Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian has met with Iran’s Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian in Tehran for talks that reportedly focused on joint energy projects planned or already implemented by the two neighboring states.
Grigorian travelled to the Iranian capital to chair, together with Ardakanian, the latest session of an Armenian-Iranian intergovernmental commission on bilateral economic cooperation. The two-day session began on Monday morning, according to the official Iranian IRNA news agency.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the Armenian government said the commission discussed ways of deepening bilateral ties in a range of areas, including energy, trade, transport and financial services. The statement quoted Grigorian as saying that the meeting was preceded by “productive” discussions held by Armenian-Iranian working groups. But it did not report any concrete decisions made by the commission.
Another government statement said Grigorian and Ardakanian discussed at their separate talks “the state of joint projects implemented by Armenia and Iran in the sphere of energy.” It gave no details.
Grigorian met with one of Ardakanian’s deputies, Homayoun Haeri, in Yerevan on Saturday. ISNA, another Iranian news agency, said the two men discussed accelerating the ongoing construction of a new Armenian-Iranian power transmission line. It was due to be completed next year or in 2021.
The new line is designed to significantly increase Armenian electricity exports to Iran. The latter pays for them with natural gas supplied to Armenia.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian discussed this project with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani when he visited Tehran in February. Pashinian’s office said at the time that they also agreed to take “practical steps” towards building a major hydroelectric plant on the Armenian-Iranian border.
Grigorian was also reported to stress the significance of preferential trade agreement signed by Iran and the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) last year. He said the deal could help to boost Armenian-Iranian trade.
The latest Armenian-Iranian negotiations followed a further upsurge in tensions between Iran and the United States. Pashinian made clear late last year that his country will maintain its “special relationship” with the Islamic Republic despite renewed U.S. sanctions imposed on Tehran over its controversial nuclear program.
Meeting with Pashinian in February, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Yerevan to strengthen its ties with Tehran “contrary to what the United States desires” to see.
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