27 Feb 2019 16:20

Rouhani expects progress in Iran-Armenia cooperation even with U.S. sanctions

YEREVAN. Feb 27 (Interfax) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said he expected Iranian-Armenian relations to develop in spite of the U.S. sanctions.

"We have achieved good agreements on various tracks. We hope we will witness the development of our existing good relations with Armenia. We voiced our satisfaction with Armenia's position regarding the unfair sanctions on Iran," Rouhani said at a news briefing following a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Tehran on Wednesday.

"Our two countries aim at promoting work in our interests and not allowing any third country to interfere in this work and cooperation," he said.

There are a lot of opportunities for advancing economic relations between Iran and Armenia, he said.

"Iran expressed its willingness to be involved in the North-South transport corridor construction program. We also discussed cooperation in the agricultural and information technology sectors. We are expressing our willingness to develop ties in this direction," Rouhani said.

In the context of cooperation between Iran and Armenia in the electric energy sector, the parties considered a format of trilateral cooperation involving Georgia and quadrilateral cooperation involving Russia, Rouhani said.

"We also expressed Iran's willingness to increase gas supplies to Armenia. We are also prepared for cooperation in a trilateral format by exporting gas to Georgia," he said.