BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 12
By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend:
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov held a meeting with newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of India to Turkmenistan Vidhu Peethambaran Nair on August 11, 2020, Trend reports with reference to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan.
During the meeting, the parties stressed the importance of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) transnational gas pipeline.
The sides considered important aspects of bilateral relations in the political, diplomatic and economic spheres as well as cooperation within international structures, in particular within the United Nations (UN).
The participants also discussed issues of partnership in the health, education, energy and transport sector.
The Indian ambassador presented the minister copies of his credentials, the report says.
The Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India Pipeline (TAPI), also known as Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline, is a natural gas pipeline being developed by the Galkynysh – TAPI Pipeline Company Limited with participation of the Asian Development Bank.
The pipeline will transport natural gas from the Galkynysh Gas Field in Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and then to India. Construction on the project started in Turkmenistan on 13 December 2015.
The length of the Turkmen section of the TAPI pipeline, the construction of which was launched in December 2015, will be 205 kilometers (the main operations are carried out on the 120th kilometer). The pipeline will pass through the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar (816 kilometers), through the cities of Quetta and Multan across Pakistani territory (819 kilometers), and reach the city of Fazilka in India.
The pipeline’s design capacity is planned to be 33 billion cubic meters of gas per year, and the project’s cost - about $8 billion.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @JeilaAliyeva