KABUL: The work on Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) gas pipeline project will start in December, said Afghan ministers.
As per project, natural gas will be transferred from Turkmenistan to the three other countries. This was revealed, when an Afghan delegation, including the Minister of Finance Iklil Hakimi, Minister of Mines and Petroleum Daud Saba, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock Assadullah Zamir and Economy Minister Abdul Sattar Murad visited Turkmenistan to discuss details about the project.
Highlighting the significance of the trip and the all-important Kabul-Dushanbe economic and commercial relations, officials from the Afghan Ministry of Finance said the trip was successful and that proper grounds had been established to bolster economic and transit ties between the two countries.
The Afghan delegation focused on a number of topics which are said to be critical in developing Afghanistan’s economic needs.
“Most of the issues have been solved in this trip ahead of the TAPI project,” Daud Saba said at a joint press conference in Kabul on Saturday. “The work of this project will start in December.” “We hope that with joint cooperation this project will be practical and 12 pump stations will be built as part of the project – of which five will be in Afghanistan and $1 billion USD will be invested,” he said.
Other areas discussed were the increase of electricity from Turkmenistan, LPG and oil imports from the country into Afghanistan and improving cooperation between the two countries for the standardization of customs services.
Expanding cooperation on imports of food items from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan and boosting the agricultural sector in Afghanistan also came under review.
