Discreet effects of NATO Summit: Central Asia glides towards the West

The recent Bucharest NATO Summit proved ready to support Central Asian states like Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan to lean more towards the West, Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta reads. Experts quoted by the newspaper argue that the main target of the West is to re-integrate these states in the international stage in order to limit Russia’s influence in the region.

Central Asian expert Nur Omarov argues that this move will diversify regional economies even more. Thus, Uzbek President Islam Karimov promised to sign a treaty allowing NATO to use its territory to transport non-military goods to Afghanistan.

It seems that Turkmenistan is the first country to have allowed allied forces to use its airspace to transport goods for Afghanistan. This time, Turkmen President proposed several peace keeping missions.

Oriental Studies Fund director, Sergey Luzianin argued that the energy factor matters most for Western countries and added that relations will intensify in the upcoming years. In his opinion, the West is currently looking for alternative energy sources and their endeavours seem very successful.