Today, January 14, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will sign a document on strategic partnership between the two countries in Washington. The signing ceremony is scheduled for 10:00 PM Yerevan time, according to Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan.
The forthcoming agreement, experts note, is the result of the rapid development of Armenian-American relations over the past two years. According to Tigran Grigoryan, Director of the Regional Center for Democracy and Security in Yerevan, the document elevates bilateral relations to a new level and creates opportunities for deeper cooperation across various strategic areas.
Senior analyst at APRI Armenia Research Center Benyamin Poghosyan suggests that the agreement may be similar in content to the one signed between the US and Georgia in January 2009. However, he emphasizes that the Georgian agreement did not include security guarantees comparable to those provided by the US to countries like Japan, South Korea, or the Philippines.
The signing of the document takes place amidst the impending transition of the US administration. Earlier, it was speculated that the ceremony might be postponed until the new administration takes office after January 20, 2025. However, the current US government decided to finalize the process before the transfer of power.
Arman Babajanyan, leader of the "For the Republic" party and a proponent of strengthening Armenia's ties with the US and EU, previously stated that the agreement would include several key areas, including security, providing Armenia with more reliable tools to safeguard its sovereignty. However, official Washington refrained from commenting on the content of the document until the last moment.
