EU-Central Asia Relations - The Times Of Central Asia

Viewing results 1 - 6 of 11

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...

Z5+1

Germany Builds a Z5+1 in Central Asia

Germany’s meeting on February 11 with the five Central Asian foreign ministers in Berlin formalized the Z5+1 (“Z” for “Zentralasien”) format as a standing work channel. It joins other “plus-one” formats now crowding Central Asia that function as instruments of influence. The United States is using C5+1 to push a more deliverables-oriented agenda, including critical raw materials, and China has institutionalized leader-level summitry with accompanying treaties, grants, and transport-centered integration. The EU has elevated its relationship to a strategic partnership and is putting Global Gateway branding behind connectivity and investment. Germany’s Z5+1 is best understood as Europe’s effort to add a practical, tool-driven channel that can move faster than EU consensus in some domains while still feeding EU programming rather than competing with it. The concluding Berlin Declaration reads like a program sheet with named instruments, sector priorities, and established a direct link to the EU’s broader “Team Europe” posture through the participation of EU Special Representative Eduards Stiprais. Germany’s Z5+1 fits this competitive field as a European execution lane that can move projects forward with German instruments while staying aligned with EU programs. Berlin Defines the Tools The Z5+1 meeting in Berlin drew on a sequence that Germany has been building since its 2023 “Strategic Regional Partnership” and subsequent summits in Berlin (2023) and Astana (2024), with an explicit emphasis on Central Asian regional cooperation as a counterpart to bilateral ties. The Berlin meeting, therefore, did not attempt to invent a new regional architecture but rather added a stable ministerial format for pushing forward project lists, regulatory expectations, and finance conditions between higher-level meetings. In Berlin, Germany committed €2.7 million to a cooperation platform for the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor: a small sum by infrastructure standards, but targeted at unglamorous coordination like data-sharing, planning discipline, and institutional continuity, i.e., standards and transborder management regimes where corridor initiatives often stall. This profile complements the EU-backed Trans-Caspian Coordination Platform track, which is explicitly tied to a wider €10 billion commitment announced at the January 2024 Global Gateway investors forum for EU–Central Asia transport connectivity. and which has addressed the corridor less as a construction problem than as a finance-and-sequencing problem. Berlin also explicitly supported the commercial participation of German rail and logistics firms in transport and consulting projects, aligning with the intent to keep firm-level engagement attached to ministerial diplomacy. The declaration references export credits and investment guarantees, and links them to business-environment expectations. On the same day, the German Eastern Business Association convened a “Wirtschaftsgespräch” (economics talk) in the Foreign Office with the Central Asian delegations. There, the region was framed as strategically significant for Germany’s diversification agenda, and it was signaled that an autumn leaders’ summit is already in view. Germany’s public accounting of its regional engagement in Central Asia stresses its already-deep base of activity in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in particular, including dozens of projects and multi-billion-euro volumes. The energy transition was mentioned, as the Berlin Declaration points to renewables, hydrogen, and climate programming that Germany is already funding...

Geopolitics

Central Asia: An Arena of Geopolitical Attraction

Though 2025 is not yet at its halfway point, Central Asia has already emerged as one of the primary stages of global diplomatic engagement. Rich in natural resources and strategically positioned between global powers, the region has attracted increasing interest from the European Union, China, Russia, and others. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and their neighbors are asserting greater agency, pursuing multi-vector foreign policies, and striving to capitalize on evolving geopolitical dynamics. EU-Central Asia: A New Chapter Amid regular annual meetings, a landmark event this year was the inaugural EU-Central Asia Summit, held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on April 3-4. Leaders of all five Central Asian states met with European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Discussions centered on infrastructure development, including the Trans-Caspian route, digitalization, energy security, and water resource management. The summit concluded with a pledge to sign an Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. This meeting was facilitated by a reconfiguration of global alliances. U.S. President Donald Trump's new tariff policies and the evolving relationship between Washington and Moscow have led European leaders, unwilling to restore ties with Russia, to seek new partnerships. Central Asia, with its strategic position and investment potential, is increasingly appealing. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the region’s economic leaders, are particularly eager to attract foreign capital. The EU represents a possible source, though Russian analysts remain skeptical about Europe’s ability to dislodge Russian and Chinese influence. For instance, Mikhail Neizhmakov of the Russian Agency for Political and Economic Communications noted that while von der Leyen spoke of a €12 billion Global Gateway investment package, China is the largest exporter of investment in the Eurasian region, with accumulated direct investment of $58.6 billion at the end of the first half of 2024, according to the Eurasian Development Bank. Security Discourse and Russian Narratives In addition to the EU summit, the region hosted other key diplomatic events, such as the Digital Forum in Almaty earlier this year, which was attended by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. Another major gathering was the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers, held on April 11, also in Almaty. Ministers approved a 2025 consultation plan and adopted joint statements on regional security, humanitarian cooperation, and opposition to unilateral sanctions. Kazakhstan: A Regional Diplomatic Hub Kazakhstan has so far distinguished itself as Central Asia’s foremost diplomatic player in 2025, hosting high-level visits and spearheading regional engagement. In January, Prime Minister Mishustin visited Astana and Almaty. February saw King Abdullah II of Jordan meet with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to discuss investment and humanitarian cooperation. In March, President Tokayev welcomed his Slovenian counterpart, Nataša Pirc Musar, who expressed interest in expanding bilateral trade. French President Emmanuel Macron is also preparing to visit Kazakhstan later this year, reinforcing France’s strategic interest in the region. In June, meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to attend the second Central Asia-China Summit in Astana, where trade and investment will top the agenda. Navigating a New Geopolitical Order Today, Central Asia represents a vital intersection of East and West....

