Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is paying an official visit to Turkmenistan. The Afghan Foreign Ministry said in a press release that he is scheduled to meet with Turkmen counterpart Rashid Meredov.
The delegation includes officials from the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, the DABS energy company and the Afghan Railway Authority. Muttaqi paid a visit to Afghan Embassy in Ashgabat, where he made recommendations to regarding enhancing bilateral relations and accelerating consular services to Afghans living there.
Afghan-Turkmenistan trade turnover totalled $481mn in 2023, according to Afghan data. Electricity, oil and liquefied gas are among Turkmenistan's key exports, while Afghanistan mainly supplies marble, dried fruits and potatoes.
Experts told Daryo that a strategically important project for the two countries is the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, along which road infrastructure and an electricity grid are planned.
The construction of the gas pipeline with an annual capacity of 33bn cubic metres of gas began in December 2015. During this period, the Turkmen side brought a linear pipeline to the Afghan border and was developing a raw material source - the super-giant Galkynysh field.
TAPI on Afghan territory, more than 800km long, is to cover Herat, Farah, Nimroz, Helmand and Kandahar provinces. The Islamic Emirate recently said it is ready to pay the cost of the TAPI project on its territory.
Eziz Boyarov
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