Ansari arrives in Turkmenistan to attend TAPI gas pipeline event

Ashgabat, Dec. 11 (ANI): Vice President Mohammed Hamid Ansari arrived here today on a three-day visit during which he would attend the ground-breaking ceremony of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project.

Indian Ambassador to Turkmenistan, TV Nagendra Prasad, received Vice President Ansari on his arrival here. The Governor of Ahal Province, Annageldi Yazmyradov, was also present to welcome the visiting dignitary.

The Vice President, who is accompanied by Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, would also participate in events marking the 20th anniversary of the Central Asian country's status of permanent neutrality.

Vice President Ansari would also hold a bilateral meeting with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow.

On the second day, he will attend a wreath laying ceremony at the Monument of Neutrality in Ashgabat, along with other leaders.

In Ashgabat, the Vice President will also pay his respects before a bust of Mahatma Gandhi that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had unveiled during his visit to the Central Asian nation in July this year.

The TAPI pipeline ground-breaking ceremony will be held on Sunday, near the city of Mary.

Conceived in the 1990s, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan signed a framework agreement to implement the ambitious project after a meeting in Islamabad in 2002 and the preliminary feasibility studies were done by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The Indian Government requested the ADB for joining the project as an official member in 2006.

The Vice President is also expected to meet Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani during the trip.