Iran and Azerbaijan are expected to finalize a deal to create a crucial rail link during the upcoming visit to Baku by the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.�
Javid Gurbanov, the head of Azerbaijan Railways, has been quoted by the country\s media as saying that a key document over the project � which envisages connecting Iran�s northern city of Rasht with Azerbaijan�s Astara - will be signed when Rouhani visits Baku in early August.
"President Hassan Rouhani is expected to visit Azerbaijan tentatively on August 8-10. A document on the financing of the project to build the Rasht-Astara railway may be signed during this visit," Gurbanov said.
He said, citing Iranian experts, that the cost of building the Rasht-Astara railway is projected at $900 million, Itar-Tass has quoted him as telling Azerbaijan�s ANS television.
"We have not conducted our own evaluation yet and we have requested relevant documents from Iran. We will inform the country's president after a joint evaluation of the documents by experts from Azerbaijan�s ministries of Finance, Economics and Emergency Situations," Gurbanov said.
The official further added that if the Azeri president approves financial assistance to Iran with the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway, a relevant intergovernmental document may be signed during Rouhani's visit to Baku, Itar-Tass added.
The Rasht-Astara-Qazvin railway project envisages the construction on the territory of Iran of a new railway line connecting Azerbaijan's Astara to the Iranian cities of Astara, Rasht and Qazvin.
The agreement on the construction of the railway � which was signed by Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia in 2005 - envisages the construction of railway segments inside the territory of Iran and inside the territory of Azerbaijan between Astara and the Azeri-Iranian border.� It also envisages the reconstruction of the already existing railway on the territory of Azerbaijan.