Connectivity

In Armenia tech education starts early. In a typical three-storey state school in the suburbs of Yerevan, the Armenian capital, nine-year old Slavik is demonstrating his invention, a box with three LED lights.  Next to him, 14-year-old Eric and Narek are showing their smart greenhouse model that monitors temperature and controls fans automatically through a mobile app. Other children are enthusiastically showcasing their inventions: games, robots, apps and smart home projects. Eleven-year-old Arakel is holding his cardboard model of a house with a retractable clothesline.

Between 12 and 18 March, European Commissioner for International Partnerships Jozef Síkela will visit the five Central Asian countries to strengthen the EU-Central Asia partnership ahead of the EU-Central Asia Summit and scale up Global Gateway, the EU’s investment strategy to boost jobs and sustainable economic growth. 

An organised network operating from Georgia has scammed thousands of savers from the UK, Europe and Canada out of $35m after they fell for fake celebrity adverts on Facebook and Google. According to a report in The Guardian, Deepfake videos and fictional news reports featuring the money expert Martin Lewis, the radio DJ Zoe Ball and the adventurer Ben Fogle were used to promote fraudulent cryptocurrency and other investment schemes. The scammers are understood to have still been contacting victims in recent weeks.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Armenia has decided to adopt a foreign policy that is balanced between relations with the European Union and Russia. He added that balanced relations are also being created at the regional level notably with Iran, by establishing diplomatic relations with Turkey and concluding a peace deal with Azerbaijan. Pashinyan said this approach is not easy but also not impossible adding that Armenia is being transparent with all its international partners about its intentions. “Yes, we have decided to get closer to the European Union, but we are very intensively trying to share our position with Iran and Russia and with all our partners”, Pashinyan stated.

The working visit by the Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze to Azerbaijan on January 17 suggests that both countries recognise that close cooperation is essential for ensuring stability and fostering prosperity in the region. During the visit, Kobakhidze met with Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov and participated in a session of the joint intergovernmental commission, which included delegations from both countries. The discussions revolved around the partnership between the two countries, bolstering trade and economic ties, as well as expanding cooperation in the energy and transportation sectors.

China is a relatively new player in the South Caucasus but has growing interests, particularly in the economic domain. While Beijing established diplomatic ties with Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia in the early 1990s, it largely stayed out of the region’s geopolitics. Armenia acquired Chinese-made WM-80 multiple-launch systems in 1999, but they had little impact on the military balance with Azerbaijan. Chinese economic ties with the South Caucasus began to grow in the early 2000s, driven by the rapid expansion of its economy. Interest in the region deepened after President Xi Jinping announced the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, with the South Caucasus envisioned as a potential land route connecting China to Europe.

The President of Armenia will make an official visit to Kazakhstan on Tuesday (15 October) to discuss further strengthening of Kazakh-Armenian cooperation with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The two leaders will discuss cooperation in various political and economic areas, such as trade and migration, as well as enhancing cultural and humanitarian exchanges.