Connectivity - The Times Of Central Asia

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Connectivity

EU Launches Platform to Mobilize Up to €2 Billion for Europe–Central Asia Connectivity

The European Commission launched a Connectivity Agenda Platform on June 23, 2026, and concluded statements of intent with international financial institutions expected to mobilize up to €2 billion ($2.3 billion) for transport, border-crossing and trade-facilitation projects across the Black Sea region and the South Caucasus. The initiative was unveiled at a high-level ministerial meeting in Brussels, hosted by European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, Commissioner for International Partnerships Jozef Síkela, and Commissioner for Sustainable Transport Apostolos Tzitzikostas. The meeting brought together transport ministers and senior officials from EU member states, as well as representatives from Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, alongside international lenders, to advance connectivity projects under the EU’s Global Gateway strategy. The new platform is designed to coordinate investments and policy actions across transport, energy, digital connectivity, and trade. Participants also agreed to improve the operational efficiency of the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor, a wider framework that includes the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, or TITR, also known as the Middle Corridor. The route links China and Europe through Central Asia and the South Caucasus, offering an alternative to transport routes crossing Russia. The European Commission said the expected financing would support transport infrastructure, border-crossing modernization, and trade-facilitation projects aimed at improving freight movement across the corridor. “The Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor is becoming a vital bridge between Europe and Asia,” Síkela said, adding that the investments would help make the route faster, more reliable, and better integrated. Tzitzikostas said stronger transport links were critical for economic competitiveness and regional resilience. The platform’s launch came during Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s official visit to Brussels, where he met with European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In an EU–Kazakhstan joint statement, the leaders reaffirmed the strategic importance of the Trans-Caspian corridor and pledged deeper cooperation under the EU’s Global Gateway strategy. They also highlighted the EU’s role as Kazakhstan’s largest trade and investment partner and agreed to deepen cooperation in critical minerals, energy, transport, digitalization, and emerging technologies. Speaking at the Kazakhstan-EU roundtable in Brussels, Tokayev said Kazakhstan was investing heavily in infrastructure to position itself as a regional logistics hub connecting Europe, Central Asia, China, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. According to Tokayev, cargo volumes along the Middle Corridor have risen fivefold over the past six years, from 0.8 million tons to 4.1 million tons annually, with Kazakhstan targeting a capacity of 10 million tons. He said Kazakhstan has invested more than $35 billion in transport and logistics infrastructure over the past 15 years, with the Caspian ports of Aktau and Kuryk serving as major transit gateways. Tokayev also welcomed logistics agreements worth nearly $1 billion signed on June 23 by the Development Bank of Kazakhstan: one with the European Investment Bank, and a separate agreement with a banking syndicate including Commerzbank, JPMorgan Chase, and Standard Chartered, backed by guarantees from the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). A day earlier, Kazakhstan and European partners announced four transport-related agreements worth...

EU-Kazakhstan Cooperation

Tokayev Heads to Brussels as Kazakhstan and EU Seek Progress on Trade, Minerals and Transport

