April 23, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 16, 1429

ASHGABAT, April 22: Gas-rich Turkmenistan has asked the United Nations to adopt a new convention guaranteeing pipeline security, state media reported on Tuesday.

The Caspian nation, which relies on Russia for most of its gas exports, is studying various options including a proposed pipeline via Afghanistan, long stalled because of security concerns.

Turkmen state media reported that President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov discussed the security idea with visiting President of UN General Assembly Srgjan Kerim on Monday.

“Turkmenistan is launching active discussions on a UN convention on international pipeline security,” the state-owned Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper reported on Tuesday.

It gave no further details.

Military conflict in Afghanistan has long hampered efforts to embark on the pipeline designed to link up Turkmen gas with markets in India and Pakistan in a project estimated to cost up to $7 billion.

Turkmenistan sells about 50 billion cubic metres of natural gas to Russian gas monopoly Gazprom annually and plans to boost exports in future.

The West tentatively supports the Afghan route, but is actively lobbying for Turkmenistan to join another project – the Nabucco pipeline which is at the centre of Europe’s plan to ease its dependence on Russia for gas supplies.—Reuters