Kazakhstan Visit of Berdymuhammedov Brings Big Gains for Turkmenistan

nCa Commentary

Ashgabat, 17 June 2007 (nCa) --- After Saudi Arabia and Russia, Kazakhstan was the third country visited by President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov of Turkmenistan.

Since his election as second president of Turkmenistan, Berdymuhammedov (GB) has been taking logical steps to make the best use of the geographical location and natural resources of his country.

Kazakhstan visit was especially important because GB managed to make substantial headway in several directions.

Here are some of the milestones attached to his Astana visit:

• Bringing the Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan relegations to the next qualitative level and cementing of personal friendship with President Nursultan Nazarbaev of Kazakhstan, the last surviving member of the soviet politburo who is still in power – Nazarbaev is a heavyweight statesman who carries lot of weight in the former soviet space
• Identifying the grooves to dovetail the economies of both the countries for the mutual benefit of their people
• Resumption of Ashgabat-Almaty air connection, making it convenient for the business communities of both the countries to maintain close contact with each other
• Rejuvenation of North-South trade and transportation corridor
• Quick movement from conceptualization to planning of the Caspian coastal pipeline that would increase the shipment of Central Asian natural gas volumes to Europe

Six bilateral documents were signed during GB’s Astana visit including commercial, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation up to the year 2020.

Although every aspect of GB’s Astana visit is noteworthy, two things stand out above the rest: 1. Caspian coastal pipeline, and 2. North-South trade and transportation corridor.

Much has been written about the Caspian coastal pipeline, praising or blaming it for all the right and wrong reasons. We shall leave the Caspian coastal pipeline alone for the time being and comment a bit on the North-South trade and transportation corridor.

There are two competing corridors, cutting each other at right angles: Russia is promoting North-South corridor and EU is sponsoring East-West corridor. Both are useful and there is no reason why one should come at the expense of the other but in the today’s world of zero sum game the gain of one is considered the loss of the other.

Both the corridors were making very little headway for years but with the arrival of GB as president of Turkmenistan the North-South corridor has suddenly picked significant headway.

During his Astana visit GB agreed to build the Turkmenbashi-Eralievo railway segment that would directly connect the railway systems of both the countries. This is an important railway link, eventually offering a shortcut between Kazakhstan and Iran.

Any cargo movement between Russia, Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, India and China would greatly benefit from this link.

It also means that there would be no necessity to build a parallel link through Azerbaijan.

Movement of cargo between Asia and Europe is not merely a commercial question; it has great strategic significance.

The authors of the North-South corridor promise that compared to the sea route it would cut the shipping time between the farthest corners of Asia and Europe by as much as eight days. In addition, it is supposed to be cheaper and safer.

The merits of the North-South corridor are further highlighted when we consider that sea routes are prone to terrorism, military blockade and piracy.

As we mentioned in one of our earlier commentaries, Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan are emerging as a powerful block in the former soviet space. The forthcoming SCO would show how far the activities of this block overlap the mandate of SCO.

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