Mustafa Ustu of the state-owned Turkish Electricity Transmission Corporation (TEIAS) met with Armenian Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Davit Khudatian and top executives of local energy companies.

In a statement, Khudatian’s ministry said they discussed Ustu “the ongoing work on restoring and putting into operation” a power transmission line connecting Gyumri to the eastern Turkish city of Kars. They stressed the “importance of interconnecting the electricity systems of Armenia and Turkey in the context of both bilateral and regional cooperation.” The statement announced no new agreements reached by them.

Khudatian said in August that the Armenian government is interested in connecting Armenia’s power grid to those of Turkey and Azerbaijan. He said this will enable his country both export and import more electricity.

Other Turkish and Armenian officials met in Kars in April this year for fresh talks on restoring a Gyumri-Kar railway. The Armenian government afterwards took the first step towards rebuilding the 21-kilometer Armenian section of the railway that has fallen into disrepair since the early 1990s.

Its Turkish section is also in need of reconstruction. The mayor of the Turkish border town of Akyaka told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service in July that reconstruction work on the Turkish side has already begun and will be completed within two or three months.

Ankara continues to make the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border contingent on the signing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty. It remains reluctant to implement a 2022 agreement to open the border to holders of Armenian and Turkish diplomatic passports and citizens of third countries.