On 19 January, in the course of the Cabinet session, Maksat Babayev, Deputy Prime Minister overseeing fuel and energy complex, reported that Saudi Arabia would make considerable investments in the construction of the TAPI gas pipeline.
According to Babayev, investments have been made pursuant to the agreements reached in the course of the official visit of President of Turkmenistan to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in May 2016.
The funds were allocated by Saudi Development Bank for the TAPI project.
The report specifies neither the amount of investments nor the conditions under which the deal was concluded.
The President of Turkmenistan sent a thank-you letter to the King of Saudi Arabia for the investments made.
“President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov sent a message to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud expressing gratitude for the investments provided by Saudi Fund for Development and designed for the construction of the gas pipeline Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India”, — the state information agency TDH reports.
President Berdymukhammedov extended greetings to the King of Saudi Arabia “wishing wholeheartedly that Allah the Almighty will bless his Majesty with good health, longevity and inspiration, and wishing peace and well-being to the people of Saudi Arabia”.
Let us recall that apart from Saudi Arabia, according to the state information agency, the United Arab Emirates are also interested in TAPI investments.A week ago the meeting between Berdyniyaz Myatiyev, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and was held in the United Arab Emirates.
On 20 December 2017 President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov also met with the Sheikh in Ashgabat. As local media outlets reported that the Arab investors demonstrated interest in the implementation of the TAPI gas pipeline.