German Chancellor Olaf Scholz left early Sunday morning for Uzbekistan, where he hopes to make agreements on issues such as migration during his first stop on a three-day trip to Central Asia.
Scholz is expected to arrive in Samarkand on Sunday afternoon, where he will sign a number of agreements with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, including an agreement to facilitate the immigration of skilled Uzbek workers to Germany and the repatriation of Uzbeks forced to leave the country.
He will then travel to Kazakhstan, the region’s largest and most economically powerful country, on Monday and Tuesday, to attend a summit with the region’s five former Soviet republics — including Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan — all of which are heavily influenced by heavyweights Russia and China.
Scholz wants to expand relations with these countries and entered into a strategic partnership with them last year in the areas of economy, energy, climate and environment.
In Kazakhstan, the talks will focus on the supply of oil and gas to Germany and on sanctions against Russia, which is accused of facilitating the circumvention of these sanctions.
Since the outbreak of Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine in February 2022, Germany has been trying to diversify its relations in the region. Previously, the countries focused mainly on economic ties with Russia and China.