By Vestnik Kavkaza
Azerbaijan and Iran agreed to continue negotiations on the Caspian status at the bilateral and pentalateral level. 1news.az reports that it is announced by the deputy Foreign Minister of Iran Ibrahim Rahimpur who is visiting Baku at the moment. According to him, all five Caspian countries desire a settlement of the problem over the Caspian status and the talks will continue at the level of foreign ministries and of heads of states.
Meanwhile, Director of the Center for Political Situation, Sergei Mikheyev, believes that cooperation between the five countries “remains unfulfilled due to the lack of developed logistics and due to some political issues, due to contradictions in positions of the five Caspian littoral states on cooperation in the Caspian Sea, on the joint usage of the infrastructure.”
The oil region of the Caspian Sea has always been attractive for major oil players. According to Adil Kaukenov, a senior analyst at the Agency for Research into the Viability of Investments, China joins them: “With the coming of a new generation of Chinese leaders to power, Chinese transportation strategy in the region has received new impetus. Thus, during his tour of Central Asia, the new chairman of China, Xi Jin Ping, introduced the new large-scale regional project of the Silk Road, thereby establishing a new phase in the development of land transportation projects, in which the Caspian region plays a key role. In this sense, the economic corridor of the Silk Road is part of the Chinese comprehensive transportation strategy which aims to solve a number of problems for China. First, it aims at establishing a well-functioning logistical structure for transportation of Caspian energy resources to China. Secondly, it aims to develop a land transportation corridor for Chinese exports to Europe. Thirdly, the creation of a land bridge with Iran, one of the largest energy partners of China in order to diversify energy supply routes, that is, to in fact strengthen its position in the region and diversify land routes to Europe, alternatives to routes via Russia.”
According to Kaukenov, “the investment activities of China in the Caspian region is motivated by geopolitical reasons, and the main trump card of China, its economic capabilities, are used to achieve these geopolitical goals. China needs diversification of energy supply routes for obvious reasons: instability of the Strait of Malacca, regular international conflicts with Japan, existing tensions with Taiwan and the might of the fleet of China's geopolitical rival, the US. Development of new routes will introduce significant changes to the economic structure of the region and of the continent as a whole. Therefore, one might say that it would allow the creation of a new economic foundation, which would change the structure of regional equilibrium.”
