Excerpt from report by state-run Iranian radio external service from Mashhad on 18 May

The deputy head of the Uzbek national oil and gas company [Uzbekneftgaz national holding company] has said that the construction of a gas pipeline to deliver the country's gas to China will begin soon. Our correspondent Kohlara Ashsharniyo reports about it.

The deputy head of the Uzbek national oil and gas company, Shavkat Majidov, said that the construction of the Uzbekistan-China gas pipeline would start soon. According to Shavkat Majidov, the work on building the pipeline to deliver natural gas from Uzbekistan to China will begin on 1 June this year, and the Chinese government will cover all the expenses of the project. The length of the gas pipeline which will stretch up to the Chinese territory will be over 1,700 km and it will cost 6.7bn dollars. The project will be completed by the end of 2009 and it is planned to deliver 30bn cu.m. of natural gas a year through this pipeline. China allocated funds for the construction of the Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline and now it is Uzbekistan's turn. The Chinese government has allocated enough funds for this project.

It demonstrates that the Chinese government intends to buy energy resources, particularly natural gas, with the aim of boosting its economic development. The existence and supply of main energy resources is an important factor in achieving this. That is why participation in energy projects in Central Asia plays a central role in the Chinese government's working programme. Competition between the European Union and Russia to monopolize the Central Asian energy resources, particularly natural gas, is in full swing nowadays.