Armenia-Iran gas pipeline to open

Ahmadinejad and Armenian President Robert Kocharian will open the 25-mile section in the town of Meghri, just over the border from Iran.

The project was launched in 2004 after more than a decade of negotiations.

Armenia has developed its relations with Iran amid economic troubles caused by the closing of its borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan in the wake of the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenian and ethnic Armenian Karabakhi forces.

Last year, Ahmadinejad opened an Iranian-financed tunnel improving connections between impoverished Tajikistan's north and the capital region. Tehran has focused mostly on transport and infrastructure projects and restoring historically close cultural ties.

/Presscott Herald/