India will host the next steering committee meeting of the proposed 1,814 kilometre-long Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, senior officials on both sides confirmed.
The decision was came during the sixth joint Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) meeting on trade, economic, scientific and technological cooperation.
The meeting was followed by a meeting between visiting Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov and Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan.
“I strongly believe in this project, and this is the position of Turkmenistan,” Mr. Merodov said at a small interaction.
“It is not just a commercial project, but one which will be a good foundation for providing peace and security in the region,” he added.
In Beijing’s shadow
Mr. Pradhan said India’s commitment to TAPI — first proposed in 1995 — “remains strong”, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made the proposal to hold the TAPI steering committee meet in Delhi when he met the Turkmenistan President in Ashgkabad last year, which he has now accepted.
India’s effort is to tap Turkmenistan’s Galkynysh gasfields, which are the fourth largest in the world.