<p>The Russia president is reportedly set to meet the presidents of the two central Asian countries in the hope of ensuring their support for a gas pipeline that would export Turkmen gas through Kazakhstan to Russia and on to Europe. <br /><br />According to AFX, the pipeline would either be built from scratch or from upgrading an existing channel. The publication cited a Turkmen official as saying that the project would boost Turkmenistan&#0039;s gas export capacity to Russia by at least 20 billion cubic meters. <br /><br />According to industry publication Energia.gr, a pipeline deal would serve the interests of all three regions. The journal commented that a deal would consolidate Russia&#0039;s central position as an energy passage between the Caspian Sea and the western Europe, and would also allow Kazakhstan to continue to export its oil and gas towards to the West. <br /><br />Russian daily RIA Novosti also reported that Turkmenistan may well receive political and economic assurances from Russia if it agrees to president Putin&#0039;s proposals, rather than a rival project put forward by the US, Europe and Georgia to build a subsea pipeline to deliver gas to the south of Europe.</p>