ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Petroleum Nadeem Babar led the discussion with Turkmenistan delegation headed by the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of TPCL (TAPI Pipeline Company Limited) Muhammetmyrat Amanov on TAPI at the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) in Islamabad.
The Ambassador of Turkmenistan to Pakistan Atadjan Movlamov also attended the meeting.
The meeting was attended by Secretary Petroleum, Managing Director, Inter-State Gas Systems (Pvt) Ltd., and Other High Officials in the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Law & Justice, Ministry of Finance, and Office of the Attorney General of Pakistan.
The progress on the project was reviewed, and both sides expressed their satisfaction over the progress made so far by TAPI Pipeline Company Limited despite the challenging Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation.
The Turkmenistan delegation informed that they intend to start construction activities in Afghanistan by building the gas pipeline from the Turkmen-Afghan border to Herat Offtake point in Afghanistan.
The commencement of construction work in Afghanistan will immensely boost the confidence of international investors to invest in the project.
Pakistan is keenly interested in re-building international standard gas infrastructure in Afghanistan and extending full support at every level to commence such development activities in Afghanistan.
Both sides also discussed Pakistan’s concerns pertaining to price and delivery point.
The Turkmen side assured that Pakistan’s concerns will be adequately addressed in the relevant agreements, and negotiations regarding the TAPI gas price will start as soon as the COVID-19 situation improves globally.
The Pakistani side expressed its readiness to finalize the matter in order to proceed to actual construction work in Pakistan in parallel with Afghanistan.
The two sides also agreed to finalize the host government agreement by the end of this year.
The Turkmen side informed that their negotiations with international lending agencies and Export Credit Agencies are going well.
The Pakistani side informed that it would like to do the TAPI groundbreaking in Pakistan at the earliest after the finalization of the pending issues.
Turkmenistan appreciated the support given by Pakistani authorities in timely completing the milestones and progressing fast on the implementation of the project to meet the growing energy of Pakistan.
