The Unted States will provide $20 million in new support for Armenia to bolster cyber, border, and energy security and to strengthen resilience against complex threats and challenges. 

An additional $600,000 will go to enhancing the technological capacities of independent media to produce impactful and public interest journalism, leverage innovation to promote media and information literacy, and to bolster the local advocacy for key media reforms in Armenia.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and USAID Administrator Samantha Power announced the new funding on September 25 on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly as part as part of the USAID’s Democracy Delivers Initiative.

Blinken and Power launched the Democracy Delivers Initiative in 2022 to bring together a multi-stakeholder coalition of partners and surge resources to countries undergoing moments of democratic renewal to help deliver tangible, lasting progress for citizens.

Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan was present when the funding announcement was made.

The $20.6 million to Armenia is part of a new $517 million USAID aid package to support countries experiencing democratic openings globally.

With this announcement, the Democracy Delivers Initiative now supports Armenia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Fiji, Guatemala, Malawi, Maldives, Moldova, Nepal, Tanzania, and Zambia. Leaders from these countries joined the event to highlight their countries’ democratic progress and to welcome new investments and collaborations furthering democratic resilience.