Page 386 – The Times Of Central Asia

12 Feb 2025

UN Pays Kazakhstan $2.6 Million Annually for Military Equipment in Golan Heights

February 12, 2025
By Vagit Ismailov

The United Nations pays Kazakhstan $2.6 million per year for the lease of military equipment and weapons used in its peacekeeping mission in the Golan Heights, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Defense Minister Shaykh-Khasan Zhazykbayev announced at a Mazhilis meeting.

On February 12, Mazhilis deputies ratified a memorandum with the UN outlining the terms of Kazakhstan’s contribution to the mission. Since March 2024, 139 Kazakhstani servicemen have been deployed to the region, supported by 26 units of military equipment.

Under the agreement, UN payments are divided into two categories: approximately $2.4 million per year is allocated for personnel maintenance, while $2.6 million covers the lease of military equipment, weapons, and other resources. Each Kazakhstani peacekeeper receives a monthly salary of $1,448, along with additional payments for leave and out-of-pocket expenses.

A separate agreement between Kazakhstan and the UN regulates financial transactions. Under this arrangement, payments for military personnel go directly to the soldiers, while funds for leased equipment and property are transferred to the state budget.

During 11 months of operations in the Golan Heights, Kazakhstani peacekeepers have neutralized approximately 200 unexploded ordnance and conducted the evacuation of a UN employee. The Ministry of Defense of Kazakhstan reported that in December 2024, the contingent demonstrated a high level of professionalism, efficiency, and coordination.

Meanwhile, tensions in the conflict zone remain high. The Kazakh contingent operates in a region where hostilities between Israel and Syria persist. Israel continues to expand military infrastructure in the Golan Heights, which it has controlled since 1967. However, many countries recognize the area as Syrian territory and consider it occupied.

Previously, the UN discussed the possibility of evacuating Kazakhstani peacekeepers if the security situation deteriorates.

12 Feb 2025

Environment, Central Asia, Home, Kazakhstan Environment, Kazakhstan, Features, Kazakhstan Featurees, Kazakhstan Home

Kazakhstan to Plant Nearly Half of Its Dried Aral Seabed with Saxaul

February 12, 2025
By Dmitry Pokidaev

By the end of 2025, saxaul forests will cover approximately 40% of Kazakhstan’s portion of the dried-up Aral Seabed, according to Azamat Abuov, head of the Department of Reproduction and Use of Forests and Flora at the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources.

Afforestation efforts in the former Aral Sea, once the world’s fourth-largest inland body of water, aim to restore the region’s fragile ecosystem. Both public and private entities are participating in the project, which seeks to establish a “green belt” to stabilize the soil and curb the spread of more than 100 million tons of salt, sand, and dust from the exposed seabed to surrounding areas each year. Saxaul has been selected as the primary species for reforestation due to its suitability for the region’s arid conditions.

“Currently, work on the Kazakh section has been carried out across 475,000 hectares, with additional efforts focused on natural regeneration. If we consider all initiatives together, afforestation has already covered 612,000 hectares. Plans for 2025 include an additional 428,000 hectares, bringing the total to 1.1 million hectares by the end of the year, ultimately covering about 40% of the dried-up area with saxaul,” Abuov said at a press conference in Astana. He added that approximately 300 local residents are actively involved in the project, collecting and planting saxaul seeds.

Ruslan Akhmetov, director of the Almaty branch of the Kazakh Research Institute of Forestry and Agroforestry, highlighted that planting in the dried-up Aral Sea basin presents challenges due to high soil salinity, making saxaul the optimal choice as a salt-resistant plant. To support the initiative, a nursery has been established at the site to cultivate seedlings adapted to local soil conditions.

Alibi Gaziz, general director of the Republican Forest Breeding and Seed Center, announced that two wells will be drilled in the dried seabed.

“These will serve as oases, providing watering holes for animals and nurseries nearby. Water will be drawn from depths of 500 – 600 meters, with moderate salinity, making it suitable for irrigating plants and sustaining wildlife,” he explained. According to Gaziz, wildlife has already begun returning to the saxaul plantations in Kazakhstan’s section of the former Aral Sea, with hares, foxes, and gerbils spotted in the area, signaling the ecosystem’s gradual recovery.

At its peak in the mid-20th century, the Aral Sea spanned 68,000 square kilometers along the Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan border. However, large-scale water diversion from its two main tributaries, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, for cotton irrigation in the 1960s triggered its rapid decline. By 2007, the sea had shrunk to just 10% of its original size, marking one of the planet’s worst environmental disasters.

As The Times of Central Asia previously reported, Uzbekistan is also implementing afforestation measures to restore its portion of the dried-up Aral Sea, while broader regional efforts continue to improve water inflow to the Northern Aral Sea.

