The European Union is deepening its engagement with Central Asia, with Uzbekistan emerging as a key partner in a relationship increasingly focused on transport corridors, critical raw materials and energy cooperation.
EU Ambassador to Uzbekistan Toivo Klar said this was the cornerstone of EU-Central Asia relations over the past year.
“Investments are increasing, planning is becoming more coordinated and the corridor is starting to become faster and more economically viable,” Klar told Euronews at an event in Tashkent, referring to the Trans-Caspian transport route linking Central Asia and Europe.
For the European Union, the Trans-Caspian Corridor is about more than just moving Chinese goods westward. Its main objective, according to Krall, is to give Central Asian countries more choice, to increase exports to Europe, import higher quality goods and reduce dependence on a single route or partner.
“There is no point in talking only with one side of the Caspian Sea,” he said, explaining why the EU is increasingly bringing Central Asia and South Caucasus countries together at one table.
This approach is reflected in recent EU-led meetings involving Central Asia, the South Caucasus, Turkey, Moldova and Ukraine, and signals that a broader regional framework is taking shape.
Although it is a raw material, it has added value.
Another growth pillar of cooperation is the critical raw materials essential for Europe’s green and digital transition.
Central Asia has large reserves, but the EU insists the partnership should go beyond extraction.
“We don’t want to dig a hole and leave spoons behind,” Klar said, stressing that European companies are encouraged to refine materials locally, transfer technology and train local workers.
For the EU, reliable and affordable transport routes are a prerequisite for linking raw materials, processing and European industry into a single system and making these value chains work.
Energy cooperation is also accelerating. Mr. Krall cited major projects supported by the EU, including a €900 million loan from the European Investment Bank for Kyrgyzstan’s Khanbalata-1 hydropower project.
Once completed, Kambalata-1 is expected to be one of the largest hydropower plants in Central Asia, strengthening the region’s energy security and supporting the transition to renewable electricity.
“These investments aim to provide sustainable energy for the region,” he said, adding that green transition goals are increasingly shaping the EU’s partnerships around the world.
New reform framework
Much of the discussion also focused on the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA) between the EU and Uzbekistan, signed during President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s recent visit to Brussels.
Mr Klar said that unlike previous agreements, the EPCA incorporates the rule of law, human rights, democratic governance and sustainable development at its core, as well as introducing modern, WTO-compatible regulations on trade, services, public procurement and intellectual property.
Jablon Vakhabov, director of the International Institute for Central Asia, said 2025 is a “remarkable year” for EU-Central Asia relations, citing the first EU-Central Asia summit in Samarkand, the ministerial meeting, the economic forum and the signing of the EPCA.
He said think tanks play an important role in turning high-level diplomacy into practical results.
“Our task is to add substance through policy advice and recommendations so that this partnership delivers concrete results,” Vakabov told Euronews.
Although the revised EU strategy for Central Asia is still being developed, cooperation on the ground has already changed dramatically since 2019, especially in the areas of transport, connectivity, energy and raw materials, Klar said.
“The paperwork may take some time, but reality is already starting to set in,” he said.
