A ground-breaking ceremony of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline project was formally inaugurated in Herat on 23 February. The multi-million dollar gas pipeline will link energy-rich Turkmenistan to the three countries.
Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, Turkmenistan President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Indian Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar, and hundreds of guests and local residents attended the ceremony.
Ghani described the project as a corridor of development and stressed on regional cooperation. He said the Afghanistan government’s policy is a policy of connectivity and South Asia is being connected with Central Asia through Afghanistan.
From left, Indian Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar, Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, Turkmenistan President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (Photo: Twitter)
TAPI is deemed to be more than just a gas pipeline project. In fact, it is a corridor uniting the four countries. This project is not only of economic but also of political significance.
The TAPI project would transport 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Galkynysh gas reserve in Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India along a total of 1,814 km pipeline.
The construction of electric power transmission and fiber-optic lines along the pipeline as well as the national and regional railway network will help link Central Asian and South Asian countries. Afghanistan will function as a bridge across the region, stated Ghani, and reiterated his country’s readiness to perform this function.
TAPI natural gas pipeline project (Photo: Twitter)
The implementation of the TAPI project would be the biggest achievement for the countries involved, taking the region toward peace and prosperity.
The four countries aim to complete the pipeline and begin pumping natural gas from Turkmenistan’s giant Galkynysh gas fields by the beginning of 2020.
By MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr) |
