Diplomacy: Scholz in Central Asia: Migration agreement with Uzbekistan

Oil and gas, migration management and sanctions against Russia: these are the main topics of the first trip of the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, where he first stops in Uzbekistan. The SPD politician landed in the afternoon in Samarkand, a nearly 3,000-year-old trading city on the Silk Road, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Several agreements were to be signed there that evening – including a migration agreement. It is intended to facilitate the influx of skilled workers in the care and health sector, among other things, and the repatriation of Uzbeks without a right to remain in Germany. The last point, however, only concerns 203 people (as of July 31). That is less than 0.1 percent of all 225,000 migrants in Germany who are required to leave the country.

Sixth Migration Agreement

Agreements with individual countries of origin are a central part of the traffic light government’s migration policy. In order to negotiate them, it has appointed a special representative, Joachim Stamp, who is accompanying Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on his trip. A migration agreement with Kenya was signed in Berlin just last Friday, and such agreements have long existed with India, Georgia, Morocco and Colombia. Negotiations are already well advanced with Moldova and Kyrgyzstan, and talks are also underway with the Philippines and Ghana.

Uzbekistan As a neighboring country of Afghanistan, Germany is also one of the countries that could help with the deportation of criminals to Afghanistan. However, it is still unclear “whether and within what time frame this will materialize in practice,” according to government sources. Since the end of August, Germany has again been deporting criminals to Afghanistan, which is ruled by the radical Islamic Taliban. The first flight was organized with the help of Qatar.

«Pearl of the Orient»: cultural programme to kick off

Scholz began his visit to Samarkand, also known as the “Pearl of the Orient”, immediately after his arrival with a walk through the Registan, one of the most magnificent squares in Asia. A visit to the 17th century Tilla Kori Mosque was also planned there.

The country, with a population of around 36 million, has been opening up to the West for years. Under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, it has implemented a number of liberal reforms, privatised parts of its state economy and thus attracted investors. This year alone, economic growth of over five percent is expected – thanks in part to the close trade relations with China and Russia.

Central Asia Summit in Kazakhstan

On Monday, Scholz will travel to Kazakhstan, the largest and economically strongest country Central AsiaA summit meeting is planned there with all five states in the region between Russia and China, which also includes Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. Scholz wants to expand relations with these countries and agreed a strategic partnership with them in Berlin a year ago, focusing on the economy, energy, climate and environment. This partnership is now to be brought to life.

The five Central Asian states have a total population of almost 80 million, which is slightly less than Germany. However, their area is eleven times larger than Germany and corresponds roughly to the area of ​​the entire European Union with its 27 member states. For a long time, from a German perspective, the region was in the shadow of the two superpowers China and Russia, on which the German economy focused its interest.

The Russian attack on Ukraine has changed that. Russia has long been Germany’s most important energy supplier. And economic dependence on China is now also to be reduced, mainly due to the bad experiences with Russia. The German government will therefore deepen existing partnerships with less economically strong countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia and find new partners.

Resource wealth and human rights violations

The raw material deposits in the Central Asian states are particularly interesting for Germany. Kazakhstan As the region’s strongest economy, it already supplies the refinery in Schwedt, Brandenburg, with oil and compensates for the cut in Russian supplies. The federal government is also interested in the region’s gas reserves. Kazakhstan also has uranium, iron ore, zinc, copper and gold and is considered a potential partner for the production of hydrogen obtained from renewable energies.

However, the authoritarian states in the region are internationally criticized for human rights violations. Gas-rich Turkmenistan, for example, is considered an isolated dictatorship similar to North Korea. The human rights organization Human Rights Watch called on Scholz to openly address grievances before the trip. “The German government cannot pretend that closer relations with Central Asia are possible without a significant improvement in the human rights situation in the region,” said regional director Hugh Williamson.

Scholz wants to “appropriately address” the circumvention of sanctions

For the Central Asian states, intensifying relations with the West is a balancing act. On the one hand, they are closely intertwined with Russia economically. On the other hand, they stress that they support the sanctions regime of the Western states against Russia. However, it is questionable how serious Kazakhstan, for example, is about this.

Exports from there to Russia have increased significantly since the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. This fuels the suspicion that companies from Western countries are deliberately trying to circumvent economic sanctions against Russia by going via these countries. Kazakhstan has a 7,000-kilometer-long border with Russia.

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