ASTANA, Kazakhstan, April 4. Kazakhstan, in cooperation with Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, is beginning work on a large-scale project to construct a green energy transmission line across the Caspian Sea with further access to European markets, said Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev while speaking at the “Central Asia – European Union” summit in Samarkand, Trend reports.
In his speech, Tokayev presented his vision of the future agenda for cooperation between Central Asia and the European Union to the summit participants.
President Tokayev believes that the primary focus should be on strengthening trade and economic ties. According to him, Kazakhstan is ready to increase exports to the EU in 175 product categories worth more than $2 billion.
To finance such projects, the President urged European companies to use the platform of the International Financial Center “Astana.”
Another important area of cooperation mentioned in his speech was energy.
“Kazakhstan remains a reliable supplier of hydrocarbons to Europe. Our country accounts for about 13 зуксуте of the EU's total oil imports, the majority of which comes through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC). We highly appreciate the European Union's support aimed at ensuring the stable and long-term functioning of this consortium, while also developing alternative routes for transporting raw materials. Kazakhstan is implementing projects in the field of renewable energy and environmentally friendly fuels. We are increasing the capacity of wind and solar energy, and also developing projects for the production of 'green' hydrogen in cooperation with our long-term partners Total, Eni, Svevind, and other European companies,” noted Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
In his opinion, cooperation in rare-earth materials is another strategically important area of cooperation. Kazakhstan produces 19 out of the 34 types of raw materials needed for the EU economy, including uranium, titanium, copper, lithium, cobalt, tungsten, and many others.
In conclusion, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressed gratitude to the participants of the event and European partners for supporting the initiative to establish the UN Regional Center on Sustainable Development Goals for Central Asia and Afghanistan in Almaty. He believes that this center will effectively promote the universal “Agenda 2030” and contribute to solving pressing social, economic and environmental problems in the region.
Today, the “Central Asia – European Union” summit took place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The “Central Asia – European Union” summit is an important diplomatic meeting where cooperation issues between the Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) and the European Union are discussed. These summits are usually held to strengthen political, economic, and cultural ties between the two regions.