Islamabad supports the timely completion of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said this in a congratulatory message on the occasion of Turkmenistan's Independence Day, published Monday by the Neytralny Turkmenistan newspaper.
"We are committed to the timely completion of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project," Sharif said. According to him, "Pakistan intends to expand bilateral cooperation with Turkmenistan in all areas of interest, especially in joint energy and communication projects."
Pakistan's Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Omar Ayub Khan told TASS in November 2021 that work on the TAPI gas pipeline project was suspended until the situation in Afghanistan stabilizes. Representatives of the Taliban (banned in Russia) after the movement came to power in August last year expressed interest in resuming work on the pipeline project.
The TAPI project has been underway since 2015. Its cost is $10 billion. The pipeline will connect Central Asia with the energy-starved countries of South Asia. According to the project, up to 33 billion cubic meters of gas will be transported annually from Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan to Fazilka in the Indian state of Punjab through a 1,814 km pipeline passing through Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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Based on materials from TASS