The Amulsar gold mine project is said to be high on the agenda of the US-Armenia relations ahead of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s upcoming trip to Washington.
The domestic political developments linked to the controversial exploitation of this mine, located in Armenia’s south-east, are gaining urgency especially in the light of the recently launched US-Armenia strategic dialogue platform, says the paper, adding that the issue has dominated the bilateral agenda since Ambassador John Heffern’s tenure (2011-2015).
The paper further notes that the situation was different before and after last year’s “Velvet Revolution”, with US diplomats’ explicitly voiced remarks testifying, time and again, to the high significance of project in the developing partnership.
The paper also quotes Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan as telling journalists (after yesterday’s cabinet meeting) that “no meeting with President Trump is scheduled as part of Pashinyan’s upcoming visit.”
“High-ranking meetings have never practically been an indicator in the US-Armenia relations given that they were really rare, unique and exceptional under all the three presidents. That, certainly, depends on the geopolitical status of the Armenia-US relations in general, as the US offers the luxury of high-level meetings only to its military-political allies,” says the paper, noting that Armenia is not in that category of countries.