RESTART
INITIATIVE
Building Connections for Development in
Azerbaijan and the South Caucasus
Events and Projects
Economic Connectivity | Armenia-Azerbaijan Dialogue Series (ECAADS): 2021-2024
In partnership with the Hertie School in Berlin, Restart Initiative is facilitating a bilateral dialogue initiative between Armenian and Azerbaijani experts, focused on concrete economic connectivity topics of mutual benefit and interest.
Since June 2022, six expert dialogues have taken place, on the topics of transport, energy, water, markets and skills-building, and future scenarios of economic connectivity, with additional dialogues planned through 2024. The ECAADS project has been made possible through the support of the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A link to more information is here.
As part of the ECAADS project, the United States is also supporting a media project featuring interviews with dialogue participants on economic connectivity topics, available on our Daha Yaxşı YouTube channel.
Restart Initiative involved in Climate Change, Peace and Security Dialogue, Bonn, Germany,
May 2024
Restart, in collaboration with LINKS Europe and the Candid Foundation, organized a dialogue meeting on “Climate Change Peace and Security – COP29 and Beyond” at the Bonn University Club on May 3, 2024. Representatives from various state parties to the Climate Convention and the UN Climate Secretariat joined participants from around 30 academic institutions, think tanks, and civil society organizations to review the work from COP28 in Dubai and plan for COP29 in Baku.
At the opening session, notable speakers included HE Hana al Hashemi, the UAE COP28 Chief Negotiator, HE Nigar Arpadarai, the UN High-Level Champion for COP29, and Markus Hicken, Director for Energy Foreign Policy, Climate and Security at the German Federal Foreign Office. The event featured intensive discussions on the COP process and the nexus of climate change, peace, and security, with contributions from experts from leading institutions such as Chatham House, the German Council on Foreign Relations, ADELPHI, SOAS, Heidelberg University, and The Hertie School.
Restart Initiative joins LINKS Europe for a Roundtable on Water Security in the South Caucasus, Bonn, Germany, May 2024
Restart presented our work on Armenia-Azerbaijan water dialogues and emphasised the need for the governments of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to start co-operating on water issues in the region. Given the interconnectivity of water resources, and the increasing impact of climate change on water resources, we underscored the positive role that can be played by professionals and experts working on water management issues.
Also participating in the workshop were the Joint Armenia-Azerbaijan Experts Liaison Group on Confidence-building measures in the South Caucasus (JOLIG), Hertie School, and representatives from Chatham House.
Armenian and Azerbaijani Analyst Briefings at the German Bundestag, March 2023
In collaboration with the Candid Foundation and Hertie School, Restart Initiative brought together two prominent Armenian and Azerbaijani political analysts, Dr. Benyamin Poghosyan and Dr. Farhad Mammadov, for a briefing at the German Bundestag. Hosted by Ms. Tabea Rossner, Member of the German Parliament, the experts discussed the current state of negotiations and peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The session provided valuable insights into the complex political situation in the region and highlighted the importance of continuing the dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Following the event at the Bundestag, Dr. Mammadov and Dr. Poghosyan met with Dr. Matthias Vollert, Head of Division for the South Caucasus and Central Asia at the German MFA, as well as Mr. Michael Roth, MP and Head of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Restart Initiative and Candid Foundation host briefings in Paris at the French MFA, June 2023
In partnership with the Candid Foundation, Restart Initiative organized a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in France with the leaders of two leading think tanks in Armenia and Azerbaijan Mr. Ahmad Alili and Dr. Benyamin Poghosyan. Meetings were also held at think tanks in Paris, as well as the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Armenian and Azerbaijani Analyst Briefings at the German Bundestag, September 2023
In collaboration with the Candid Foundation and APRI Armenia, Restart Initiative brought together Mr. Ahmad Alili, Director of the Caucasus Policy Analysis Center in Baku, and Ms. Lara Setrakian, President of APRI Armenia, for a briefing at the German Bundestag. Hosted by Mr. Michael Roth, Member of the German Parliament and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and moderated by Leo Wigger, Associate Partner of the Candid Foundation and editor at zenith Magazine, the experts discussed the current state of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In attendance were the Ambassadors for Armenia and Azerbaijan to Germany.
Following the briefing, Ms. Setrakian and Mr. Alili gave an interview to Die Welt newspaper, available in German here.
"New roles for old actors? - Regional powers and security in the South Caucasus" panel event, June 2023
In partnership with the Candid Foundation, Restart Initiative hosted a panel event in Berlin for think tankers and officials. The keynote speakers were Mr. Ali Hajizade and Dr. Benyamin Poghosyan, joined in discussion by Hamidreza Azizi (SWP, Berlin), Huseyin Cicek (Turkey Analyst, Vienna, online), Gallia Lindenstrauss (INSS, Tel Aviv, online), Konstantin Yegert (journalist, Russia), and Igor Semyvolos (Director, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Ukraine). The discussion was about the current state of peace negotiations and geopolitical alliances in the South Caucasus, and the roles and perspectives of Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and Israel, and Iran.
Series on Post-Oil Development of Azerbaijan at Oxford University
In Spring of 2021, Restart Initiative conceptualized and helped organize the first-ever series exclusively on post-oil development in Azerbaijan at Oxford University, featuring Azerbaijani scholars from academic institutions around the globe. See recordings of selected lectures and our interview with Prof. Christopher Gerry, Director of Russian and East European Studies at Oxford University, on our Daha Yaxşı YouTube channel.
On the one-year anniversary of the cease-fire agreement ending the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in November 2021, this panel took stock of the progress and roadblocks in Armenia-Azerbaijan relations over the previous year.
The focus was on a future-oriented discussion of the prospects, opportunities, and challenges for cooperation, economic connectivity and peacebuilding between the two countries.
