ASHGABAT (Turkmengaz press service) — Ashgabat hosted the 23^rd meeting of the Steering Committee of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project. It was attended by the heads and representatives of ministries and departments of the participating countries, as well as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), acting as a transactional advisor for the project.

One of the main topics of the meeting was discussing the draft Agreements on shareholders and investments by members of TAPI Ltd Consortium headed by the State Concern Turkmengaz. The meeting heard the reports on the work done by the project participants and the transactional advisor ahead of the launch of the pipeline construction.

The meeting participants discussed and approved the main outcomes of a regular meeting of the Technical Working Group of the TAPI gas pipeline project that was held the day before that passed decisions on the legal and technical aspects of the project. The meeting confirmed the interest of the participating countries in the soonest implementation of the project on construction of the TAPI gas pipeline and supplies of Turkmenistan’s natural gas. The meeting participants also approved the draft Agreement on shareholders by signing a relevant protocol.

According to the project feasibility study, the 1,800 km long TAPI gas pipeline will start from the largest gas fields in the south-eastern region of Turkmenistan, passing through Afghanistan and Pakistan and finishing at the village of Fazilka (India) on the Pakistani-Indian border. The annual capacity of the pipeline will exceed 30 bln m³.