Tehran bolstering ties with Central Asian neighbors

TEHRAN, Jan. 4 (MNA) – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad traveled to Tajikistan today to meet the country's high-ranking officials and ink some new cooperation deals.


Ahmadinejad is also scheduled to travel to Turkmenistan the day after to inaugurate the second Iran-Turkmenistan gas pipeline, the report added.


The pipeline project is one of the main projects jointly carried out by the two friendly countries.


Earlier on Tuesday, Iran's Ambassador to Turkmenistan Mohammad-Reza Forqani told the Mehr News Agency that "The new gas pipeline will increase the volume of gas exported to Iran via Turkmenistan to 14 billion cubic meters annually."


The 65-km gas pipeline will pump natural gas from the Dovletabat gas field in southeastern Turkmenistan to Iran, Press TV reported.


He added that the pipeline has been completed in only four months, thus being considered as one of the fastest implemented gas projects in the world.


Turkmenistan announced in July 2009 that Ashgabat and Tehran have agreed to significantly expand Turkmen gas exports to Iran.


Tehran and Ashgabat signed an agreement in February 2009, which would allow Iran to develop the Yolatan gas field in Turkmenistan and import a portion of the extracted gas annually.


Earlier in November, Turkmenistan said it has completed the construction of a gas pipeline to Iran that will help Ashgabat reduce its reliance on Russian-owned export routes.


The Atrak-Gorgan railway worth around $650 million is another project to be launched in the presence of the Iranian president during the visit.