Armenia Now: Why?

By Jack Bardakjian, Group Managing Director, Gapuma Group,
and Co-Chair, British Armenian Chamber of Commerce

30^th October 2026

At our launch reception last night, I was asked the same question more times than I could count. Why Armenia, and why now? The short answer is that, for the first time in a generation, the stars have aligned. The longer answer deserves a little more space.

Start with geography, because in the South Caucasus geography has always been destiny. For most of its modern history, Armenia has been a landlocked country with closed borders on two sides. That is changing. The Armenian government has approved its Crossroads of Peace programme, which envisages a rail link between the Persian Gulf and the Black Sea, a North–South road corridor, and new east–west routes. Pipelines and electricity transmission lines are now being discussed in earnest. A peace process with Azerbaijan, still delicate but real, has drawn support from neighbours who were once sceptical. If even part of this vision is realised, Armenia moves from the end of the road to the middle of it.

New road and rail links are set to place Armenia at the heart of regional trade

Then there is the relationship between our two countries. In May, Armenia and the United Kingdom signed a memorandum establishing a strategic partnership. In October, the inaugural Armenia–UK Business Forum in Yerevan drew around 2,000 participants. The British Armenian Chamber of Commerce was proud to be among its co-organisers. The Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, spoke there of the need to fill the space opened by governments with real business. I could not agree more. Political goodwill is the foundation. Commerce is the building.

Crucially, the finance is following. UK Export Finance was in Yerevan in force, and it has agreed to support infrastructure development in the country. For British exporters, that changes the calculation entirely. Projects that once looked too small, too distant or too risky can now be underwritten by one of the world’s most respected export credit agencies.

The economy itself makes the case. Armenia grew by around 7 per cent last year, among the fastest rates in its region. Its traditional pillars remain strong: copper, molybdenum and gold, brandy of world renown, wine from some of the oldest vineyards on earth, and a long-established diamond-cutting trade. Alongside them, something new is taking shape. Armenia now has a dedicated Ministry of High-Tech Industry and Artificial Intelligence. Its AI infrastructure ventures have been singled out on the global stage. Pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, particularly solar, and tourism are all drawing serious interest. This is a country that has decided, deliberately, not to rely on any single sector or any single partner.

Vineyards in the Areni region, home to some of the world’s oldest winemaking

Here is the figure that struck me most. In the year to the end of the first quarter of 2026, UK exports to Armenia rose by almost 90 per cent, to £119 million. Yet the stock of British direct investment in Armenia stood at roughly £2 million at the end of 2024. That is not a ceiling. It is a starting line. The gap between trade and investment tells us that British companies have discovered Armenia as a customer but not yet as a home. That is the gap the Chamber exists to close.

Where does Gapuma fit? We are a commodities and speciality chemicals business, and our instinct is to go where industry is growing and supply chains are being built. A mining sector of Armenia’s scale depends on reliable process chemicals. A food and drink industry with ambitions to export needs quality inputs and international standards. A manufacturing base that wants to move up the value chain needs partners who understand logistics, compliance and markets across several continents. Those are things we do every day, from West Africa to Serbia to India. Gapuma will certainly be in the vanguard of the British companies looking to invest in Armenia, and I hope many others will join us.

Solar power is fast becoming part of Armenia’s new economy

I would be doing readers a disservice if I pretended there were no risks. Armenia is a small market. Its trade balance remains a challenge, and the region’s politics can turn quickly. But diversification is precisely the answer to those risks, and diversification requires partners. Britain, with its depth in finance, insurance, education and engineering, is an obvious one. Sir Howard Davies made the point in Yerevan that London remains the world’s largest insurance market. Armenian companies are already beginning to explore it.

There is also a personal dimension, and I will not hide from it. I was born and raised in Britain, and I am very proud of my Armenian heritage. Like many in the diaspora, I have watched the country endure more than its share of hardship. To see it now opening up, confident and outward-looking, is deeply moving. But sentiment alone does not build anything. What the diaspora can offer is a bridge: people who understand both cultures, speak both commercial languages and can make introductions that would otherwise take years.

A khachkar, Armenia’s traditional carved cross-stone

That is what my co-Chair Haig Armaghanian and I, together with our board, want the British Armenian Chamber of Commerce to be. It should not be a talking shop. It should be a working bridge, connecting British capital, expertise and suppliers with Armenian ambition, and Armenian talent with British markets.

So, why Armenia now? Because the roads are being drawn, the finance is in place, the political will is real and the economy is ready. Moments like this do not stay open forever. Those who arrive early will help shape what comes next. Those who wait will be explaining, in a few years’ time, why they missed it.