Ambassador Armen Baibourtian is a career diplomat, scholar, and one of the most distinguished figures in Armenia’s post-independence foreign service. Born in Yerevan, he holds the top diplomatic rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and has served the Republic of Armenia since February 1991. He holds two PhDs — in International Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University (2010) and in Modern World History from Yerevan State University (1990).

Deputy Foreign Minister

He has twice served as Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia (1997–2000 and 2004–2008), overseeing portfolios spanning International Organizations, the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Legal Issues. In this capacity, he co-chaired the U.S.–Armenia Security Dialogue and later served as Chief Negotiator with the European Union, leading negotiations with the European Commission on the European Neighborhood Policy (2005–2006).

Diplomatic postings

Ambassador Baibourtian became Armenia’s first Consul General in Los Angeles (1995–1997) and later Armenia’s first Ambassador to India, concurrently accredited to Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia (2000–2004) — for which he received the Government of India’s Top Diplomat award. He also served as Armenia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York (1993–1995), focusing on international peace and security, and later as Senior Adviser to the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Armenia (2008–2013), coordinating the work of twelve UN agencies nationwide. He returned to Los Angeles for a second term as Consul General from 2018 to 2022.

Academia

Alongside his diplomatic career, Ambassador Baibourtian has been a Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst since 2014, and was the first in Armenia to hold the prestigious Jean Monnet Chair of European Union Studies at Yerevan State University’s Center for European Studies.