Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia; Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Mr. Zohrab Mnatsakanyan is a senior diplomat and former Foreign Minister of Armenia (2018–2020), with more than 30 years of experience in international relations, multilateral diplomacy, and global governance. He has held high-level positions including Deputy Foreign Minister, Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, Ambassador to Switzerland and Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe.
He played a central role in Armenia’s integration with European institutions, serving as Chief Negotiator for the EU-Armenia Association Agreement and contributing significantly to Armenia’s accession to the Council of Europe and the WTO. He led Armenia’s participation in the UN’s human rights mechanisms, served as Vice-Chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights, and helped establish legal and policy frameworks for atrocity prevention, including the initiation and adoption of UN resolutions on the prevention of the crime of genocide. He has led Armenia’s engagement in a range of multilateral priorities, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, institutional reform within international organizations, and the negotiation of key UN General Assembly resolutions. He also served as President of the Executive Board of UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS, Vice President of the UN General Assembly. As Foreign Minister he played a key role in the negotiations for the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. On 16 November 2020, due to disagreements during the political crisis caused by the 9 November ceasefire agreement, he resigned from his post.
In his early career he held various posts in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of Armenia to the United Kingdom, the Offices of the Prime Minister and the President of Armenia. He is a graduate of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and the Victoria University of Manchester. Currently he is an independent consultant and an adjunct lecturer at the American University of Armenia.
Areas of research and teaching specialization
Global Governance, International Organizations, International Theory, Theory and Practice of Diplomacy, Decision Making in Foreign Policy, Multilateral Conferences and Negotiation