The 15th session of the Armenian-Iranian Intergovernmental Commission was held in Yerevan

Today, on February 27, the 15th session of the Armenian-Iranian Intergovernmental Commission was held in Yerevan, which was co-chaired by RA Minister of Energy infrastructures and Natural Resources Ashot Manukyan and Islamic Republic of Iran Minister of Energy Reza Ardakiani. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to the Islamic Republic of Iran Artashes Tumanyan and Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Republic of Armenia Seyed Kazem Sajad were also present at the sitting. The agenda of the intergovernmental commission meeting includes a wide range of issues related to economic relations between the two countries. The issues concerned energy, infrastructure, transport, environment, healthcare, agriculture, banking and insurance, information technology, education, trade, regional cooperation and many other spheres.

Welcoming the participants of the session, Armenian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Ashot Manukyan highlighted the necessity of further deepening and expanding economic relations between the two countries.

“During the past year, the programs planned within the intergovernmental commission were ambitious but realistic, requiring daily routine work. Today, without waiting for the outcome of the expert discussions, we can clearly state that we have been able to offer solutions to the problems we face”.

Minister Manukyan noted that Armenian-Iranian relations are at a high level. “The evidence of this is the mutual visits of high-ranking delegations of the two countries, which give a new impetus to the further development of our trade-economic relations. High-level relationships also prove that in 2017, The Prime Minister's official visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran in October, during which important agreements were reached”.

The Minister underlined that the current potential of the Armenian-Iranian cooperation is not fully used and, the Armenian-Iranian intergovernmental commission has its special mission to bring the trade-economic relations to the desired level, for ensure the implementation of the programs envisaged by the memorandum of final memorandum of the previous 14th meeting, to identify current issues and to outline further steps.

During the visit of Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan to Tehran on October of 2017, the construction of the 400-kV Iran-Armenia 3-th high-voltage line was considered as one of the important projects of the bilateral economic agenda, which will allow increasing the volume of electricity and gas exchange between the two countries, contributing to the development of economic relations between the two countries and the expansion of regional cooperation in this area.

The sides also attached great importance to the implementation of the “Meghri” Hydroelectric Program. The role of “Meghri” Free Economic Zone, the latter's cooperation with Iran's “Aras” Free Zones has been considered significant for the development of Iran-Armenia economic and commercial relations.

During the meeting, one of the key spheres of cooperation between Armenia and Iran was the development of international transport corridors, multimodal transportations, the possible participation of the Iranian side in the construction of separate sections of the North-South Road Corridor program and highlighted the active cooperation between the two countries as well as the customs authorities. The active cooperation between the two countries was also emphasized by the customs authorities. Touching upon the negotiations on the Iran- Eurasian Economic Union Free Trade Agreement, it was noted that the Armenian government initiated the program of modernization of the Armenia-Iran border checkpoint.

The sides underlined that in the context of economic cooperation the cooperation of commercial structures and institutions representing the private sector can play a serious role, encourage joint investments and organize similar events.

At the end of the session the Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Armenian-Iranian intergovernmental commission and the 15th joint session.