Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline will ensure the long-term supplies of Turkmen natural gas to South-East Asia in the near future, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov believes.

"The construction of the gas pipeline, which will ensure the long-term supplies of Turkmen natural gas to South-East Asia in the near future is another action towards the implementation of Turkmenistan's energy strategy, focused on the creation of a multi-variant system of energy supplies to the world's biggest markets," Berdymukhamedov said at a meeting with Pakistan's Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Resources Jam Kamal Khan.

Berdymukhamedov also received India's Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Marpadi Veerappa Moily in Ashgabat. The representatives of Islamabad and New Delhi arrived in the Turkmen capital to participate in the next meeting of the Steering Committee on the TAPI gas pipeline project. The work of the steering committee was also attended by representatives of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

According to the Turkmen Dovlet Khabarlary state news service, Kamal Khan expressed confidence that the greatest mutual interest of all four participating countries in the project at the beginning of its early implementation and further development of constructive cooperation in the gas sector would help establish a documented framework and coordinate all related financial, commercial and technical issues.

Moily, in turn, stressed India's interest in Turkmen natural gas supplies. This is stipulated by the country's growing needs of the energy resources.

According to him, the implementation of the TAPI project will further enhance the effective Turkmen-Indian cooperation based on the principles of constructiveness.

Furthermore, the national gas companies of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan signed an agreement for the sale and purchase of natural gas which will be supplied from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan through the TAPI pipeline, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in an official statement.

According to the report, a wide range of issues concerning the implementation of this large scale project were discussed.

Following the meeting a protocol was signed in which the parties fixed the decision on the need to prepare founding documents and the registration of the TAPI Ltd. consortium as well as signing an agreement for a transaction adviser for the TAPI project.

The results of the steering committee meeting have demonstrated high efficiency in the negotiation process for the establishment of a legal framework necessary to begin the practical implementation of the TAPI project, the report said.

The TAPI pipeline project with design capacity of 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year will extend from Galkhynysh -- the largest gas field in Turkmenistan -- through the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar to the final point, a settlement on the Pakistani-Indian border.

The basic document for the promotion of the TAPI project is the Ashgabat intergovernmental agreement on the start of actual implementation of the TAPI project signed in late 2010 by the four participating countries.

According to experts, TAPI is not only a regional project envisaging the transportation of Turkmen gas, but also a global project. The leading role in this project belongs not to the countries through whose territories the pipeline will run, but to the countries with influential and strategic position in world politics, analysts say.

TAPI is currently at an important stage of development. Talks are underway on the establishment of the project consortium, financing and security, in particular, the security of the pipeline section crossing the troubled Afghanistan.

According to experts, the implementation of the TAPI project will strengthen the independence of Turkmenistan and its gas supplies to world markets will increase significantly.

Furthermore, observers say that the main benefit of the project is an opportunity to contribute to the stabilization of Afghanistan, and its implementation could contribute to the rehabilitation process in the post-war country as it will create jobs and provide Afghanistan with guaranteed income from transit.