NEIGHBOURLY COOPERATION

President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow paid an official visit to Azerbaijan. Given that the Turkmen leader has already visited Baku twice over the past six months and knowing that Berdimuhamedow does not make foreign tours often, it is clear that Azerbaijan plays a special role in Ashgabat’s current foreign policy.

Basis for dialogue

Cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan is based not only on economic benefits, but also on a solid cultural and historical base. Turkmens are a people related to Azerbaijanis. Together with the Turks, they are part of the Oghuz group of the Turkic language family. The ethnic and humanitarian proximity of the two peoples makes it possible to develop humanitarian relations as a separate, independent vector of bilateral relations. It is no coincidence that the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, in his welcoming speech several times called the Turkmen people fraternal, emphasizing that Azerbaijan always feels happy about the success of the neighboring state.

At the highest political level, the presidents of the two countries have made several mutual visits in recent years. In 2008 and 2017, President Berdimuhamedow paid official visits to Baku, while his working visits to Azerbaijan took place in 2010, 2015, and 2019. Meanwhile, on November 21-22, 2018, President Ilham Aliyev made an official visit to Turkmenistan. Therefore, the current meeting of the two leaders characterises not only and not so much the intensity of contacts as it indicates the presence of serious unrealised potential in bilateral cooperation. In other words, if there is interest to meet at the highest level, it means that it is based on a serious ground.

Mutual interests

In the context of the dialogue between Baku and Ashgabat, observers focused on cooperation in the energy sector. In particular, it was assumed that one of the topics discussed on the bilateral agenda is the construction of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline along the bottom of the Caspian Sea, connecting the Turkmen and Azerbaijani shores for the delivery of Turkmen gas to Europe. At the same time, the agreements of recent years indicate that the parties prefer to concentrate on topics related to the development of transport links. This time, at the Turkmen-Azerbaijani talks in Baku, President Berdimuhamedow called for the parties to unite their efforts in the field of transport, develop common approaches and begin to conduct coordinated transport diplomacy in the international arena, providing for active interaction with international bodies. In particular, with the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the International Road Transport Union and others.

Back in March 2019 in Bucharest, foreign ministers of Georgia, Romania, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan signed a declaration on the development of the Black Sea - Caspian Sea transport corridor. To develop the route, it was planned to create a working group of experts, which will coordinate technical aspects, optimise procedures, and will help harmonise tariffs and simplify customs procedures.

At that time, the parties noted the importance of developing transport, especially maritime infrastructure of four countries.

Connecting the two shores of the Caspian

By the way, a large-scale reconstruction of port infrastructure has taken place in Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan in recent years. Both the International Trade Port of Alat (Azerbaijan) and the port of Turkmenbashi (Turkmenistan) are very well prepared for the reception and processing of the wide profile cargo, which contributes to the transformation of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan into important transit states in the region. According to the Turkmen leader, the geographical location of the two countries demands for closer partnership in this area, which should be based on a proven strategy to create combined transport and transit corridors between Asia and Europe. At the same time, the Turkmen side believes that such a strategy should provide for the construction of new highways with the participation of Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and the third countries.

In particular, the Afghanistan-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey transport corridor (Lapis Lazuli) is a clear example of such cooperation. The relevant agreement was signed on November 15, 2017 in Ashgabat as part of the 7th Ministerial Conference of Regional Economic Cooperation on Afghanistan (RECCA). On November 28, 2018, an international conference on transport was held in the city of Turkmenbashi, where the main attention was paid to aspects of the practical implementation of this corridor.

In December 2019, during the meeting in Tashkent of the leaders of the railways of Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan, the parties decided to launch a new international multimodal corridor during the first quarter of 2020. They also set the unified transit tariff rates and the conditions for the transportation of goods along the route, and discussed the logistics infrastructure. The parties also agreed on the establishment of a Coordinating Committee including the heads of railways of the participating countries. The visit of the Turkmen president to Azerbaijan largely contributes to the acceleration of the implementation of this route.

Results and Prospects

If we consider the substantive part of the Azerbaijani-Turkmen bilateral agenda, it is clear that the parties intend to diversify the existing cooperation. Back in September 2019, during the fifth meeting of the intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation, it was announced that the parties are interested in creating joint ventures of various profiles, exchanging trading houses and creating a Turkmen-Azerbaijani business council.

At the same meeting, the parties noted that Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan are interested in using alternative routes for bringing their mineral resources to Europe. It was explicitly stated that Turkmenistan’s hydrocarbon resources could be connected to the western direction through the Caspian thanks to the construction of a 300 km pipeline along the seabed to the coast of Azerbaijan, followed by the transportation of minerals to Turkey and further to Europe.

At the same time, this statement, rather, reflects the attitude of the parties to cooperation in this area, rather than a practical step towards the implementation of the project itself. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly said that official Baku is not against the use of its gas infrastructure by other states for gas transit. At the same time, much depends on the conditions under which the Turkmen side will agree with potential consumers of its gas on the price and volume of supplies. It should be noted that the stable transportation of Turkmen oil through Azerbaijan in recent years indicates the reliability of the Azerbaijani route for delivering Turkmen energy to foreign markets.

Yet another important outcome of the visit was the conclusion of an agreement on the construction of a fiber-optic communication line between the two countries along the bottom of the Caspian Sea. Led by the project operators AzerTelecom (Azerbaijan) and Turkmentelecom (Turkmenistan), the line will create a new platform for cooperation between the two countries. Cable laying will make an important contribution to the development of the telecommunications sector in both countries and the region as a whole.

Passing along the Siyazan - Turkmenbashi route, the trunk line will contribute to the creation of a digital Silk Road between Europe and Asia. The project will make it possible to ensure Internet traffic from Europe through Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

Although the bilateral trade turnover for 2019 compared with 2018 increased by more than 40%, the level of cooperation does not yet reflect the real untapped potential of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.

It is, therefore, necessary to intensify the work of the intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation. The next sixth meeting of the commission is scheduled for this year. Undoubtedly, the visit of the Turkmen President will bring up concrete proposals to increase not only quantitative, but also qualitative indicators of trade and economic partnership, which meets not only the interests of the two countries, but also helps to intensify regional cooperation as a whole.