ASTANA, July 4. /TASS/. Turkmenistan is ready to build up supplies of hydrocarbons and electricity to the countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Chairman of the People's Council of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, announced.
"In the energy sector, we also see great prospects for joint work. Turkmenistan has the opportunity to significantly increase the volumes of hydrocarbons and electricity supplied to the SCO countries. In this context, I would like to stress that we are clearly fulfilling our specific obligations in terms of volumes and timing of natural gas supplies," he said at a meeting in the SCO plus format in Astana.
Berdimuhamedow also invited the SCO countries to participate in the implementation of energy and communications projects in Afghanistan. He clarified that it implies implementation of the project for the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, power transmission lines and fiber-optic communications along the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan route.
"Aside from purely economic benefits, such work will also ensure the speedy effective integration of Afghanistan, both into regional and continental processes, and we will contribute to the economic and social restoration of the country. That also means stabilization of the political situation, that is, the achievement of peace and harmony," the head of the People's Council concluded.
TAPI is a gas pipeline project that will run through the territory of four states: from the Galkynysh field in southern Turkmenistan through the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar, Pakistani Quetta and Multan to the city of Fazilka in western India. Negotiations on the construction of TAPI have been ongoing since the mid-1990s.