Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 16 / Trend , D.Khatinoglu/
The Iranian Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Muhammadbaghir Bahrami spoke with Trend Persian Desk in an exclusive interview.
Trend : In which part of the Caspian Sea, is Iran working over its own new Iran-Alborz semi-submersible drilling platform, launched in July?
Muhammadbaghir Bahrami: Iran is conducting drilling operations in the part of the Caspian Sea, which is not disputed. Iran and Azerbaijan reached an agreement which envisages not holding drilling operations in the territory of the Alborz region, until the status of the Caspian Sea is determined, because it is a disputed area. We are implementing our projects in areas that are not controversial.
Q: At what stage is the implementation of the pipeline projects "Peace", "Pars" and "Neka-Jask". There is a suggestion that India would not participate in the "Peace" pipeline...
A: Construction of the Neka-Jask pipeline will continue, perhaps, the volume of investment and a schedule for its construction will be changed.
Two years ago, when I was a member at the Iranian Parliament, we sent a message from Ahmadinejad to Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh. He greeted us very warmly. We know that this is big business, but in all such cases, there are big enemies. But our policy is that the peace should be in the region and that all countries in the region will live in peace. I believe that the countries, not representing the region, do not want it. The world is no longer unipolar. There are regional organizations and they run a joint cooperation in the spheres of politics, economy and security.
Q: Delegation of the National Iranian Gas Company is in Baku. How does Iran intend to cooperate with Azerbaijan in the gas sector?
A: We are optimistic about the future prospects of cooperation between our countries in the energy sector. We cooperate with Azerbaijan in the framework of the Shah Deniz gas-condensate project, where the National Iranian Gas Company has a 10-percent share.
We are discussing the reconstruction of the Baku-Astara (Azerbaijan) - Astara (Iran) pipeline to import 5 billion cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan. The Joint Commission has stepped up the talks on this issue.