Iran is expected to invest $400 million in construction of an Iran-Armenia railway link, Gurgen Sarkisian, the Armenian Minister of Transport and Communications, has announced.

Sarkisian said that the Asian Bank for Reconstruction and Development is financing a feasibility study for the project, according to a November 15 report distributed by the Kavkazsky Uzel news website.

According to preliminary estimates, the project will cost some $1.5 billion. Yerevan hopes that the donor community will provide money to build the railway that has been described by the government as a key priority of the country's economic policy.