(Bloomberg) — Germany and Uzbekistan have signed an agreement on migration and labor mobility and a number of other accords aimed at deepening cooperation in areas including critical raw materials such as copper.
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The treaties were signed in Samarkand on Sunday in the presence of Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is making his first trip to Central Asia and will continue to Kazakhstan later on Monday.
In a speech at an economic forum in Samarkand on Monday, Scholz said that “very concrete contacts” between a delegation of executives traveling with him and their Uzbek counterparts had brought “great progress” in relations between the two countries.
“Together we want to exploit and develop the opportunities around the raw materials that can be found here, for the benefit of the economies of both countries,” Scholz said. “We want to cooperate in many technological areas, that is very important,” he added.
The German leader highlighted progress made on a project involving German copper producer Aurubis AG, but gave no further details.
Scholz’s trip is part of a broader effort to strengthen ties with Central Asian countries in the areas of industry, energy and the environment, as well as security and defense. It is also important in an ongoing effort to diversify Germany’s energy sources and raw materials away from countries such as Russia and China.
According to the government in Berlin, the migration agreement with Uzbekistan will help Germany attract skilled workers. The extent to which this will help tackle the persistent shortage in Europe’s largest economy remains to be seen.
The agreement also provides for a mechanism for cooperation in returning migrants who have no right to remain in either country.
Scholz’s government has toughened its stance on migration in recent months in response to the rise of extreme parties on the left and right that want to limit the number of immigrants entering the country.
Germany signed a similar agreement with Kenya on Friday during a visit by the African country’s President William Ruto. Scholz said it would provide opportunities for Kenyans as skilled workers or young people could come to Germany for training.
“The agreement – and this is in fact the other side of the coin – also provides for effective procedures to return those who came to us from Kenya but do not have or cannot acquire the right to stay,” he said at a joint press conference with Ruto in the Chancellery in Berlin.
In addition to the migration pact, Germany and Uzbekistan signed the following agreements on Sunday:
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Joint Memorandum of Understanding for closer cooperation on critical raw materials, including copper, to make supply chains more resilient
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Declaration of Intent on Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry
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Declaration of intent to cooperate in the field of sustainable use of water resources
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Agreement on cooperation in the field of transport, including high-speed trains
Scholz will hold talks with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev later on Monday in Astana. The two countries will also sign a number of agreements.
These concern cooperation between the Bundesbank and the central bank of Kazakhstan, but also the establishment of a German-Kazakh Institute of Science and Technology and a German school in Astana.
Scholz will also try to push Kazakhstan to expand supplies of crude oil to a key refinery in eastern Germany, according to a senior German government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with briefing rules.
The Schwedt plant receives about 70% of its crude oil via pipelines from the German port of Rostock, about 15% via pipelines from Gdansk in Poland and about 15% via the Druzhba connection from Kazakhstan.
Scholz, Tokayev and Mirziyoyev will meet the presidents of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan in Astana on Tuesday.
(Adds Scholz’s comments from the third paragraph.)
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