12 Feb 2025

Business & Economy, Turkmenistan, Turkmenistan International Affairs, Turkmenistan Business & Economy

Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Romania Advance Caspian Sea-Black Sea Transport Corridor

February 12, 2025
By Sergey Kwan

On February 10, representatives from the foreign ministries and transport authorities of Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Romania held a video conference to discuss a draft intergovernmental agreement on the establishment and operation of the Caspian Sea-Black Sea International Transport Route, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry reported.

Participants expressed confidence that the quadrilateral agreement, expected to be signed this year, will significantly boost international freight transportation between Central Asia and Europe. They also highlighted the anticipated positive impact on trade relations among the participating countries and emphasized the importance of involving international cargo transportation organizations to enhance connectivity between European and Asian markets.

The initiative builds on a joint declaration signed by the foreign ministers of Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Romania in Bucharest in March 2019, which set the foundation for the corridor’s development.

The new transport route will link Turkmenistan’s Caspian Sea port of Turkmenbashi with Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanța, passing through the ports of Baku in Azerbaijan and Poti and Batumi in Georgia.

12 Feb 2025

Central Asia, Turkmenistan Home, Home, Turkmenistan, Turkmenistan Business & Economy, Business & Economy, Turkmenistan Features, Features

Turkmenistan to Start Natural Gas Shipments to Turkey

February 21, 2025
By Bruce Pannier

Long-discussed shipments of Turkmen natural gas to Turkey could be just weeks away.

Several options have been discussed for bringing gas to Turkey, but news since February 10 indicates Turkmenistan and Turkey chose a swap agreement involving Iran.

Turkmenistan’s state information agency TDH reported the head of the country’s Halk Maslahaty (People’s Council) Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian by phone.

During that call, Berdimuhamedov “announced the agreement with (Turkey’s) BOTAS company on the transit of Turkmen natural gas through Iran to the Republic of Turkey…”

Since there is no pipeline connecting Turkmenistan to Turkey, the agreement involves a swap deal whereby Turkmenistan ships its gas to Iran and Iran makes a like amount of its gas available to Turkey.

However, on February 11, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar posted on X (formerly Twitter) confirming an agreement between BOTAS and Turkmengaz.

Bayraktar said “… gas flow is planned to start on March 1, 2025.”

There were no details about the volume of gas to be delivered, but Turkish officials have previously been mentioning an initial volume of some 2 billion cubic meters (bcm).

Turkish officials have been pushing for this deal for more than two years, with the ultimate aim of turning Turkey into a gas hub to shipments to Europe.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev traveled to Turkmenistan in December 2022 to meet with Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov (the son of Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov).

Erdogan and Aliyev were hoping for an agreement on construction of a pipeline to carry Turkmen gas to Azerbaijan and from there to Turkey.

Those talks were inconclusive, but did lead to a series of other meetings of officials of the three countries to discuss alternative means to ship Turkmen gas to Turkey.

The swap arrangement involving Iran was one of the possibilities raised during these meetings.

However, Turkey is still clinging to the plan for construction of a pipeline that would eventually boost Turkmen gas supplies to Turkey up to 15 bcm.

Turkish Ambassador to Ashgabat Ahmet Demirok said in September 2024 that his country was looking to purchase 300 bcm of Turkmen gas over the next 20 years.

The agreement is good news for Turkmenistan, but it also shows again how dependent Turkmenistan is becoming on Iran for gas exports.

When Turkmenistan became independent in late 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the only gas pipelines in Turkmenistan led north to Russia.

Turkmenistan was exporting gas to Russia for most of the years after independence, but in 2024 the latest agreement between the two countries expired and both countries indicated they would not renew Turkmen gas exports.

The first post-Soviet pipeline built in Turkmenistan connected to Iran. That pipeline started operations at the end of 1997.

Another pipeline from Turkmenistan to Iran was launched in 2010.

The two pipelines have a combined capacity to carry some 20 bcm, but a pricing dispute between Turkmenistan and Iran in late 2016 led Turkmenistan to halt gas shipments to Iran at the start of 2017 and they have still not resumed.

The only other gas pipelines from Turkmenistan lead to China, which is currently Turkmenistan’s only gas customer, purchasing somewhere around 35 bcm annually.

The last of those three Central Asia-China pipelines was completed more than 10 years ago. No other pipelines from Turkmenistan have been built since then.

With no other export possibilities for its gas, the Turkmen has been forced to turn to Iran for swap deals with third countries.

For several years now, Turkmenistan has an on-again-off-again arrangement to supply Azerbaijan with 1-2 bcm of gas via a swap agreement with Iran.

