Iran plans to cooperate with Italy on developing infrastructural projects in which Italian companies will merely take charge of financing the projects, announced deputy road and urban development minister.
"In implementing any project, our condition is that Italian companies should put the same project on tender for Iranian contractors and operators," Asghar Fakhriyeh Kashan said, reported Fars News Agency.
He underlined that Italian companies can only take part in financing Iran's infrastructural projects.
Pointing to cooperation with Italian firms on railway construction, he said, "One such projects is the Qom-Arak high-speed train project which will eventually be linked to Tehran-Qom-Isfahan railway network."
Fakhriyeh Kashan pointed to Tehran-Hamadan railway project, and said, "We have started feasibility studies on this project and if the results are favorable, we will sign a relevant agreement with Italian companies."
In mid-July, Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi and his Italian counterpart Graziano Delrio in a meeting in Rome signed a cooperation deal on high-speed railway projects in Iran.
The two sides signed a joint statement to begin a 146-kilometer high-speed train project between Qom and Arak in March 2017 and a 260-kilometer high-speed train project between Tehran and Hamadan in May 2017.
