Omar Zakhilwal, the Afghan Finance Minister, met with Gul Sherali, the Energy and Industry Minister of Tajikistan, on Sunday to discuss the plans for exporting gas from Jawzjan province to Tajikistan.
Mr. Zakhilwal met with Mr. Sherali while visiting Tajikistan to attend an International Conference on Water Cooperation in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. At the conference, the Finance Minister also discussed the Afghanistan-Turkmenistan-Tajikistan railway project.
Sheberghan, the capital of Jawzjan and home to the Sheberghan basin, is estimated to have a natural gas reserve of over 67 to 77 billion cubic meters, which is sufficient to meet the energy needs of both Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
Mr. Zakhilwal suggested that the transfer of gas to Tajikistan could potentially be done by making use of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline.
Mr. Zakhilwal also met with the Tajikistani President, Emomalii Rahmon, to chalk out a trilateral trade and transit agreement between Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Several railway and electricity projects were also discussed with President Rahmon.
Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan and India will each have a 25 percent share in the TAPI project. The gas pipeline is being developed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the estimated cost of the pipeline project is $7.6 billion. The pipeline is expected to be completed by 2017, and will transport Caspian Sea natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and then to India.