Armenia keen to import more natural gas from Iran

The Armenian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Armen Movsisyan underlined Yerevan's determination to boost energy ties and natural gas imports from Iran. Movsisyan said that increasing Armenia's natural gas import from Iran up to two billion cubic meters is scheduled to be discussed during a joint commission between the two countries' officials in charge in Tehran due in May 2014. In recent years, Iran and its Northern neighbor Armenia have boosted cooperation, signed agreements on energy cooperation and agreed to cooperate in technology and research and enhance ties in commerce and economy. In August, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani and his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsian, in a meeting in Tehran, hailed the friendly relations between the two neighboring states, and called for the expansion of mutual cooperation in all arenas. During the meeting, the Iranian president said that relations between Iran and Armenia have been friendly based on mutual interests and there is no doubt that the same trend will be continued in future to help enhance the current level of relations and cooperation. "Iran has always called for expansion of relations and cooperation with Armenia thanks to both sides cultural and civilization commonalities," Rouhani added. "Armenia at international conferences has always adopted a very close and friendly stand with Iran, which helps meet both sides' interests," Rouhani said. The Armenian president, for his part, said that Iran and Armenia have kept abreast of developments throughout history and in the past 20 years they developed economic cooperation. "There is no doubt that ties and cooperation between the two countries will be bolstered in line with the expansion of economic cooperation during the tenure of president Rouhani," he said. According to the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), around 1.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas has been traded with Armenian electricity from 2007 to 2012.