Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul met counterparts from the Central Asian states of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in Berlin this week, largely unnoticed by the public. The EU Special Representative for Central Asia was also a guest.
There were individual appointments with all ministers, a plenary session and a jointly organized economic forum with the Eastern Committee of the German Economy.
Many topics, great importance
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The Foreign Office wanted to make clear the increasing importance of these states in a number of current issues. The topics are: energy diversification and raw material security, dealing with the consequences and mitigation of climate change, but also measures against sanctions evasion on the part of Russia.
Germany is involved in numerous projects in the region, including the “Green Central Asia” initiative, extremism prevention and stabilization projects. The ministerial meeting builds on the Z5+1 summit in Berlin in 2023 and in Astana in 2024.
Exchange on sanctions
The exchange about circumventing the Russia sanctions was particularly important. The EU also wanted to address this at its summit in Belgium. Some Central Asian countries, especially Kyrgyzstan, could themselves be hit by EU sanctions. It is mostly private actors who evade sanctions. But that’s not least why there are now 19 sanctions packages against Moscow – a 20th is on the way – which are intended to make this even more difficult.
The role of the Eastern Committee of the German Economy is seen in this context. It is important to both keep the sanctions against Russia effective and to expand economic relations with the states mentioned, given their difficult geostrategic location between Russia and China. German companies hope to find opportunities here to replace their lost Russian business. This was also mentioned in the economic discussion, which was attended by around 20 leading company representatives.
Niko Warbanoff, member of the Presidium and spokesman for the Central Asia working group in the Eastern Committee, explained how important the timing of the foreign ministers’ meeting was. He referred to the EU consultations in Belgium as well as the upcoming Munich Security Conference. Europe’s geopolitical positioning is being discussed everywhere.
For the Eastern Committee, Central Asia is a “dynamic economic area with high growth rates, a young, skilled population and enormous potential for partnerships in the areas of energy, raw materials and infrastructure”. According to Warbanoff, with Central Asia the German economy can “strengthen our economic resilience and establish new supply chains.” At the same time, topics such as agriculture, water and climate protection and collaboration among skilled workers came to the fore.
The EU has made commitments of over ten billion euros for transport and connectivity projects. Better connections include making it easier to issue visas and the practical implementation of migration agreements with Central Asia. How the pace can be increased here is also currently being discussed.
date: 2026-02-12 22:54:00
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