IRAN, ARMENIA TO FINALIZE RAILWAY ACCORD

Press TV
April 14 2009
Iran

Iran and Armenia will finalize an agreement on the construction
of a railway that connects the two countries and enhances economic
cooperation.

"Iran and Armenia should promote relations in different areas including
trade, energy and transportation," Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
said in a Monday meeting with his visiting Armenian counterpart
Serzh Sargsian.

Earlier this month, the two neighboring countries agreed to implement a
joint project on construction of a 470-kilometer (292-mile) railway,
the bulk of it passing through Armenian territory. The project
will take at least five years and cost up to USD 1.2 billion (EUR
892 million).

The railway, which will amount to a restoration of the historic
Silk Road, is especially important to Yerevan as it will connect
the northern lake city of Sevan to the southern city of Meghri,
which borders Iran.

"An advanced and sustainable Armenia will be beneficial to the entire
region," Ahmadinejad said.

Sargsian, for his part, called for bolstering relations with Iran.

The Armenian president arrived in Tehran on Monday at the head of a
high-ranking politico-economic delegation and was officially welcomed
by Ahmadinejad.

Armenian-Iranian trade amounted to a modest USD 226.6 million last
year. The amount is expected to rise sharply when the railway is
completed.