Armenia interested in partnership with Iran, Turkmenistan – prime minister

Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan on Monday expressed the Armenian Government’s interest to develop relations with Iran and Turkmenistan as he received the two countries’ ambassadors to consider cooperation projects.

Greeting the guests, the premier highlighted particularly the high of level of political relations which he said allows for developing closer economic ties also in the trilateral format.

“We are interested in developing the Armenia-Iran-Turkmenistan trilateral economic cooperation. We have the potential to increase the turnover among our countries, and our meeting on the first business day of 2017 bears evidence of the importance which we give to our cooperation,” he said, according to the Government’s press service.

For their part, ambassadors  Seyed Kazem Sadjadi and Muhammetniyaz Mashalov congratulated the premier and the Armenian nation on the New Year holidays, reaffirming their government’s interest and willingness to expand the cooperation.

The sides considered particularly the possibilities of trilateral cooperation in the energy sector, focusing possible joint energy supply projects. They agreed on a plan to create a special working group to consider specific projects.

Premier Karapetyan also highlighted the importance of the intergovernmental committees, describing them as an effective platform to give life to future joint initiatives.

At the end, the prime minister extended his condolence to the Iranian ambassador over former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s demise.