President underlines early work on TAPI project

KABUL attached utmost importance to an ambitious four-nation gas pipeline project.

He underlined energy-starved Afghanistan’s interest in the project during a meeting with petroleum ministers from Turkmenistan, Pakistan and India in Kabul.

The ministers were in Kabul to attend the 21^st meeting on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project, a statement from Presidential Palace said.

While stressing the importance of the scheme for regional economic growth and integration, Ghani said embarking on practical work was a top priority for his administration.

Before reaching India, the pipeline will stretch from the Dawlatabad area of Turkmenistan to Pakistan after passing through Herat, Farah, Helmand and Kandahar provinces of Afghanistan.  

The ministerial-level meeting in Kabul involved technical teams from the partnering nations, MoFA spokesman Ahmad Shakib Mustaghni told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Rafi Sadiqi, spokesman for the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, said he would share a report on preliminary discussions between Turkmenistan and France’s ‘Total Oil and Gas Company’ with the TAPI board.

In 2010, the presidents of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and the Indian energy minister inked an accord on execution of the project. The 1,800 km pipeline aims to export up to 33 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per year from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

hg/mud

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