COP17 in Armenia will serve as crucial milestone – FM

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has delivered remarks during the High-level side event ‘From Mountains to Oceans: Preserving Biodiversity Across Environmental Boundaries for a Sustainable Future’ within the framework of the 2025 UN Ocean Conference. The side event was jointly organized by Armenia, the host of COP17 in 2026, and France, the host of the 2025 UN Ocean Conference.

President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan, who is leading the Armenian government’s delegation to the 2025 UN Ocean Conference, attended the event.

Below is the transcript of FM Mirzoyan’s speech as published by the foreign ministry:

“Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, dear participants,

“It is a great pleasure to welcome you to this high-level event organized by Armenia as the host and President of the upcoming Biodiversity COP17 and France as the host and co-president of the Third UN Ocean Conference, organized in the beautiful city of Nice.

“This is one of many occasions when Armenia and France are joining their forces to ensure that the global environmental agenda remains at the forefront of our international efforts and we jointly advance the objective of addressing such challenges as climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and other issues which have brought the current generation to the verge of a planetary crisis.

“Armenia with the trust of the international community and with the support of its partners, is putting its best efforts for holding a very successful and result oriented COP17 next year, which we hope will help reverse the tide of biodiversity loss and ensure a more sustainable, greener and nature friendly path for development.

“What we need is a revisited comprehension that environmental challenges are not isolated phenomena - they affect all of us whether up in the mountains or deep in the seas, and we need to reconsider our attitude towards nature itself and renew our commitment to environmental action.

“In this context, COP17 in Armenia will serve as a crucial milestone. It will bring together Parties, governments, public and private stakeholders, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities in a global review of our collective and individual achievements in implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. I am using here the word “achievements”, but we all understand that apart from achievements, this review is going to help us assess and identify the gaps, shortcomings, and needs as well as do our best to devise the most efficient and comprehensive solutions that could help us remain on track in achieving our biodiversity commitments while ensuring the attainment of sustainable development goals.

“The discussions and deliberations here at the Ocean conference are extremely relevant to the COP17 objectives, as ocean biodiversity is an essential pillar of global biodiversity preservation. We are glad that such undertakings as negotiations over a legally binding instrument against plastic pollution or the most recent breakthrough of adopting the Agreement on Marin Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction, the BBNJ, are boosting the global efforts in that regard. I would like to thank France for being a strong voice behind the two processes.

“We are actively engaged in both processes and have just yesterday signed the BBNJ, to show that although Armenia is a landlocked developing country, with predominantly mountainous terrain, we share the common concern of preserving marine biodiversity as a common heritage and an important environmental domain. We also believe that the protection and preservation of marine ecosystems are closely linked to what we are doing inland and in the mountains because in many ways they impact marine ecosystems.

“This high-level discussion is precisely about identifying the deep interconnections between marine and terrestrial ecosystems and their interrelated vulnerabilities and considering the ways of ensuring more comprehensive and integrated approaches to global environmental issues.

“So, I look forward to hearing and learning from the high-level panelists about their valuable thoughts and recommendations on these matters, with a hope that this will contribute to leveraging the outcomes of this discussion in support of the Biodiversity COP17 in Armenia next year.

“Thank you for your attention and I wish all of us fruitful deliberations.”