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev arrived in Brussels on June 22 seeking to advance cooperation with the European Union on critical minerals, transport connectivity, investment, and visa facilitation, as Kazakhstan and the EU move from framework agreements toward implementation. Tokayev’s official visit brings him together with the European Union's two senior institutional leaders and Belgium's prime minister. Tokayev is scheduled to meet European Council President António Costa at 7 p.m. on Monday. A joint meeting with Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is set for Tuesday. His program also includes Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever and a Kazakhstan-EU roundtable with senior European business executives. The announced agenda covers the enhanced partnership, bilateral ties and international issues. The business roundtable will focus on investment, trade and joint projects. Ahead of the meetings, Tokayev set out three priorities for the next phase of relations: “strengthening resilience, expanding connectivity of all kinds, and creating new opportunities for citizens.” He linked them to energy and food security, critical raw materials, the Middle Corridor, artificial intelligence, easier travel, education and research. The visit follows a year of closer ties. The EU and the five Central Asian states raised their relationship to a strategic partnership at the Samarkand summit in April 2025. Costa then visited Astana in December. Those meetings placed critical minerals, transport, energy, digital links and easier travel at the center of cooperation. A Partnership Built on the EPCA The Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement gives the relationship its legal basis. Kazakhstan and the EU signed it in 2015, and it entered into force on March 1, 2020, making Kazakhstan the first Central Asian country to conclude such an agreement with the EU. The EPCA covers 29 policy areas, including trade, investment, energy, transport, climate, research, justice, and human rights. The broad range allows both sides to pursue commercial and political work through one framework. The agreement reached its tenth anniversary in December 2025. Before his Astana visit, Costa set a clear goal for the coming years. “The next decade must be defined by implementation: stronger value chains, modernised infrastructure, deeper technological cooperation, and tangible joint projects,” Costa said. Large Volumes, Limited Diversification The EU remained Kazakhstan's main trade and investment partner in 2025. Two-way goods trade totaled €41.4 billion, down 10.7% from 2024. EU imports from Kazakhstan reached €30.8 billion, while EU exports were €10.6 billion. The mix is less balanced. Fuel and mining products accounted for 92% of Kazakh exports to the EU. Machinery, transport equipment and chemicals led European sales to Kazakhstan. That gives the Brussels business roundtable a clear economic focus. Kazakhstan wants more European capital in processing, manufacturing, infrastructure and technology, while European companies want reliable access to energy and raw materials, along with clear investment rules. “We see great opportunities to venture in energy efficiency, critical minerals, digital technologies, and transport connectivity,” Tokayev said after meeting Costa in Astana in December. Critical Minerals Move Closer to Investment The EU and Kazakhstan signed a strategic partnership on...

Digital Development

Turkmenistan’s Digital Push Gains Ground Despite Tight Internet Controls

Turkmenistan remains one of the world's most tightly controlled online environments. Yet its state services portal now advertises more than 500 services, the country has more than 100,000 registered mobile-banking users, and the flagship city of Arkadag has launched a 5G network. The figures are official or state-linked and difficult to verify, and the scale remains modest by regional standards. Taken together, however, they point to a shift: digitalization is beginning to move beyond government rhetoric and into everyday administrative and financial life. A Shift That Is Hard to Measure Turkmenistan's digital transition is difficult to quantify. Official statistics are incomplete and independent checks are rare. That makes smaller, observable indicators - portal use, mobile-banking registrations, network launches, and infrastructure projects - especially useful. According to DataReportal, Turkmenistan had 3.53 million internet users in October 2025, equivalent to 46.1% of the population. Using the same source, internet access stood at 93.4% in Kazakhstan and 89.0% in Uzbekistan. Other estimates put Turkmenistan's rate lower, underscoring the uncertainty around even basic connectivity data. DataReportal also counted 5.24 million active cellular connections, representing 68.5% of the population, although a connection does not necessarily include mobile internet access. Social media use remains far more limited: the same report estimated 388,000 social media user identities in October 2025, or 5.1% of the population. Those figures coexist with severe controls. Human Rights Watch said in its World Report 2026 that internet access remains tightly controlled. The authorities have also seized and dismantled Starlink equipment and intensified internet blocking. However, targeted infrastructure projects are moving ahead. The 5G network launched in Arkadag in 2025 was implemented with Huawei and the Ministry of Communications and, according to official accounts, is intended mainly to support smart-city systems. The ministry says it is also developing a fiber-optic route toward Herat and a submarine cable with Azerbaijan to add international links and transit capacity. E-Government Moves Beyond the Legal Framework Turkmenistan launched its unified public services portal, e.gov.tm, in 2019. The Law 'On Electronic Government' came into force in July 2022, formally setting out how public bodies could provide services through information and communication technologies and exchange data electronically. The portal is available through a website and Android and iOS apps. It allows users to pay utility, communications, and education fees, book tickets, join the electronic queue for migration services, and submit applications to government agencies. Published service counts vary sharply. In April 2025, Orient referred to 46 services; in March 2026, the same publication said the portal offered more than 500. The reports do not explain the rise, but the larger figure appears to use a broader definition that includes informational pages and other functions, not only fully interactive services. In October 2025, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov approved the Concept for the Development of the Digital Economy for 2026-2028. A state program and implementation plan followed in January 2026. The documents call for wider use of digital systems across government and the economy, while separate work with the United Nations Development...

