Armenia triples trade exchanges with Iran

Armenian Agriculture Minister Sergo Karapetyan announced that his country has increased its trade exchanges with Iran by 200 to 300 percent during the last few years. "During the last two years the volume of exchanges between Iran and Armenia has doubled or tripled," Karapetyan said after meeting Iranian Agricultural Jihad Minister Sadeq Khalilian in Iran earlier this week. He described his visit to Iran as "fruitful" and "constructive", and said during the trip the two sides inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to further expand their mutual cooperation. Karapetyan said that the Iranian and Armenian officials have also held negotiations to boost Tehran's investment in Armenia. Iran and Armenia have taken major strides to promote their bilateral relations in the last few years. The bilateral trade volume between the two states stands at nearly $270 million, a figure that is expected to rapidly climb in a near future, according to officials. Iran and Armenia have mainly expanded cooperation in power and gas swap in recent years. Iran mainly exports natural gas to Armenia and imports power supplies from the Caucasian state through two transfer lines with a total power transfer capacity of 220kw/ph at present. Iranian Minister of Energy Majid Namjou announced in June that the two countries would increase swap of electricity once the third power transmission line is completed. "The construction phase of the third power transmission line between the two countries will start in the next two weeks," Namjou told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with Armenian Energy and Natural Resources Minister Armen Movsisian in June. He added the new line will bring the volume of power exchange between the two countries from the current 300mw to 500-800 mw. The minister said that over $110million of funding is needed for the construction of the new power transmission line.