On the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in the Tianjin, China, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan Mohammad Ishaq Dar signed a joint communiqué Aug. 31, on the first-ever establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Pakistan. “The sides noted with satisfaction the decision to establish diplomatic relations between Armenia and Pakistan and discussed prospects for the development of bilateral cooperation,” the communiqué said, reported TASS.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries have been nonexistent due to Pakistan’s stance regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In fact, before today, Pakistan was the only country in the world that did not officially recognize Armenia. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been a prolonged territorial dispute primarily between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous area with a majority ethnic Armenian population but legally part of Azerbaijan.
