Around June 17, Mayor Wilmot Collins asked his translator what Armenians wear in politics.
He was soon to meet an Armenian mayor, and he couldn’t disappoint. He dressed in a full suit and tie and was stumped when his Armenian counterpart arrived in a white polo and jeans — he’d heard Americans like to dress casually.
They wanted to make each other comfortable, Collins said. It wouldn’t do to start what could be a yearslong relationship on the wrong foot.
Collins spent five days in Armenia last month for something called the U.S.-Armenia Local Democracy Forum. His goal: explain why a people-first government works on a grassroots level, and spark an intercontinental friendship.
Mayor Wilmot Collins, right, and Armenian Mayor Armen Grigoryan of Stepavan meet for the first time in Yerevan, Armenia, in June. Collins and Grigoryan shared a laugh when Collins dressed nicely to suit Armenian tastes and Grigoryan dressed casually to suit American tastes. Collins discarded his suit jacket and tie to better match Grigoryan.
Collins was joined by four other mayors and state directors, three from California and one from Pennsylvania. He was one of five applicants selected from a nationwide pool.
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They landed in the Armenian capital Yerevan for the official forum on June 17 and were visited by President Vahagn Khachaturyan. The pageantry makes some sense, Collins said. This was the first trip of its kind, and the first time high-status American representatives had been to Armenia in decades. The West Asian, landlocked country is formerly a Soviet republic, regaining independence in 1991.
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