45 PER CENT OF IRAN-ARMENIA AND ANOTHER THERMAL POWER PLANT TO BE TRANSFERRED TO RUSSIA

Lragir.am
31 March 06

On March 31 Aram Karapetyan, the leader of the Nor Zhamanakner Party
and Republican Gagik Minasyan were to discuss the energy security
of Armenia at the Hayeli Club. The debate, however, involved a wider
range of issues.

First the topic. Aram Karapetyan thinks that the best solution for
the energy system of Armenia would be the establishment of joint
ventures. But we preferred to give, we implemented a program “Property
for Debt.” According to Aram Karapetyan, probably it is not the worst
thing that we gave the property to the supplier of row materials. “At
least, we will not have problems with other countries.” Aram Karapetyan
thinks that 45 per cent of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline and another
thermal power plant will be transferred to the Russian Federation. “We
have given so much that the transfer of these is objective.” Unlike
Aram Karapetyan, Gagik Minasyan spoke about the past and future of
the energy sector of Armenia and omitted the present. “Ten years
ago we could not build a gas pipeline from Iran. Now it is being
constructed. We must increase the amount of energy generated by
water power plants to 3.7 kWh out of the 6 billion kWh. It is about
1 billion now.” For this reason the government of Armenia spurs the
construction of small water power plants, states Gagik Minasyan. “Let
us consider the news about transferring the Iranian gas pipeline and
the water power plant to Russian Federation to be news,” offered the
Republican MP.

Moreover, Gagik Minasyan thinks the complementary policy of Armenia
has led to the ability to combine the interests of the West,
Russia and Iran in Armenia. In addition, “all the international
organizations, engaged in the settlement of the Karabakh issue, accept
the standpoint of the Armenian party and reject the standpoint of the
Azerbaijani party.” Aram Karapetyan disagrees. “The complementary
policy is applied to the economy, and applying it to politics is
Vardan Oskanyan’s know-how. What complementarism is concerned if one
comes and presses on us and we give them whatever they want, another
comes and presses on us, demands something, we give it to them. As
a result we remain barefoot.”

Aram Karapetyan thinks the Iranian gas pipeline width is small due
to pressure from the outside. “The gas pipeline is intended to supply
gas to Armenia in case the Russian gas pipeline is blown up. Whereas
Khanjyan had also foreseen the construction of an oil pipeline.”

The only question to which the parties agreed was the nuclear plant.
Armenia should never give up on nuclear energy. Moreover, Armenia
should build another nuclear plant or replace the nuclear plant of
Metsamor by a modern one of a capacity of at least 1000 megawatt and
a regional importance. Considering that Turkey and Iran have greater
wish and possibilities to build powerful nuclear plants, the speakers
think there is no time to wait. However, a nuclear plant costs 1.7-2
billion dollars. We know this. We also know that we do not have so
much money. Either they do not know, or they do not want to tell
where we could get this money.