Diversify trade, get away from Russia and China, and reinforce diplomatic relations will be the main points of the agenda of the first central-resume summit, which will be held at the end of this week. Human rights problems and Russia avoid sanctions that apply to them will probably be relegated to the background.
Ursula von der Leyen, of the European Commission and António Costa, president of the European Council, will travel to Samarcanda in Uzbekistan on Thursday in the hope of deepening associations with the region rich in natural resources in the field of energy and essential raw materials. The Central Asian block managers, which also includes Kazakhstan, Quirguizistan, Tajiquistan and Turquemenistan, Esperanza, however, guarantee investments in their industries and infrastructure.
The agenda also includes the protection of multilateralism, common and regional security challenges, cooperation in the field of clean energy, tourism, interpersonal and Ukraine programs.
“President Costa has been very clear since the beginning of his mandate that believes that in this multipolar world, the EU really needs to reconnect with its global partners,” said an EU employee of high EU, speaking about anonymity, before the summit. “Central Asia is one of the elements of this approach.”
The objective, shared by both parties to get away from Russia and China, is the engine of the high -level meeting. Both countries have been, for historical and geographical reasons, the main buyers of Central Asia products, while their shadow is based on the energy and technological security of Europe.
The great Invasion at Russia’s scale of Ukraine, along with the transactional approach of Beijing and now from Washington to commercial and foreign policy, seems to have silenced the reluctance that still exists in relation to mutual participation.
Energy, essential raw materials and industrial knowledge
For the EU, “it is not about seriously challenging China and Russia, but about offering some alternatives in some sectors, of competing in some sectors, especially with respect to raw materials and connectivity,” Stefan Meister of the German Foreign Relations Council told Euronews Stefan Meister.
Since the beginning of the war, the EU has been significantly released from Russian fossil fuels, but Russian GNL imports to European ports and pipelines to central Europe remain a sensitive point, since they help finance the Moscow war machine. This agency helped to highlight another: with respect to the ecological transition, the EU depends largely on China, which controls the extraction and processing of significant parts of many rare earths, crucial for the development of renewable energy.
Central Asia is developing its renewable energy production and has significant deposits of essential raw materials. The EU has already signed two memorandum of understanding with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, respectively, on this subject and now hopes to achieve a declaration of broader intentions on essential raw materials.
For the EU, it is an advantageous situation for both parties, since the block would guarantee the rare earths it needs to boost its energy transition and reinforce its strategic autonomy, while the region would obtain the necessary investments to develop the local industry.
“The European Union is not only promoting the extraction and export of raw materials, but, in our opinion, we want to promote local industry in the region, so it also helps the development of clean technologies. We want to invest in conjunction with the countries of Central Asia throughout the value chain,” said another employee of the high EU, also in the anonymous condition.
The countries of Central Asia, on the other hand, also want more industrial associations to develop their production bases and their “knowledge, how”, which would allow them to increase their exports and, therefore, their customer base.
“They have been developing industries aimed at trying to enter European markets, with chemicals, textiles, perhaps construction materials, other non -priest products,” King’s College visitor senior researcher told London.
But for that, they must be able to send their products effectively to the EU.
“Tajiquistan produces a lot of aluminum, it is one of the largest aluminum producers in the world. But it is almost impossible to export aluminum to the European Union due to logistics … so they have to sell it to China and Russia, which is much easier for them,” said Matveeva.
ADVERTISINGReinforcement of transport connections
The Transcasciano Transport Corridor is one of the main issues to be addressed by European leaders. The EU announced last year that would affect 10 billion euros to the middle corridor called, through its Gateway Global Initiative, an amount considered insignificant by some, taking into account the extension of the route and the challenge that the mountainous terrain represents.
“The Gateway Global Initiative is very slow to produce real -life effects and this is a source of frustration for several associated countries, including the countries of Central Asia”, Euronews Marie Dumoulin, director of the European Foreign Relations Program (ECFR), especially since Russia launched its attack against Ukraine, which led the EU to impose broad sanctions against the country.
The European Reconstruction and Development Bank (BERD) estimated at 2023 that 18.5 billion euros of investment would be required to complete the infrastructure projects required for the route, only in the countries of Central Asia.
One of the results of the summit can be the announcement of a new forum of investors dedicated to the Transcasciano Transport Corridor, which will be held this year, confirmed one of the EU High employees, and added that “the additional financing is essential to ensure that we have fulfilled this objective.”
ADVERTISINGAruzhan Meirkhanova, principal researcher at the National Center for Kazakhstan’s analysis, told Euronews that infrastructure is just the tip of the iceberg.
“The challenges of connectivity, such as limited regulatory harmonization, border inefficiencies and the need for greater digitalization of transport documents, continue to hinder traffic efficiency.”
“The political will, the trust and the strongest coordination of the interested parties will be essential to address the challenges of soft connectivity,” he added.
Human Rights and Evasion of Sanction
During the summit, both parties must have to respect a ternue line.
ADVERTISINGFor Central Asia, it is about closing the West without disturbing Moscow or Beijing.
“The countries of Central Asia try to follow the so -called foreign policy of multiple vectors, which means they are prepared to cooperate with different actors without alienating any of them. They would like to benefit from all parties,” said Matveeva.
“That said, they don’t want to go too far, especially with the West, with the EU, because they don’t want to be too favorable for different reasons,” he added.
However, for Brussels, it is about making agreements with certain regimes accused of being authoritarian in the neighborhood of Russia, while appealing to political and economic pressure on Moscow.
ADVERTISINGThe high EU employees insisted that the issue of the evasion of Russian sanctions would be raised at the summit, since some of the countries in the region have benefited from Russia for Russia of articles manufactured in Europe that are prohibited from entering the country.
German cars exports and car pieces to Kyrgyzstan, for example, increased 5,500% by 2023, while exports to Kazakhstan increased by 720%, according to a report by Robin Brooks, chief economist of the International Finance Institute.
“The EU is willing to cooperate,” said a high employee. “We obviously would like to see more, and this is a time when the sanctions of the European Union are extremely important, since we want to maintain pressure on Russia. Therefore, we consider that this is a continuous process.”
Maintaining its credibility in human rights can be equally difficult for the EU. In his annual human rights review worldwide, Human Rights Watch declared that the EU needed to “attract the attention” of the governments of Central Asia to repress the dissemination and reinforced controls on freedom of expression, namely, the arrest of government critics, activists and journalists.
ADVERTISING“These are relationships that are being developed and, of course, as they develop and grow, they can have more impact,” said a high EU employee.
“Let’s not go to lessons. Let us know our concerns, let’s work with them, we maintain a dialogue. The more dialogues, we commit and interact, the more we believe that we can change and improve all the aspects that concern us,” he added.
However, for Meister, “the EU does not have much influence in these countries and is not creating a true influence” on the subject.
The commission, it probably added “would give more money to civil society”, but is now adopting a “more pragmatic approach.”
ADVERTISING“This is a specific tendency of Von der Leyen, which is much more pragmatic in human rights issues, in my opinion and much more interest -oriented.”
