The European Union is intensifying its partnership with Uzbekistan. It is getting ready to sign a new and enhanced partnership and cooperation agreement later in 2025, as European Council president António Costa revealed during the first EU-Central Asia summit in Samarkand.
Costa and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen both flew to Uzbekistan on Friday for the inauguration of the summit. During a trilateral meeting with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev a day before the kick-off of the summit, Costa invited the president in Brussels to sign the agreement, “a fruitful result of our talks during these days.” According to Euronews, the agreement is more or less ready and could be signed already in June.
Commenting on the trilateral meeting, Mirziyoyev’s press secretary, Sherzod Asadov, released a statement on the topics agreed for further cooperation. They include “joint programmes and cooperation projects in the fields of innovation, green energy, mining, agriculture, transport, logistics, digitalisation and other areas.” The European Investment Bank (EIB) will also open a regional office in Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent.
Aside from the EU-Uzbekistan partnership, the Costa and von der Leyen trip will lay the groundwork for further regional cooperation. The EU is Central Asia’s second largest trading partner (22.6% of combined foreign trade in 2023) and the largest investor, with over 40% of investments in the region originating from the EU.
The leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, as well as the president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and a delegation from the EIB, participated in the EU-Central Asia summit.
According to Asadov, “the most important outcome of the summit is the adoption of the Samarkand Declaration, which will give a strong impetus to the expansion of constructive dialogue between Central Asia and the European Union, intensifying cooperation in all areas, and elevate relations to the level of strategic partnership.”
The leaders endorsed a declaration of intent on critical raw materials, focusing on rare earths, a crucial area where the EU seeks to boost its strategic autonomy. The leaders also stressed that preventing sanctions circumvention remains essential in the EU-Central Asia relationship. Some countries in the region sell European items that should be banned from entering Russia.
The EU and Central Asian leaders are committed to respecting international law and the principles listed above within the framework of all international and regional fora. In this context, they emphasised the importance of achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine as soon as possible by the principles of the UN Charter.
