Top Turkmen and Afghan officials visited Herat to inspect the progress of the construction of a pipeline that will supply Afghanistan, Pakistan and India with natural gas from Turkmenistan’s vast reserves.

Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, the chairman of Turkmenistan's People's Council, attended Monday's ceremony that marked the completion of the first 14 kilometers of the pipeline.

The pipeline will eventually supply 33 billion cubic meters of gas a year.

The Afghanistan section was to have been completed in 2018, but construction was repeatedly postponed because of security concerns. The Turkmenistan portion has been completed.

The construction of the 100-kilometer (62-mile) pipeline section from Turkmenistan to the Afghan city of Herat began last year.

Turkmenistan relies heavily on the export of its vast natural gas reserves.

After losing its gas trade with Russia, the ex-Soviet Central Asian country sought to diversify its customers and currently exports mainly to China.