In late 2024, Turkmenistan reached a deal to supply Iraq with 10 bcm, again using a swap arrangement with Iran, though it is unclear when those shipments will start.

There is still a question about the condition of the pipelines from Turkmenistan to Iran that have been largely dormant for eight years.

Iranian companies will perform maintenance on the two pipelines and build a new 125-kilometer pipeline to allow boosting Turkmen gas shipments to 40 bcm.

There is no timeframe for when this work will be completed.

Iran needs Turkmen gas. The northern part of Iran is not connected to the pipeline network leading to the gas fields in southern Iran and the Persian Gulf.

The swap deals effectively resolves the problem of Turkmen gas imports for northern Iran.

Turkmenistan could stand to gain from the swap arrangements with Turkey and Iraq as the country’s economy is stagnant and gas exports account for some 80 percent or more of revenues.

But these deals rely on aging pipelines in both Iran and Turkmenistan and on those two countries maintaining friendly ties, which has not always been the case in the last 10 years.

There is also the fragility of the Iranian regime that spent huge amounts of money supporting proxies in the Middle East such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Bashir Assad regime that fell in Syria in November.

Depending on the Iranian regime to be willing and able to carry out Turkmenistan’s swap agreement with third countries is risky.

12 Feb 2025

Business & Economy, Central Asia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Turkmenistan International Affairs, Turkmenistan Business & Economy, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan Business & Economy, Kazakhstan International Affairs, Kazakhstan Business & Economy, Uzbekistan International Affairs

Central Asia Expands Trade and IT Cooperation with Afghanistan Amid Regional Growth Plans

February 12, 2025
By Times of Central Asia

The Central Asian countries continue to develop their trade relations with Afghanistan, a crucial factor in the region’s economic growth and resilience against economic and political challenges. Afghanistan’s key trade partners in Central Asia are Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan. While Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan play a smaller role, they still contribute by exporting electricity and agricultural products to Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is Uzbekistan’s fifth largest export market. Over the past five years, trade turnover between the two countries has grown by nearly 1.5 times, reaching $866 million in 2023. Currently, 550 enterprises with Afghan investments operate in Uzbekistan, with 443 being fully Afghan-owned. Joint projects span industries such as food production, construction materials, agriculture, tourism, and textiles. Recently, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan signed business agreements worth $4.5 million between their private sectors.

For Turkmenistan, the most significant project involving Afghanistan is the TAPI gas pipeline. President Berdimuhamedov recently directed the government to accelerate the development of the Galkynysh Gas Field and expedite the TAPI pipeline’s construction. The state company Turkmengas has already completed a 214-kilometer section on Turkmenistan’s territory, fully preparing it for operation. This project is a key component of the country’s socioeconomic development and investment program for 2025.

Additionally, Turkmenistan is poised to become a transport hub for international corridors passing through Kazakhstan, particularly the North-South and Middle corridors, as well as the Lapis Lazuli corridor, which connects Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan.

Although Kazakhstan does not share a border with Afghanistan like Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, it remains an active trade partner. The Times of Central Asia has previously detailed trade relations between Astana and Kabul, highlighting Kazakhstan’s potential not only for expanding trade but also for entering Afghanistan’s IT market.

The Afghan news portal AVA Press notes Kazakhstan’s role in regional stability and economic development. It also mentions Kazakhstan’s humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, including earthquake relief in 2023 and food assistance in 2024.

The article touches on Afghanistan’s IT sector challenges and Kazakhstan’s potential role in addressing them. Afghanistan lags in IT development and relies on imported technologies, but Kazakhstan, recognized for digital transformation, could be a valuable partner. Kazakhstan’s e-government model, including the eGov platform, serves as an example of how digital services can improve governance and infrastructure.

Choosing Kazakhstan as an IT partner is seen as a strategic decision based on the country’s internationally recognized digital achievements, strong economic ties, and mutual trust.

11 Feb 2025

Home, Life & Culture, Kyrgyzstan Life & Culture, Features, Kyrgyzstan Features

Innovative Solution Connects Kyrgyzstan’s Most Remote Village to the Internet, Sparking Further Development

February 18, 2025
By Steven Sachoff

Until recently, the village of Zardaly, in the Batken region of southwest Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous area on the border of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, was almost completely cut off from the rest of the world. There were no road connections and certainly no information highway. That all changed recently, however, when the Kyrgyz chapter of the Internet Society, an international organization aiming to bridge the digital divide, led a project to connect Zardaly to the internet. The project has inverted the arc of the typical development model, with the new technology subsequently sparking investment in more traditional infrastructure such as roads, energy production, and access to government services.