President congratulates foreign minister, environment minister after COP17 vote

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. President Vahagn Khachaturyan has phoned the environment minister Hakob Simidyan and Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan to congratulate and thank them and their staffers for the productive and joint work around the decision to hold COP17 in Armenia.

Parties to the UN Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) voted in Colombia Thursday for its next Conference of Parties (COP), in 2026, to be held in Armenia.

Armenia won the bid to host the conference with 65 votes, while Azerbaijan, which also sought the right to host, garnered only 58 votes.

The Armenian President visited Colombia to participate in the COP16. 

In a press release issued Friday, the President’s Office said Khachaturyan held phone calls with Enviornment Minister Hakob Simidyan and Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan after Armenia was named the host of COP17. 

“The President congratulated and thanked the ministers for the combined and effective work of the teams of both ministries around the decision to hold the high-level international conference in Armenia,” Khachaturyan’s office said. The President wished success to the ministries in-charge in organizing the COP17 on the high level.