Page 24 - Small Stans Outlook 2024

Turkmenistan and Tajikistan in exploiting the resource. Uzbekistan has been particularly vocal in warning that there will be less water available to the three Central Asian countries, with Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan set to experience major impacts. The difficulties caused to agriculture could be substantial.
However, even without the emergence of the Qosh Tepa canal, Central Asia is looking at a chronic water deficit by 2028-2029, according to the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB).
The Caspian Sea region, meanwhile, is said to be witnessing “feverish ship and port-building”, with Ukraine war sanctions having shaken up traditional trade routes. Multiple new and expanded Caspian Sea transportation links are sought, but at the same time the world’s largest enclosed body of water is shrinking, with shipping already affected in some marginal areas.
AFP reported in December how on the Caspian Sea coast in Turkmenistan, passengers can no longer be ferried between two ports, namely Turkmenbashi and Hazar, because there is not enough water.
24 Small Stans 2023
www.intellinews.com