Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Sept. 14 / Trend H. Hasanov /
Turkmenistan is hosting a global road show with the participation of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the countries interested in the construction of the TAPI gas pipeline (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) on Sept. 9-20, an official Turkmen source said today.
A business tour on the TAPI project is being held in Singapore, New York and London, the biggest business and financial centres of South-East Asia, America and Europe.
According to a government report, the information about Turkmenistan's energy potential, state-run Turkmengaz, the technical parameters of the TAPI gas pipeline and commercial aspects of contracts and agreements to be concluded within the project implementation have been prepared together with the ADB.
Representatives of leading oil and gas companies and potential investors plan to participate at the meeting. This will allow establishing an international consortium and attracting foreign funds.
It was stressed that the implementation of a large scale project to build the TAPI transnational gas pipeline which will ensure long term supplies of more than 30 billion meters of Turkmen natural gas to South-East Asia, has a special role in this regard.
The basic document for promoting TAPI is the intergovernmental agreement signed by participating countries in Ashgabat in late 2010 to start implementing the project.
Important agreements on TAPI were signed for the purchase and sale of Turkmen gas with the State Gas Systems of Pakistan and Indian GAIL Ltd.
The Asian Development Bank, acting as the secretariat to the TAPI project, previously wrote that after more than 20 years of complex negotiations, the 1800km gas pipeline which will connect one of the largest energy suppliers of Central Asia, Turkmenistan, with the market in South Asia, has become one step closer to reality. This testifies to the unprecedented new sphere in regional relations.
At this stage, the necessary legal framework has been created to resolve issues relating to project financing and establishing a consortium. It will ensure the construction and future exploitation of the gas pipeline.
The key issue on the agenda remains the security of the project passing through troubled Afghanistan.
Turkmenistan is already supplying gas to China, Iran and Russia.