Overview
With over 30 million inhabitants, Uzbekistan is the most populated country in the region. It shares borders with all the other Central Asian countries and with Afghanistan.
Recent political developments in the country have opened the way to closer international cooperation and improved conditions for investment and growth.
Our partnership
The EU supports Uzbekistan’s sustainable and inclusive development, in line with the ‘Uzbekistan 2030’ strategy, the Global Gateway Strategy, and the EU Strategy for Central Asia. Our action builds on Uzbekistan’s commitment to effective and accountable public services, an open and inclusive green economy, and improvements to the lives of the country's citizens.
The EU, together with Czechia, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, France, Germany, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia and Switzerland, adopted a Joint Programming Document for the period 2021-2027 under the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI-Global Europe).
Under that framework, the EU allocated € 119 million in grant funding to support its partnership with Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan also benefits from several EU regional programmes and from investments under the European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+), Global Gateway’s main financial tool.
EU-Uzbekistan partnership documents can be found in the 'Related documents' section below.
Our key initiatives
- Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor
The EU is dedicated to improving transport connectivity along the Trans-Caspian Corridor with Central Asia, including with Uzbekistan. This initiative, which aligns with the recommendations provided by the Study on Sustainable Transport Connections between Europe and Central Asia, contributes to boosting intra-regional and international trade and supporting Uzbekistan's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). At the regional level, Uzbekistan has partnered with the EU to set up a coordination mechanism and encourage investments in the Trans-Caspian Transport Network by funding initial feasibility studies.
- Critical raw materials
Uzbekistan plays an important role in developing sustainable local value chains and securing critical raw materials, which are crucial for strategic technologies used for the green, digital, defence and aerospace sectors. The EU signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation on Critical Raw Materials with Uzbekistan on 5 April 2024.
- Digital connectivity
Building on the existing EU-Uzbekistan cooperation in digitalisation, our efforts focus on:
- Improving the delivery of public services (e-governance)
- Contributing to the digitalisation and integration of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure
- Promoting the digitalisation of SMEs
- Investing in 5G
- Enhancing the policy and regulatory framework enabling sustainable and inclusive satellite connectivity
- Building a regional satellite constellation and developing ground infrastructure
- Agri-food, water and energy
- Sustainable and inclusive food systems
- Supporting vulnerable producers to transition to low-carbon, climate-resilient value chains
- Inclusive financing for the livestock sector and agri-food micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs)
- Modernising horticultural production and research (cultivation, plant protection, seed production)
- Strengthening small-scale farmers' organisations and agri-food value chains
- Water management and land restoration
- Improving drinking water distribution and sanitation infrastructure
- Supporting water sector reforms to increase efficiency through technical measures and tariff adjustments
- Restoring degraded lands in the Aral Sea region and modernising irrigation infrastructure
- Green transition and renewable energy
- Technical assistance for the green economy transition and hazardous chemical management
- Support for solar energy and green hydrogen production
- Financing renewable energy projects through international financial institutions
- Regional cooperation on water, energy, and climate
- Enhancing regional coordination on water and energy management under climate change
- Funding the rehabilitation of nuclear legacy sites in Uzbekistan and Central Asia
- Strengthening sustainable energy connectivity and developing renewable energy in the region
- Sustainable and inclusive food systems
- Security and migration
- Improving access to health and education, and create economic opportunities for vulnerable Afghans and their host communities
- Improving the understanding of regional displacement dynamics
- Fighting against human trafficking and smuggling
- Promoting safer and cheaper transfers of remittances
- Enhancing border management and preventing drug trafficking through the Border Management Programme in Central Asia (BOMCA) and the Central Asia Drug Action Programme (CADAP).
- Rule of law and civil society
- Establishing an anti-corruption programme
- Reinforcing human rights, rule of law and democracy in accordance with European and other international standards
- Supporting civil society organisations (CSOs)
- Improving women’s economic empowerment and reproductive health
- Supporting vaccination system
