The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan organized a briefing dedicated to the beginning of new stages of construction of the transnational gas pipeline Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) and other important transport and communications projects. The event was held with the participation of Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan Amir Khan Muttaqi, heads of departments of the ministry, as well as representatives of diplomatic missions and international organizations in Kabul. This was stated in a statement by the Turkmen Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Amir Khan Muttaqi emphasized in his speech that on September 11, a ceremony was held at the Islim-Cheshme border checkpoint to commission and begin construction of a number of facilities. The event was attended by the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Acting Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Afghanistan Molla Mohammed Hasan Akhund. It was especially noted that construction work on the TAPI project in Turkmenistan has been completed, and now the project is being implemented on Afghan soil.
The Minister reaffirmed Afghanistan's commitment to the implementation of the TAPI project, noting that the Afghan side had signed all the necessary documents. He also stressed that the bulk of the gas would be transported through Afghanistan to Pakistan and India.
In addition to TAPI, other important regional projects in the fields of energy, rail transport and fiber-optic communications were discussed at the briefing. Among them are the construction of the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan railway, the implementation of the “CASA-1000” project, as well as the development of transport links with Tajikistan and China.
In his speech, Ambassador of Turkmenistan to Afghanistan Hoja Ovezov spoke in detail about the significance of the events for the socio-economic development of the entire region. He also noted the importance of humanitarian aid sent to Afghanistan by order of the President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov.
