Opinion: An eventful year has left many confused on the prospect of Armenia-Azerbaijan peace, and more hard work is needed
26 April 2023
In April 2022 a group of Armenian and Azerbaijani experts published their report “The South Caucasus from war to peace: 30 measures between now and 2030” in which they outlined their vision for the process of building trust and confidence between Armenia and Azerbaijan and between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, in order to contribute to lasting peace in the South Caucasus. One year later, in this joint paper, Ahmad Alili and Benyamin Poghosyan, co-rapporteurs of the group, reflect on events and developments over the eventful past twelve months. They say peace remains within reach, but more hard work is needed.
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Garibashvili and Michel discuss Georgia EU accession in Brussels
26 April 2023
The Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili and the President of the European Council Charles Michel met in Brussels on Tuesday (25 April) to review Georgia's progress towards membership of the EU. According to a press release from the Georgian government, "Irakli Garibashvili briefed the President of the European Council about Georgia’s efforts toward fulfilling the European Commission’s 12 priorities and pointed out that, in this process, the authorities maintain continuous consultations with EU institutions and member states, also the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR." Garibashvili also stressed the importance of granting Georgia candidate status by the end of the year because "a large portion of the recommendations has been fulfilled". The Georgian Prime Minister also argued that EU-Georgia Association Agreement, the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) with the EU, visa-free travel, and the recently granted European perspective "demonstrate Georgia’s progress toward European integration".
