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Last week, the first of a series of trainings took place in Armenia, with the Max van der Stoel Foundation partnering with the SD Platform Armenia. The SD Platform has been doing important work for several years to motivate young people across the country to bring about political change from the bottom up. Through the 'Future Factory' programme, they enable dozens of young people to gain important skills such as political planning, volunteer organisation, negotiation and communication strategy.
Much is expected from politics in Armenia. After the fall of Nagorno-Karabakh and forced displacement of tens of thousands of Armenian residents from the region in 2023, tensions with Azerbaijan have still not subsided. In addition, Armenia is trying to withdraw from the Russian security sphere. Expectations are therefore high for Armenia's closer ties with European partners. Concrete steps towards this were taken in 2024. The EU has released tens of millions for investment in Armenia and has also recently initiated the process for visa liberalisation. Armenia's foreign minister indicated in March this year That the government is considering an application for EU candidate status.
These perspectives and goals in the Armenian context are all the more reason for FMS to continue our cooperation with Armenian partners in full force. The long-standing cooperation with the SD Platform Armenia will be given colour this year with a number of training sessions. In this way, we contribute to a representative and pluralistic political playing field in the country, an important condition within EU accession processes. The FMS will also continue this in the coming years.
