World leaders began to arrive in Yerevan, Armenia on Sunday ahead of the 8th European Political Community meeting under the motto ‘Building the Future: Unity and Stability in Europe’.
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At a time of profound geopolitical transformation, leaders from nearly 50 countries, including all 27 members of the European Union, will meet on Monday to discuss important politics face-to-face, including the US-Iran tensions.
British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk were among those arriving on Sunday afternoon.
The summit will be co-chaired by European Council President António Costa and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to have sideline meetings with several countries.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will also be joining as a guest – the first time a non-European country has participated in the meeting.
“Europe and Canada are more than just like-minded partners — together we are building a global alliance to defend peace, shared prosperity and multilateralism,” said Costa.
Identifying a “rupture” in the US-led system of global governance, Carney said at the glitzy World Economic Forum in Switzerland that middle powers needed to chart a new path and rally together to defend key international values.
With Europe and Canada’s relationship shifting with the United States under Trump, they have increasingly moved closer to each other in many areas.
The European Political Community (EPC) is an intergovernmental forum for political and strategic discussions about the future of Europe established in 2022 after the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Armenia eyes closer European ties
Dozens of European leaders are also expected to attend the first-ever EU-Armenia summit, as the former Soviet nation hopes will bring it closer into the European fold as Yerevan seeks to gradually distance itself from Russia.
Relations between Yerevan and its traditional ally Moscow have become strained in recent years, in part because Russian peacekeepers were criticized in Armenia for not intervening more decisively during military conflicts with neighboring Azerbaijan.
For Armenia, the EU summit, the first of its kind, is about telling the European Union “we are here and we are ready,” said Olesya Vartanyan, an analyst on security issues in the South Caucasus.
Under Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia has formally pursued a strategy of what he calls “diversification”, in which the landlocked country pursues ties with both Russia and the West.
“In reality it’s a process where Armenia tries to establish relationships with the European Union,” said political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan.
The country of three million people between Europe and Asia signed a comprehensive partnership agreement with the European Union in 2017, deepening its cooperation in trade and other areas.
Last year, the country adopted a law formally declaring its intention to apply for EU membership.
When the EU’s Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos visited Armenia in March, she declared that “Armenia and the EU have never been closer”.