Foreign Undersecretary on Italian, EU Ties With Asian Former Soviet Republics

Excerpt from report by Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera website on 19 August

[Report by Cecilia Zecchinelli: "United States Marginalized, Europe Remote: Moscow Centre of Gravity Again"]

Ashgabat – In the Disneyland-like centre of Ashgabat, the capital of rich Turkmenistan, President Nyazov’s statues rise over palaces of Italian marble. It does not matter that “the father of the Turkmen” disappeared months ago: the cult of his personality and his effigies stand out at least for the moment. To the north, in the even richer Kazakhstan, the new city of Astana celebrates the glories of another father-president, the indestructible Nazarbayev: instead of sculptures there are glass towers and pyramids, arches and fountains [passage omitted]

The real game, which is crucial and more visible, is about energy. Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, underpopulated and rather quiet countries (Islam here is moderate, and the regimes wield an iron fist), own gas and oil reserves comparable only to those in the Middle East. They are courted by the world’s major companies (on the Kazakh Caspian shores ENI [Italian Energy Corporation] has its largest foreign investment). The governments of the planet, ranging from Europe to China, and from the United States to Iran, project pipelines that cut Russia out, dream of sure and more convenient supplies. And it is no surprise that, at this game, Putin is playing hard. On 12 May, in a dramatic turn of events, the Kremlin czar signed an agreement with the two presidents to maintain the semi- monopoly of their oil in Russian hands. New pipelines, the strengthening of the existing ones, joint projects: “Kazakhstan commits itself to transporting most, if not all, of its oil and gas through Russia,” Nazarbayev promised. “Turkmenistan will raise the current yearly export of methane via Russia from 50 billion cubic meters to 90 billion,” the newly elected President Berdymukhammedov added. A bad surprise for Europe, which precisely on that day was discussing in Poland the new Nabucco pipeline: under the Caspian Sea, outside Russia.

Subsequently, however, Turkmenistan showed that Russia’s excessive power was not to its liking: in mid-July Ashgabat inked an agreement with Iran and Turkey on the export of gas via Nabucco towards Europe. A few days later, the same government promised to supply China with large quantities of methane. Yesterday Kazakhstan signed with Beijing an agreement providing for the construction of a new oil pipeline running from the Caspian to China. “The game is far from being lost,” says Gianni Vernetti, Italy’s foreign minister, who went on a mission to the five countries last June. “True, Russia is trying to regain the ground it has lost, but following 70 years of colonial rule it is seen with distrust. There is great caution towards China, too. The United States lies far away. Europe is the natural outlet, everywhere I have received signals of an opening up, perhaps weaker in Uzbekistan, though, which is a target of EU sanctions over human rights.” Europe “has understood,” Vernetti adds, “the geopolitical, not only economic, importance of the area.” At its meeting last June, the European Council for the first time adopted a strategic document on the region, assigning 750 million euros to various forms of cooperation. In Rome, on 10 September, the five foreign ministers will hold a conference. “It will propose a structure of permanent dialogue between Europe and Central Asia,” Vernetti announces.”"Enormous opportunities are opening up for us, too.” [passage omitted]

Originally published by Corriere della Sera website, Milan, in Italian 19 Aug 07.

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