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Central Asia

Stories under this heading cover Central Asia – a region of Asia, stretching from the Caspian Sea in the west to Mongolia in the east, from Afghanistan in the south to Russia in the north.

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Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan hold important trilateral meeting
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Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan hold important trilateral meeting

23 August 2025
Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan held important trilateral meetings in the Turkmen city of Turkmenbashi on Friday, 22 August. Joint development of deposits on the Caspian shelf and cooperation in the field of energy exports, including renewable sources, were discussed. The talks came in the framework of the visit to Turkmenistan of President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and President Shovkat Mirzizoyev of  Uzbekistan who were hosted by the Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty (Senate) of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who is a former president and the father of the current president, Serdar Berdimuhamedov. Azerbaijani media noted that during the meeting Uzbekistan hailed a scheme to export green electricity to Europe as promising, while Turkmen officials signaled a new openness to ideas long discussed in Brussels and Ankara, to build a Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, a project that has been under discussion for more than 30 years.

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Editorial: Chinese strategy in Central Asia aims to keep the west out, the Russians down, and everyone else on the margin
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Editorial: Chinese strategy in Central Asia aims to keep the west out, the Russians down, and everyone else on the margin

18 April 2023
Events of the past year have unleashed a new "Great Game" in Central Asia, writes commonspace.eu in this editorial. "The plan, it seems, builds on China’s “Belt and Road” programme, but there also now appears to be a much stronger political angle to China’s engagement. China is worried that Russia’s increasing weakness is creating a vacuum in Central Asia that others may be tempted to fill. It is determined to get there first. China’s approach seems to be to keep the west out, the Russians down, and everyone else on the margin." There is little doubt that the big loser in this “great game in the new era” is Russia. But the Kremlin at this point has little choice but to try to cut its losses. It desperately needs China’s support - at least economically, politically and diplomatically, if not militarily - as it tries to sort out the mess it created for itself in Ukraine, and resist Western sanctions imposed after its invasion.
commonspace.eu editorial team
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Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan to deepen cooperation as Aliyev meets Tokayev in Astana
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Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan to deepen cooperation as Aliyev meets Tokayev in Astana

11 April 2023
Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have agreed to significantly increase bilateral cooperation in a number of sectors after the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met with his Kazakh counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Astana on Monday (10 April). The meeting was comprehensive, focusing on strengthening political, trade, economic, transport and transit, as well as cultural and humanitarian cooperation between the two Caspian Sea states. The two presidents signed several memoranda of understanding on cooperation in sports, diaspora initiatives, science, telecommunications, business and culture. President Aliyev and President Tokayev also signed a joint statement and protocol on the establishment of a Supreme Interstate Council, "which is designed to serve the comprehensive strengthening of bilateral relations", according to Tokayev. He said, "The full deployment of the potential of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, the so-called Middle Corridor, is of particular importance." Meanwhile, Aliyev said that Azerbaijan is "truly determined to deepen and expand the multifaceted cooperation" with Kazakhstan.
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