XI'AN, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Thirty students from Tajikistan have started a five-year training program for the Central-Asia natural gas project in Xi'an Shiyou University, Shaanxi Province.
On completion of the course, the students will go back to Tajikistan to lay the foundation for the construction of Line D of China-Central Asia natural gas pipelines.
The course includes one year of Chinese language study at Tianjin University and Xi'an Shiyou University, after which they will do four years undergraduate level study of gas and oil pipeline engineering.
The first thirty students were selected out of 1,000 top students in Tajikistan, as part of a talent and training project supported by the Chinese government and Tajik government. Around 100 Tajik students will be trained.
Qu Zhan, president of Xi'an Shiyou University said that the university would provide advanced teaching methods, practical skills and personalized training to ensure they can both master Chinese and become proficient in their field.
China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline Line D is an inter-governmental project signed by China, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrghyzstan. The construction of the Tajikistan section of the 1,000-km-long line was launched in September 2014. Of all countries the pipeline travels through, Tajikistan has the longest section of about 410 km.
Line D is expected to deliver a capacity of 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas every year.
