IRAN PRESIDENT TO VISIT ARMENIA IN SEPTEMBER

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami will visit Armenia this September to cement the friendly relationships between the two neighboring states, reported the Press Service of the Armenian President, noting it will be the first official visit to Yerevan by an Iranian head. Artashes Tumanian, the chief of Armenian President’s Administration, was in Tehran earlier this week to discuss details of the trip among other questions. In the course of his visit A. Tumanian met with the political leaders of Iran, with whom he discussed a number of joint projects. Among them were the questions of realization of a bilateral agreement, signed in Yerevan on May 13, that paves the way for construction of a 140-kilometer pipeline, which will deliver Iranian natural gas to Armenia beginning approximately in 2007. As reported by the Press Service of the Armenian President, the two sides reaffirmed plans to “promptly begin” work on the pipeline. Tumanian and the Iranian leaders also discussed the implementation of other major bilateral projects, such as the construction of a hydro-electric power plant on the river Arax, separating the two countries, and a mountain tunnel in Armenia’s southeastern Syunik region bordering Iran.