Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, May 24
By Huseyn Hasanov– Trend:
President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov congratulated Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the convincing victory of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the general parliamentary elections, Trend reports with reference to the congratulatory letter.
The Turkmen president expressed confidence that the high level of bilateral relations will continue to serve as a solid basis for enhancing Turkmen-Indian cooperation and interstate relations covering the entire range of areas.
Transport is considered one of the topical areas of business partnership. The possibilities of the North-South transnational corridor project are being explored, using the potential of the seaports of the two countries.
Ashgabat and Delhi are also discussing interaction opportunities in the chemical and electric power industries. A special role is assigned to the construction project of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline with capacity of 33 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
The construction of the Turkmen section of TAPI was launched on December 13, 2015, while the construction of the Afghan section commenced in February 2018. Pakistan plans to start the work on its pipeline section this year.
The energy bridge will then 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 settlement of Fazilka in India.
The leader of TAPI Pipeline Company Ltd is Turkmengas, which has the controlling stake and acts as the main financier and project manager. The consortium also includes the Afghan Gas Corporation, Pakistan’s Inter State Gas Systems (Private) Limited and Indian GAIL.