Armenian analyst questions absence of Trump-Pashinyan bilateral talks in Davos

Political analyst Suren Sargsyan has questioned why U.S. President Donald Trump did not hold a one-on-one meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during the World Economic Forum in Davos despite meeting separately with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

In a Facebook post on Friday, Sargsyan said that while Pashinyan’s appearance alongside Trump in a group setting, arranged according to protocol and alphabetical order, may serve domestic political purposes, it does not change the fact that no bilateral meeting took place between the two leaders.

“It remains unclear to me why Trump did not have a tête-à-tête with the Armenian prime minister, while such a meeting did take place with Azerbaijan’s president,” Sargsyan wrote, noting that Washington typically seeks to maintain parity in its engagement with Yerevan and Baku.

According to Sargsyan, Trump and Aliyev discussed the TRIPP project during their meeting. He added that apart from talks with the NATO secretary general, Trump held only two bilateral meetings in Davos with Aliyev and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.