ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the problem of economic cooperation of the Central Asian states in terms of practical realities. It deals with a complex of interrelated questions: what factors determine the need for cooperation among these states and what are the practical results of this cooperation? What tendencies dominate in the Central Asian economic zone—centrifugal or centripetal? To what degree is each state dependent upon its neighbors? And, most important, to what degree can regional integration become a catalyst for economic growth in Central Asia? Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan were the main causes of the drop in intraregional exports. Nevertheless, by the mid-1990s, the absolute volume of resources and goods in intraregional trade had clearly undergone a substantial decrease since the beginning of the decade. Cooperation with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan is significant for Turkmenistan mainly because the pipelines that deliver natural gas to the Russian system pass through the territory of these two Central Asian states.
