IRAN READY TO DEVELOP COOPERATION IN ENERGY SECTOR WITH ARMENIA

ITAR-TASS, Russia
July 5 2006

TEHRAN, July 5 (Itar-Tass) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
expressed readiness to develop cooperation with Armenia in the
energy sector.

The president made his statement during Wednesday’s talks with his
Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharian, who is in Tehran on a two-day
working visit.

According to the Iranian president’s press service, Ahmadinejad said
that "the Islamic Republic calls for the development of diversified
relations with Armenia, especially in transport, tourism, culture
and energy fields."

"In the course of Kocharian’s visit to Iran, six meetings of joint
commissions are due to be held," the Iranian president said. "A whole
range of agreements on bilateral cooperation in various spheres will
be signed during those meetings."

Armenia and Iran, whose Armenian ethnic community numbers 150,000
people, actively interact in various spheres, and especially in the
energy sector.

Some of the fresh instances of that cooperation are a gas pipeline
being built from Iran to Armenia, a hydro-power plant on the borderline
Araks River, which is in the phase of project-making now, and a
wind-driven power plant that an Iranian company has built in Armenia.