Azerbaijan, Baku, 29 March /Trend, V.Zhavoronkova/
Despite periodic talks on Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project (TAPI) at high levels, its implementation is still under question, said German expert on Central Asia Stefan Meister.
Presidents of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, who met Sunday in Tehran, discussed cooperation in the practical implementation of the TAPI gas pipeline project.
Previous talks on TAPI were conducted in late February between the founders and companies that are interested in participating in the project.
An inter-governmental agreement on TAPI was signed by participating states in December 2010.
Penspen has developed a feasibility study on the project. Its design capacity is 33 billion cubic meters of gas a year. The length of TAPI could reach 1,680 kilometers, with a design capacity of 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.
"The TAPI project participating countries are really interested in its realization. It is possible to get impression that they are planning further implementation of the project and there is some progress," the expert of German Council on Foreign Policy, Meister, wrote in an e-mail to Trend.
On the other hand, it is still very difficult to say whether they can complete the project, the expert said.
He said Turkmenistan is committed to implementing projects in other directions as well, and it is impossible to say whether this or that project will be realized.
"I still hold a skeptical position regarding the future of TAPI," he said.
Meister said despite that there are markets for the sale of gas through the pipeline - India, Afghanistan, it is difficult to talk about the final result, since the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan still remains difficult.
"The planning process continues, in particular, Turkmenistan maintains its interest in the diversification of energy resources, but despite all this, I would not say that now there are special shifts in implementing the TAPI project - it would be too loudly," said Meister.