Caspian Sea nations sign landmark deal

Yahoo – AFP, Christopher RICKLETON, August 12, 2018

The Caspian Sea borders Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Russia and
Turkmenistan (AFP Photo/BEHROUZ MEHRI)

Aktau (Kazakhstan) (AFP) - The leaders of the five states bordering the resource-rich Caspian Sea signed a landmark deal Sunday on the legal status of the inland sea which boasts a wealth of oil and gas reserves and sturgeon.

The leaders of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan signed the agreement on the status of the inland sea, which has been disputed since the collapse of the Soviet Union rendered obsolete agreements between Tehran and Moscow.

The host, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, said before the signing that the leaders were "participants in a historic event."

"We can admit that consensus on the status of the sea was hard to reach and not immediate, the talks lasted more than 20 years and called for a lot of joint efforts from the parties," Nazarbayev said.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin, whose country was seen as driving the deal, said the convention had "epoch-making significance" and called for more military cooperation between the countries on the Caspian.

Nazarbayev said the convention allows for the construction of underwater oil and gas pipelines as well as setting national quotas for fishing and forbids any foreign military presence.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was quick to hail the clause that prevents non-Caspian countries from deploying military forces.

"The Caspian Sea only belongs to the Caspian states," he said.

Putin also praised this clause, saying it would help "ensure the peaceful status of the Caspian Sea."

National boundaries

The deal provides a means of delimiting national boundaries in the sea whose underground energy resources are estimated at 50 billion barrels of oil and just under 300 trillion cubic feet (8.4 trillion cubic metres) of natural gas.

But Rouhani stressed several times during the summit that these boundaries still need to be worked out between the countries.

Iran, which ended up with the smallest share of the sea under the terms of the convention, is viewed as a potential loser in the deal.

Sunday's summit was the fifth of its kind since 2002 but there have been more than 50 lower-level meetings since the Soviet breakup spawned four new countries on the shores of the Caspian.

The deal goes some way to settling a long-lasting dispute on whether the Caspian is a sea or a lake -- which means it falls under different international laws.

A map of the Caspian Sea locating Aktau, in Kazakhstan, where a deal was 

signed Sunday by surrounding countries which ends decades of dispute over the 

inland sea rich in oil, gas and caviar. (AFP Photo/Valentina BRESCHI)

While the convention refers to the Caspian as a sea, provisions in the agreement give it "a special legal status", Russian deputy foreign minister Grigory Karasin told Kommersant daily earlier this week.

The agreement also offers hope for the Caspian's ecological diversity and its depleted stocks of the beluga sturgeon, whose eggs are prized globally as caviar.

While it remains to be seen how the deal will be implemented, the summit in Aktau was another opportunity for Moscow to present itself as a diplomatic deal-maker.

After years of unsuccessful negotiations on the Caspian the Kremlin "gains political kudos for breaking a log-jam," said John Roberts, a non-resident senior fellow at Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center.

Trans-Caspian plan

Turkmen leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov greeted the deal enthusiastically as his country wants to send gas to markets in Europe via a long-planned Trans-Caspian underwater pipeline.

The project is billed as allowing European countries to ease their dependence on gas from Russia at a time of heightened geopolitical confrontation.

Nevertheless, Iran and Russia could still challenge the pipeline on ecological grounds. They have previously blocked the project, which could cost up to $5 billion to build and would have a projected capacity of 30 billion cubic metres per year.

Kate Mallinson, Associate Fellow for the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, urged caution over the prospects for the pipeline, saying the Aktau deal "is not a legal prerequisite for the construction."

"Neither will a major transport corridor to export Turkmen gas to Europe emerge overnight."

Beijing ratifies protocol for nuclear-weapon-free treaty in Central Asia

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-04-25

The 14th session of the 12th NPC Standing Committee held in the Great
Hall of the People in Beijing, April 24. (File photo/Xinhua)

China's top legislature on Friday ratified the protocol to the Treaty on Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (NWFZ) in Central Asia.

After approving the protocol, the National People's Congress Standing Committee declared that no security protocol or treaty will undermine the status of the NWFZ, and that all explanations and applications of the clauses in the protocol shall support the goal of the building of the NWFZ in Central Asia.

The protocol was signed by representatives of China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States on May 6, 2014 in New York.

The protocol provides legally-binding assurances not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against parties to the NWFZ parties.

Enacted in 2009, the treaty commits the signatories, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, to refrain from developing, acquiring or possessing nuclear weapons.

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China signs protocol to nuclear-free treaty in Central Asia

Want China Times, Xinhua 2014-05-07

Liu Jieyi, second left, and representatives of Russia, the United States,
France and Britain at the signing ceremony in New York, May 6. (Photo/Xinhua)

China on Wednesday signed a protocol to the Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia.

"China supports the efforts of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central Asia, which serves the purposes of strengthening the international non-proliferation regime, advancing the nuclear disarmament process, and promoting peace and security in the region and beyond," Chinese permanent envoy to the UN Liu Jieyi said in a statement.

China has made a solemn commitment of no-first-use of nuclear weapons at any time or under any circumstances, and promised that under no circumstances will it use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states and nuclear-weapon-free zones, the statement said.

