MOSCOW, April 4 (RIA Novosti) - A consortium of European investors is ready to invest in the construction of a railroad running to China and Korea, the economic development and trade minister said Tuesday.
German Gref said construction of the railroad had been discussed at trilateral talks in March, and that project could be launched as soon as North Korea had produced some necessary information.
"As soon as the information is received and North Korea expresses its interest, we will be ready quickly to join planning of and investing in the project," Gref said.
The mooted project will see a railroad constructed to link South and North Korea with Russia via China.
Earlier, South Korea proposed that North Korea and Russia invite other states to discuss financial problems of linking the Trans-Korean Railroad with the Trans-Siberian Railroad.
Russian Railways has been negotiating the reconstruction of the eastern sector of the Trans-Korean Railroad and its linkup to the Trans-Siberian Railroad for the past few years. The problem was brought up in August 2002, when Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il discussed the idea of linking up the South and North Korean railroads to create an uninterrupted railroad from the Far Eastern ports to western Europe.
