TEHRAN - Armenia's Ambassador to Iran Artashes Toumanian said on Monday that the two countries’ joint electricity transmission project is underway despite the coronavirus outbreak, IRNA reported.

“Iran-Armenia joint projects have not been shut down, and preparations have been underway to dispatch 60 people [from Iran] to Armenia for working on the third power transmission line between the two countries,” Toumanian said in an online meeting on the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak in the region.

Iran and Armenia have been cooperating for years in gas and electricity swap, and two-way economic and political ties have grown in tandem with an increase in trade.

Back in July 2019, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Tehran to expand economic cooperation, especially in the field of energy.

The MOU was signed by Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian and Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan at the end of the 16th Iran-Armenia Joint Economic Committee meeting.

Based on the MOU, the two sides agreed to complete the construction of Iran’s third electricity transmission line to Armenia by 2020 in order to increase the country’s electricity exports to Armenia to over 1000 megawatts (MW).

The MOU also covered cooperation in a variety of areas including road and railway transportation, customs, standardization, establishing free trade zones as well as industry, mining and trade.

On the sidelines of the mentioned meeting, Ardakanian voiced Iran’s readiness to increase gas exports to Armenia and in this regard the two sides agreed to take necessary measures in order to provide infrastructure in this due.

Iran and Armenia use a barter system to exchange gas for electricity and other basic goods.

EF/MA