Termez Dialogue 2026

Opinion: Indian Ambassador Says Shared Spiritual Legacy Reflects Indo-Uzbek Solidarity

TASHKENT, June 10, 2026 - Indian Ambassador to Uzbekistan Smita Pant used her official remarks at the Termez Dialogue 2026 to argue that connectivity between Central and South Asia cannot be judged by infrastructure alone. Roads, railways, ports, energy links, financial channels, and digital systems are essential. But durable cooperation also depends on confidence, cultural memory, and a willingness to treat sovereignty as a condition for partnership rather than an obstacle to it. The second meeting of the Termez Dialogue was held under the theme “Peace, Connectivity, and Resilience: Shaping the Foundation for Shared Prosperity.” It was organized by the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies under the President of Uzbekistan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan, in partnership with CICA. The forum fits into a wider Uzbek diplomatic push to reconnect Central and South Asia through political dialogue, trade, transport, climate cooperation, and cultural exchange. Pant’s address stood out because it placed the human dimension of connectivity at the center of the discussion. The broader idea associated with the Termez platform was captured in the phrase: “Eurasia needs not lines of division, but spaces of trust.” For India and Uzbekistan, that argument has particular force. Their relationship is not only diplomatic. It rests on older movements of people, ideas, language, food, faith, scholarship, and trade. That history gives modern policy a deeper base. Central and South Asia are often discussed today through the language of corridors, transit costs, sanctions risk, and access to ports. Those questions are real. The International North-South Transport Corridor, Chabahar, air freight links, customs procedures, and digital payment systems all matter to India’s practical engagement with Central Asia. But the old routes that connected India, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and the wider Eurasian space carried more than goods. They also carried habits of coexistence. “Connectivity is not just material. It is not just about roads and rail. It is also cultural, spiritual, financial, and digital,” she said, reminding delegates that human relationships and shared values constitute the most resilient infrastructure of all. [caption id="attachment_50469" align="aligncenter" width="2508"] Indian Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Smita Pant. Photo: Embassy of India, Tashkent [/caption] This is not a decorative point. Central Asia’s geography makes connectivity a strategic necessity, but its history shows that routes endure only when they are trusted. The UN General Assembly resolution on strengthening connectivity between Central and South Asia gave international backing to this agenda in 2022. The harder question now is how to make that connectivity commercially viable, politically acceptable, and socially useful. Pant’s answer was to frame India’s approach around sustainability and sovereignty. “India's approach on connectivity is guided by a very simple mantra – it must be built on the bedrock of financial sustainability and local priorities and should not bypass ideas connected to national sovereignty and independence. India’s approach to connectivity dictates that relations must be transparent, fair and benefit the person on the ground,” she said. That line is important because connectivity projects can easily become abstract. Maps look clean from a...

EU-Turkmenistan Relations

Turkmenistan Opens the Door a Little Wider to Europe

Turkmenistan has historically been a difficult partner to deal with. The Turkmen government’s isolationist policies run counter to deep cooperation with any foreign party, but the Turkmen authorities seem to now perceive that these policies are costing them opportunities and revenue. In one of the latest shifts in foreign policy, Turkmenistan appears to be warming up relations with the European Union, though currently, the EU has its own reasons to boost interaction with Turkmenistan. Let’s Meet For decades, the EU and many other countries and international organizations have gone through frustrating efforts to establish a reliable relationship with Turkmenistan. Ashgabat’s form of governance is based on a cult of personality, a supposedly infallible leader capable of protecting the country from the evils of the outside world. The UN recognition in December 1995 of Turkmenistan’s neutrality was used by its government to seal off the country. It would normally be easy for the rest of the world to ignore Turkmenistan. However, Turkmenistan possesses the planet’s fourth-largest proven natural gas reserves, and it is located on what is developing into a key global trade route. On March 20, the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) regional representative for Central Asia, Olivier Kueny, complimented Turkmenistan for its “ambitions in transport and… projects that reduce greenhouse gases.“ Kueny noted that, “with direct access to the Caspian Sea, [Turkmenistan] is a key node” of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor (TITR). He hinted the EIB could be interested in investing in Turkmenistan’s “rail, road, rolling stock and port infrastructure [that] could help reduce the cost and time needed to move goods between continents.“ On March 26, Charlotte Adriaen, the head of the EU division for Central Asia and Afghanistan, met in Ashgabat with Turkmenistan’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Myahri Byashimova, to discuss energy cooperation. The two also reviewed EU programs for sustainable energy, trade, and digital connectivity. On the same day, there was also a “New Horizons for Connectivity, Investment and Sustainable Growth” Turkmenistan-EU business forum in Ashgabat. Turkmenistan’s Minister of Finance and Economy, Mammetguly Astanagulov, addressed more than 200 delegates attending the forum, telling them his country is ready to expand trade, transport, and energy cooperation with the EU. Astanagulov noted EU-Turkmenistan trade increased from $1.1 billion in 2024 to $2.1 billion in 2025. EU Ambassador to Turkmenistan Beata Peksa also spoke at the forum. She noted Turkmenistan’s growing role in global transport corridors between Europe and Asia and said the EU is seeking to work more closely with Turkmenistan on improving investment conditions in the country. Peksa also mentioned helping Turkmenistan improve regulatory frameworks and investment in modern technologies to increase efficiency in moving cargo. On April 1, Adriaen met with representatives from Turkmenistan’s State Service of Maritime and River Transportation at the Turkmenbashi International Seaport on the Caspian coast to discuss the port’s role in the TITR and projects at the Balkan shipbuilding yard. And on April 7, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) co-sponsored an “Export Experience Exchange” conference in Ashgabat, the aim...

