Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Nov. 3
By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:
President of India Ram Nath Kovind expressed confidence in expansion of ties with Turkmenistan, the Turkmen government said Nov. 3.
“Bilateral relations between India and Turkmenistan are traditionally of trustworthy and friendly nature. I am confident that our ties will continue to strengthen and develop in various areas,” the Indian president said in a letter to his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.
The two states are involved in a large regional energy project for the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline.
The total length of the TAPI pipeline will be 1,814 kilometers. A 214-kilometer section of the pipeline will run through Turkmenistan, a 774-kilometer section will run through Afghanistan and an 826-kilometer section will run through Pakistan to Fazilka settlement on the border with India.
Construction of the Turkmen section of TAPI started in 2015 and is scheduled to finish in late 2018.
The pipeline’s annual capacity will be 33 billion cubic meters of gas.