Ashgabat and Moscow: Will new drivers of partnership be launched?
The meeting of Putin and Berdymukhamedov, which will be held on October 2nd in Ashgabat, will be the most important event in modern Turkmen-Russian relations. Its strategic character is out of question, but the results of the meeting "will show whether negotiations will help clarify some" inconsistencies. Anyway, the gas theme, playing a key role in the economy of the two countries, will undoubtedly be considered. But there is a lot of "but" there. Therefore, this important issue will be considered, most likely, behind closed doors and loud statements will not be expected yet. The visit of the Russian Leader at the invitation of his Turkmen colleague is already a positive indicator of the parties' commitment to a more active search for an optimistic scenario of interaction. The agenda of cooperation between the two countries includes a range of directions. And this, first, is the trade and economic part. Both Turkmenistan and Russia have recently seen the reserves of their economic growth in import substitution and export strengthening. In this context, the development of the industrial sector comes to the forefront. The potential in both countries is impressive. It allows for way more than just the exchange of experience and technology and the implementation of joint projects. It can be said that after a certain period of accumulation of forces and energy, each state is ready for a breakthrough in this area. Technological, investment, and innovative. A great potential is seen in the agricultural production sectors, which can become drivers of domestic growth and external commodity exchange. Due to the difference in soil and climate conditions, mutually complementary prospects are opening up for Turkmen and Russian agrarians. There was a time when Turkmen cucumbers, tomatoes and melons were exported to the different regions of Russian not by wagons, but by trains. But for this, the local agrarian industry needs reforms and investments. It is not clear that this would be economically beneficial for the Russian business community. The answer will be received soon. Much attention in national economies was paid to the non-raw-material segment, first of all, chemistry and petrochemistry, and gas chemistry. That is a high-tech industry with high value-added products. The current negotiations at the top will also include issues connected with transport communications. For official Ashgabat this is a priority vector that can be clearly seen in the content of almost all meetings held by the Turkmen Leader with foreign heads of state and government. Another unifying theme for Russia and Turkmenistan is the Caspian Sea. Surely, the meeting will contain information on several aspects, including tourism - a sphere that resembles a sleeping panther in Turkmenistan. The tourist complex of Turkmenistan slowly, as after somnambulist sleep, begins to take its place in the world travel industry, although it has not only a unique historical, cultural and natural heritage, but also a wonderful modern sea resort. And Russians like to travel, namely like seacoast recreation. The team of Putin will include Zhilkin - the Head of the Astrakhan region, the administrative center of which is located very close to Avaza. It would have been possible to transport groups of Astrakhan tourists without special problems for the weekend and holidays. For this aim the super modern ferry-boats of the RO-PAX class, purchased not so long ago by Turkmenistan, can be used. However, in this plan it is necessary to solve some questions with reception of visas. And, perhaps, Putin's visit in some ways will help to this. An invariably significant place in the Turkmen-Russian partnership is allocated within the humanitarian bloc - culture and art, education and science, where bilateral connections are traditionally strong and the richest, most valuable experience has been accumulated. The sport is also part of the same block - the topic that Turkmen and Russian Leaders put in the priorities of social development, as they both, by the way, are athletes and active promoters of a healthy lifestyle. As for the structure of relations between the two countries, the partnership at the regional level makes good progress in their development. It is more specific, more saturated with direct human contacts, tied to practical “particularities”. The implementation of the agreement at the top is most often based on such relations. An example of this is the effective interaction of Turkmenistan with such major regions of the Russian Federation as Tatarstan, the already mentioned Astrakhan region, the St. Petersburg region. Well, certainly, the Turkmen and Russian Presidents will discuss issues of regional and international problems. First of all, they will discuss the fight against modern challenges and global threats. At least, all negotiations of both Presidents include these topics. It can be a long and enthusiastic process to guess about the possible results. But it's better to wait a little... However, with some confidence it can already be argued that the results of the visit will be generally very effective. Otherwise, considering the pragmatic approach of the Turkmen and Russian Leaders, there would simply be no visit.
