{"id":89507,"date":"2026-02-23T16:36:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T11:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=89507"},"modified":"2026-02-23T16:36:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T11:06:03","slug":"ashgabat-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/ashgabat-agreement\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashgabat Agreement, Objective, Significance, Key Details"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Ashgabat Agreement is an important <\/span><b>regional connectivity initiative <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that seeks to create a multimodal <\/span><b>transport corridor linking Central Asia with the Persian Gulf<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. For India, it holds particular strategic and economic importance as it opens new pathways to Central Asia and strengthens its westward outreach.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Ashgabat Agreement Key Details\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Key details of Ashgabat Agreement are:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ashgabat Agreement is a <\/span><b>multimodal transport and transit agreement signed in April 2011.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It came into force in April <\/span><b>2016.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The founding members of the <\/span><b>Ashgabat agreement were Turkmenistan, Iran, Oman and Uzbekistan and Qatar.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Qatar subsequently withdrew from the agreement in 2013.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Turkmenistan is the Depository State<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, meaning it officially keeps the original Ashgabat Agreement, records ratifications and accessions by member countries, and manages formal treaty-related communications without having decision-making authority over the agreement.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It aims to establish an <\/span><b>international transport corridor between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The main aim is to <\/span><b>reduce transport time and costs and make trade easier across member countries.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Its objective is <\/span><b>to enhance connectivity within the Eurasian region <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and synchronize it with other regional transport corridors, including the International North\u2013South Transport Corridor (INSTC).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kazakhstan and Pakistan joined in 2016, and <\/span><b>India became a member in 2018.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For India, it supports the development of Chabahar Port in Iran as a gateway to Afghanistan and Central Asia.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is purely a connectivity and trade initiative, <\/span><b>not a defence or security alliance.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Read about: <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/paris-agreement\/\" target=\"_blank\">Paris Agreement<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><b>Ashgabat Agreement Significance for India<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ashgabat Agreement is significant for India due to following reasons:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Direct access to Central Asia<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: It helps India reach Central Asian countries through Iran and Turkmenistan, since India has no direct land route due to Pakistan.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Strengthens Chabahar Port<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The agreement increases the importance of Chabahar Port in Iran, which India is developing as a gateway to Afghanistan and Central Asia.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Supports INSTC connectivity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: It works well with the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), improving trade links between India, Russia, Central Asia and Europe.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Improves energy security<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Central Asia has oil, gas and uranium. Better connectivity makes it easier for India to access these important resources.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Enhances India\u2019s strategic presence<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: It increases India\u2019s economic and geopolitical role in the Eurasian region.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ashgabat Agreement is a multimodal transit pact linking Central Asia with the Persian Gulf, boosting trade, Chabahar Port and INSTC connectivity, and strengthening India\u2019s Eurasian access.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":89489,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[786],"tags":[5665,5323,5392],"class_list":{"0":"post-89507","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general-studies","8":"tag-ashgabat-agreement","9":"tag-international-relations","10":"tag-international-relations-notes","11":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89507"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89509,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89507\/revisions\/89509"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}