The President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and the chairman of the Chinese National Republic, Hu Jintao, took part in the ceremony of commissioning of the first line of the gas pipeline Kazakhstan - China, the agency reports.

The goal of the project - maintenance of transit of natural gas of Turkmenistan through the territory of Kazakhstan to China and transportation of natural gas from oil and gas deposits of the Western Kazakhstan for export to China and Kazakhstan regions: Kyzylorda, South Kazakhstan, Zhambyl, Almaty areas and Almaty. It is one of the largest international projects in Kazakhstan, being implemented by Open Company Asian Gas Pipeline. Kazakhstan JSC Company KazStroiServise and Chinese СPP-Kazakhstan are contractors of the project.

The gas pipeline route begins at the border of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and passes through the territory of the South Kazakhstan, Zhambyl and Almaty areas to the border with China in Horgos point.

Total extent of the main line is 1304.5 kilometers. The gas pipeline consists of two parallel lines. Construction of the gas pipeline began in July, 2008. The capacity of the first line of the gas pipeline at the moment of its commissioning will be 4.5 billion cubic meters annual with its further growth.