Uzbekistan hosted the summit of the Organization of Turkic states on November 11. In Samarkand, Presidents of the member states discussed the current state and prospects of cooperation in political, economic and cultural-humanitarian spheres, and declared 2023 the Year of the Rise of the Turkic civilization.

According to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, energy security issues are of particular significance. “Today security of any country - among other things and perhaps even primarily - is intertwined with its energy security. We have already established a multi-format cooperation here. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan are engaged in successful operations in the Caspian Sea. At the same time, our main export routes pass through Türkiye. Thus, these factors connect us to one another even more closely.

“We made very important decisions and reached serious agreements. Most importantly, we have reaffirmed our strong will to strengthen friendship and partnership, and multifaceted practical cooperation between our countries”, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted.

“An important issue is transportation. As you know, in the near future we plan to start the practical implementation of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway construction pro­ject”.  This project will complement the railway lines and motor roads of the Trans-Caspian transportation route”, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov said.

Development of new transport routes was offered by Pre­sident of Kazakhstan Kassym Jomart Tokayev in Samarkand.  Over the past 15 years, the Republic has allocated $35 billion for the development of the sector. That sum will make $20 billion over the next two years.

“Our states link the West with the East and the North with the South. Therefore, increasing the capacity of the transportation and transit lines, and using them to full advantage take on greater importance during the current transitional period.  A perfect example is the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route running across three fraternal states – Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Türkiye”, Tokayev noted.

The President proposed to create a single digital transport system, modernize border crossing points and develop alternative railways and motor roads, which altogether ensure easy and quick freight transportation across borders.

Today, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad and the Western Europe - Western China highway are extending, modern transportation infrastructure is being created in the Caspian  Sea, and the first freight train in the direction of China-Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan was launched late in July and early in August, which enables to significantly reduce the travel time for cargoes. 

Besides, it was offered to create a joint project “Turkic council – Modern Silk Way”.

President of Kazakhstan also proposed to create a common fund of Turkic integration, involving all business circles and sponsors from the member states of the Council, which will help to fund joint pro­jects of Turkic states.

At present, the volume of investments made by Azerbaijan in Türkiye has excee­ded 20 billion US dollars. Türkiye, in turn, invested around 13 billion US dollars into the economy of Azerbaijan. Turkish companies’ investments into the non-oil sector of Azerbaijan reached 2.9 billion US dollars. Türkiye is the second trade partner of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are located in the international transport corridor stretching from China to Europe. To date, there have been more than 120 documents signed between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, most of which relate to the economic sector.

Economic ties between Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan: the trade volume between bet­ween the countries totaled 6.049 million US dollars in 2020. Declaration on strategic partnership was inked between the Azerbaijan Republic and Kyrgyz Republic in Baku on April 20, 2022. 

Building upon the idea to address the EU’s energy security problem, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban discussed the promotion of joint investment projects targeting the expansion of cooperation between the two countries. “Special focus was put on promotion of investment projects in industrial, chemical, pharmaceutical, banking-financial sectors, transport and logistics, as well as in other priority areas. A consensus was reached to accelerate establishment of financial support mechanisms for business initiatives”, the report says.

Earlier, during the first “EU - Central Asia” summit hosted in Astana, Shavkat Mirziyoyev stated that Uzbekistan favored the attraction of European investments and technologies, as well as deepening of trade-economic cooperation with the EU states, and put forward the initiative to create an EU-Central Asia economic cooperation committee.  

Large volume of natural gas reserves in Central Asian countries can solve the EU’s energy security problem. Globally, Uzbekistan takes the 14th position in natural gas production. Annually, Uzbekneftegaz produces about 70 billion cubic meters of gas and 8 million tons of liquid hydrocarbons.

Recoverable gas reserves in Uzbekis­tan total 1.86 trillion cubic meters.

Globally, Kazakhstan holds the 22nd place in terms of natural gas volumes and the 3rd place among the CIS states after Russia and Turkmenistan, RK minis­try of energy reports. Recoverable gas reserves proven by the State Mineral Reserves Commission total 3.8 trillion cubic meters.

The country’s major proven gas volumes are concentrated in western Kazakhstan, at Karachaganak, Tengiz and Kashagan (81%) oil fields. 2021’s crude gas production totaled 53.8 billion cubic meters, says the data of the Ministry of Energy. The target plan for 2022 is 54.5 bcm.

Proven gas reserves of Azerbaijan total 2.6 trillion cubic meters. In 2022, export will make 22 bcm, of which 11.5 bcm will be supplied to consumers in Europe.

Turkmenistan is the fourth in the world in terms of natural gas reserves - 19.5 trillion cubic meters. Gas production volume in the country reached 83 billion 772.9 million cubic meters by the end of 2021. Turkmenistan is exporting natural gas to China via 3 pipelines running along the Turkmenistan-Uzbekis­tan-Kazakhstan-China route. Carrying capacity makes 55 bcm per annum. The major volume of supplies falls to the share of Turkmenistan, the remainder – Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Natural gas production in Turkmenistan hit an all-time high of 83.8 billion cubic meters in 2021, of which 45 bcm accounted for export. It is noteworthy that at present Turkmen gas meets about 10% of annual consumption in China.

Total proven gas reserves of Turkic-speaking states make 28 trillion cubic meters, placing them third in the global gas market behind Russia and Iran. Sufficient investment making into the upstream sector will enable to significantly increase their joint export potential both to the EU and Asian states.