No funds for the construction of an Iran-Armenia railway or a new nuclear-power station are budgeted for next year, Armenian Minister of Finance Tigran Davtyan told a press conference on October 6.

In the near future the funds will be included in the draft budget, he said. “The Government’s medium-term expenditure program does not say anything about it either,” Davtyan said.

As regards the Armenia-Iran railway project, the Minister said that it is out of the question. No financing mechanisms have been worked out for it.

On January 14, 2010, the Armenian Government approved an investment program of constructing the North-South transport corridor, as well as a U.S. $500m framework agreement between Armenia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and an agreement on the fist, U.S. $60m, tranche for the construction of the North-South corridor. The Iran-Armenia railway is an alternative access to the outer world for Armenia. The project is estimated at U.S. $2bn. The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank are interested in the project.

On August 20, an Armenian-Russian agreement on the construction of a new nuclear-power station was signed in Yerevan, following the Armenian-Russian presidential talks. An Armenian-Russian company has been formed. The company will cover 40% of the project costs, with the rest 60% to be attracted as investments.