YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–At the recent Business Forum of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation–which was held in Istanbul Sunday and Monday–Armenia proposed two strong ideas regarding the transport and energy sectors–governmental spokesman Levon Zourabian said at a news conference Wednesday.
The transport project provides for the continuation of the "Fourth European Corridor." According to Zourabian–with only a $4 million investment–one can expect to take 37 million tons of cargo through Armenia every year. Two- thirds of the cargo will be shipped out of Armenia while the remaining 1/3 will be sold in Armenia.
The Fourth European Transport Corridor runs through Romania–Bulgaria and Turkey. Armenia’suggested that it be extended farther east through its territory.
Armenia’s second proposal dealt with the energy field. According to Zourabian–Armenia produces more electricity than it actually needs. Armenia’s power system has already been linked with Iran’s power system. Georgia and Turkey were invited to link their power systems with Armenia to enable Armenia to sell the electricity. He noted that Georgia and Turkey were most likely to become the buyers of Armenia’s electricity.
The projects were also discussed at the Black Sea Bank for Trade and Development.
Problems associated with communication–energy–agriculture–industry–sciences–technology and economy were considered at the Forum.
Zourabian pointed out that Ter-Petrosyan had separate meetings with the presidents of Ukraine–Georgia–Turkey–Romania and Azerbaijan.
They discussed bilateral relations and the possibility of multilateral cooperation in many fields. He stressed that the doctrine of Armenia’s foreign policy remained unchanged: the development of good relations with all neighboring states is the best guarantee of Armenia’s security–said Ter-Petrosyan.