Iran and Armenia have signed an electricity supply contract, valued at €107 million, whereby the Export Development Bank of Iran, as the country's exim (export-import) bank, undertakes to provide 80% of the total sum, managing director of EDBI said.
"The contract was signed last week during a visit to Armenia," Ali Salehabadi added, noting that Armenia will supply the remaining expenditure.
The funding procedure has been finalized and will become operational in the next few days. Transmission lines will go on stream in 18 months, IRNA reported.
"Constructive negotiations were held with the Armenian energy minister and officials from Electric Networks of Armenia during last week's visit," he added.
Iran’s electricity industry ranks 14th in the world and first in the Middle East in terms of power generation with an installed power generation capacity of 72,000 MW.
The country is the largest exporter and importer of electricity in the Middle East and exports electricity to Armenia, Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Armenia supplies electricity to Iran under a swap agreement. There is also a barter deal between Iran and Armenia, whereby the latter exports natural gas to the neighbor and imports electricity in exchange.
Iran has reportedly bartered more than 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas with Armenia’s electricity over the past seven years. In 2013 alone, Iran exchanged around 481 million cubic meters of gas with electricity from Armenia, the largest amount of barter between the two neighbors.
First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri in a telephone conversion with Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Argami Abrahamyan on Saturday discussed matters of bilateral interests, including gas and electricity.
Abrahamyan expressed optimism that with the removal of obstacles, energy ties between the two countries will expand.
