EU and Central Asia summit to begin
A summit between leaders of the European Union and five Central Asian countries will take place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on April 3-4.
This summit represents the first diplomatic event between the European Union and the leaders of all five Central Asian states. Diplomatic engagement between the EU and the Central Asian countries has intensified conspicuously since 2022 (in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine), when the president of the European Council held the first high-level meeting with the leaders of the Central Asian countries (minus Turkmenistan). The breakdown in relations between the United States and Europe is likely to encourage greater European engagement in the region as Europe seeks new economic and geopolitical partnerships.
In the short term, this summit is unlikely to produce any concrete agreements between the EU and the Central Asian countries. Turkmenistan recently affirmed its continued policy of neutrality, while other Central Asian countries (notably Kyrgyzstan) have improved ties with China, making a rapprochement with the West more complicated. However, this summit will provide insight into which issues the EU will prioritize as it seeks new partnerships, both with Central Asia and other upper-middle income countries (including Latin America and Southeast Asia). To that end, the EU delegation is likely to focus most of its diplomatic efforts on advancing an agreement concerning oil and gas shipments from Central Asia that bypass Russia. The summit will also serve to show whether Europe’s economic and technological leverage is sufficient to win concessions from any of the Central Asian countries: European foreign direct investment (FDI) currently accounts for 40% of all FDI in Central Asia, and European investments in clean energy and agricultural resource management are urgently needed by the Central Asian countries.
