Karen Karapetyan pointed to the inadequacy of the current volume of trade between Armenia and Iran

ArmInfo. On February 27,  Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan received the Iranian  delegation headed by Iranian Energy Minister, co-chairman of the  Armenian-Iranian intergovernmental commission Reza Ardakanian.

As the press service of the Armenian government reports, Karen  Karapetyan highly appreciated the current level of political  relations between Armenia and Iran and stressed that there are all  prerequisites for strengthening and developing bilateral cooperation  in various fields. In particular, in the matter of deepening economic  cooperation, he stressed the importance of the activities of the  intergovernmental commission, the next meeting of which was held on  February 27 in Yerevan.

Reza Ardakanian conveyed to Prime Minister Karapetyan warm greetings  from the First Vice-President of Iran Eshak Jahangiri and expressed  confidence that the Yerevan session will give a new impetus to the  development of bilateral economic cooperation. Reza Ardakanian  presented to the Prime Minister the issues discussed at the meeting  of the intergovernmental commission, and touched on the areas of  cooperation. The Minister, in particular, said that the document  aimed at deepening cooperation in the customs sphere was finalized  and submitted for signing. In addition, the 3rd Iran-Armenia  transmission line in 400 kV has also been successfully completed and  is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2019.  According to the  Iranian Energy Minister, the meeting also discussed the  implementation of the program of the Meghri hydropower plant, the  expansion of cooperation in the field of road transport,  environmental protection, including the development of ecotourism and  the creation of a friendship park.

Reza Ardakanian noted the importance of deepening cooperation between  the free economic zones "Aras" and "Meghri", stressing that Iranian  investors are interested in this issue.

Prime Minister Karapetyan welcomed the development of cooperation in  these areas and stressed the need to implement programs aimed at  expanding trade turnover. The current volume of trade is  insufficient. We are interested in implementing major projects and  are ready to take appropriate steps, including organizing an open day  for the Iranian business and responding to all their questions. We  must change the scale of our relations, our team makes every effort  to bring economic relations between the two friendly countries to the  political level. During the meeting the parties also touched upon the  issues of deepening cooperation in the fields of agriculture,  education, the environment , health, tourism, etc.

According to National Statistical Service data, in Jan-Dec 2017, the  Armenia-Iran trade turnover reached $ 263.4 million, with an annual  growth of 10.1%. In the structure of foreign trade turnover, exports  amounted to $ 84.1 million with an increase of 11.8%, and imports  increased by 9.3%, reaching $ 179.3 million.