Security, energy to dominate Central Asia summit

BISHKEK, Aug 16 (Reuters) Leaders of Russia, China and four ex-Soviet states will gather today to strengthen an alliance aimed at maintaining control over Central Asia, a region with energy resources coveted by the West.

The six members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) are expected to sign an agreement at their summit in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, tying members into an ''energy club'', and to strengthen military ties.

Initially set up to fix border problems with China left after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the SCO includes the ex-Soviet Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

But Russia and China, which both share borders with Central Asian countries, are the group's dominant players.

The summit takes place against a backdrop of growing international rivalry for access to Central Asian oil and gas.

The region is seen by the United States and Europe as a promising alternative energy source which would help ease tight world oil markets and reduce their dependence on Russia.

But China, whose booming economy requires increasing energy supplies, also eyes Central Asian resources, while Russia wants to keep a stranglehold on export routes taking oil and gas from the region West.

Earlier this year, Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan signed a deal to revive and expand a Soviet-era system to deliver gas from the Caspian region.

That deal could undermine Western plans for an alternative export route across the Caspian Sea, bypassing Russia.

In a sign of mounting competition, US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Sullivan on Tuesday urged Turkmenistan, a major Central Asian gas producer, to diversify its energy routes away from Russia and promised deeper cooperation with US companies.

A Kremlin source said the Bishkek summit will discuss establishing the grouping's own ground rules in regional energy -- something Russia has failed to do with the European Union.

''The participants will focus on forming a joint vision of ways to strengthen cooperation in the energy sector, including the creation of an SCO Energy Club,'' he said.

The source said a special cooperation agreement was expected to be signed in Bishkek.

GROUPS EXPANDS The SCO has also expanded after India, Pakistan, Iran and Mongolia joined it as observers. Leaders of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan will attend the Bishkek summit as guests.

A senior Russian diplomat said the SCO will try to bring Turkmenistan, showing signs of emerging from isolation after leader Saparmurat Niyazov died last year, into the group.

''The SCO has an objective interest in Turkmenistan,'' Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov said in an interview in the Russian media earlier this week.

Security cooperation in the region, where many governments face separatist problems, is another key topic at the summit.

The SCO summit coincides with unprecedented joint military exercises in Russia's Ural mountains. More than 3,000 Russian and Chinese troops backed by detachments from other group members are rehearsing quashing a separatist rebellion.

The SCO leaders are expected to attend the culmination of the war games near the Russian city of Chelyabinsk on Friday.

Reuters SZ VP0416