RA PRIME MINISTER TIGRAN SARGSYAN RECEIVED A DELEGATION HEADED BY IRI MINISTER OF ROADS AND COMMUNICATIONS HAMID BEHBAHANI
Fr iday, 3 April 2009
Greeting the guests, the Prime Minister expressed our country’s
eagerness to develop the existing ties of deeply-rooted friendship
between Armenia and Iran – friendship that more than once has proved
to be reliable, especially in times of hardship. According to Tigran
Sargsyan, the global financial and economic crisis is an opportunity
for deepening and strengthening bilateral relations to provide our
two countries with additional immunity against the depression.
In this context, prioritizing the RA President’s upcoming first
official visit to neighboring Iran, Tigran Sargsyan said to be
convinced that the presidential visit will give a fresh boost to
Armenian-Iranian relations.
In turn, Minister Hamid Behbahani underscored that Armenia is a key
partner for Iran and that the ongoing cooperation in the fields of
energy, transport and in other sectors is among his country’s foreign
economic priorities.
In particular, the Iranian Minister singled out the Iran-Armenia
railroad construction project. He said to have met with the Armenian
ministers of Energy, Transport and Communications, as a result of which
a corresponding task force is already up to that effect. According
to Hamid Behbahani, the planned activities may be carried out in 3
stages: feasibility study, identification of financing sources, optimal
itinerary determination and project implementation. He stressed Iran’s
readiness to support Armenia at any of these stages in order to bring
the project into effect as soon as possible. "Armenia’s southernmost
gateway is more than reliable, and we will be striving to ensure that
communication between our two countries is eased as much as possible,"
the Minister said during the meeting.
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, too, emphasized that either Armenia
is interested in having direct railway communication with Iran,
the lack of which is a serious obstacle to the use of the existing
potentialities. Once commissioned, the railroad will help improve
our country’s trade position by bringing many enterprises into
operation. There are a number of interesting projects in the energy
and agricultural sectors which, if implemented, will be a major
contribution to the fostering of bilateral economic exchanges.