Prez may attend TAPI event

President Ram Nath Kovind may visit Turkmenistan in February  2018 and attend a ceremony to mark the completion of the construction of first part of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline.

Kovind has been invited by Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to attend the ceremony at Turkmenistan's border with Afghanistan, sources told the DH.

Berdimuhamedov extended the invitation when he recently called Kovind. The two presidents reviewed "issues of common interest and expressed satisfaction at growing bilateral relations".

The TAPI gas pipeline project was announced in May 2002. India joined the consortium in 2008. The TAPI Pipeline Company Limited (TPCL) was incorporated in 2014.