-Mr. Tumanyan, PM Nikol Pashinyan plans to visit Iran in late February. What kind of meetings and agenda of issues are scheduled?
-Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will depart for Tehran on February 27 at the invitation of President of Iran Hassan Rouhani. This is Pashinyan’s first visit to Iran. The organizational issues of the visit are being discussed at the moment. The agenda of meetings will cover a broad range of bilateral issues. During the talks the officials will touch upon the regional security and bilateral cooperation affairs.
-This year marks the 28th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties with Iran. How would you assess the current level of Armenia-Iran relations?
-From the time of their formation to this day Armenia and Iran had friendly and partnering relations. However, not all opportunities of both sides have been utilized.
-What achievements will you identify in the Armenian-Iranian diplomatic relations in the recent period?
-The main achievement is the high level of political component of the bilateral relations. The sides have always managed to avoid lined problems. But as for the recent period, we can mention the facts of distribution of various information about Armenia among the Iranian circles, mutual awareness raising. Many Iranian businessmen visited Armenia to discuss the opportunities of conducting an economic activity.
-Iran remains one of Armenia’s key partners. What prospects do you see for expanding the economic cooperation between the two countries?
-Iran is really one of the key partners of Armenia, and the development of the relations derives from Armenia’s interests. Of course, Armenia also has an important place in Iran’s foreign policy agenda.
The level of bilateral economic relations is far from being enough, and both sides need to take serious actions in this regard. I would like to inform that the Armenia-Iran trade turnover has never crossed 300 million USD (also given the gas-electricity exchange), and the import volumes of goods from Armenia to Iran have always been quite small.
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