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The Comprehensive Security & Resilience 2026 international conference, organized by Yerevan-based think tank Women and Global Security Architecture (WGSA), has kicked off in Yerevan.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Ararat Mirzoyan, other officials and dignitaries, including foreign ambassadors, attended the event.
Armine Margaryan, President of WGSA, said in her speech that the conference has a history of only three years, but is already rich in terms of its ideological and substantive development.
“Our center, as a civil society actor, aims to use its professional potential to contribute to advancing the comprehensive defense and security agenda in the Republic of Armenia. This commitment is based on the understanding that the effectiveness of comprehensive security depends on the harmonious application of whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches. Without the synergy of these two dimensions, no state, and particularly no democracy, is capable of ensuring the level of preparedness necessary to effectively withstand crises and hybrid threats,” Margaryan said.
She added that modern threats are no longer traditional; they are multilayered, hybrid and asymmetric. Therefore, ensuring the strategic resilience of the state cannot be limited to the functions of the state apparatus alone, but requires the coordinated participation of all segments of society.
“A comprehensive security and resilience system cannot be built in a day. It is a long-term, institutional process. However, looking at the path we have covered and comparing today’s realities with those of 2024, progress in this direction is evident. It is encouraging to note that the policy of strengthening security is clearly enshrined in the Government of the Republic of Armenia’s 2026–2031 program of activities. This is also the basis for the slogan of this year’s conference: ‘From Strategy to Action.’ The independence of our center has not been limited to organizing the conference,” Margaryan noted.
According to her, whole-of-society consultations were held in recent months, involving four key stakeholder groups. As a result of those discussions, a policy paper on national and whole-of-society resilience, its capabilities, gaps and ways to improve was developed. The center will follow up on the further implementation of the expert recommendations included in the policy paper.
“Our conviction is that, regardless of political views, a resilient society and state can be built solely through state-society dialogue. Along this path, the continued and expanding support of international partners is extremely encouraging. If in 2024 Finland, Estonia and Sweden stood alongside us, today the number of our supporters has reached nine, demonstrating growing international confidence in our shared agenda. By bringing together leading international experience, comprehensive resilience tools and the specific features of Armenia’s security architecture, this platform will focus on practical security solutions tested in crisis situations and on developing forward-looking approaches,” Margaryan concluded.