OREANDA-NEWS. November 15, 2010. The 8th meeting of the Technical Working Group of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project (TAPI) was held in Ashgabat. It brought together leading specialists and experts from the four countries participating in the gas pipeline project and the representatives of the Asian Development Bank.

In the atmosphere of mutual understanding the meeting participants focused on the need to promote the implementation of the TAPI project, which would ensure long-term supplies of natural gas from Turkmenistan to largest countries in Southeast Asia. In this regard, the Working Group members highly evaluated the substantial progress made in the past months in implementing this grandiose project that had been facilitated to a larger extent through the efforts taken by President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, including the international initiatives to build under the UN aegis the effective mechanism for reliable and stable transit of energy to world markets.

The meeting participants noted that the businesslike and constructive format of the working meeting in Ashgabat enabled to specify a number of economic and technical components of the TAPI Project as well as to identify the further steps to construct the future gas main.

In particular, the Working Group members finalized the draft intergovernmental agreement. Also, the key issues regarding the gas sales contract were considered and harmonized. The other aspects of this document will be discussed during the next meeting of the TAPI Technical Working Group, which would be held in Ashgabat this December.

In the framework of the meeting the Pakistani specialists made the presentation on the measures to ensure security of the gas pipeline project in the territory where the route of the future pipeline would lie. The Turkmen specialists presented the information on the reserves of natural gas to be supplied to the TAPI gas pipeline to the future buyers.

Thus, a new critical step to promote the implementation of the transnational gas pipeline project, which as the President of Turkmenistan said would perform the global peacemaking mission contributing to strengthening stability in the Asian region along with bringing economic benefits, was made in Ashgabat.

The drafts of the intergovernmental agreement on construction of the TAPI gas pipeline, the Gas Pipeline Framework Agreement initialled earlier and the gas sales contract will be submitted to the summit of the leaders of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India for signing, which will take place in the Turkmen capital this December.