Uzbek-Turkmen Rapprochement Slow in Coming
Uzbek-Turkmen Rapprochement Slow in Coming
Despite a thaw in relations, the authorities in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have been hesitant about opening up to each other’s economies.
The official Turkmenistan.gov.tm website reported on September 16 that President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov and his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov had a phone call in which they discussed the prospects for trade and economic ties, particularly improved cross-border trade, which has fallen away in recent years.
Trade used to be widespread between the Dashoguz and Lebap regions of Turkmenistan and neighbouring parts of Uzbekistan. Petrol and domestic appliances brought in from Turkmenistan and Uzbek cotton oil, rice, fruit, vegetables, fabric and clothing were sold at bazaars on either side of the border.
This border trade began declining in 2001, when the Turkmen authorities imposed a six US dollar charge for crossing the border. A failed assassination attempt against the then Turkmen president Saparmurat Niazov in November 2002 resulted in a massive clampdown on the frontier as his government accused the Uzbeks of complicity.
In July last year, hopes of a revival in cross-border trading picked up when Karimov and Berdymuhammedov, the new Turkmen leader, restored contact.
Local observers expected that trade and economic ties would quickly follow, and would have a particularly positive effect on the relatively densely populated areas along the border.
However, these predictions have yet to come true.
Observers say one obvious barrier to trade is the bureaucratic crossing procedures that are still in place, with document inspections by migration, border and customs officials that take hours.
“Traders do not want to take their goods to the other side, undergoing long checks, because the vegetables may spoil,” said a farmer from the Khorezm region of Uzbekistan.
A commentator from Dashoguz in Turkmenistan cites the numerous treaties and agreements the two countries have signed, and says there is no reason why they could not have eased frontiers procedures, and even created free-trade zones, long ago. The conclusion, he said, has to be that they “either cannot or do not want to” take advantage of the opportunities.
An observer in the Uzbek capital Tashkent believes that Turkmen leaders are not keen on economic integration with Uzbekistan, because they are concerned that Karimov has ambitions to regional leadership.
“Developing border trade is secondary….it is not the defining issue in the relationship,” he said.
Other commentators agree, noting that Karimov and Berdymuhammedov are both driven by “political pragmatism”.
For his part, Berdymuhammedov may fear that freeing up trade could bring some unwelcome imports along with the fruit and vegetables – illegal narcotics and Islamic extremists.
Karimov, meanwhile, would not be happy to see cheap petrol smuggled in from Turkmenistan, undermining prices on the domestic market and destabilising the Uzbek economy.
“If that had not been the case, local leaders in adjoining border areas of these two countries would have given the green light for cross-border trade to resume,” said a media analyst. “However, the are fearful of their [respective] top leaders, so they do nothing. They are aware that they could be punished for taking the initiative.”
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service is resuming, covering only Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan for the moment.)
The official Turkmenistan.gov.tm website reported on September 16 that President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov and his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov had a phone call in which they discussed the prospects for trade and economic ties, particularly improved cross-border trade, which has fallen away in recent years.
Trade used to be widespread between the Dashoguz and Lebap regions of Turkmenistan and neighbouring parts of Uzbekistan. Petrol and domestic appliances brought in from Turkmenistan and Uzbek cotton oil, rice, fruit, vegetables, fabric and clothing were sold at bazaars on either side of the border.
This border trade began declining in 2001, when the Turkmen authorities imposed a six US dollar charge for crossing the border. A failed assassination attempt against the then Turkmen president Saparmurat Niazov in November 2002 resulted in a massive clampdown on the frontier as his government accused the Uzbeks of complicity.
In July last year, hopes of a revival in cross-border trading picked up when Karimov and Berdymuhammedov, the new Turkmen leader, restored contact.
Local observers expected that trade and economic ties would quickly follow, and would have a particularly positive effect on the relatively densely populated areas along the border.
However, these predictions have yet to come true.
Observers say one obvious barrier to trade is the bureaucratic crossing procedures that are still in place, with document inspections by migration, border and customs officials that take hours.
“Traders do not want to take their goods to the other side, undergoing long checks, because the vegetables may spoil,” said a farmer from the Khorezm region of Uzbekistan.
A commentator from Dashoguz in Turkmenistan cites the numerous treaties and agreements the two countries have signed, and says there is no reason why they could not have eased frontiers procedures, and even created free-trade zones, long ago. The conclusion, he said, has to be that they “either cannot or do not want to” take advantage of the opportunities.
An observer in the Uzbek capital Tashkent believes that Turkmen leaders are not keen on economic integration with Uzbekistan, because they are concerned that Karimov has ambitions to regional leadership.
“Developing border trade is secondary….it is not the defining issue in the relationship,” he said.
Other commentators agree, noting that Karimov and Berdymuhammedov are both driven by “political pragmatism”.
For his part, Berdymuhammedov may fear that freeing up trade could bring some unwelcome imports along with the fruit and vegetables – illegal narcotics and Islamic extremists.
Karimov, meanwhile, would not be happy to see cheap petrol smuggled in from Turkmenistan, undermining prices on the domestic market and destabilising the Uzbek economy.
“If that had not been the case, local leaders in adjoining border areas of these two countries would have given the green light for cross-border trade to resume,” said a media analyst. “However, the are fearful of their [respective] top leaders, so they do nothing. They are aware that they could be punished for taking the initiative.”
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service is resuming, covering only Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan for the moment.)