Geopolitics

Central Asia Creates a Rift in the Turkic World Over Cyprus

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the five Central Asian republics have been performing a very complex balancing act. In some cases, this dynamic has forced them to make difficult decisions from a geopolitical point of view. This is the case with what has happened in recent weeks regarding diplomatic recognition of the Republic of Cyprus, a member of the European Union since 2004. Between December 2024 and the end of March 2025, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have each appointed diplomatic representatives in the Republic of Cyprus. Kazakhstan has decided to open its own embassy in Cyprus directly, while Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have accredited their respective ambassadors in Italy as diplomatic representatives for the Eastern Mediterranean Island also. Looking at the calendar, it doesn't seem to be a coincidence that these decisions were taken in the weeks leading up to the first historic summit between the European Union and Central Asia at the level of heads of state and government. The fourth point of the official joint declaration issued at the end of the meeting clarifies the matter: the text clearly states the support of the parties involved - the European Union and Central Asia - for United Nations Security Council Resolutions 541 (1983) and 550 (1984). These two resolutions make it clear that the only recognized authority on the island is that of the Republic of Cyprus. In recent years, there has been no shortage of explicit references to the Cyprus issue in relations between the European Union and Central Asia. This was the case, for example, in September 2023: during a conference in Brussels, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan were warned against officially accepting the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TNRT) as an observer member of the Ankara-led Organization of Turkic States (OTS). Dietmar Krissler, head of the European External Action Service's Central Asia desk, spoke of the possible “negative effects” for the Central Asian members if they were to ratify TRNT's access to the Organization as an observer. Returning to the summit held in Samarkand at the beginning of April, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced during the discussions that €12 billion would be invested in Central Asia in various sectors. By also using the prospect of these investments, the European Union's diplomatic pressure on the Central Asian republics over Cyprus has been successful. As BBC Türkçe reports, this is not just a formal declaration of intent: in the official joint statement, future cooperation is in fact closely linked to compliance with the principles contained in the two UN resolutions, a very clear position. From Turkey's point of view, however, the picture is quite different. Turkey is the only country in the world to officially recognize the TRNC, which became a self-proclaimed independent entity in 1984 after Turkey invaded part of the island in 1974. Over the years, Ankara’s pressure has succeeded in preventing relations between the Central Asian republics and the Republic of Cyprus from going as...

