The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Turkmenistan and the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan on joint exploration, development and development of hydrocarbon resources of the Dostluk field in the Caspian Sea aroused great interest around the world. Foreign news agencies, popular industry and electronic publications emphasize the importance of this event.
“Economy, energy and international security - these topics became the main ones at the talks between Baku and Ashgabat,” MIR 24 TV channel reported.
“This document is aimed at strengthening cooperation and mutual understanding in the energy sector, disclosing the enormous mutual potential of the two largest energy powers, creating the most favorable conditions in the Caspian Sea region for the development of sustainable energy, broad and mutually beneficial international partnership,” the international news agency quoted President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov “Sputnik” (Russia), information and analytical website “Sommonspace.eu” (Netherlands) and other world media.
“I would call today's document historical, because for the first time Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are embarking on joint work on the development of a field in the Caspian Sea, which will bring our countries and peoples even closer together and bring mutual benefit,” the largest Turkish news agency “Anadolu” quoted President Ilham Aliyev.
The publication also notes that the energy agreement between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan was welcomed by the Turkish Foreign Ministry and the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States.
“The agreement is expected to help advance the Trans-Caspian pipeline project, a multi-billion dollar plan to connect Turkmenistan's giant gas fields with Europe through Azerbaijan”, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said in a statement.
“Robert Cutler, director of NATO's Energy Security Program, said the Dostluk agreement “removes the last obstacle “in the way of the Trans-Caspian pipeline,” the newspaper notes. At the same time, the importance of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea, which Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Russia signed in 2018, is emphasized.
The magazines “Barron's” and “Eurasia Review” (USA), the newspaper “Daily Sabah” (Turkey), the news agency “Macau Business” (China) and other foreign media focus on the same topic.
The information that Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan will jointly develop the Caspian Dostluk field, articles and comments on this topic were published on their websites by “Oil & Gas Journal”, “Upstream”, “Radio Free Europe”, “Izvestia”, “Neft I capital”, Oil and Gas Information Agency Eurasianet (USA) AKIPRESS, “REGNUM”, “Connaissance des Énergies ”, “Nouvelles d'Arménie ”, “Caspian News ”, “Emerging Europe”, “CentralAsia.news”, “Neftegaz. RU”, “Neftegazovaya Vertical”, “Business Kazakhstan”, “China Petrochemical”, “International Energy Network”, other authoritative international publications, including Russia, USA, Great Britain, France, China, Norway and many other countries.
The Azerbaijani media paid great attention to this event. The published materials cite in detail the speeches of Presidents Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Ilham Aliyev at the signing ceremony of the Memorandum, commentaries of experts and political scientists are published.
In particular, as Francis Perrin, senior researcher at the Center for Politics of the New South (PCNS, Rabat) and the French Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS, Paris), noted in an interview with the international agency Trend, the agreements reached became an important step in the development of new hydrocarbon deposits in The Caspian Sea.
“Secondly, it can help advance the Trans-Caspian pipeline project. In addition to Dostluk, one of the main advantages of this pipeline scheme will be the connection of Turkmenistan, which controls huge gas reserves, with the European market via Azerbaijan. The European Union is trying to diversify the sources of gas supplies, and the Caspian Sea region is part of this strategy, ”the expert said.
In a word, the world press states that the signed Memorandum was the first stage in the implementation of a major energy project of great international importance.
