Mining minister heads to Turkmenistan for talks on TAPI and railway projects

Acting Minister of Mines and Petroleum Hedayatullah Badri headed a delegation to Turkmenistan on Wednesday, the ministry’s spokesman Homayoun Afghan said.

Homayoun Afghan said in a post on X that the delegation will meet with Turkmen officials in the city of Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan.

The meeting will focus on discussions about the development of bilateral cooperation in the field of TAP, railway projects and also the practical start of the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) pipeline project in Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, the acting minister of foreign affairs Amir Khan Muttaqi said preparations for implementing the TAPI project had reached the final stage and practical work would start soon.

Speaking at a meeting in Kabul, Muttaqi said that the TAPI project has positive political consequences for Afghanistan in addition to economic benefits.

In addition to the TAPI project, work will also begin on several other joint projects, including the Afghan-Turkmen economic corridor and a fiber optics project with Turkmenistan

He added that the TAPI pipeline will be able to transfer 33 billion cubic meters of gas annually and the completion of this project will cost $10 billion.

The 1,840 km long pipeline will bring in $450 million in revenue annually.