Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to sign gas pipeline deal

The tripartite Gas Pipeline Framework Agreement will be signed by Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan at a summit meeting in Ashgabat to launch the $ 3.2 bn Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline Project.
The ADB is currently working on the feasibility study of the 1,500 km pipeline from Turkmen gas field across Afghanistan to Gwadar and is assisting the three states to finalize the framework agreement and launch the project. The bank is financing the feasibility study and has promised along with the World Bank to be major financiers of the project as well.

The three sides were earlier planning to sign the agreement at the operational level but Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov insisted the heads of states should sign the agreement to give the project a boost, petroleum ministry sources said.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai is reported to have already confirmed his availability for the tripartite summit, these sources said. The agreement would be followed by detailed negotiations on commercial terms, which would pave the way for the constitution of the consortium to lay the pipeline from central Asia to South Asia.