IRAN-ARMENIA: LOOKING AT FUTURE HORIZONS
by Dr Hasan Beheshtipur

Iran Newspaper, Iran
Oct 24, 2007

Dr Hasan Beheshtipur *: The president of the Islamic Republic of Iran,
Dr Mahmud Ahmadinezhad, visited the Republic of Armenia on Monday
(30 Mehr) [22 October]. He arrived in the Armenian capital, Yerevan,
as the head of a high-ranking political-economic delegation.

[Punctuation as published here and throughout.]

In the course of his meeting with Robert Kocharyan, the Armenian
president, he carried out talks about the ways to expand the relations
of the two neighbouring countries. At the end of the negotiations four
memoranda of understanding for cooperation and a joint statement were
signed. The establishment of consulates in the territories of the two
states, cooperation between the Central Banks, construction of wind
farms and investment in technical and economic venues constituted
the four documents signed in this visit.

Delivering speeches at the Armenian National Assembly and the state
university at Yerevan and meeting Iranians living in Armenia were
among Dr Mahmud Ahmadinezhad’s other programmes during the visit.

Relations between Iran and Armenia enjoy a deep historical and
cultural background. In particular, coexistence attended by mutual
respect throughout the past long years has redoubled the interest of
Iran and Armenia to expand and strengthen those relations.

Following the disintegration of Soviet Union, relations between
Iran and Armenia entered a new phase. During those years, relations
between Iran and Armenia have grown in diverse arenas. However, the
growth has been concentrated mainly in economic cooperation. Among
the most important aspects of the economic cooperation between the
two countries is the transfer of electrical power and export of Iran’s
gas to Armenia through a pipeline.

The gas pipeline from Iran to Armenia was opened in 2007. It is 113km
long and when it is fully commissioned [and] some 3m cubic metres
of gas will be exported from Iran to Armenia every day. One of the
long-term objectives of the project is the setting up of a gateway for
the export of Iran’s gas to Europe. The pipeline has the capacity of
carrying up to 10m cubic metres of gas and can be one of the routes
envisaged for exporting Iran’s gas to Europe. The Iran-Armenia gas
pipeline has a diameter of 700mm and capability of transferring
1.2bn cubic metres of gas per year. Initially, the pipeline will
export 1.1bn cubic metres of gas [per year] and from 2019 onwards
it will export 2.3bn cubic metres. In order to reach that capacity,
the Armenian side is to increase the pipeline of 197kms.

Trade exchange between Iran and Armenia

At present, the volume of trade between the two states amounts to 200m
dollars. Some 160m dollars relate to exports by Iran and 40m to the
Armenian exports. Tehran and Yerevan are making efforts to increase the
volume of their trade to more than five times its existing level. Of
course, the initial target is to bring the volume of trade exchange
to 500m dollars.

If we take into account technical and engineering services as well,
that figure can reach 1bn dollars of trade and services exchanged
between the two states. In this respect so far more than 90 documents
on joint cooperation have been signed by the two countries.

Armenia is among the states that alongside other regional states play
an effective role in the trade circle of the north-south corridor.

The corridor has been established between India, Iran and Russia and
is considered to be one of the important trade routes and the link
between Europe and East and West Asia.

The expansion of cooperation in agriculture, fisheries, stockbreeding,
banking and investment, communications and telecommunications, optical
fibre and roaming mobiles as well as expansion in cultural, academic
and educational cooperation are among other fields that have been
examined during nine rounds of talks between the two states within
the framework of the Joint Economic Committee. There has been good
progress in that respect. However, given the aligned outlooks of both
countries with respect to the stability and security of the region,
the expansion of Iranian and Armenian relations in the political
domain too will help deepen political and security convergence in the
crisis-prone region of south Caucasus and reduce the existing tensions.

>>From that point of view, the Islamic Republic of Iran is seeking a
balanced expansion of relations with all the regional states. On that
basis, Iran has proposed bilateral and multi-lateral cooperation and
creation of security models on the basis of cooperation between Iran
and the Caucasus regional states. Iran considers such relations to
be to the benefit of the collective interests of the states.

Among the important projects on the agenda of relations between the two
countries, one can refer to the agreement on the construction of the
Aras hydroelectric power station, feasibility study for establishing
a direct rail link between the two countries, preliminary talks
and setting up of a tripartite committee to study the grounds for
founding an oil refinery in Armenia with the participation of Iran,
Russia and Armenia and the setting up of an Iran Trade Centre in
Armenia with the participation of the private sector.

The founding of a joint Iran, Russia and Armenia oil refinery
provides a suitable model for the expansion of Iran’s economic ties
and strengthening of its political relations with the Caucasus regional
states. On the basis of the history of Iran’s policy in the Caucasus,
which predominantly shows a uniform combination of maturity and
caution in Iran’s foreign policy, southern Caucasus can be considered
to be the clearest reason for Iran’s pro-activeness in its foreign
policy. Besides being influenced by the positive interaction with
Russia, the pro-activeness has been affected by the policy of creating
a positive balance in relations with Azerbaijan and Armenia.

That has increased Iran’s positive role in south Caucasus.

The second factor that determines the importance of south Caucasus for
Iran is an outside consideration; that is to say, the competitive clash
of interests in the region with the West. The clash of interests that
covers areas outside the regional frontiers from America to Europe
has acted as an important factor in forming Iran’s policies in the
Caucasus, including Armenia. With such an outlook, the reality of
the relations between Iran and Armenia has progressed with a common
understanding of the long-term interests of the two states. In a
strategic interpretation, Iran looks upon Armenia as more than just a
neighbour with a history of good bilateral relations and the existence
of a considerable Armenian minority in Iran.

Iran looks upon Armenia as a country with a common need for overcoming
foreign pressures. Two principal and effective factors affecting the
relations between Iran and Armenia are energy and geopolitics. The
provision of energy is of vital importance to Armenia as well as
Iran. The export of gas through Armenia to Europe plays a crucial
role in giving diversity to export markets. Armenia’s position as
Iran’s route to the Caucasus alongside Azerbaijan is most effective
and crucial. On that basis, the meetings between the presidents of
the two states which have been taking place regularly in the past two
years have played a determining role in the expansion of bilateral
and regional cooperation.

[Footnote:]

* Senior expert in Central Asian and Caucasian affairs