Moscow, Nov 1, IRNA Energy and electricity ministers of Iran, Russia, and Azerbaijan reached agreement here Friday on establishment of a work-group aimed at broadening cooperation in energy and electricity fields.Ministers of energy and electricity of Iran Hamid Chitchian, Russia Alexander Novak, and Azerbaijan Nateq Aliev surveyed the issue of cooperation in energy and electricity field on the sidelines of the 44th meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
The Russian energy minister said at the beginning of the trilateral meeting, I propose to include the perspective of cooperation in the field of electrical energy and the existing problems in this field, as well as the possible solutions and what we can do to set the legal foundations and prepare the documents of this trilateral cooperation in the agenda of our work today.
He added, The tree countries have broad potentials in the field of generating electricity, exchanging it, and doing business with it, which should be taken optimum advantage of.
Novak said that Russia was quite ready for such a cooperation and for establishment of a work group comprised of the three countries technicians in the field of electrical energy, which would be an important step forward for expansion of cooperation.
The Iranian energy minister, too, said, There is a global tendency towards the expansion of energy networks, because doing so is to the benefit of different countries.
Chitchian said that Russia was a major energy pole of the world, reiterating, This country has a vest electricity network. Also, Azerbaijan Republic is a country with rapid economic growth rate that has a good advancement trend in its energy field.
He added, Iran, too, with a high production growth rate, which is 7%, produces 70,000 megawatts of electricity. Iran has connections with Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq in electricity energy production field and if the Iranian electricity network would be connected to the Russian and the Azerbaijani networks, our electricity network would further expand.
The energy minister of Azerbaijan Republic, too, pointed out that each of the three energy ministers has their particular viewpoint on sustainable production of electricity power.
He added, Continuous provision of electricity is very important and establishment of a joint network would guarantee development and advancement for the three countries.
Nateq Aliyev added, Geographical proximity of the three countries is among the major factors contributing to cooperation in electrical energy cooperation and providing the appropriate condition for connecting our electricity networks.
The energy minister of Azerbaijan also appreciated Iran and Russia for providing electrical energy for his country during his countrys energy crisis in 1990s, particularly for providing electricity for its autonomous Nakhiechevan Republic.
He said that Azarbaijan Republic has an energy cooperation agreement with Russia, reiterating, We can also sign an agreement like that with Iran to provide the legal basis for cooperation in this field.
Aliev said, We need to identify our weak points and to spot the positions in which the three countries electricity networks cannot match each other.
The Russian energy minister then announced that the three countries were ready for negotiations on resuming cooperation in electricity field.
Novak added, The technological and economic aspects of this project need to be surveyed and a technical project need to be prepared for the purpose so that we could have justification for our technological work and devise a work plan for our trilateral cooperation.
The technological aspects of the project and the methods for cooperation in electricity field and the involved problems in such a cooperation, including the commercial aspects of the matter were among the other subjects of discussion in the trilateral meeting.
At the end of the meeting is was agreed that three representatives of each country would attend a meeting in Moscow on November 20th in the framework of a work-group and that they would decide over the level of the next meeting of the three countries in electricity field, and the agenda of that meeting.
Energy Minister of Islamic Republic of Iran Hamid Chitchian had arrived in Moscow on Thursday to attend the one-day conference of the CIS energy and electricity ministers.
The Russian Energy Ministry sponsored the conference that was allocated to exchange of viewpoints in power energy field.
The trilateral meeting of the energy and electricity ministers of Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan republics was held on the sidelines of that conference.
The Iranian energy minister also has meeting with his CIS member states counterparts on the sidelines of the conference.
By IRNA
The Iran Project is not responsible for the content of quoted articles.
