During the meeting on “COP17: Armenia’s Path to the Biodiversity Conference”, held within the framework of the annual workshop of the leadership of the RA diplomatic service bodies, Hambardzum Matevosyan, Minister of Environment of the RA, presented Armenia’s role as host and president of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17), the strategic priorities of the Armenian Presidency, and the preparatory work for the conference.
In October 2026, Yerevan will become one of the key platforms for the global biodiversity conservation agenda, bringing together representatives of 196 Parties to the Convention.
COP17 will also be preceded by a Leaders’ Summit, ensuring high-level political involvement in the process.
The Minister also touched upon the work being carried out with the participating countries, the process of inviting high-level delegations, as well as the organizational and logistical preparations necessary to receive thousands of international participants. Our goal is to ensure not only a high substantive and political level of the conference, but also its proper organization, in accordance with the requirements of an international event of such scale.
We are building the work of our Presidency around four key principles: inclusiveness, transparency, high ambition, and action.
One of the most important milestones of COP17 will be the first global review of the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, aimed at assessing progress and outlining the accelerated actions needed by 2030.
At the end of the meeting, Minister Hambardzum Matevosyan answered questions from the participants, addressing both the political and substantive agenda of COP17, as well as the upcoming work of the Armenian Presidency.
The goal is clear: to ensure an inclusive, ambitious, and action-oriented COP17 in Yerevan, acting for the sake of nature.