For the first time, the foreign ministers of the five Central Asian countries met with representatives of all 27 countries of the European Union at the same time.

An informal meeting at the level of foreign ministers took place in Luxembourg on Monday, October 23, after a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council. This meeting is part of preparations for the first formal EU-Central Asia summit, which will be held in the second quarter of 2024 in Uzbekistan, a joint communiqué following the meeting said.

The EU is “ready to offer Central Asian countries a partnership to turn global challenges into joint opportunities,” said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, emphasizing the Europeans’ desire to deepen strategic cooperation with Central Asian countries to “take it to a new level.” He said that Brussels is ready to provide ongoing support for reforms in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The meeting participants adopted a Joint Roadmap for deepening ties between the EU and Central Asia. According to Borrell, this is especially important in light of destabilizing events such as Russian aggression against Ukraine and the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan. “Today’s meeting confirmed that we share many principles of international relations, in particular the commitment to comply with the UN Charter, respect for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries,” he said.

The meeting discussed, among other things, the European Union’s punitive measures against Russia and the fight against circumventing them. “The EU emphasized the importance of preventing circumvention of sanctions, and the participants agreed to continue cooperation in this direction,” says a joint communiqué from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and the countries of the European Union.

The ministers agreed to meet again in 2024, and the representative of Turkmenistan offered to hold the next meeting in his country. Before this, on January 29-30, 2024, the EU-Central Asia Investment Forum will be held in Brussels with the participation of high-ranking officials, international financial institutions and business. The purpose of the forum is to expand and strengthen transport links between the two regions.

At the end of September, a summit of Central Asian countries and Germany was held in Berlin.