Afghanistan

Opinion: Afghanistan and Central Asia – Security Without Illusions

Over the past year, Afghanistan has become neither markedly more stable nor dramatically more dangerous, despite how it is often portrayed in public discourse. There has been neither the collapse that many feared, nor the breakthrough that some had hoped for. Instead, a relatively unchanged but fragile status quo has persisted, one that Central Asian countries confront daily. For the C5 countries, Afghanistan is increasingly less a topic of speculative discussion and more a persistent factor in their immediate reality. It is no longer just an object of foreign policy, but a constant variable impacting security, trade, humanitarian issues, and regional stability. As such, many of last year’s forecasts have become outdated, based as they were on assumptions of dramatic change, whereas the reality has proven far more inertial. Illusion #1: Afghanistan Can Be Ignored The belief that Afghanistan can be temporarily “put on the back burner” is rooted in the assumption that a lack of public dialogue or political statements equates to a lack of interaction. But the actions of Central Asian states show that ignoring Afghanistan is not a viable option, even when countries intentionally avoid politicizing relations. Turkmenistan offers a clear example. Ashgabat has maintained stable trade, economic, and infrastructure ties with Afghanistan for years, all with minimal foreign policy rhetoric. Energy supplies, cross-border trade, and logistical cooperation have continued despite political and financial constraints, and regardless of international debates over the legitimacy of the Afghan authorities. This quiet pragmatism stands in contrast to both isolationist strategies and symbolic or ideological engagement. Turkmenistan may avoid making public declarations about its relationship with Afghanistan, but it nonetheless maintains robust cooperation. This calculated calmness reduces risks without signaling disengagement. Importantly, this approach does not eliminate structural asymmetries or deeper vulnerabilities. But it dispels the illusion that distancing reduces risk. On the contrary, sustained economic and logistical ties foster predictability, without which attempts to “ignore” a neighboring country become a form of strategic blindness. In this sense, Turkmenistan’s experience affirms a broader regional truth: Afghanistan cannot be removed from Central Asia’s geopolitical equation by simply looking away. It must be engaged pragmatically or dealt with later, in potentially more destabilizing forms. Illusion #2: Security Is Achieved Through Isolation Closely related to the first is the illusion that security can be ensured by building walls. Security in Afghanistan, and in the broader Afghan-Pakistani zone, is often seen as an external issue, something that can be kept out by sealing borders or minimizing engagement. Yet in practice, security is determined less by geography and more by the nature of involvement. This is reflected in the recent decision by Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to participate in U.S. President Donald Trump's “Board of Peace” initiative. While the initiative focuses on resolving crises outside Central Asia, both countries have framed their participation as essential to their own national and regional security interests. As Abdulaziz Kamilov, advisor to the President of Uzbekistan, explained, Tashkent’s involvement stems from three factors: its own security needs, its foreign policy principles,...