Yerevan, May 14, ARMENPRESS: President Kocharian received today members of an Iranian delegation who have arrived here, led by Iran's oil and gas minister, Bijan Zanganeh, to sign the basic treaty on construction of a gas pipeline from Iran to Armenia, expected later today.

Kocharian's press office said the minister conveyed the cordial greetings of president Mohamamd Khatami to his Armenian counterpart. The minister said also the to be signed agreement is coming after years of fruitful work of both governments. The high level of diverse bilateral relations, emphasized as a key condition for an overall stabilization in the region, was commended by both sides.

The project provides for laying down a 100-kilometer gas pipeline along the Iranian territory and 41 kilometers in Armenia. The pipeline will pump daily 1.5 million cubic meters of Turkmen gas. The approximate cost of the project is 96 million U.S. dollars.

The pipeline's construction is planned to be started in several months to be finished in 2006.The gas pipeline from Iran is to be built only to meet domestic needs of Armenia. Armenian authorities said previously any other direction of the pipeline, for instance to Europe, is not under discussion."We regard this project as a serious question for Armenian energy security," the president underlined today.