TURNING OVER IRAN-ARMENIA GAS PIPELINE TO JV WOULD BE LOGICAL – FM

ITAR-TASS, Russia
March 21 2007

YEREVAN, March 21 (Itar-Tass) – Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanian finds it logical that a gas pipeline from Iran to Armenia
should be turned over to the Russian-Armenian joint venture
ArmRosgazprom.

The Armenian and Iranian presidents, Robert Kocharian and Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, opened on Monday the 141 kilometer-long pipeline having
a 40-kilometer stretch in Armenia.

ArmRosgazprom is a company handling the gas transportation in
Armenia. It is owned by Russia’s Gazprom, the Armenian government
and the energy group ITERA.

"There is no decision on this mater so far," Oskanian told a news
conference on Wednesday.

The opening of the gas pipeline is a "program of great strategic
importance for Yerevan," he said.

"The supplies of Iranian gas to Armenia are of great significance for
the republic’s energy diversification, they make it more independent
and less vulnerable to different unfavorable factors," Oskanian said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress