Armenia renames ministries to reflect push for AI and trade

By Nicholas Castillo

Armenia approved plans to rename three government ministries on Thursday, reflecting a government effort to pitch Armenia as an emerging center of artificial intelligence (AI) and international trade.

The changes, approved by the Armenian cabinet, would see the Ministry of Foreign Affairs become the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs become the Ministry of Labor and Welfare, and the Ministry of High Tech Industry renamed to become the Ministry of High Tech Industry and Artificial Intelligence. 

The decision reflects the agenda of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his Civil Contract party, which have overseen an expansion of Armenia’s social welfare system, a push to integrate Armenia into regional and international trade, and Yerevan’s initiatives around AI.

Armenia joins a growing number of states which have created ministries of artificial intelligence in recent years, including Kazakhstan, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. Several other states have created Ministries of Digital Transformation, a portfolio that often includes AI and AI industries. 

The United Arab Emirates was the first country to create a ministry dedicated to AI in 2017, with the goal of attracting AI-related industries, integrating AI into government services, and training future AI professionals and coders.

Other states have even gone further, with Albania creating the world’s first AI-generated government minister in 2025, a controversial AI avatar and agent created to eliminate corruption and enhance government services. 

Yerevan has increasingly focused on artificial intelligence as a growing sector capable of attracting investment to Armenia and wiring the country into a fast-emerging global industry. This summer, Armenia opened its first-ever AI data center, the Eleveight AI Factory, located in Gegharkunik province.

The data center is the only in the South Caucasus powered by NVIDIA Blackwell B300 technology, a high-quality class of U.S.-produced AI chips.

Another AI project, an NVIDIA-powered data center under construction in Kotayk province, aims to generate 100 megawatts of computing, placing the project on the higher end of AI capacity. Overseen by the U.S.-based company Firebird AI, the data center is slated to open on Saturday. 

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan finalized his new governing cabinet this week, following the convening of Armenia’s new parliament on August 2. The only ministerial level change relates to the Ministry of High Tech, with former Minister Mkhitar Hayrapetyan being replaced by Davit Tadevosyan.

Tadevosyan spent most of his career within the private sector, including several years in Armenia’s mining industry. He studied in Russia and China, before receiving a Masters of Science in Engineering and Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States.

While Yerevan’s Ministry of High Tech Industry does oversee projects related to AI, in recent years it has also focused on next-generation military technology and start-up sector development in Armenia.