Turkmenistan is ready for a substantive discussion of the issues of increasing the volume of natural gas supplies to China, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said, speaking on Tuesday at an online summit on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the countries of Central Asia and China.

 As Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasized, the strategic gas pipeline Turkmenistan-China, passing through the territory of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, is an example of partnership based on equality, awareness of multilateral benefits.

 “One of priorities for regional cooperation is the fuel and energy sector, the flagship of which was the construction and commissioning at the end of 2009 of the strategic gas pipeline Turkmenistan-China, passing through the territories of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan,” the Turkmen leader noted.

 Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov mentioned that the implementation of this project was an example of a truly partnership based on equality, awareness of multilateral benefits, on a large-scale vision of the prospects and opportunities that opened up with the start of the gas pipeline.

 “I think that we need to move forward along the path of expanding and building up our energy partnership.  In this regard, Turkmenistan is ready for a substantive discussion of the issues of increasing the volume of natural gas supplies to China through the construction of the 4th pipeline,” the head of Turkmenistan said.

 It should be noted that at present, about 40 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year are supplied through three lines (A, B and C) of the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline.  The construction of the fourth line (D) will increase the capacity of this gas pipeline by another 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year.