Zhoghovurd: New deputy foreign minister's appointment ‘part of Armenia’s European agenda’

The European Council president’s scheduled trip to Armenia coincides with a period of an increasing number of western officials’ visit to the country, the paper says, citing the recent visits of Ambassador Philip T. Reeker, the Acting Assistant Secretary at the US State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, as well as three foreign ministers from EU member countries, and Olivér Várhelyi, the European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement. 

Interestingly enough, the paper says, no information is available is yet – in either Armenian or European media outlets - on the upcoming visits, with the appointment of Armen Grigoryan to the post of a deputy foreign minister making the matters even more curious. 

The paper notes that Charles Michel, whose periodic visits to different states "are not frequent in essence", conducts foreign trips also with a specific mission and program. In particular, he visited Georgia and Turkey earlier this year with a clear agenda covering both domestic and foreign policy issues. Commenting on the repeated discourse on expected changes in Armenia’s foreign policy vector, the paper says that Grigoryan’s appointment to the senior post was not absolutely accidental.