Turkmenistan is in talks with the Islamic Development Bank, the Saudi Fund for Development and Japanese government on financing the construction of a gas pipeline to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, a project official said on Saturday.
The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline is supposed to carry 33 billion cubic meters of gas a year from Turkmenistan's giant Galkynysh gas field—a project designed to ease the former Soviet state's dependence on Russia and China, Reuters reported. Turkmenistan, which sits on the world's fourth-largest gas reserves, started building its section of the link in December. But its partners in the project—the state energy companies of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India—have yet to begin work.
According to reports, the Islamic Development Bank has expressed interest in financing the project, not only on Turkmenistan's territory, but also in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
