Source: RFE/RL
YEREVAN -- Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisian says Iran and Armenia will start building two major hydroelectric power stations on their border in the coming weeks, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. The announcement, made by Movsisian on September 16, ends years of negotiations.
Movsisian said he and his Iranian counterpart Majid Namju will
launch the start of construction work on the Arax River, which separates the two
countries, immediately after signing an agreement in Yerevan.
The dates of Namju's visit to Armenia are still being "clarified," Movsisian
said. Other officials told RFE/RL that Namju will likely arrive before the end
of the month.
The Armenian government formally approved the agreement and authorized Movsisian
to sign it at a meeting earlier in the day. Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian
hailed the impending launch of the "important" commercial project that will give
a major boost to Armenian-Iranian commercial ties.
The agreement envisages two power plants being built on either side of the
Armenian-Iranian border and have a capacity of 130 megawatts each. They are both
to be built by the Iranian company Farad-Sepasad within the next five years.
Movsisian said Armenia will finance its share of the project, which he estimated
at $323 million, with future electricity supplies to Iran. "The Iranians will
build, exploit the facility [located on the Armenian side of the border], and
recoup their investments with electricity to be generated there," he told RFE/RL.
"We will need 15 years to pay back the [Iranian] investments with electricity
supplies," he said, adding that the plant will then become the property of
Armenia.
"This is going to be a cascade [of two hydroelectric stations] whose first
facility will be located in Armenia," Movsisian explained. "That is, water will
first flow to and be used on the Armenian side and only then reach to the
Iranian plant."
Energy has been the focal point of Armenian-Iranian economic cooperation. It
gained momentum in late 2008 with the inauguration of a natural gas pipeline
connecting the two countries. Armenia began receiving small amounts of Iranian
gas through that pipeline in May last year, but the volume of those deliveries
is expected to soar in the next few years.
Movsisian said in July that the planned construction of a third high-voltage
transmission line connecting the Armenian and Iranian power grids and another
Armenian-Iranian fuel pipeline will also get under way by the end of this year.
Meanwhile in Tehran, Iranian officials reaffirmed their strong interest in
deepening political and economic ties with neighboring Armenia during Armenian
Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian's visit to Tehran that ended late on
September 15.
The leaders did not comment on the free-trade agreement currently being
discussed by the two sides, although they did speak on the dispute over the
breakaway Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh as well as the tension between
Tehran and the West over Iran's controversial nuclear program.
Nalbandian met with Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, Foreign Minister
Manuchehr Mottaki, and the secretary of the country's Supreme National Security
Council, Saeed Jalili, during the one-day trip.
Armenian FM (left) shaking hands with his Iranian counterpart in Tehran
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said on September 16 that
Ahmadinejad and Nalbandian expressed their "satisfaction with multifaceted
cooperation between the two countries" and "readiness to develop it further."
A ministry statement singled out joint commercial projects implemented and
planned by Yerevan and Tehran.
The multimillion-dollar projects involving energy and transportation were high
on the agenda of talks with Mottaki. "The interlocutors reaffirmed their
readiness to develop bilateral relations based on mutual benefit," the ministry
statement read.
The Fars news agency reports that Nalbandian described those relations as "warm
and excellent" at a news conference with his Iranian counterpart. Another
Iranian news agency, IRNA, quoted Mottaki as saying that both sides are
"determined to enhance the level of our political, economic, and cultural
cooperation."
Neither minister made any mention of the free-trade agreement. Armenian
government officials this week denied Iranian media reports saying the deal
would be signed during Armenian Economy Minister Armen Yeritsian's upcoming
visit to Iran. They added that the free-trade terms proposed by the Iranians are
unacceptable to Yerevan.
Reports from Tehran said the two foreign ministers also discussed the
Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, with Nalbandian again
praising Iran's "balanced" position on the issue.
Mottaki also briefed Nalbandian on the status of Iran's standoff with the West
stemming from its nuclear program. Nalbandian said Armenia is "closely
monitoring" the situation and hopes for "a mutually acceptable solution" to it,
according to the Armenian Foreign Ministry.
Successive Armenian governments have avoided any criticism of Tehran's nuclear
ambitions, underscoring Iran's perceived importance for their landlocked
country's security and economic development. Unresolved bitter disputes with the
two other Muslim neighbors, Azerbaijan and Turkey, make Iran one of Armenia's
two gateways to the outside world.
Visiting Germany in June, Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian publicly stated
that the nuclear crisis will not be resolved unless the West addresses "Iran's
sense of being in danger." He also held up the Armenian-Iranian projects as a
model for regional cooperation.
By the same token, close ties with Armenia have been a key element of Iranian
policy towards the South Caucasus, not least because of Iran's traditional
rivalry with Turkey and uneasy rapport with Azerbaijan. In a recent interview
with Panarmenian.net, Mottaki said Armenia "occupies a special place" in his
country's regional policy.
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