Turkmenistan’s Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov and a delegation accompanying him arrived in Kabul on Saturday morning for talks with officials of the Islamic Emirate on a number of topics.
Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, said Meredov was welcomed by the acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi at the Kabul international airport.
Meanwhile, Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, said that the Turkmenistan delegation will stay for two days in Kabul.
According to Karimi, Turkmenistan officials will hold talks with Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund and a number of other high level officials on a number of important issues, including the Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India gas pipeline (TAPI).
Karimi said the head of the TAPI project is also among the Turkmenistan delegation.
“In the talks, they will discuss the start of the TAPI project and other steps and issues,” he said.
TAPI pipeline is expected to carry 33 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas each year along a route stretching 1,800 km (1,125 miles) from Galkynysh, the world’s second-biggest gas field, to the Indian city of Fazilka near the Pakistan border.
The Afghan section of the pipeline will run from the northwestern border with Turkmenistan, south through the western city of Herat to Kandahar near the border with Pakistan.
The TAPI project was launched in 2016.
