Ashgabat: Hailing the USD 7.6 billion TAPI gas pipeline as one of the “great ideas” in regional cooperation, Vice President Hamid Ansari today dismissed speculation over its security in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“No. I don't think so. The (Turkmenistan) President (Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow) was confident. We had a good talk with him yesterday and he thinks it can be done. And I think it will be done,” Ansari told reporters here after placing flowers at the bust of Mahatma Gandhi here.
Ansari made the remarks when asked about speculation that the pipeline may not see the light of the day due to security issues in Pakistan and Afghanistan from where the pipeline will travel before reaching India.
Ansari said the Turkmenistan-Aghhanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline is “one of those great ideas in regional cooperation about which we have dreamt of and it has not materialised till now. So I am very optimistic that after the ground breaking ceremony things will begin to roll.”
Asked whether he had a “formal” meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today at an international conference on neutrality and peace, he said there was “no formal meeting, we were all together in the conference so between one session and another, we just ran into each other, drank tea together, that's all.”
On whether he sees TAPI as an “old American idea” to isolate Russia, he said the point-of-view of India is “very simple. We are going to be perpetually energy short. So, therefore, the choice for us is not between this source and that source. For us the option is from every possible source.” “So this is not excluded nor is any other source excluded,” he said.
Later, briefing reporters about the bilateral meeting between Ansari and Berdimuhamedow, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs Navtej Sarna said the Turkmenistan President thanked India for supporting a stable energy corridor.
Ansari told the Turkmen leader that it is a regional connectivity framework which is not common in such a region.
Sarna said while the timeline of the completion of the project has not been defined, there is optimism about it.
Tomorrow morning, Anasri will fly to the ancient city of Mary some 311 km from here, which was part of the old Silk Route, to attend the ground-breaking ceremony of the TAPI pipeline where Pakistan Prime Minister Sharif, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and their host Berdimuhamedow will also be present.
Turkmenistan's state company Turkmengas will lead the consortium for building the 1800-kilometre-long pipeline carrying gas from the former the Soviet state to energy-hungry India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
