Kyrgyzstan wants piece of China gas pipeline

The route of a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to China was an issue at talks when President Hu Jintao spoke to Central Asian leaders in Kyrgyzstan on August 15, the South China Morning Post reported. Hu met the leaders ahead of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and four observer countries, including Iran, that begins today. Kyrgzstan's prime minister, Almazbek Atambayev, requested that his country be included in the route of a gas pipeline being built from Turkmenistan to the mainland. The pipeline will pump 30 billion cubic meters of gas a year by 2009. China and Turkmenistan, the region's second-largest gas producer, have not yet revealed a specific route, though it is known the pipeline will pass through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.