Welcoming H.E. Alexandra Cole to the Caucasus Wildlife Refuge

On February 5, Ruben Khachatryan, Founding Director of FPWC and IUCN Regional Councillor for Eastern Europe, North and Central Asia, welcomed H.E. Alexandra Cole, His Majesty's Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Armenia, GOV.UK to the Caucasus Wildlife Refuge and FPWC's Wildlife Rescue Centre for a guided visit to the Foundation's conservation and animal welfare work on the ground.

The visit offered a firsthand view of FPWC's landscape-scale restoration work across the Refuge, as well as the Foundation's long-running wildlife rehabilitation programme — work that has been built in close partnership with UK institutions including BirdLife International and World Land Trust, and supported through the Darwin Initiative and the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme.

The conversation ranged across the current state of that collaboration and its next phase — with COP17 as an organizing horizon. The UK is actively working with the Armenian government in preparation for COP17, Armenpress and Armenia and the United Kingdom elevated their relationship to the level of a Strategic Partnership in 2025 Armenpress — a bilateral context that gives conservation cooperation new institutional weight. For FPWC, COP17 represents a concrete opportunity to place Armenia's civil society-led conservation models — privately protected areas, community-based restoration, and wildlife rescue infrastructure — at the centre of global biodiversity policy dialogue.

Ruben Khachatryan expressed deep appreciation for the UK's sustained engagement, and for an Ambassador who came not only to discuss partnership, but to see it in action.