Last updated in October 2009
Political relations
Political relations between Germany and Armenia are good. Germany supports Armenia in its efforts to move closer to the EU and NATO. Federal Foreign Minister Steinmeier visited Yerevan on 20 February 2007. Armenia’s Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian travelled to Berlin on 30 June 2008 to meet with Federal Foreign Minister Steinmeier. From 22 to 24 September 2008, a Federal Constitutional Court delegation headed by the Court’s President, Prof. Dr. Papier, was in Armenia for high-level talks.
Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office Gernot Erler visited Armenia from 29 to 31 March 2009.
Economic relations and development cooperation
Economic relations with Germany continue to be relatively low-key. Germany accounted for 8 per cent of the country’s foreign trade in 2008. In the first half of 2009, the volume of bilateral trade was approximately EUR 123 million. In 2008, the most important German exports to Armenia were motor vehicles, machinery, chemicals and electrical goods, while the principal imports were iron, steel and other metals.
Economic cooperation projects are being conducted as part of Financial Cooperation (FC), under the responsibility of the KfW Development Bank, and Technical Cooperation (TC), under the responsibility of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ). Further projects are being carried out by InWEnt – Capacity Building International, Germany. In addition, five advisers from the Centrum für Internationale Migration und Entwicklung (CIM) are working in Armenia. The Embassy budget earmarked a total of EUR 50,000 for micro measures in the financial year 2008.
In development cooperation, Germany is Armenia’s second most important bilateral donor after the USA. For the period 2009-2010, Germany has pledged further funds of up to EUR 105.5 million in bilateral Financial Cooperation and has also made available EUR 29 million for the South Caucasus as a whole under the Federal Government’s Caucasus Initiative. These projects cover a range of sectors, from legal reform and regional development to nature conservation, energy, education and poverty reduction to the development of the private and financial sectors and health care. Since commencing development cooperation with Armenia in 1993, Germany has provided a total of more than EUR 360 million.
The ongoing FC projects focus on the following sectors: developing renewable energy sources, (hydroelectric power stations), modernizing transformer stations and transmission lines, rehabilitating municipal infrastructure (water supply and wastewater disposal in the Armavir, Lori and Shirak regions) and setting up an investment guarantee fund and a housing finance programme. There are also projects in the environmental sector.
The ongoing TC projects include support for the economy (promotion of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises) and municipal development. In addition, there is a highly successful legal advisory services project, an advisory project for implementing Armenia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Programme (PRSP) and a project to support Armenia’s audit chamber. In 2009, the micro-projects focused on providing assistance to social institutions such as kindergartens, health facilities and self-help projects.
Cultural relations
Armenians mainly derive their sense of identity from their age-old culture, which is why culture is accorded such an important role in bilateral relations. The main goal of Germany’s cultural and education policy in Armenia is to promote German as a foreign language at both school and university level. Cultural events are also designed to convey a modern and realistic picture of Germany and intensify contacts between those active in the cultural sector on both sides.
The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Central Agency for Schools Abroad (ZfA), the Robert Bosch Foundation and the Goethe Institute (GI) in Tbilisi/Georgia have their own German staff working in Armenia. Since September 2008, the Goethe Institute has seconded an expert for German instruction to schools providing general education. It also runs a German reading room in Yerevan’s National Children’s Library.
In addition, a partnership agreement between the Goethe Institute in Tbilisi and an Armenian school was signed in March 2009 under the “Schools: Partners for the Future” initiative (PASCH).
In terms of visits, contacts between the two countries are close. For example, Saxony-Anhalt’s Education and Cultural Affairs Minister, Jan-Hendrik Olbertz, visited Armenia for the second time from 14 to 20 June 2008 accompanied by a delegation. During this visit, agreement was reached on a number of concrete projects. In addition, there are currently seven partnerships between schools in Saxony-Anhalt and Armenia.
In August 2008, Wim Wenders was the guest of honour at the Golden Apricot Film Festival, which is held every year in Yerevan. His visit attracted a great deal of attention. In 2009, four German films were shown at the festival.
A major calendar highlight in 2009 was the German Weeks in Armenia. The opening ceremony on 20 March 2009 was attended by numerous high-ranking guests and the success of the 40-odd events held so far is evidence of the keen interest in German cultural offerings.
