YEREVAN — Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan met with the Director-General of UNESCO, Khaled Al-Anani, on Friday, October 16, 2026.

The meeting took place in Yerevan on the sidelines of the UN COP17 Leaders' Summit on Biodiversity. The bilateral talks come at a critical time, as Armenia has repeatedly called for UNESCO's urgent intervention to monitor and protect endangered Armenian cultural monuments in Nagorno-Karabakh following recent geopolitical shifts in the region.

According to an official statement released by the Armenian government's press service, the interlocutors discussed the ongoing biodiversity summit in the Armenian capital and expressed strong confidence that the multi-lateral discussions would be highly engaging and productive.

During the meeting, Pashinyan strongly emphasized the vital importance of deepening structural cooperation with UNESCO regarding the long-term preservation and protection of cultural and historical heritage sites.

The readout concluded that both parties agreed to maintain an active, high-level diplomatic dialogue. They committed to consistently strengthening the partnership between Armenia and UNESCO across the core fields of education, science, and culture.