“From now on we can freely travel by car from the Persian Gulf to the Baltic Sea”
Vardan Voskanyan, expert in Iranian studies, reflecting to Yerevan-Tehran-Ashgabat new possible cooperation, stated that receiving the Ambassadors of Iran and Turkmenistan by Armenian PM Karen Karapetyan was very important, and this process, in his words, has been launched during Iranian president Hassan Rouhani’s official visit to Armenia.
In early January Armenian Premier Karen Karapetyan received Seyed Kazem Sadjadi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Muhammetniyaz Mashalov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Turkmenistan. The meeting focused on the possibilities and prospects for the development of trilateral cooperation in the field of power engineering. The interlocutors discussed issues related to energy supply and joint projects. During the exchange of opinions, the parties reached an agreement to set up a joint working group and discuss practical and concrete programs.
According to Voskanyan, Turkmenistan is among the world’s five leaders in terms of gas resources and is an important actor. However, it has issues in resource export.
As for Armenia, the expert considers it should pursue, more aggressive—in a positive sense—policy in the fields where it, at first sight, is not welcome, within which, however, our country may gain serious resources to develop not only its economy, but also to considerably improve its geo-political positions, “In this sense the already available formats come to complement creation of a possible format—bilateral Iran-Armenia gas-energy deal, its expansion. Armenia creates trilateral formats with Iran and Georgia, and if this format works, we’ll have the status of a serious actor in the region.”
Observing reflection of countries hostile towards Armenia as secondary indicators, the expert stated that not accidentally, analytics on deepening of relations between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, information boom in Azerbaijani media outlets, which was immediately followed by the meeting of Armenian PM and two Ambassadors, which according to V.Voskanyan, shows concerns generated in that country.
Reflecting to Iran-Armenia relations in 2017, the expert stated the point that Armenian vehicles may freely travel in the territory of Iran within the term of 3 months was a crucial achievement, leaving the symbolic USD 90, which after the commute is being returned, “From now on we can freely travel by car from Persian Gulf to the Baltic Sea with visa-free regime and without any restrictions.”
By Razmik Martirosyan
