UKRAINE AND IRAN DECIDED TO BUILD GAS PIPELINE THROUGH ARMENIA

Both of the considered variants of gas pipeline construction suppose the participation of Armenia.

Armenian government has not yet received any proposals concerning the participation in the establishment of a commission for the planning and construction of Iran-Ukraine gas pipeline. It is worth reminding that on Sunday the Deputy Minister of fuel and energy of Ukraine Aleksey Ivchenko and the Deputy Minister of fuel of Iran Saed Hadi Nejad signed a memorandum of mutual understanding in the issue of gas pipeline construction. According to one of the variants, the gas pipeline will be laid through the territory of Armenia.
PanARMENIAN.Net - During the meeting held on Sunday in Tehran the parties did not make any concrete decisions concerning pipeline construction. The only decision made during the meeting referred to the advisability of participation of Yerevan, Tbilisi and Moscow in the discussions of the perspectives of pipeline construction. The parties found it necessary to form a pentalateral commission for conducting necessary investigations. Within the next few days Tehran and Kiev will probably send invitations to the governments of Armenia Georgia and Russia and that will not be surprising. It is supposed that by September the parties will authorize their representatives who will be involved in the expert groups. If the activities of the pentalateral commission have positive results, it is quite possible that the process will end in the creation of a multilateral consortium that may include not only the five mentioned countries but also European countries also interested in the import of Iranian gas. In case of their involvement the project will have more chances for success. Ukraine can import 20 milliard cubic meters of gas annually and is ready to give its infrastructure to pump 20 milliard cubic meters to Europe. In such scales the project will be profitable.

Currently the parties agree upon the terms and the agenda of Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko's visit to Tehran. It is likely that the visit will result in more concrete decisions. For now, the main issue is the route of the gas pipeline and here certain progress is already observed. The number of possible routes is decreases. During the last meeting in Tehran the parties left out another variant and kept only two variants both of which suppose pipeline construction through the territory of Armenia. Two weeks ago, summarizing his visit to Iran the chairman of the National Security and Defense Committee of Ukraine Peter Poroshenko said that currently routes passing through Armenia, Georgia, Russia and Turkey are considered. The fact that he mentioned Turkey is very important for us because Ankara's participation in the project excludes the possibility of Yerevan's participation not for political but for geographic reasons. However, it seems that the variant presupposing Ankara's participation has already been rejected. This judgment can be made from the words of the Deputy Minister of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine Aleksey Ivchenko. After the July 25 meeting with his Iranian colleague he said that only the routes Iran-Armenia-Georgia-Russia-Ukraine-Europe and Iran-Armenia-Georgia-Black Sea-Ukraine-Europe are considered. Thus, both variants isolating Armenia have been left out from the agenda. The variant of constructing the pipeline through Azerbaijan is no longer discussed though for some reasons official Tbilisi tried to lobby that route.
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