YEREVAN. – The Iranian side is doing everything to arrange the visit of president Hassan Rouhani to Armenia, Ambassador Mohammad Reisi told Armenian News-NEWS.am correspondent.

Ambassador said president  Rouhani's priority is relations with the neighboring states and he plans to visit teh countries, in particular Armenia, that is of special priority for Iran.

“I hope the visit will take place this year,” he said.

As to prospects for bilateral energy cooperation, Ambassador noted that the regular meeting of Armenian-Iranian inter-governmental energy committee is to take place to disucss the issues. Asked whether Iran can offer Armenia new conditions on gas supplies, the diplomat said: “It is possible. Everything depends on talks. The issue may be raised during the meeting of Armenia-Iran joint inter-governmental commission to be held in Tehran this May”.

Asked whether the sale of  Vorotan Hydro Cascade to U.S. will affect Iran-Armenia energy cooperation, Mohammad Reisi said Iran's partner is Armenian government and the Iranian side has no relation to who purchased the Vorotan cascade. 

On January 29, Energy and Natural Resources Minister of Armenia, Armen Movsisyan, and ContourGlobal’s Executive Vice President and CEO for Eastern Europe & CIS, Garry Levesley, signed an agreement on the sale of the Vorotan Hydro Cascade—which is a series of three hydroelectric power plants—to the US company.

Under the terms of the agreement, ContourGlobal Hydro Cascade, a direct and wholly owned subsidiary of ContourGlobal, will supply power to the Armenian grid under a long-term power purchase agreement.  It will also invest US$ 70 million over the next six years in a refurbishment program to modernize the plants and improve their operational performance, safety, reliability, and efficiency.