Indian President Ram Nath Kovind and Turkmenistan President SerdarBerdimuhamedov in a meeting in Ashgabat discussed Afghanistan, regionaljoint projects, connectivity and stability among other matters in theinterest of both countries, according to reports by Indian media outlets.
The two sides also discussed cooperation on energy as the Indian presidentvisited Turkmenistan in an official trip on Saturday.
Kovind said that security along Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India(TAPI) gas pipeline is necessary for the project to be implemented.
“Cooperation in energy was one of the key areas of our discussions today.On the TAPI pipeline, I suggested that issues related to security of thepipeline and key … principles maybe addressed in expert and technical levelmeetings,” he said.
Kovind also stressed on the formation of an inclusive government inAfghanistan that fight drug and respect women rights in the country.
“As immediate neighbors of Afghanistan, our countries are naturallyconcerned about the development within that country and their externalrepercussions. We share a broad reasonable consensus on the issues relatedto Afghanistan which includes formation of a truly representative andinclusive government, combating terrorism and drug trafficking, centralrole of the UN, providing immediate humanitarian assistance for the peopleof Afghanistan, and preserving the rights of women, children and othernational ethnic groups and minorities,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Emirate says that security is maintained for TAPIproject and that the project’s implementation will start soon.
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Burhan Afghan, spokesman of the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said thatthere are some issues, such as land acquisition, tax and other technicalissues and a team from four relevant ministries is working on them.
“They hold weekly meetings for resolving the remaining challenges ahead ofthe project,” he said.
“Stability in Afghanistan and in the region is one of the key issuesrequired for the implementation of TAPI,” Shabir Bashiri, an economicanalyst said.
The ministry of mines recently said that the TAPI project will start inMarch 202
