ASHGABAT, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang said here on Wednesday that the joint natural gas projects between China and Turkmenistan serve the fundamental and long-term interest of both peoples.

    Li made the remarks during a video conference with the Chinese and Turkmenistan's workers of China National Petroleum Corporation International (Turkmenistan). The workers had been busy with constructing a vast natural gas processing facility in a natural gas field some 700 kilometers southeast of Turkmenistan's capital Ashgabat.

Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang (L Front) visits staff members of China National Petroleum Corporation International (Turkmenistan), in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, June 24, 2009.

The facility under construction is the starting point of the China-Turkmenistan pipeline, a part of the Central Asian Pipeline which starts at the border between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and runs through the southern part of Uzbekistan and central part of Kazakhstan before reaching to the Chinese northwest region of Xinjiang.

    Li said the China-Turkmenistan pipeline, initiated by the top leaders of the two countries, is a strategic project and has become a model for friendly cooperation between the two sides. He added that the project, after finished, would promote social and economic development of both China and Turkmenistan.

Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang (2nd L Front) inspects, through a model, the construction of a natural gas plant of China National Petroleum Corporation International (Turkmenistan), in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, June 24, 2009

The Central Asian Pipeline, expected to be in operation at the end of this year, is connected with China's domestic natural gas pipeline network and thus can transport natural gas produced in Central Asian countries, especially in Turkmenistan, to major Chinese cities like Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.