ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- A delegation from New Delhi met officials from the Turkmen government to discuss the terms of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline.
Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna, the Indian external affairs minister, met with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to discuss a series of bilateral trade initiatives in agriculture and natural gas.
Both sides focused their discussions in part on the provisions of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline, the Indo-Asian News Service reports.
The project is funded by the Asian Development Bank to exploit gas reserves in Turkmenistan, among the largest in the world.
The 1,044-mile TAPI pipeline is seen as a rival to the long-delayed Iran-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline from the Iranian South Pars gas field. Security of the TAPI route through Afghanistan is an impediment, though in 2008 the Afghan government made several pledges to relieve those concerns.
Washington opposes IPI as it would provide an economic benefit to the sanction-strapped Tehran.
Iran and Pakistan have moved forward with IPI in a bilateral fashion, telling New Delhi it may join the project at a later date.
