Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Apr. 14
By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:
Turkmenistan, in its foreign policy strategy, attaches special attention to the intensification of dialogue with the neighboring Afghanistan, diplomatic relations with which mark 25th anniversary, the Turkmen Dovlet Habarlary state news service reported Apr. 14.
“Our country supports the stabilization of the situation and the settlement of the current difficult situation in the neighboring state by using exclusively peaceful, political and diplomatic, trade and economic and humanitarian methods aimed for a long-term perspective,” said the state news service in its report.
The UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia, headquarters of which is located in Ashgabat, should play an important role in this process.
Turkmenistan implements large-scale regional projects in the energy and transport sectors aimed to restore the Afghan economy and social infrastructure, according to the report.
The construction of the transnational gas pipeline Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) and the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan (TAT) railway are among the most significant projects. Construction of the Turkmen section of TAPI was launched on Dec. 13, 2015. The pipeline’s annual capacity will be 33 billion cubic meters.