Natural Sound

Iran is developing a new economic strategy aimed at taking it into the 21st century.

Isolated by Western nations for its alleged links to Middle East terrorism the Tehran government is looking east for new trade opportunities.

Dubbed the modern silk road - the inauguration of the new 40 million (m) dollar (U-S) Trans-Asian rail link is being used as further proof that sanctions are not affecting President Rafsanjani's grip on power.

The 103-mile connection between the northeastern city of Mashhad and Sarakhs, on the Turkmenistan border, gives Iran access to the five former Soviet Central Asian republics.

Iran hopes the link will help resuscitate its ailing economy.

In a carefully choreographed publicity coup, a special train packed with a dozen presidents, 23 foreign ministers and scores of dignitaries crosses from Iran into Turkmenistan.

The train marks the revival of the famous 'Silk Road' - the ancient trading link between East and West.

The modern silk route is in fact a 40 million dollar railway through Iran which officially opened on Monday.

It will enable up to a million passengers a year and thousands of tons of cargo to pass from Turkey through Iran and Central Asia to China.

The Iranian government, who laid on the special V-I-P train to take journalists and diplomats across the border with Turkmenistan is calling the rail link 'a vital new supply line for World trade'.

The invited guests were carried along track laid 18 months ahead of schedule entirely by Iranian labour.

U-S contractors were barred from tendering for the work because of the current tough sanctions imposed on Iran by the Clinton administration.

America has been damning of Iran's alleged human rights abuses and its alleged funding and training of Hezbollah fighters in Southern Lebanon.

Every inch of the journey from Sarakhs through Iranian territory to the Turkmenistan border was heavily guarded with soldiers and helicopters flying overhead.

But local villagers too turned out to watch the ceremony.

On the bridge which links the two countries President Rafsanjani cut a ribbon before rejoining the train to head for more celebrations in Turkmenistan itself.

Once over the border traditional horsemen took over from the 20th century war machines as the official escort.

The desert landscape gave no shelter from the midday sun but despite temperatures reaching into the hundreds, thousands of locals waited for hours to catch a glimpse of the special train.

Iran has developed a special relationship with the fledgling republic of Turkmenistan since the collapse of communism and the end of Soviet rule.

It now sees Central Asia as part of an "Eastwards looking" international trade policy - a policy partially born out of necessity because of Iran's isolation by Western nations, principally the U-S.

The sight of the Iranian president surrounded by so many leaders from the region was deliberately orchestrated for the dozens of Western media invited to the ceremony.


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