In recent years, Uzbekistan has been pursuing an active policy aimed at enhancing its role as an equal and independent actor in international relations, strengthening the country’s global standing, joining the ranks of developed democratic states, fostering an atmosphere of security, stability, and good neighborliness, as well as consistently advancing a mutually beneficial foreign policy.

The country’s domestic and foreign policies, focused on ensuring international and regional stability, have ushered in a new stage of development in Central Asia. The European Union is a global leader in terms of total trade volume. The EU maintains bilateral and multilateral cooperation in political, socio-economic, and cultural spheres with over 100 countries worldwide.

The EU has begun actively developing its relations with the countries of Central Asia. One of the Union’s leading states, Germany, plays a significant role in shaping and implementing the EU’s cooperation strategy in the region. To intensify and elevate its partnership with Central Asia to a new level, Germany launched the Green Central Asia Strategy in 2020, aiming to address climate change-related challenges. The strategy envisions cooperation in areas such as water resource management, glacier preservation, energy, biodiversity conservation, land management, and agricultural development. Trade, economic, and investment cooperation between Uzbekistan and Germany has been consistently advancing. From 2016 to 2023, bilateral trade volume doubled, from $529.1 million in 2016 to $1,072.3 million in 2023.

Investment Cooperation

In 2020, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development revised its international cooperation strategy, reducing the number of partner countries from 85 to 60. The decision to continue cooperation in Central Asia exclusively with Uzbekistan demonstrated Germany’s confidence in Uzbekistan and its view of the country as a key partner in the region.

More than 270 enterprises with the participation of German investors are currently operating in Uzbekistan, 57 of which were established in 2024. The volume of investments and loans attracted from Germany to Uzbekistan amounted to $757.8 million in 2023, with $577.7 million accounted for in the first half of the year.

The total volume of investments and loans provided by Germany to Uzbekistan’s economy has exceeded $4.5 billion. The majority of these funds have been directed toward the textile, chemical, and mining industries, as well as the production of non-metallic mineral products, the construction sector, and automotive manufacturing.

Opportunities for Expanding Cooperation

There remains significant untapped potential for cooperation in the energy, chemical, pharmaceutical, textile, and electrical engineering sectors, as well as in the production of construction materials, agricultural processing, mineral extraction and processing, and logistics. There is also an opportunity to expand cooperative ties by integrating Uzbekistan’s manufacturing sector into the global value chains of German multinational corporations.

Development of Bilateral Relations – A Result of High-Level Dialogue

Europe and Central Asia are centers of economic development, growing markets, and regions with significant human capital. Effectively utilizing these opportunities and creating favorable conditions for mutually beneficial partnerships is crucial. Regular meetings between the political leaders of Germany and Uzbekistan have played a key role in advancing this cooperation.

The official visit of President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Germany on January 21-22, 2019, opened new horizons for broad-scale cooperation. During the visit, meetings were held with the Federal President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and Chancellor Angela Merkel. The discussions focused on the development of cooperation in political, trade-economic, investment, financial-technical, cultural-humanitarian, and educational spheres. Following the visit, 52 agreements were signed, totaling over $8 billion.

In 2023, during his most recent visit to Germany, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, met with the heads of leading German companies and financial institutions. During the dialogue, which included representatives of major corporations and banks such as CLAAS, Knauf, Siemens Energy, Linde Group, and Deutsche Bank, discussions focused on expanding cooperation in industrial partnership, green energy, metallurgy, water supply, agriculture, as well as the chemical, mining, automotive, textile, and electronics industries. The German business community expressed strong support for the reforms being implemented in Uzbekistan.

That same year, in Berlin, during the first “Central Asia – Germany” summit, the President of Uzbekistan met with former Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz. The dialogue focused on key aspects of bilateral relations, and an agreement was reached on further advancing multifaceted cooperation. Particular attention was given to expanding business partnerships and deepening cooperation in economy, investment, transport, energy, and other areas.

At the second “Central Asia + Germany” summit, held on September 17, 2024, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev proposed the establishment of a “Central Asia – Germany” think tank forum, with its inaugural meeting scheduled to take place in Khiva. The Head of state put forward several important initiatives, including the development of a roadmap to expand investment and technological cooperation in the region, the attraction of German companies and banks to economic and industrial zones in border areas, the creation of a “Central Asia and Germany” Council of Investors and Entrepreneurs, and the adoption of a multilateral intergovernmental agreement on the promotion and protection of investments.

In conclusion, it is essential to emphasize that all these efforts contribute to deepening friendly ties between our peoples and strengthening intergovernmental cooperation between our countries.

Bekhruz Khudoyberdiyev, UzA