Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj discusses TAPI pipeline project with Turkmenistan counterpart

India and Turkmenistan on Friday discussed the TAPI (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India) pipeline project- a project to bring oil from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and India that has been in the pipeline for over two decades.

Visiting Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan, Rashid Meredov, while interacting with the media in Delhi said how real the TAPI project is and how it can bring about stability in the region, hoping for its actualisation. A trans-national gas pipeline passing through Pakistani territory to reach India would entail both nations looking at each other's interests and shared economic growth despite being rivals.

Meredov led a high-level delegation comprising senior officials to participate in the 6th session of the India-Turkmenistan Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC) on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation. He conveyed to External Affairs Minister and co-chair of the Indian delegation for the IGC, Sushma Swaraj, the importance of working on TAPI. "I informed the External Affairs Minister of our views that TAPI is not just an economic project. I told her that the project will provide strong foundation for peace and stability in Central Asia," Meredov said.

The TAPI project is considered an important initiative to connect energy rich Central Asia with energy starved South Asia and Turkmenistan has been taking the lead on that front. To a question on whether there was any consideration of keeping Pakistan out of the project, the deputy prime minister said that the idea is 'new' to him and that was not the focus right now. "We haven't discussed this so I can't speak about it. We need to focus on the current project," he said.

A statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs read, "The IGC discussions were held in a cordial atmosphere. Sushma Swaraj and Meredov comprehensively reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral relations and took stock of the progress achieved in the areas of energy, trade and economic cooperation, transport and connectivity, security cooperation, civil aviation, information technology, science and technology, cultural and educational matters".

During his visit, Meredov also called on Hon'ble Vice President Venkiaiah Naidu and met minister of finance, defence and corporate affairs Arun Jaitley, minister of road transport, highways and shipping Nitin Gadkari and Minister of state (I/C) for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan.

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