IRAQ - Iran Offer.

Iranian Energy Minister Parviz Fattah on Nov. 20 arrived in Baghdad to talk about developing Iraq's electric power sector and expanding power transfer co-operation. He said now there were three points on the Iran-Iraq border for transferring electricity and the officials of the two countries were negotiating to increase the points to seven. He said about 150 MW were currently transferred annually through Pole Zahab to Khaneqin in Iraq which has the potential to be increased to 180 MW.

Fattah said in the two other points, in Marivan and Panjvayn, all Iranian facilities were ready to transfer 20 MW annually to Iraq, but installations on the Iraqi side were not ready yet. Also, 2.5 MW of electricity are transferred from Iran to Iraq through the Haj Omran area to supply nearby Iraqi villages.

The Iranian delegation under Fattah stayed in Iraq until Nov. 24. They held meetings with Fattah's Iraqi counterpart as well as PM Maliki. Iranian experts in the delegation met with their Iraqi counterparts at the energy ministry. Fattah offered that specialised Iranian companies build power plants in Iraq under an initial agreement signed by the two sides in recent months.