During meeting in Turkmenistan, Aliyev gets a horse and access to lucrative Uzbek oilfields
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has taken part in a trilateral meeting with Turkmen leader Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. During the meeting, Aliyev spoke about the agreement between Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan’s state-run oil company SOCAR and stressed that ‘we are all eagerly awaiting the news of the discovery of a large oil field in Uzbekistan’.
The trilateral meeting took place on Friday at the Avaza resort in Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan.
According to Bakhodirjon Sidikov, Chair of the Board of the Uzbek gas company Uzbekneftegaz JSC, Uzbekneftegaz and SOCAR already cooperate in the field of international hydrocarbon trade through a joint trading company established in late 2023.
Sidikov told Report that they signed a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) between Uzbekistan’s Energy Ministry, SOCAR, and Uzbekneftegaz for investment blocks in Ustyurt, Uzbekistan.
The Ustyurt plateau is located in Uzbekistan’s autonomous Karakalpakstan, a region that has seen significant strife in recent years as the local Karakalpak community has protested against attempts from Tashkent to remove the region’s autonomy.
‘According to the approved roadmap, geological exploration in the Ustyurt investment blocks will commence in the first quarter of 2026. This timeline allows us to complete the organisational and preparatory phase, including obtaining the necessary permits’, Sidikov told Report.
The Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan gas agreement was also discussed by Aliyev during Friday’s meeting
According to the official presidential website, Aliyev highlighted the agreement between Uzbekistan and SOCAR, and mentioned that ‘there are ample opportunities for cooperation in the energy sector’.
‘Our state oil company has already started developing an oil field in Uzbekistan and a contract has been signed. We hope that they will give us good news in the next one or two years. We are all eagerly awaiting the news of the discovery of a large oil field in Uzbekistan’.
Exchanging a camel and a horse
The trilateral meeting was also commemorated with gifts — Berdimuhamedow presented Aliyev with an Akhal-Teke horse named Taus. In turn, Aliyev gifted Mirziyoyev a camel and its young calf.
Previously, during Berdimuhemedow's visit to Azerbaijan in July, Aliyev gifted him a Karabakh horse named Dostluq, which means friendship.
Beyond the pageantry, the three sides agreed to increase their cooperation, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry wrote.
The ministry also highlighted that during the conference, Berdimuhamedow discussed the ‘great potential’ for strategic cooperation between three countries in the gas sector and expressed ‘readiness’ to discuss these issues.
He also mentioned the transport sector is one of the ‘priority areas of cooperation between the three countries’.
Separately, Aliyev announced the construction of a mosque which will be constructed in Fuzuli as a gift from Turkmenistan, as well as an Uzbek-financed sewing factory in Stepanakert (Khankendi).
While Azerbaijani pro-government circulated news extolling the high-level meeting, trade relations between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan show a different picture.
Shortly after the meeting, RFE/RL reported that trade relations between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan have declined sharply in recent years, amounting to only 0.81% of Azerbaijan’s total trade turnover in 2024.
Nate Ostiller
