Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Nov. 21
By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend:
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has received Indian Ambassador Sunil Jain, who is completing his diplomatic mission in Turkmenistan, the Turkmen government said today.
According to the information, the sides stressed that much work has been recently conducted to develop bilateral relations. In particular, visible progress in the implementation of joint large scale projects was observed.
'The construction project of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan -Pakistan- India (TAPI) gas pipeline which is the largest in Asia, is the most important project', the statement said. 'It has become real of late'.
In this regard, the significance of an important document such as a service agreement with the transactional advisor adopted among the TAPI member states and the Asian Development Bank was stressed. It has been recently adopted within the international oil and gas forum in Ashgabat.
The Indian media outlet reported that ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) also examined its investment opportunities in Turkmenistan's economy and is interested in developing the country's largest gas field. The report said that during negotiations in Delhi, Turkmenistan noted the preference for service contracts while India is interested in the signing of a Production Share Agreement (PSA).
India and Turkmenistan have been actively working on this major energy project since 2010. In May 2012, the Turkmen government and Indian GAIL Ltd. signed a natural gas purchase-sale agreement. Operations on the formation of an international consortium are underway under the ADB auspices.