Afghanistan and Central Asia

Itar-Tass reports that the presidents of Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan will be cementing cooperative efforts “on all levels.”  A meeting took place between Kyrgyzstan’s Mr. Bakiev and Turkmenistan’s Mr. Berdymukhamedov as part of unofficial SCO activities.

Mr. Berdymukhamedov is an honorary guest at the SCO summit this year.  It is his first time attending the event.  Last year, Turkmenistan’s President was Mr. Niyazov, who did not pursue a policy of mutual cooperation.  One feature of Turkmenistan’s new administration has been the renewal of bilateral and multilateral ties. 

After Mr. Bakiev publicly welcomed Turkmenistan’s participation, Mr. Berdymukhammedov spoke, saying that he was grateful to be asked to participate.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Turkmenistan’s membership into the SCO was fast-tracked over the next year or so, before Pakistan or Iran.  But Turkmenistan’s addition into the SCO will create a possible ally for Iran’s eventual membership.   The two met before the SCO meeting and travelled together to Bishkek.   The bilateral Iran-Turkmenistan meeting was to make diplomatic progress on their respective states’ unsettled offshore gas well border dispute. 

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 16th, 2007 at 9:14 am and is filed under Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Collective Security Organizations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.