The Iranian minister was on a working visit to Armenia. Minister Oskanyan said the construction of the pipeline would be governed and implemented through a bilateral agreement, and no third countries could either interfere with the process, or exert pressure on the parties. This project is of regional importance, but the initiators are Iran and Armenia, the minister said, and participation of a third country in the project would depend on the agreement of both the participants. In his turn, the Iranian foreign minister agreed with his Armenian colleague, and added that the co-operation under the project was not aimed against anyone.
Earlier, Russia’s Gazprom had expressed the desire to participate in the project. The first section of the pipeline is likely to be ready ahead of schedule, and Armenia is supposed to receive Iranian gas on 1 January, 2007.