ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Nov 23 2006

RAU RECTOR: YEREVAN AND TEHRAN SHOW GREAT INTEREST IN CONSTRUCTION OF
IRAN-ARMENIA GAS PIPELINE

Yerevan and Tehran show great interest in the construction of the
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline which will not only cover the Armenian
needs for gas delivery but also be a basis for a wider project of
enhancing export opportunities for Iran with Armenia becoming as a
transit country, Armen Darbinyan, the former prime minister of
Armenia, the rector of the Russian-Armenian State University said at
the "Recent Developments in World’s Oil and Gas: Challenges and
Opportunities" international conference in Tehran.

The RAU press-service told ArmInfo that in his speech A.Darbinyan
noted that Ukraine and other European countries are interested in
receiving the Iranian gas. But the "Gazprom" Russian company wants to
see no more competitors in European markets. The "Gazprom" didn’t
welcome the construction of the pipeline with an adequate size, he
said.

A.Darbinyan added that Armenia also faces the problem of aggravated
relations between Georgia and Russia affecting the Russian policy of
gas delivery. The proposal to sharply increase the price for gas
delivery and Georgia’s possible refusal of this term will put Armenia
in a very hard situation on the threshold of winter, as the pipeline
comes to Armenia through Georgia. So, we witness a regional problem
caused by politicizing the issue of gas delivery.