World leaders arrive in Armena for eighth EPC summit

Published on 03/05/2026 - 22:05 GMT+2

World leaders began to get successful Yerevan, Armenia connected Sunday up of the 8th European Political Community gathering nether the motto 'Building the Future: Unity and Stability successful Europe'.

At a clip of profound geopolitical transformation, leaders from astir 50 countries, including each 27 members of the European Union, volition conscionable connected Monday to sermon important authorities face-to-face, including the US-Iran tensions.

British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk were amongst those arriving connected Sunday afternoon.

The acme volition beryllium co-chaired by European Council President António Costa and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to person sideline gathering with respective countries.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney volition besides beryllium joining arsenic a impermanent - the archetypal clip a non-European state has participated successful the meeting.

"Europe and Canada are much than conscionable like-minded partners -- unneurotic we are gathering a planetary confederation to support peace, shared prosperity and multilateralism," said Costa.

Identifying a "rupture" successful the US-led strategy of planetary governance, Carney said astatine the glitzy World Economic Forum successful Switzerland that mediate powers needed to illustration a caller way and rally unneurotic to support cardinal planetary values.

With Europe and Canada's narration shifting with the United States nether Trump, they person progressively moved person to each different successful galore areas.

The European Political Community (EPC) is an intergovernmental forum for governmental and strategical discussions astir the aboriginal of Europe established successful 2022 aft the Russian full-scale penetration of Ukraine .

Armenia eyes person European ties

Dozens of European leaders are besides expected to be the first-ever EU-Armenia summit, arsenic the erstwhile Soviet federation hopes volition bring it person into the European fold arsenic Yerevan seeks to gradually region itself from Russia.

Relations betwixt Yerevan and its accepted state Moscow person go strained successful caller years, successful portion due to the fact that Russian peacekeepers were criticized successful Armenia for not intervening much decisively during subject conflicts with neighbouring Azerbaijan.

For Armenia, the EU summit, the archetypal of its kind, is astir telling the European Union "we are present and we are ready", said Olesya Vartanyan, an expert connected information issues successful the South Caucasus.

Under Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia has formally pursued a strategy of what helium calls "diversification", successful which the landlocked state pursues ties with some Russia and the West.

"In world it's a process wherever Armenia tries to found relationships with the European Union," said governmental idiosyncratic Alexander Iskandaryan.

The state of 3 cardinal radical betwixt Europe and Asia signed a broad concern statement with the European Union successful 2017, deepening its practice successful commercialized and different areas.

Last year, the state adopted a instrumentality formally declaring its volition to use for EU membership.

When the EU's Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos visited Armenia successful March, she declared that "Armenia and the EU person ne'er been closer".