New round of Iran, Armenia electricity negotiations

TEHRAN, Oct. 19 (MNA) – The new round of electricity negotiations between Iran and Armenia, attended by the two countries’ ministers of power and energy, will take place in Tehran on Saturday. The negotiations which will be held in Tehran Saturday afternoon are set to focus on construction of a joint power plant at border, an increase in electricity and gas purchase, and establishing a new line of energy transfer in Tehran. Last year in November, the visiting Armenian energy minister had a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Hamid Chitchian, on expansion of bilateral cooperation in water and electricity fields. During this meeting the two countries laid the basis for the preliminary agreements and now the new round of talks will resume to see to the completion of underway projects. Another issue discussed during that meeting in 2013 was the export of Iran’s electricity to Russia through Armenia, Azerbaijan or Georgia. Early this summer, Armenian energy minister Armen Movsisyan had announced that Yerevan was ready to purchase about 2 billion cubic meters per year of Iranian natural gas. In 2004, the Armenian government initiated construction of Iran-Armenia gas pipeline.The pipeline started operating in 2007. Armenia uses Iranian gas for generating electricity, which is sent to Iran - 3kilowatt/hour for 1 cubic meter of natural gas. Under the agreement, Iran will send 36 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Armenia for 20 years. The terms of the agreement can be prolonged for five years and gas import can be increased to 47 billion cubic meters.