Turkmenistan holds summit for key TAPI pipeline

December 12, 2010 | 09:33
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Turkmenistan on Saturday signed broad agreements with Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan at a summit on a transnational gas pipeline, though talks yielded few concrete details.

The 1,700-kilometre (1,050-mile) TAPI pipeline, Ashgabat's dream project that first appeared in 1995, has been on hold for many years due to the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

The presidents of Turkmenistan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan met for the first time to discuss the project, while India was represented by the country's Energy Minister Murli Deora.

They signed an intergovernmental agreement on the TAPI pipeline, with energy ministers signing a separate framework document on the project, but no deal was reached on future sales or the consortium for the future construction tender.

The TAPI pipeline aims to transport over 30 billion cubic metres of gas annually from the Dauletabad gas fields in southeast Turkmenistan and could turn to a cash cow for Afghanistan in transit fees.

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai assured that he would "put in efforts to ensure security both during construction and after completing the project".

"It is a highly important project," he said.

Security of the pipeline inside Afghanistan has been questioned as the route would go through a number of turbulent regions, including the Helmand and Kandahar provinces which have become epicentres of violence.

The pipeline would also go through the Quetta district in Pakistan and end in Fazilka, an Indian city near the India-Pakistan border.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, who arrived to Turkmenistan on Friday, said he "believes in the project".

"This gas communication will relieve Pakistan's economy of its weakness and help battle extremism," he said after the signing.

"We are witnessing a historic project," said Haruhiko Kuroda, president of Asian Development Bank. "It is not easy to make it happen. Efforts must be made to ensure its security and ADB is ready to help realize it."

On Friday Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov expressed hope that the summit would finalize the parameters and dates of the project's development, Turkmen newspapers said.

The project is in line with the country's energy policy "which is a factor of stability and keeping balance on the European and Asian energy markets", he said on Saturday prior to the summit.

Turkmenistan, which is believed to hold the world's fourth largest reserves of natural gas, has been working to diversify away from its reliance on Soviet pipelines and has had rows with Moscow over the projected trans-Caspian pipeline to Europe, Nabucco.

Ashgabat has also opened export routes to China and increased gas supply to Iran.

AFP

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