President of Turkmenistan Gurbankuly Berdymuhammedov will become a doctor again this morning - Honorary Doctor of the Tashkent Academy of Medicine. (This is how day two of Berdymuhammedov's state visit to Uzbekistan is scheduled to begin.) Berdymuhammedov will be shown ancient Samarkand after that.

The pomposity with which the second president of Turkmenistan was received in the capital of Uzbekistan had been well-rehearsed. According to Ferghana.Ru news agency, limousines escorted by the police had practiced the ceremonious drive (and studied the routes) for days.

Negotiations between Berdymuhammedov and his host Islam Karimov in Durmen (Uzbek president's out-of-town residence) completed the official part of the visit, yesterday. The list of the six documents signed in the course of the state visit is not particularly impressive: joint communique, protocol on exchange of instruments on ratification of the friendship and cooperation treaty signed in Ashkhabad last October, a protocol between foreign ministries, and three government agreements.

As a matter of fact, it is not paperwork at all that is expected to signify importance of the return visit following Karimov's own to Ashkhabad five months ago. Tashkent and Ashkhabad demonstrate rapid rapprochement citizens of both countries divided by the nearly 2,000 kilometer long border have been longing for. Moreover, it appears that the process under way was initiated by Karimov himself. The Uzbek president did his best to emphasize it yesterday.

Witnesses say that Karimov was exceptionally benevolent and cordial with regard to his guest, showering Berdymuhammedov with praise far beyond what is normally required by the protocol. Welcoming Berdymuhammedov, the host spoke of his "solid satisfaction with the visit" and "appreciation of the serious approach to whatever official Tashkent suggests." Exactly what Karimov and Berdymuhammedov discussed in private is anybody's guess. Journalists were merely treated to the statements drawn well in advance, ones that came down to expression of confidence that "this summit will mark a major milestone in the Uzbek-Turkmen relations."

Uzbek-Turkmen cooperation in the gas sphere was inevitably discussed. Last year, Karimov subscribed to the Russian-Kazakh-Turkmen plans to expand and upgrade the Central Asia - Center gas pipeline part of which is known as the Caspian Gas Pipeline. What information is available, however, indicates that nothing at all has been done on the Uzbek part of the pipeline. All these problems will probably be discussed at the meeting of the presidents of Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan that may take place in the course of Dmitry Medvedev's tour of Central Asian countries after his inauguration this May.

Karimov abandoned the dry protocol yesterday when talking of how happy he was to accept the invitation to visit Turkmenistan "whenever convenient". The Uzbek president even recalled the impression Ashkhabad had made on him on the previous visit and said that the capital of Turkmenistan was to be "envied". "If I command this respect in Turkmenistan as the president of Uzbekistan, I hope that I command even more respect as yashuly," he said. [Yashuly stands for an honored elder - Vremya Novostei]. The oldest of all Central Asian leaders, Karimov (he is 70) is twenty years Berdymuhammedov's senior. It does not take a genius to foresee the fanfare with which Berdymuhammedov, the youngest regional leader, will be receiving Karimov soon.

Arkady Dubnov, Vremya Novostei, No 39, March 11, 2008, p. 5