TAPI and TAP: Catalysts for regional prosperity.

Pakistan has struggled to improve its economic cooperation with the Central Asian Republics. Therefore, it has been focusing seriously on constructing gas and electricity projects, essential for realizing its economic connectivity with Central Asia. Indeed, these projects facilitate enlarging trade and cooperation across the region while also supporting peace and security in war-torn Afghanistan and addressing the energy challenges of Pakistan. Pakistan has been encountering energy deficiency. Its domestic gas resources are depleting, and energy demands are increasing due to a surge in economic activities and population growth. Therefore, Islamabad has adopted an energy-mix policy-fossil fuels, hydropower, renewables, and nuclear power-to ensure the smooth supply of energy to the general public and to sustain economic growth.

Pakistan and Turkmenistan's cooperative initiatives last week were remarkable in this context. Islamabad and Askhabad are working to actualize two important energy projects-Turkmenistan-Afghanistan- Pakistan-India (TAPI) transnational gas pipeline project and the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) transnational power transmission line project. These projects have immense potential to alleviate the energy woes of Pakistan and Afghanistan and boost Turkmenistan's revenues via the sale of gas and electricity. The regional geopolitical environment is not conducive to the implementation of these projects.

The Afghanistan situation is not encouraging for the international consortiums to finance the country's construction of a 774km gas pipeline. Despite it, Islamabad seems determined to complete the project. On June 8, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said, "We have to negotiate with this challenge through speedy action." He added that completing the TAPI gas pipeline project "will be a game-changer for the region in terms of enhanced economic cooperation." Hence, he directed the Pakistani team to expedite the 826km pipeline Pakistani section planning and execution. Despite India's distancing from Eurasian cooperation, Premier Shahbaz's commitment to developing projects sprouted optimism about the realization of TAPI and TAP schemes soon. On June 7, 2023, the ministerial-level dialogue took place to implement these energy projects between Pakistan and Turkmenistan in Islamabad.

The Pakistani delegation was led by Mr. Khurram Dastgir Khan, Federal Minister of Energy of Pakistan, and the Turkmenistan delegation was led by...