Central Asia‐EU Summit

Samarkand Declaration Paves the Way for a Stronger Central Asia–EU Partnership

The inaugural Central Asia-European Union Summit, held in Samarkand on April 3-4, marked a significant milestone in strengthening ties between the two regions. According to Sherzod Asadov, press secretary to Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the summit's most significant outcome is the adoption of the Samarkand Declaration, which is expected to provide strong momentum for expanding constructive dialogue and cooperation across all sectors. In a statement, the EU reaffirmed its "commitment to deeper cooperation in an evolving global and regional geopolitical landscape [and] upgrade relations between the European Union and Central Asia to a strategic partnership." The EU declaration also committed the bloc to respect the "sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states within the framework of all international and regional fora" and expressed readiness to "address common security challenges." Strengthening Economic Ties Economic cooperation featured prominently on the agenda. Since 2020, trade between Uzbekistan and the EU has doubled, now exceeding €6 billion. Uzbek exports to the EU have quadrupled, and the number of joint ventures has surpassed a thousand. European investment projects in Uzbekistan, meanwhile, are now valued at over €30 billion. A key development was the agreement to open a regional office of the European Investment Bank (EIB) in Tashkent. Established in 1958, the EIB is the EU’s primary financial institution, and its new office is expected to attract greater investment in green energy, modern infrastructure, and digitalization. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has also deepened its engagement in Uzbekistan, investing over €5 billion to date. “We must work together to simplify trade procedures and ensure that Central Asian products gain greater access to European markets. Only through joint efforts can we build a strong and resilient economic partnership,” Mirziyoyev told Euronews. "Over the past seven years, the trade turnover between Central Asian countries and the EU has quadrupled, amounting to 54 billion euros... The signing of the Samarkand Declaration will reflect the common aspiration of the parties to establish a strategic partnership and lay the foundation for deepening ties between our regions." During the summit, Mirziyoyev met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa. Discussions focused on trade, investment, green energy, and digital development, with the EU’s "Global Gateway” strategy, a counterpart to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a central topic. The initiative is seeking to enhance global infrastructure and connectivity while promoting sustainability and transparency. “The EU and Central Asia are becoming closer partners, and this summit marks the beginning of a new phase in our cooperation,” von der Leyen stated. An Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between Uzbekistan and the EU is also under negotiation. Regional Dialogue Among Central Asian Leaders The Summit also offered a platform for Central Asian heads of state to hold bilateral discussions. Mirziyoyev met with his counterparts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Talks centered on increasing trade, improving border security, and advancing major infrastructure projects. A recent landmark border agreement between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan was lauded as a breakthrough. Uzbekistan...

EU-Central Asia Summit

Opinion – The Great Convergence: Central Asia and the EU in a New Geopolitical Landscape

The Samarkand Summit, taking place on April 3–4, 2025, represents a defining moment in Central Asia-European Union (CA-EU) relations. Hosted in the historic city of Samarkand, a crossroads of civilizations and trade for millennia, this inaugural summit marks a geopolitical realignment as the European Union seeks to expand its engagement in a region historically dominated by Russia and China. Against the backdrop of Uzbekistan’s proactive foreign policy reforms under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the summit signifies a recalibrated vision for connectivity, sustainability, and economic diversification in Eurasia. The symbolism of Samarkand as the summit’s venue is profound. Once a flourishing center of Silk Road commerce and Timurid cultural grandeur, the city embodies the historical role of Central Asia as a bridge between East and West. Over the centuries, shifting empires and economic transitions relegated the region to a peripheral status in global affairs, particularly after the collapse of the Silk Road, its incorporation into the Russian Empire, and the subsequent Soviet era. However, post-Soviet transformations and recent geopolitical shifts — accelerated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — have reinvigorated global interest in Central Asia. As the EU strives to reduce dependence on Russian energy and counterbalance China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Samarkand Summit emerges as an urgent diplomatic effort to establish stronger economic and political ties with the region. At the heart of the summit’s agenda is the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor (TCTC), a modern-day Silk Road initiative designed to enhance trade connectivity between Europe and Central Asia via the Caucasus, bypassing Russian territory. By offering an alternative route for energy exports and critical minerals, the corridor could significantly reduce transit times by 15–20%, facilitating the EU’s quest for strategic autonomy in global supply chains. For Central Asian states, particularly Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the project presents an opportunity to diversify trade partners and lessen their economic dependence on Moscow and Beijing. However, the corridor’s implementation faces substantial geopolitical and financial hurdles. Russia and China may perceive it as a challenge to their regional influence, potentially leading to diplomatic friction or economic countermeasures. Moreover, the corridor’s development requires an estimated $20–30 billion in infrastructure investments, a daunting figure for cash-strapped Central Asian economies. Parallel to trade discussions, the summit will spotlight climate action and green energy investments. The EU’s €1.5 billion Central Asia Water and Energy Program aims to modernize irrigation systems, promote renewable energy, and reduce fossil fuel dependency. This aligns with Brussels’ broader Green Deal ambitions, positioning the EU as a global leader in sustainable development while offering Central Asian states financial and technical support to address water scarcity and environmental degradation. However, challenges persist — bureaucratic inefficiencies, regulatory gaps, and regional water disputes complicate large-scale green energy implementation. Moreover, while hydropower is a viable alternative to fossil fuels, its intensive water usage could exacerbate tensions between upstream and downstream nations such as Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The summit will also emphasize digital connectivity and modernization, with the Connecting Central Asia (C4CA) Initiative promoting e-governance, high-speed internet expansion,...