Karim Masimov, the Premier of Kazakhstan, stated in an interview with Ekho Moskva, that for the time being Kazakhstan does not plan to participate in the construction of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline. Concrete statements have not been on the Trans-Caspian pipeline, he noted.
Masimov reminded that on 12 May the Presidents of Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan signed a declaration on construction of the Caspian gas pipelineа. "In accordance with the declaration now it is dealt with the construction of the Caspian gas pipeline and Kazakhstan is a transit country in this respect," the Kazakh premier stressed. "There is a particular pragmatic approach, he clarified. Gas will be exported in the direction it is profitable and to the place it is profitable for the people of Kazakhstan. The agreements with Russia have entered the stage when we find it to be profitable to move in this direction, he added
In accordance with a joint declaration signed in Turkmenbashi on 12 Mat by the Presidents of Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan the governments of these three countries are committed to develop and sign by 1 September a trilateral agreement on cooperation in the construction of Caspian gas pipeline, ITAR-TASS reports.
The President of Turkmenistan, Gurbangulu Berdimuhammedov, stated after the signing of a declaration on Caspian a pipeline that the alternative project - Trans-Caspian gas pipeline is still on agenda and cannot be implemented in future.
In his turn Victor Khristienko, the Russian Minister for Industry and Energy, stated on impossibility of finding non-political investors for the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline. "The legal, technical, ecological risks are very high and it rules out the possibility of its being a non-political project when it is unimportant what runs via the pipeline, but that it exists," the Russian minister emphasized.