PIPELINES AND PIPEDREAMS.

At the Alma-Ata meeting on the status of theCaspian Sea, Iranian officials pressed for the construction of pipelines fromAzerbaijan and Central Asia through Iran, Moscow radio reported. The Iranianssaid that this would be the “cheapest way” to get the oil out; and, hoping totake advantage of the swap exemptions in President Clinton’s embargo againstIran, they outlined a plan to import oil from the north and then exportIranian oil in exchange. Meanwhile, the Noyan Tapan news agency reported May17 that Armenian officials are still pushing for a pipeline through Armenia,but an Armenian presidential spokesman said that the question of theconstruction of a pipeline must not be linked to the resolution of theKarabakh conflict. Moscow radio reported that a government study had saidthat going through Russia looks like an increasingly bad option for Westernoil companies. Another government study, of declining productivity in thecountry’s oil industry, said that there had been 5,000 major “accidents” inRussia’s auxiliary pipelines alone during the first quarter of 1995.

Tajik Talks Open In Kabul.