Iran and Armenia have agreed to create a joint specialized working group that will deal with the development of cooperation in the energy sector. The decision was made following negotiations between Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad and Armenian Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Davit Khoudatyan, held in Tehran.
During the meeting, the parties discussed expanding bilateral trade, exporting engineering and technical services, building oil refineries, supplying petroleum products, and new energy projects. Iran proposed to start the work of the new group as soon as possible to present concrete results at the next round of negotiations.
Currently, cooperation between the two countries is based on a scheme of exchanging natural gas for electricity. However, Tehran has proposed a new format of commercial interaction, which provides for an increase in gas exports. To implement this initiative, it is planned to assess the existing infrastructure and study the possibility of using Armenia not only as a sales market but also as a regional transit corridor for further natural gas supplies.