Issues of cooperation of the Caspian states in the oil and gas economy were discussed at the 14th general assembly of the universities of the Caspian states. The assembly took place at the state university of Dagestan.
One of the core ideas of the discussion was that it is wrong that often political factors influence economic decisions about cooperation as the interests of the economy should be separate from politics. Chingiz Ismailov, the head of the state university of Baku, said that while all the countries around the Caspian Sea have become oil and gas exporters, this does not unite but divides them. Because of this, a united system of gas and oil transportation, development and refining should be created in the region which would make the fuel trade more profitable for all of the Caspian countries.
He also said that the four countries of the region had to start their political and economic life from scratch after the breakdown of the Soviet Union and were not equal to begin with. Iran met with economic difficulties due to US plans for its international isolation. Azerbaijan was economically isolated from Russia due to the Chechen war and Russian gas prices for Azerbaijan were much higher than those for Armenia - oil transit taxes through the Russian territory were three times higher. It forced Azerbaijan to look for new markets, but important changes happened after Vladimir Putin came to power. Now Russia is Azerbaijan's top economic partner, he said.
Ramzan Nabiyev, the head of the state university of Astrakhan, spoke about the situation in the port of Astrakhan. He said that the territory in the port was not sold to the best investors due to an information black hole. He suggested a tender was the solution to the problem. At the end of his speech he said that it is not the countries which export resources or produce goods that win, but those who provide transportation. He sees the future of the Caspian region in developing this branch of the economy.
Salikhbek Abdulmanapov, the head of the institute of social and economic resources of the Russian Academy of Sciences, pointed out that trade between the Caspian countries was permanently expanding and the main constraint was the uncertainty of the sea borders. The problem may be resolved only by cooperation, he said.
Musa Musayev, Makhachkala. Exclusively for VK
