Daily Times

Sir: It is quite appreciable to note that the long awaited Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) 1,814 kilometers gas pipeline has been inaugurated at a well-attended ceremony at Herat in Afghanistan and it will be feeding gas from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan as well as Pakistan and eventually to India as well.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi who represented Pakistan at the ceremony along with Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Indian Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar has quite rightly highlighted the importance of this somewhat delayed project by saying that Afghanistan has a critical role in the success of the project which is vital for the prosperity of the region.

According to the reports in the media, PM Abbasi during the second leg of the ground breaking of the TAPI gas pipeline link up with road, rail and fibre-optic network said that the historic project will impact hundreds of millions of people in the region. He duly appreciated the vision of the Presidents of Afghan and Turkmenistan, felicitated the people of the countries involved and thanked the leadership of respective countries for bringing the people closer to each other by enhancing connectivity in the fields of energy, information technology, railways and economic zones and that inter-dependence in the region is vital for sustainable peace and stability.

Expressing gratitude to the Afghan President for ensuring the success of the project, PM Abassi further expressed positive optimism that the project will strengthen historical ties and reiterated Pakistan’s full commitment for Afghan peace and that no country is more concerned about peace and stability in Afghanistan than Pakistan.

MUHAMMAD MURTAZA ZEESHAN

Lahore

Published in Daily Times, February 26^th 2018.