Baku and Astana: Promising projects and beyond

By Gulgiz Dadashova

 

Baku and Astana “will synchronize watches” on expansion of the Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan cooperation during President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s upcoming visit to the country.

 

President Nazarbayev is scheduled to visit Baku on October 12 for talks with his counterpart Ilham Aliyev, pushing forward ambitious joint energy and infrastructure projects as the two sides try to diversify their economies.

 

Both sides are actively preparing for this visit, highly important not only for the two countries but for the whole region, as the expansion of the Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan ties is expected to boost the regional cooperation, particularly in transportation, and contribute to the regional stability.

 

Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are two Caspian states which are united by not only the Sea, but a number of things ranging from the cultural and linguistic proximity to a number of strategic initiatives and projects. The two countries interact in a number of platforms, including CIS, TurkPA, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and others. Accordingly, the heads of the states will have an extensive agenda for discussion, especially in the economic, security and cultural cooperation.

 

The two friendly countries always support each other at the international level. Back in the 90th Kazakhstan directly participated in international diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire in Karabakh, and today Kazakhstan is one of the strong supporters of Baku in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. The Kazakh side was one of the first to support Azerbaijan during the April clashes, when the Armenian side resorted to provocations against Azerbaijani civilians.  

 

Despite Astana and Baku’s close ties in the political sphere, the current level of economic cooperation does not correspond to the potential of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.  Kazak expert Adil Kaukenov believes that the reason was in engagement of our countries in the export of hydrocarbons, while today the non-oil sector is in forefront of both countries.

 

Kaukenov said in an interview with Day.az that most likely both sides have prepared a solid package of documents for signing, so that the visit took place at a decent level.

 

Today, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are more interested in intensification of cooperation in other areas, particularly logistics and infrastructure. The two Caspian littoral states with their unique geographical location represent a natural bridge between the West and the East, which gives huge prospects and opens another door to the East for Europe in the spheres of transport and trade.

 

Recent geopolitical events enhanced the importance of the Caucasus to regional trade and accelerated work on projects like the Trans Caspian International Trade Route, a multimodal route to ship goods from China to Europe through the Caucasus and Kazakhstan.

 

The route promises to increase freight transport and to generate some $1billion in profit in the first few years, due to which both countries have accelerated the work in this direction. Railway administrations of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia signed a memorandum of Trans-Caspian International Transport Route Association and adopted its charter. Azerbaijan Railways has opened a representative office in Astana, while Azerbaijani logistic center will be commissioned in Kazakhstan in coming days.

 

Laying down a Trans-Caspian optic-fibre line is another breakthrough project. This will be efficient, because it will cut down telecommunications costs.

 

Moreover, the two oil rich countries with tremendous oil reserves are planning to lay new Eskene-Kuryk-Baku oil pipeline with a length of 739 kilometers, which is of great importance given the growing export potential of Kazakhstan. The Kazakhstan Caspian Transportation System must ensure the export of Kazakh oil to international markets mainly from the Kashagan field (second and third phase) via the Caspian Sea, through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and other oil transportation systems both in Azerbaijan and other transit countries.

 

As for the political aspects, one of the highlights of the discussions is expected to be the situation in the Caspian region, the processes taking place in the post-Soviet countries and world trends. Surely, the security issue will not be bypassed, especially given the rising threat of international terrorism and religious radicalism.

 

Undoubtedly, the visit will play a positive role in the interaction of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, as the two friendly countries are in search for new forms of cooperation.