THE IRANIAN-ARMENIAN-GREEK MEMORANDUM NOTES THE NEED FOR ACTIVATING EFFORTS FOR THE REALIZATION OF THE IRAN-ARMENIA GAS PIPELINE PROJECT

PanARMENIAN.Net - 19.07.2000, MEDIAMAX, YEREVAN. The deputy foreign ministers of Armenia, Iran and Greece signed the memorandum of mutual understanding in Tehran on July 18.

As IRNA reports, a review of the activities of trilateral committees and the preparation for the forthcoming meeting of the foreign ministers of the three countries, which is to be held in November in Athens, were on the agenda of the Tehran session. The three countries underscored the political will of their respective governments to continue and consolidate their cooperation in economic, cultural and social fields. The agreement underlined the need for speeding up the studies in connection with the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline project and the importance of joint cooperation with the European Union in this matter.

The foreign minister of Iran Kamal Kharrazi declared after the session that the Armenian-Iranian-Greek cooperation will not only benefit the three countries but will also be an important tool for maintaining collective security and stability in the entire region. The deputy foreign minister of Greece noted that Armenian-Iranian-Greek trilateral cooperation can be a good example for others to follow.

The beginning of the trilateral cooperation of the three countries was marked on December 22, 1997 in Athens, when the foreign ministers of Greece, Iran and Armenia signed a memorandum of trilateral cooperation. The last meeting on ministerial level was held in September 1999 in Yerevan.

According to the Armenian foreign minister, Armenia and Iran try to use Greece as a "bridge to Europe", and Greece, in its turn, considers Armenia and Iran as the most convenient way to Near and Middle East. The head of the foreign ministry of Armenia noted that Georgia has always displayed interest in this trilateral cooperation and on a certain stage the question was even of its full participation in this regional union, but later "due to some reasons Georgia didn't hurry to take this decision". Vardan Oskanian said that the expansion of the cooperation would be very useful and would considerably increase the possibilities of the member-states.

Simultaneously with the Armenia-Iran-Greece trilateral cooperation it is necessary to work in the direction of establishing Iran-Armenia-Georgia-Bulgaria cooperation, which will allow to set up a competitive transit communication system in the region. The minister of transport and communications of Iran Hojati Najafabad declared about this in June 2000 at the meeting with the Prime Minister of Armenia Andranik Margarian. -0-