India, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan signed 2 pacts on a gas pipeline project linking the 4 countries. The four nations signed an inter government agreement on the Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India Natural Gas Pipeline Framework, as well as a deal on measures to implement the project in Ashgabat the capital of Turkmenistan.

The presidents of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan attended the signing ceremony while the Indian delegation was headed by Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Mr Murli Deora. After the ceremony, Mr Deora said that the 4 sides should handle several tough issues such as price and safety.

Mr Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov president of Turkmenistan said that after the pipeline with a length of 1,735 kilometers was constructed, Turkmenistan would send enough natural gas to the other three countries to meet the needs of their fast developing economy.

Mr Hamid Karzai president of Afghanistan said that Afghanistan would secure the construction and operation of the pipeline.

Mr Asif Ali Zardari president of Pakistan said that the successful transmission of natural gas would highly promote the economic development in the three countries and would also help combat terrorism.

According to reports, after the pipeline is built, Turkmenistan will transport about 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas. The whole project would cost USD 4 billion. The project, conceived in 1995 was initially designed to provide gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan through Afghanistan. India was invited to join the project in 2008.

Turkmenistan has the world's fourth largest proven reserves of gas and is already providing gas to Russia and China. Turkmenistan sells natural gas to China at USD 7.5 per million British thermal unit.

(Sourced from Economic Times)