The President of the European Council, António Costa, along with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, will be travelling to Uzbekistan for the first-ever EU-Central Asia summit on 3-4 April 2025, the European Council said in a press release.
The summit will be hosted by Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, with the participation of the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
The summit will present a key opportunity for the EU to demonstrate its geopolitical interest in intensifying bilateral engagement and enhance regional cooperation with Central Asia.
It is anticipated that during the summit, the EU will affirm its commitment to scale up cooperation in areas of mutual interests, including transport and digital connectivity, critical raw materials, economic and security cooperation, energy transition.
High-level relations between the EU and Central Asia have intensified over the past years, with two leaders’ meetings held in October 2022 in Kazakhstan and in June 2023 in Kyrgyzstan.
Additionally, ministerial-level discussions in Luxembourg in 2023 have established a joint roadmap for deepening ties between the EU and Central Asia.
The 20th EU-Central Asia Ministerial meeting will take place on 4 March 2025 in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, and will also be dedicated to summit preparations.
The EU is the second trading partner for the region, as well as the biggest investor with over 40% of the investment in the region originating from the EU. ///nCa, 13 February 2025