Turkmenistan is convinced that there are no political, economic, and financial factors hindering the construction of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said.

"A number of international media outlets have recently started to publish comments on the possibilities of implementing the project of Turkmen natural gas supplies in the western direction. This is the construction of a gas pipeline along the Caspian Sea bed in order to transport Turkmen 'blue fuel' to European markets (Trans-Caspian pipeline)," the ministry said in a statement published on its website on Tuesday.

"Turkmenistan is convinced that there are no political, economic, and financial factors obstructing the implementation of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline construction," the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry is sure that, "on the contrary, the Trans-Caspian pipeline is an entirely realistic project, which is substantiated from an economic point of view and is capable of making a tangible contribution to energy security in Eurasia, providing long-term and uninterrupted access to sources of raw materials for European consumers, while complying with the obvious benefits and interests of the transit party."

"On this basis, Turkmenistan, which is committed to the strategy of diversifying energy flows, expresses readiness to pursue cooperation with its partners in implementing the Trans-Caspian pipeline project," the Foreign Ministry added.

The Foreign Ministry also noted that "the idea of building the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, which was initiated by Turkmenistan, was originally considered by our country not just as an economically and commercially substantiated project, but as an essential component of diversifying the energy flows as a key condition for global energy security and sustainability based on equal consideration of the interests and benefits of producers, consumers and transit countries." The ministry said that all potential participants of the project agree with this.

The ministry added that "relying on a solid international legal framework, Turkmenistan has made efforts to create the required political, financial, and organizational conditions that would allow for the idea of building the Trans-Caspian pipeline to be put into practice."

"For this purpose, mechanisms of trilateral partnership were set up between Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and the European Union, comprising the heads of the relevant energy agencies," it said.

The EU has included the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline in the list of promising projects.

"Overall, the interaction on building the Trans-Caspian pipeline has advanced consistently and practically, gaining political and functional international support," the statement said.

"The international legal validity of the project is also beyond doubt after a fundamental document governing the key principles of policy in the Caspian Sea - the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea - was adopted by the five littoral states in 2018," the Foreign Ministry said.

"Article 14 of this document, in particular, says that 'the parties could lay cables and pipelines across the Caspian Sea bed. The route for laying undersea cables and pipelines shall be determined by agreement with a party through the sector of the bottom of which the undersea cable or pipeline is to be laid,'" the Foreign Ministry added.

As of today, the construction of the Trans-Caspian pipeline thus is directly linked to the delimitation of the seabed between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, the statement said.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said last week that the project to build a Trans-Caspian natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan is unlikely to be implemented until there is clarity on the source of funding. Aliyev said earlier that the pipeline is not Azerbaijan's project, with the country having only the role of a transit country.