"China is committed to strictly complying with the obligations of this protocol after signing and ratification," it said. "At the same time, China believes that any security agreement or treaty will not affect the position of the nuclear-weapon-free zone, and interpretation and application of all the provisions of this protocol must comply with its aim and purpose of establishing a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central Asia."

China hopes the protocol will enter into force at an early date and is willing to make joint efforts with the Central Asian countries to achieve the goal of the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons in the world, said the statement.

China signed the protocol with the five Central Asian countries at the UN headquarters together with Russia, the United States, France and Britain.

Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, where a 15-megaton device equivalent to a thousand

Hiroshima blasts, detonated in 1954. Photograph: US Air Force - digital version

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Turkmenistan president falls during horse race (Video)

A video of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov of Turkmenistan apparently suffering a spectacular fall from his horse after winning a race has emerged although state media has been silent.

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Turkmenistan rebuilds capital into marble 'white city'

Turkmenistan rebuilds capital into marble 'white city'

The Daily Star, AFP, Anton Lomov, February 24, 2013

A file picture taken on May 18, 2011, shows Turkmen people taking part in
an  inauguration ceremony for the presidential palace complex "Oguzkhan"
(background) in Ashgabat. AFP PHOTO

                             

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Feb 24, 2013 (AFP) - In an extraordinary construction boom, the isolated Central Asian country of Turkmenistan is spending billions of dollars on remodelling its capital Ashgabat into a gleaming white showpiece where even the curbs are made of marble.

The gas-rich desert country says that the massive spending spree has already poured in $8 billion in international investment and 4 trillion manats ($1.9 billion) of its own funds since gaining its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

"We are directing the profit from gas exports into improving the quality of life of our people," President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said.

Turkmenistan, on the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea, claims to have the world's fourth-biggest supplies of natural gas with estimated reserves of more than 24 trillion cubic metres, according to BP.

With a population of one million, the city is now a giant construction site as the government demolishes large areas of low-rise brick buildings from the Soviet era.

All new buildings for ministries, government agencies and also new apartment blocks are being faced with marble, giving the city the nickname: "White City."

The 55-year-old president, a dentist by profession, has even ordered that the concrete curbs on central avenues and streets be replaced with marble ones.

"In this epoch of magnificence and happiness, our respected president has given us the task of developing the city to create the most comfortable conditions for people's life," boasted the city's chief architect, Bairam Shamuradov.

The gleaming facades contrast with the rights record of a country described as "one of the world's most repressive" by Human Rights Watch.

Berdymukhamedov picked up the gauntlet from his late predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov, who unveiled a revolving gold statue of himself.

Elected after Niyazov's 2006 death, Berdymukhamedov last year opened a covered ferris wheel that towers to a height of 95 metres atop a leisure centre.

In 2011, he unveiled a 185-metre-high monument to the Constitution that cost 45 million euros ($60 million), decorated with carpet motifs, which has been heralded as the local answer to the Eiffel Tower.

He also opened a giant "Palace of Happiness" for wedding ceremonies that cost around $140 million, topped with a globe.

The city also gained a 211-metre television tower that cost 136.85 million euros ($183.7 million). It rises out of a building in the shape of an 8-pointed star, winning a bizarre Guinness record for the world's largest star-shaped structure.

The vast projects are being built by international companies.

The dominant company is the Turkish firm Polimeks, which built the constitution monument, the Palace of Happiness and the television tower.

Now it has won a contract to build a complex to hold the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in 2017 at a cost of $1.97 billion. The company is also to build a new Ashgabat airport costing $2.25 billion.

French company Bouygues has constructed more than 50 buildings including the ministry of oil and gas nicknamed the "cigarette lighter", while another French company, Vinci, has won a major contract to build a new house of parliament, whose cost has not been made public.

"The Turkmenistan economy is stable despite the global crisis. When you get a sense of the construction marathon, you feel sure of this," an employee at one of the foreign construction firms said on condition of anonymity.

"All of us will have enough work here for many, many years," he added.

"Not all former Soviet republics are as lucky, but the ones that God gave oil and gas are now rich and are spending huge money on development and construction," said a Western diplomatic source on condition of anonymity.

Many residents are dazzled by the whirlwind of construction.

"I can't keep up with the constant changes in the city. It seems that where there was a wasteland yesterday, today there is a modern building," said 24-year-old student Ashir Nurliyev.

But not all residents are so keen on the gleaming new amenities.

"Everything has changed so much, it's as if I've come to a strange city," said Maya Kurbanova, 43, who grew up in Ashgabat and was visiting from Russia.

"In my opinion when everything is covered with marble, it makes the city look impersonal, but it bowls over the out-of-towners... everywhere is opulence and luxury."

Dzhapar-aga, 70, a pensioner living in a dilapidated private house, complained of the city's lost "spirit."

"It's a pity when the former one- or two-storey districts disappear and with them the old spirit of the city, when all the neighbours knew each other, dropped in to visit at the drop of a hat, and there weren't even any locks on the doors."

Human Rights Watch wrote to the president in 2011 over reports of human rights abuses in the course of the demolition work, claiming that owners were being unlawfully evicted and not given adequate compensation.