Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Dec.11 / Trend H. Hasanov /
The presidents of Turkmenistan and Pakistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov and Asif Ali Zardari held a meeting in Ashgabat, during which an issue was raised about the progress of a joint gas pipeline project TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India).
During the Turkmen-Pakistani negotiations, the sides reaffirmed "steady commitment to the friendship relations and fruitful cooperation", national television channel Altyn Asir reported today.
The meeting considered a number of issues of regional and international policies of mutual interest.
Zardari arrived on Dec. 11 to attend the Ashgabat summit on the TAPI project, during which an interstate agreement and individual agreement on sale of raw materials will be signed.
On the eve of the talks Zardari stressed the importance of TAPI, "in the early realization of which Pakistan is extremely interested."
"Being a guarantor of social and economic welfare of member countries, this pipeline will certainly have a positive impact on the region as a whole," he said.
Berdimuhammadov, reaffirming Turkmenistan's adherence to the principle of diversification of export routes, noted that "this principle is one of the key criteria of the national energy strategy."
According to him, as a world energy power, Turkmenistan seeks to realize its enormous hydrocarbon potential for the benefit of all humanity, standing for equal and mutually beneficial cooperation in the energy sector. "
Views were exchanged on the intensification of cooperation in such spheres as trade, oil, agriculture, transport and telecommunications, construction and others.
Ashgabat recently announced that it is looking for possibilities of supplying the Turkmen electricity to Pakistan, which is already supplied to Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey.