RUSRUSGASPROM: ARMENIA SUCCESSFULLY SETTLES TASKS TO MAINTAIN ENERGY SAFETY
ArmInfo
2008-12-18 11:41:00
ArmInfo. Having no own reserves of hydrocarbon resources and access
to the sea, against the background of complicate and controversial
political and economic processes in the region, Armenia demonstrates
a bright example of successful settlement of tasks to maintain the
necessary level of energy safety, Karen Karapetyan, Chairman of
ArmRusgasprom CJSC Board – Director General, declared at Yerevan
State University, Thursday.
He also added one of the instruments for further improvement of energy
safety of Armenia is development of new export policy aimed at creation
of unique and good possibilities to boost foreign economic exchange
of Armenia and the neighbor-states. ‘Armenia should take an extremely
active stance on elaboration and consistent implementation of new
regional projects having common ‘points of convergence’ for the states
in the region. In conditions of global financial and economic crises,
there is simply no real alternative to regional cooperation, especially
in the sphere of energy. Having two gas pipelines and an underground
gas holder, as well as surplus competitive generating capacities,
Armenia has all the chances to become a peculiar liberal energy
platform in the region’, he said. K. Karapetyan is sure that settlement
of such an uneasy task implies ambitions programs in the economy of
Armenia, in particular, improvement of energy safety though formation
of a competitive export market; development and implementation of
state policy of Armenia on real support to export-targeted energy
projects based on flexible tariff policy and coordinated stances of
strategic partners on extension of regional energy cooperation that
would involve Turkmenistan, Iraq and other states. ‘Such are the key
conditions that would make Armenia the energy ‘base’ in the region
i.e. further liberalization of foreign economic exchange, better access
to innovative technologies, leading technical standards and methods
of state and corporate economy management, and real transfer to a new
quality export policy. The role of professional information support
to these ambitious programs is rather great>, K. Karapetyan said.
He thinks that everything above mentioned cannot be fully fulfilled if
all the countries of the region do not understand the uniting prospect
of the energy cooperation and are not ready to accept and observe
the legal regime coordinated with the fixed international norms.
‘Today Armenia assesses presence of the new energy situation in the
region as a fact which is very positive for itself and understands
the real opportunity to be involved in big regional energy projects
in which it has all the chances to become one of the key players at
the energy map of the south Caucasus. We think that it will be easier
to fulfill this large-scale task if our initiatives and projects are
supported on the needed informational level, which we rely on’, –
Karapetyan emphasized.