Azernews.Az

Situation in Afghanistan still remains one of the major problems for the implementation of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project, but nevertheless Bangladesh is willing to join it, German expert on Central Asia Michael Laubsch believes.

Bangladesh has sent a request to join the TAPI gas pipeline and now is waiting for its consideration by four governments of the TAPI.

Despite this project attracts attention of new possible participants, there are still many unsolved problems for its implementation, the expert says.

"Theoretically the idea behind this project is quite interesting of course, especially for Turkmenistan as a major gas exporting country," head of the German non-governmental organization ETG (Eurasian Transition Group) Laubsch told Trend news agency during a phone conversation from Berlin. "At the same time India, and now, Bangladesh which also wants to join the project could be of immense interest regarding their economic rise to have a secure gas pipeline from the Caspian Sea to their countries in the future."

"But when you look at a map there is Afghanistan in the middle, which have to be the major focus point, because without Afghanistan this pipeline does not make any sense," Laubsch added.

He believes the main problem for the TAPI at the moment is that it has to have secure and stabilized Afghanistan where the transport pipeline can be secured.

"At the moment I personally do not see positive development in Afghanistan itself where you can say that the gas pipeline within the country is secure and the gas can be transported without problems," Laubsch added.

Expert believes that this will remain a big security challenge in the forthcoming years.

The Ashgabat interstate agreement of the member-states over the start of the project's implementation signed in late 2010 was the base document for its promotion.