Esteemed heads of delegations,
I am pleased to welcome all of you and express my gratitude to President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for the warm reception and excellent organization of this meeting.
I also extend my thanks to German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his dedication to expanding multifaceted partnerships with our region.
Our first meeting in Berlin and today’s summit demonstrate our mutual commitment to an open and constructive dialogue and our focus on achieving tangible results.
We are interested in holding regular meetings in this format, with the establishment of mechanisms for expert review and implementation of proposed initiatives.
Esteemed Federal Chancellor,
We highly value Germany’s unwavering support for the ongoing democratic transformations and socio-economic reforms in our countries, as well as their partnership and integration in Central Asia.
It is worth noting that our relationship has deep historical roots.
In the 18th century, the renowned composer of the Age of Enlightenment, Handel, composed one of his greatest works, the opera “Tamerlane,” in just 20 days.
The great poet and philosopher Goethe dedicated several of his famous works to our ancient cities, which were centers of civilization.
Another significant historical fact is that at the beginning of the 20th century, a group of talented and progressive young people from Central Asia studied at leading German universities and made a significant contribution to promoting enlightenment ideas and socio-economic development in our region.
We see Germany as an important partner in achieving our national goals for sustainable development.
Allow me to briefly highlight the profound and fundamental changes that have taken place in Central Asia in recent years.
We have established an open and productive dialogue and are independently addressing many issues related to borders, water, energy, trade, and transit.
Recently, the Sixth Meeting of the Heads of State of the region was held here in Astana.
The international stance of the region is strengthening, and cooperation with leading countries through the “Central Asia Plus” format is expanding.
The volume of trade turnover, investments, freight transport, and tourist travel by our citizens has increased significantly.
We are discussing major regional projects in green energy and the development of transportation networks.
We are exchanging experiences and technologies, creating modern industrial and agricultural enterprises, and implementing financial instruments to stimulate cooperation projects.
Most importantly, we understand that the future of our region, its security, and sustainable development depend solely on our political will and efforts.
We welcome the interest of our European partners, particularly Germany, as the main initiator and driving force behind the promotion of EU strategies and multilateral cooperation programs with our countries.
We are preparing to hold another summit in Uzbekistan in the format of “Central Asia – European Union” next year, with the main agenda topic being investment in the future of the region.
Dear colleagues,
Conflicts, wars, overall global instability and unpredictability, sanctions policies, increased protectionism, and many other factors are having extremely negative impacts on our countries and are becoming a serious test for the implementation of national programs and reforms.
During our talks in Samarkand, I shared with Chancellor Scholz my high expectations for today’s meeting.
In this regard, I would like to outline our vision for the main directions of cooperation with Germany in Central Asia.
First, we highly value the establishment of a strategic regional partnership between Central Asia and Germany, which serves the common interests of maintaining stability, ensuring sustainability, and promoting prosperity in the region.
We believe it is appropriate to adopt a long-term concept for developing our partnership, with program activities in priority areas.
To develop this document, we propose the establishment of the “Central Asia – Germany” Forum of Analytical Centers. We are ready to hold its first meeting next year in Khiva, one of the region’s historic cities, where a large community of German Mennonites used to reside.
We also assign an important role to the annual meetings of the heads of foreign ministries of our countries in preparing the agenda for our summits.
Second, we seek investment and technological partnerships with leading German companies.
I would like to note that the portfolio of ongoing and promising projects in Uzbekistan, with the participation of German companies, exceeds 20 billion euros.
This includes energy, chemical, and extractive industries, machine building, textile and food industries, agriculture, transportation, logistics, and construction materials production.
Leading German companies such as Siemens, Linde, BASF, MAN, Claas, Henkel, Knauf, and many others are among our partners, with investments of approximately 6 billion euros in Uzbekistan’s economy in recent years.
Today, we will have the opportunity to discuss long-term plans with representatives of German businesses.
In this regard, I have several specific proposals:
– Developing a roadmap for expanding investment and technological cooperation between Central Asian countries and Germany;
– The participation of leading German companies and banks in joint projects in special economic and industrial zones being established in border areas, as well as large infrastructure projects of regional significance;
– Launching a permanent business dialogue platform, the “Central Asia – Germany” Council of Investors and Entrepreneurs. We are ready to hold its first meeting next year in Uzbekistan within the Tashkent Investment Forum;
– Studying the possibility of adopting a multilateral intergovernmental agreement on promoting and protecting investments.
Third, we seek a partnership in critical raw materials based on the introduction of advanced German knowledge and technologies.
Our region is rich in mineral resources, and the German Mineral Resources Agency and German companies could become our key partners in this area.
This includes geological survey projects, intensive exploration, processing and production of high-value products, and arranging shipments to Germany and other EU countries.
Uzbekistan is ready to participate in the joint implementation of such projects in neighboring countries.
Technical assistance from Germany and European institutions in implementing the Digital Mapping Program of Critical Minerals and Rare Earth Metals in our region presents promising opportunities.
We also believe it is important to establish a reliable legal framework for such cooperation.
Fourth, we seek “green” energy partnerships. In recent years, all our countries have been actively developing solar, wind, and hydropower, modernizing thermal power plants and networks, and promoting green hydrogen projects.
We propose considering the launch of an Energy Dialogue between Central Asian countries and Germany, involving energy ministries, companies, operators, scientific organizations, design institutes, and industry experts.
We are interested in preparing a Comprehensive Capacity Building Program for specialists in the low-carbon economy with German technical assistance.
Fifth, we seek a joint response to climate change.
Experts predict that the Central Asian region will remain most vulnerable to the effects of global warming, with the rise in average temperatures being twice as high as the world average.
We are grateful to the German side for launching the second phase of the “Green Central Asia” program and for the assistance provided in implementing environmental projects.