YEREVAN (Armenpress)–Armenia’signed a bilateral declaration with the United States regarding natural gas–Thursday. The United States has pledged $30 million to purchase and deliver to Armenia the natural gas it necessitates.
As the first installment of the pledged product–Armenia received 323,790,000 cubic meters of natural gas on June 14. That amount will satisfy the country’s need of natural gas until September.
Among those participating in the negotiations were Finance and Economy Minister Armen Tarpinian–Energy Minister Gagig Mardirossian–Privatization Minister Norayr Khachadrian–as well as US Ambassador to Armenia Peter Thomsen–who has been instrumental in the redevelopment effort of Armenia’s energy sector.
According to Energy Minister Mardirossian–the reforms in the energy sector are applied in a gradual process.
The first completed stage provided special services to production–distribution and transfer companies. Upon the request of Ter-Petrosyan–in March an energy commission was established to formulate price policy.
In June–the National Assembly and Ter-Petrosyan ratified a law regarding energy–which–according to Thomsen–is the best among former Soviet republic and Eastern European energypolicies.
Mardirossian finds it realistic to assume that within the next two years energy reforms will be completed and Armenia’s energy sector will be self-sufficient.
It was also mentioned that privatization will proceed gradually–and electrical energy producing firms –as well as gas transferring facilities will be established.