ARMENIA CAN BECOME KEY PLAYER ON SOUTH CAUCASUS ENERGY MAP

ARKA
Dec 18, 2008

YEREVAN, December 18. /ARKA/. Armenia is aware of a real opportunity
to be involved in major regional energy projects and become one of
the key players on the energy map of South Caucasus, General Director
of ArmRosgasprom company Karen Karapetyan said.

Not having own hydrocarbon resources and being a landlocked country,
Armenia is still demonstrating a vivid example of successful solution
to energy security problem against the background of complicated and
ambiguous political and economic developments in the region, Karapetyan
said at the international scientific conference on informational wars
being held in Yerevan on December 18-19.

To further raise the country’s energy security level, a new-quality
export policy should be developed at a government level to create
opportunities for more active economic exchange between Armenia and
the neighboring countries, he said.

Armenia needs to take up an extremely pro-active position in
development and consistent implementation of new regional projects with
common interest for the countries of the region, he said adding that
no alternative exists to regional cooperation, especially in energy
sector, in the conditions of global financial and economic crisis.

According to Karapetyan, with two gas pipelines and the underground gas
storage capacity, as well as with its surplus competitive generating
capacity, Armenia has all the chanc es to become a kind of liberal
energy area for the region.

This implies raising the country’s energy security through formation
of a competitive export market, state support to export-oriented
energy projects with flexible price policy and concerted efforts of
strategic partners to expand the regional cooperation in energy sector
and to involve not only immediate neighbors, but also Turkmenistan,
Iraq and other countries in it, General Director of ArmRosgasprom said.

Among most important conditions for Armenia to be transformed to an
energy "base" of the region Karapetyan mentioned further liberalization
of foreign economic exchange, broader access to innovations and
advanced technical standards and methods of state and corporate
management in economy and real transfer to a new-quality export policy.

The conference on informational wars was held on the 90th anniversary
of Armenpress news agency.