Friday, 3 April 2009
RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan received a delegation headed by IRI Minister of Roads and Communications Hamid Behbahani.
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.
