DUSHANBE, September 19, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- First Deputy Minister of Energy and Industries, Poulod Muhiddinov, is representing Tajikistan at a meeting of the Inter Governmental Council (IGC) of the Central Asia South Asia Electricity Trade and Transmission Project (CASA 1000) that is opening in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek today.

Representatives of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan are attending the meeting and they are expected to reaffirm their commitment to the project.  The meeting participants will also discuss the revised feasibility study of the project, the source said, noting that implementation of the project will start until the end of this year after choosing commercial advisors fort the project.

An estimated budget for the CASA-1000 project under which 5,000 GWh of surplus summer electrical power could be exported to Afghanistan and Pakistan is 953 million U.S. dollars.

The two-day meeting in Bishkek is the first full IGC meeting held since its creation on August 4, 2008 in Islamabad.