Nino Kalandadze, Founder and Executive Director of the Chavchavadze Center, participated in a panel discussion on the evolving role of the European Union in the South Caucasus region during the KAS-GIP Foreign Policy Talks held on May 13th in Yerevan, Armenia.
The event, titled "Policy Perspectives from Armenia and Georgia: Reflecting on the EU's Role in Light of Tectonic Shifts in the South Caucasus," analyzed factors influencing Europeanization in Georgia and Armenia against the backdrop of major geopolitical upheavals like the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war and Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The panel included Nino Kalandadze, who spoke on Georgia-Armenia bilateral and Georgia-Armenia-EU trilateral relations in light of recent geopolitical changes, Russia's "foreign agents" law and its influence on the rapprochement of Georgia, Armenia and the region with the European Union.
The session was moderated by Stephan Malerius, Head of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in the South Caucasus. Prof. Kornely Kakachia, Director of the Georgian Institute of Politics provided introductory remarks. The keynote was delivered by Jan Plesinger, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia. Other panelists were Prof. Dr. Shalva Dzebisashvili, Head of the Political Science and International Relations Program at the University of Georgia; Anahide Pilibossian, Vice President of Strategy and Development at APRI Armenia; and Johnny Melikyan, Senior Fellow at the Orbeli Research-Analytical Center.
The KAS-GIP Foreign Policy Talks initiative, launched by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation's South Caucasus office, aims to foster dialogue and analysis on foreign policy issues impacting the region.