First Meeting of Caspian Expert Club Just Held

Experts from Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan have met in Astrakhan to discuss common issues of cooperation in a multilateral format of the new expert association – the Caspian Expert Club.

Dr. Andrey Syzranov, Chief of the Center of Eurasian Political Research, opened the event: “An idea to set up a new dialogue site emerged at the recent Second Caspian Media Forum that took place in Astrakhan. Reps of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan backed the idea to establish an expert center, which would operate on a regular basis, unanimously. The center would make it possible for us to conduct joint research of the most relevant themes of the Caspian Littoral Region development. Turkmenistan and Iran expressed their interest in joint projects, too. Our task is to identify the themes, which are of real, practical importance for the Caspian littoral states, together. Then we could prepare a plan of intellectual products in a widest range of issues, setting educational and humanitarian issues as top-priority themes. Yet, it doesn’t mean that the “eternal” issues for the Caspian Region – ecology, security, legal issues – will be beyond our consideration. Working closely with media, our expert community ought to contribute to formation of the single information space and the single agenda for the Caspian littoral countries”.

Mr. Alexander Vassilyev, Editor-in-Chief of the Astrakhan 24 TV Channel and a political observer, told about the Editorial Board of the Caspian States (established with this TV channel as its host organization), whose main goal is to create multi-level communication networks between the Caspian countries. “The Board has been operating for over a year, and its activities make it clear that present-day mass media need a relevant agenda to be formed by experts. This is what the Caspian Expert Club is expected to do”.

Mr. Ali Hajizadeh, Supervisor of the Project “Large Middle East” and a political expert from Baku (Azerbaijan), remarked that information about everyday activities in the Caspian Region is overshadowed by active work of European and Middle Eastern mass media. Thus, one of the key tasks of the new Expert Club is to make local regional news relevant and demanded. “I work with the media and see that people from the USA and EU, who are interested in the Caspian Region, quite often can’t find reliable information on its ecology, economy, or geopolitics. If we are able to fill in this gap, that’ll be a worthy contribution”.

Mr. Erzhan Saltybaev, Head of the Geopolitics and Regional Research Office of the Library of the First President of Republic of Kazakhstan – the Leader of the Nation, pointed out that people living in neighboring areas are so similar, but they know so little about each other: “Creation of a common expert site is just our first step. To establish a truly efficient community of experts keeping in touch constantly, just one meeting is not enough. A lot of work awaits us”.

Mr. Darkhan Ualikhanov, Director of the Mangistau-Media LLC, pointed out that the Caspian Expert Club requires a most serious approach to determine the degree of responsibility in each area and develop the single Charter. “Formal meetings do not distribute responsibility, so each meeting of our expert community must acquire an official legal status. Right now, at our first meeting, it’s necessary to interest the legal authorities, business, and media with our assessments and analytics – then our experts’ activities will really be beneficial for the whole society”, he said.

Ms. Marina Zaytseva, Chief of the Networks & Mass Communications Agency of Astrakhan Region, suggested holding another meeting of the Caspian Expert Club as a part of the next Caspian Media Forum: “As I took part in organization of that Forum, I analyzed all the suggestions and proposals after it was complete. I came to the conclusion that expert discussions are interesting for everyone. It may be a panel discussion or a roundtable – the model of our future work could be discussed, and we’d be glad to include it into the event agenda”.

Mr. Dmitry Averkin, Chief of the Public Relations Unit of the Special Economic Zone “Lotus”, came up with an idea to set up a special economical section at the Expert Club, which would research the potential of economic interaction between the Caspian littoral countries. It would contribute to efficient operation of the Special Economic Zone for the sake of all the Caspian countries.

Mr. Eduard Zakharyash, a politologist from Astrakhan, determined the main strategic and hands-on fields of further activities of the Caspian Expert Club; he remarked that sections or units in particular issues must be established as its integral parts.

Mr. Ilya Toropitsin, Chief of the Information Analytical and Organizational Activities of the Ministry of International & Foreign Economic Relations of Astrakhan Region, assured the event participants that executive authorities of Astrakhan Region are ready to provide whatever support for the Expert Club. He also pointed out that its expert research activities would stimulate economic partnership.

Mr. Rustem Buzhenov, Project Coordinator of the Caspian Bridge Information Analytical Center (Kazakhstan), suggested setting up a common virtual site for experts of the Caspian Club to keep in touch; relevant issues and fresh ideas might be discussed there. “That’d be an online site to share opinions”, he pointed out. “We all live in different cities and countries; thanks to modern technology, there’s no need to overcome hundreds and thousands of kilometers to discuss our joint researches”.

At the end of the meeting, Dr. Syzranov suggested initiating activities related to joint analytical reports; in particular, he mentioned the report “Caspian Region Development Scenarios to 2020: Energy, Security, Ecology, Humanitarian Sphere”. His idea was approved; the experts decided that this project should be presented at the regional site, when the 300^th anniversary of Astrakhan Region is celebrated in 2017.