Islamabad: Pakistan and Armenia have formally established diplomatic relations, the Foreign Office announced. The joint communiqué was officially exchanged between Pakistan’s Foreign Minister and his Armenian counterpart in China.
On Sunday, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar exchanged the formal communiqué with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, marking the official establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Earlier, the two nations had no formal diplomatic relations.
The communiqué exchange took place in Tianjin, a coastal city in China. Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Ishaq Dar had announced that Pakistan would soon establish diplomatic relations with Armenia.
In a statement, the Foreign Office called this a “historic development,” noting that both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the principles and purposes of the United Nations Charter and discussed potential areas of cooperation, including economy, education, culture, and tourism.
The statement added that the two leaders confirmed they would work closely at bilateral and multilateral levels to achieve shared goals of peace, development, and prosperity for their peoples.
According to Pakistan’s Press Information Department, the lack of diplomatic ties between the two countries was previously due to regional, geographic, and political differences, particularly Pakistan’s support for Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had praised U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace efforts in facilitating a ceasefire agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Nagorno-Karabakh, located in the Caucasus region, is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but largely remains under the control of Armenian-backed forces. The long-standing conflict has resulted in thousands of deaths and multiple outbreaks of war.
