European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has unveiled a €12bn clean energy package from the EU and urged central Asia to capitalise on its clean energy and raw materials potential.
Speaking at the plenary session of the first EU-Central Asia Summit, she said, “This region aims to be a clean energy hub: wind in Kazakhstan, solar in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, hydro in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. And geothermal across the region. You could produce enough clean energy for your economy and for export. You could turn part of this energy into clean hydrogen.”
The announced €12bn Global Gateway Investment Package will kickstart a new pipeline of projects for Central Asia, while a new Investors Forum will take place in Uzbekistan this year to move things forward.
The region is also well placed to benefit from abundant critical raw materials, she added, noting it has 40% of the global reserves of manganese, as well as lithium and graphite.
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