Saturday, 6 July, 2002, 23:38 GMT 00:38 UK
Afghan heroin threat alarms
Central Asia

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_2102000/2102386.stm

Informality is the order of the day at the summit
The presidents of Russia and four Central Asian states
have begun a summit in Kazakhstan with calls for more
active involvement in helping rebuild Afghanistan.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said they were
concerned at reports of an expected bumper harvest of
opium poppies there and continued activity by the
ousted Taleban movement.

But he added that the focus
of the two-day talks, which
opened in the Caspian port
of Aktau on Saturday, was
the economic and political
ties between Russia and the
ex-Soviet Central Asian
states.

Turkmenistan is the only
state in the region not to
send its President,
Saparmyrat Niyazov, to the
meeting, which is being
portrayed as an informal
gathering and is due to shift
to a sea resort on Sunday.

"Regrettably our friend
Niyazov did not come," the
Kazakh leader told reports
after the first day of talks.

"Well, it's his decision, although it was much closer for
him than for everybody else."

On Afghanistan, he said that the Central Asian states
would be keeping close security contacts given the use
of the region by drug-smugglers as a route for heroin.

This year's crop of poppies was expected to be
"unusually rich", he said.

Oil deal

Mr Nazarbayev described an agreement between
Kazakhstan and Russia on cooperation in the Caspian
Sea, which is rich in oil and gas, as a model for other
states.

"We have fully resolved all issues in the northern
Caspian affecting Russia and Kazakhstan, to the
benefit of both states," he said.

Cooperation in the oil and gas industry will also figure
highly at the talks, a senior Russian presidential official
said.

He added that Saturday's initial meeting had discussed
future co-operation on both energy production and
pipelines.

Russian interests

Russia's President Vladimir Putin was in Kazakhstan in
June for an Asia-wide summit on security, at which he
tried to mediate between India and Pakistan over the
Kashmir crisis.

Russia maintains strong interests in Central Asia since
the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

There is a large ethnic Russian population in
Kazakhstan and Moscow keeps a strong military
presence in Tajikistan, which borders Afghanistan.

Heavily reliant on the export of its own oil and gas,
Russia is also keenly interested in the Central Asian
energy sector.

Since 11 September and the war in Afghanistan, the
United States and other Western states have
established military presences in the relatively secular
Muslim states of Central Asia.

Media move

On Saturday, Mr Putin introduced the new chairman of
the Mir TV and radio company to the Central Asian
leaders.

Viktor Senin's Russian-based company was set up to
broadcast to the Commonwealth of Independent States.

After the talks, the leaders left for the Caspian resort of
Kenderli, 240 km (150 miles) from Aktau, where they
will resume talks on Sunday.