A EU announced a new strategic partnership with countries Central Asia At the end of the first summit in the city of Uzbek SamarkandaField
At the first UE-Central summit, the President of the European Council, Antonio Costaand the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leinspent two days of conversation with the leaders KazakhstanIN QuirguizistanIN TajikistanIN Burquemenistan And UzbekistanField
The summit took place in a stormy geopolitical and economic climate, a day after the US President, Donald Trumpannounced A series of global commercial tariffs for various countriesincluding allies, such as the EU and United Kingdomshaking the markets and attracting criticism from world leaders.
Noting the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two blocks, Antonio Costa emphasized the importance of multilateral cooperation.
“In the current international context, the importance of functional and multilateral order based on the rules cannot be underestimated. Our meeting today encourages cooperation between the European Union and Central Asia in multilateral cases, confirming our general commitment to the world and the prosperous global order, ”said the chairman of the European Council.
Costa also solved general safety problems, attracting attention to many threats, namely terrorism, violent extremism and illegal drug trafficking, which are at risk of spreading to Central Asia and Europe.
Ursula von der Lane emphasized the potential advantages of stronger ties: “Your strategic location can open commercial routes and investment flows around the world. These new investments will strengthen sovereignty. They will strengthen your economy. And even more importantly, they will create new friendships, ”he said.
The President of the European Commission also stated that, in her opinion, partnership will lead to new opportunities in such sectors as energy, tourism, commerce and transport, announcing an investment package of 12 billion euros to the region: “This package will combine investments from the European Union and the Member States and release a new series of projects for Central Asia. This is really the beginning of the new one, ”said von der -Lyien.
What is the EU investment package for?
The new package will finance projects in the field of transport (3 billion euros), the necessary raw materials (2.5 billion euros), water, energy and climate (6.4 billion euros), as well as a digital compound – some of which have already been allowed and attributed European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (BERD)Field
Access to pure energy and rare land is crucial for the EU, which seeks to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 and increase its autonomy in strategic sectors.
Nevertheless, a significant part of the universal mining, transformation and processing of some critical raw materials, such as lithium, indispensable for the development of renewable energy sources, articles of daily use and defense systems, is controlled by China, which the EU intends to “turn off” from its commercial and aggressive foreign political practices.
Central Asia He has big deposits, Including 38.6% of global manganese ore, 30.07% chrome, 20% lead, 12.6% zinc and 8.7% of titanium.
“This raw material is the vital power of the future world economy. However, they are also a meeting point for world actors. Some are only interested in studying and extracting, ”said von der Lane of Central Asia leaders.
“The proposal of Europe is different. We also want to be your partners in the development of your local industries. The additional cost should be local. Our story speaks for itself, ”he added.
Multilateity and Ukraine
However, the protection of the “multilateral order based on the rules” was the central theme of the discourse of Antonio Costa.
“We must work together not only to protect versatility, but also to reform it, to make it more effective, inclusive and adapted to the current realities,” he said.
The President of the European Council emphasized that “threats to security are currently transnational in nature” and turned to more bilateral, regional and multilateral cooperation, including Russia, which, according to him, violates the organization of the United Nations and international law with a large invasion of Ukraine.
Five countries of Central Asia refrained from voting to the UN regarding Russian aggression against their neighbor, deciding to remain neutral, but to some extent won the authorized western products from the re -export of Russia.
The EU, which imposed 16 packages of sanctions against Russia, appointed a special messenger in the circuit of sanctions, which has moved to the region many times over the past three years.
High EU employees who talked about anonymity said that before the summit, that the countries of Central Asia showed “the desire to cooperate”, but the block would like to “see more”, especially considering The ongoing conversations between the United States and RussiaOf which Europe was widely removed, causing fears that its interests were not protected.
Nevertheless, the same source said that the implementation of additional efforts on this issue is an “important element for promoting our relations”, but not a previous condition.
Costa made a slightly veiled link to evasion of sanctions, saying that Europe “will continue to increase pressure on Russia if necessary” and that “the cooperation of Central Asia is invaluable.” “We are counting on your constant efforts in this regard,” he said.
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev He stated that his country, Uzbekistan, “shares the commitment of the European Party to the principles and norms of international law” and “fully supports and supports the process of negotiations on a peaceful resolution of the situation in Ukraine”.
At the summit, the leaders also agreed to hold the investors forum at the end of the year to provide more investments, namely, for the Trans -Caspian transport corridor, which will sharply reduce the time necessary for the export of goods between the two regions surrounding Russia and the creation of the Berd local office in Uzbekistan.
They also supported the idea of performing similar summits every two years.