Pipeliners

YEREVAN, October 12 (RIA Novosti, Gamlet Matevosyan) - U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman said Wednesday that the United States would be interested in contributing to the Iran-Armenia natural gas pipeline project. Bodman met with his counterpart Armen Movsisyan in Armenia's capital to discuss the pipelnine, as well as to consider the possibility of holding a U.S.-Armenian energy forum for private companies and financial institutions in order to boost Armenia's energy sector, the Armenian Foreign Ministry reported. Movsisyan said Armenia's only nuclear power plant could be shut down only if there were other energy-generating facilities available to replace it. He said Armenia expected the U.S. to help it in ensuring the plant's safety and developing alternative energy sources.