BERDIMUHAMMEDOV REACHES NEW AGREEMENTS ON CONSTRUCTING THE TAPI GAS PIPELINE
The past two weeks in Turkmenistan were marked with President Bedimuhammedov’s calls for expediting the intergovernmental negotiation process over the construction of the long-delayed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan and India (TAPI) gas pipeline. Following his conversation with Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai two weeks ago and the signature of the bilateral Turkmen-Afghan inter-governmental agreement over the construction of the pipeline in Kabul on August 30, Berdimuhammedov spoke with Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari on September 9.
First proposed in 1995 as the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline (TAP), the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan and India (TAPI) gas pipeline gained new momentum under Berdimuhammedov’s administration. The pipeline, stretching about 1,680 kilometers from Turkmenistan’s major Dovletabad gas field and also drawn from the South Yoloten gas deposit, will deliver natural gas to Quetta in Pakistan’s and Fazilka in India, crossing Afghanistan’s Kandahar province. The exact volumes of gas to be delivered to each of these countries is to be determined and announced at the high level ministerial meeting of the four countries in Ashgabat later this month.
The total construction cost of the project is estimated to be close to US$ 7,5 billion with an annual supply capacity of about 33 billion cubic meters of blue fuel. Turkmenistan, the fourth largest holder of gas reserves in the world, is currently selling gas to Russia, China and Iran. Berdimukhammedov has been seeking to diversify Turkmenistan’s energy export routes and the construction of this major pipeline is expected to open up a new market for Turkmenistan and to break Russia’s stranglehold on its gas and oil export routes.
Afghan President Karzai and his counterpart Bedimuhammedov are expected to meet and discuss the further bilateral details of the project at the 65th UN General Assembly meeting in New York this week. A meeting of a panel of technical experts from the four countries is also planned for September 18-19 in Ashgabat, followed by a meeting of their energy sector ministers. Earlier this year, President Bedimuhammedov set a year-end deadline to finalize all negotiations and sign a final agreement in December with the participation of all heads of governments including India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and government delegations from Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Despite the increasing level of insurgency and instability in Afghanistan, the U.S. government has welcomed the construction of the pipeline, saying that it will bring significant economic as well as political benefits for the region. India and Pakistan estimate that the expected gas deliveries from Turkmenistan will sufficiently meet their current energy deficits. The Asian Development Bank, the main sponsor of this multilateral pipeline project, conducted a feasibility study in 2005 and also designated a special delegation, which is currently participating in the four-side intergovernmental negotiation processes.
Amidst the growing security concerns around the construction of the TAPI pipeline, President Berdimuhammedov has also been seeking UN support in this process. It is noteworthy that at the 64th session of the UN General Assembly last year, Berdimuhammedov also initiated a General Assembly Resolution on “Reliable and Stable Transit of Energy and its Role in Ensuring Sustainable Development and International Cooperation”, which was co-sponsored by 58 countries and adopted by a full consensus. According to the report from turkmenistan.ru from August 14, the UN headquarters in New York hosted a meeting on establishing an expert group to develop an international legal mechanism to ensure the reliability and stability of energy transit. It was reported that the meeting was attended by a delegation from Turkmenistan, senior officials of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, diplomats from the permanent missions of a number of UN member states, representatives of the U.S. Department of Energy, Columbia University (U.S.), and international energy companies.
Turkmenistan’s state television and media outlets reported last week’s negotiations with India and the signature of an agreement with Afghanistan in Kabul as a major foreign policy success of Berdimuhammedov. The official government reports said that the construction of the pipeline is also expected to create thousands of new jobs, generate extra revenues and contribute to building peace and stability especially in neighboring Afghanistan’s border areas. According to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on August 16, Turkmenistan is also ready to help to rebuild the transportation and communication network by supplying electricity, constructing hospitals and schools in neighboring Afghanistan. Considering Berdimuhammedov’s enthusiasm to expedite the final agreement and the international support for the project, the TAPI appears to be a viable and geopolitically significant project. ies displaying less hostile relations with Russia may lack the motivation to help Georgia on these issues.
