US envoy pushes for Turkmenistan-Pakistan gas pipeline

ASHGABAT (AFP) – Washington is pushing for a new gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and “strongly opposes” a rival pipeline from
Iran, US diplomat Steven Mann has said after meeting with Turkman President Saparmurat Niyazov.

Niyazov and Mann met for two hours on Monday to discuss a variety of possible gas pipeline projects from the gas-rich Central Asian state, including pipelines to China and across the Caspian Sea, as well as through
Afghanistan to energy-hungry Pakistan and India, Mann said Tuesday.

“The demand is there, but the next step is to look for private-sector partners to develop this line,” said Mann, who is the US State Department’s principal deputy assistant secretary for South and Central Asian affairs.

Niyazov, a mercurial politician who has been president since Turkmenistan’s independence in 1991, said after his meeting with Mann that the country supported “the policy of creating a diverse pipeline system,” the Turkmen government news agency reported late Monday.

AFP