Armenia signs power supply deal with Turkey

Movsisian told reporters that the deal will see electricity from Armenian thermal power plants supplied to eastern Turkey.

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"An agreement on this was reached during the recent visit of the Turkish President Abdullah Gul," he said.

 

"Turkey is a new market for Armenia, as Armenia last supplied electricity to this country during the Soviet period," he added.

Gul’s visit Saturday to attend a football match between the two nations teams and meet his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan raised hopes that Turkey and Armenia could help the resolution of conflicts and establish diplomatic relations.

 

The deal was signed between Armenias state-owned High Voltage Electricity Network

company and a privately owned Turkish firm called UNIT, Movsisian said.

 

He said the infrastructure was in place on the Armenian side to deliver the electricity but that repairs to transmission lines and the installation of a new transformer in Turkey would take four to five months.

 

He said Armenia would initially supply 1.5 billion kilowatts per hour of electricity to Turkey and that the amount would eventually increase to 3.5 billion kilowatts per hour.

 

Turkey does not have diplomatic relations with its eastern neighbor Armenia because of Yerevan’s invasion of Azerbaijani territory.