Turkmenistan Fully Capable Of Financing Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline Project - Ex-Us Ambassador
Date
8/14/2023 1:05:40 AM
(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 14 . If Turkmenistan
does not act before the EU lines up alternate sources of gas, the
Trans-Caspian Pipeline project will become unviable, Allan Mustard,
co-founder and co-head of the Trans-Caspian Resources energy
startup, Former US Ambassador to Turkmenistan, told trend .
“The window of opportunity is closing fast. The policy shift
from hydrocarbons to renewables exerts a profound impact on IFI
support. I suspect that any financing for the connector will at
this point have to come from the private sector or the governments
involved,” he said.
Moreover, according to the ambassador, Turkmenistan has
announced willingness to finance TAPI, the
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline, which will cost
between $8-10 billion.
“Turkmenistan is also building a greenfield smart city at an
estimated total cost of $4.8 billion. Turkmenistan recently spent a
billion and a half dollars on a new state tribune, a luxury hotel,
a convention center, and two bank headquarters buildings. A
half-billion-dollar connector is certainly within Turkmenistan's
financial grasp, and given the revenue it would generate, would be
a wise investment,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said during the
opening ceremony of the Shusha Global Media Forum on“New Media in
the Era of the 4th Industrial Revolution” on July 21 that the
Trans-Caspian Pipeline is not the project, which Azerbaijan will
initiate.
"Because usually the projects, which are initiated by the
countries, other projects based on these country's resources as we
did for instance with the Southern Gas Corridor," said President
Ilham Aliyev.
Furthermore, as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan
Rashid Meredov stated, Turkmenistan is ready to continue
cooperation with European partners on the Trans-Caspian gas
pipeline project.
"Turkmenistan, being committed to the strategy of diversifying
energy flows, expresses its readiness to continue cooperation with
European partners on the implementation of the Trans-Caspian gas
pipeline project. The idea of its construction, initiated by
Turkmenistan, was initially considered by Turkmenistan not only as
an economically and commercially viable project, but also as a key
condition for ensuring global energy security and sustainability
based on equal consideration of the interests and benefits of
energy producers, transit countries and energy consumers," he
said.
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