EUSR`s address to the students of the Institute of International Relations at the International University for Humanities and Development in Ashgabat

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Dear all, thank you for the kind invitation, it is a true pleasure to address this class today.

Students, like you, are the catalysts to shape our world more vibrant and resilient.

Investing in youth is crucial and you are already shaping your country and the world, and I hope that you all will succeed in your future endeavours.

In our rapidly changing global landscape, we encounter numerous challenges that often defy conventional solutions.

And demand of fresh perspectives and innovative approaches are high in demand.

This is where you, as students, soon to become professionals in various fields, play a role.

Your unique ideas and forward-thinking proposals are essential in navigating the complexities of our changing world.

We need your adaptability, creativity, and vision to address the diverse issues facing our global community. Today’s challenges are also challenges for tomorrow and with your understanding of the dynamic world we can together craft collaboration that fosters collaboration based on internationally agreed values.

Let me first start by introducing my role as the EU Special Representative for Central Asia.

The European Union has 11 Special Representatives for different countries and regions of the world.

Special Representatives are appointed by 27 EU Member States and with their work they reinforce EU presence and activities in various regions.

My mandate is regional. So me and my team focus on EU’s continued and comprehensive cooperation with all countries in the Central Asia region and with my activities I also aim to boost intra-regional cooperation among the five countries.

My regional mandate covers a broad range of matters in areas of our mutual interest, such as security, rule of law, energy, environment, water, and education to human rights with an emphasis on women and girls.

I work closely with EU Institutions, including with EU Delegation in Turkmenistan, which I am sure you have heard of.

And I am glad to be present in Central Asia often and to meet with wide range of interlocutors, students, civil society and of course government representatives.

EU – Central Asia cooperation has never been stronger. We just gathered for 20th Ministerial meeting.

We are also at the eve of first ever EU – Central Asia Ministerial meeting.

But where do these strong ties come from? How deep they are? And how old?

Historically speaking, contacts between the two continents already existed 2000 years ago.

It was the ancient Silk Road, which was more than just a trade route. It was a vibrant network connecting China, in Asia, and Portugal, in West Europe, spanning over 6,400 km.

The route facilitated cultural, economic, and political exchanges between East and West for centuries.

They inspired numerous legends and stories, while bridging our cultures.

Today, such relations have evolved, reaching a new, unseen point that derives from economic expansion, digitalisation and technological development.

And it is clear that both Central Asia countries and the EU has an interest to expand these ties.

In recent years the dialogue has certainly intensified, both on high level, but also across sectors.

But how does the EU engage with Central Asia?

It does so according to two main documents: the EU Strategy for Central Asia, published in 2019, and the most recent Joint Roadmap for Deepening Ties, approved 2 years ago.

The Strategy highlights how the EU intends to engage with all the five countries of the region.

While we do not share borders, we are connected with value chains, trade, culture, education.

Central Asia is a solid and reliable partner and the EU is offering long-term cooperation.

The strategy outlines three main priorities for the EU when interacting with Central Asia: Resilience, prosperity, and regional cooperation.

Resilience means strengthening central Asian countries to overcome internal and external challenges.

To do so, we support socio-economic and democratic reforms in the countries, including closer cooperation on environment and climate change without leaving behind human rights.

Prosperity, aims at modernising the economy and increase its competitiveness, promoting innovation and skills-development for youth and students like you.

Lastly, the third priority of regional cooperation intends to mobilise all five regional countries, including Turkmenistan, to foster integration and help overcome common challenges.

In 2023 our Foreign ministers jointly agreed on Roadmap to implement the 2019 Strategy. We agreed on five key areas with79 concrete actions.

The five key areas cover as many cooperation dimensions as possible, so to contribute to development of our relations in a comprehensive way.

These are:

• Deepening inter-regional political dialogue;
• Enhancing economic ties;
• Engaging in energy, connectivity, as well as climate and water;
• Addressing common security challenges;
• Strengthening people-to-people connections.

I would like to underline security, connectivity, and climate change-related issues that have been at the forefront of the EU – Central Asia partnership

On security, we aim for regional stability and the need to address shared challenges, such as threat of terrorism, smuggling and transnational organised crime, as well as challenges stemming from Afghanistan.

These phenomena are complex and multidimensional, thus requiring a collective approach.

We are pleased to have number of programmes and projects to address these matters.

Our focus is on border management, drug demand reduction, and training of law enforcement agencies.

On connectivity I would like to underline importance of both physical infrastructure, such as transport, energy, digital routes, and soft connectivity – digitalisation, standardisation, customs alignment.

Deeper connections between our societies would foster economic security, guarantee the two, digital and green, transitions while allowing our people to increase cultural exchanges.

In this case, the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor is extremely important, as today it recalls the ancient Silk Road that during past times connected our regions.

We jointly developing the Corridor as well as other initiatives to boost not only trade and connectivity between regions, but also to improve socio-economic well-being along the route, for the societies

Another important priority in my work is climate change and its repercussions on Central Asian people.

Without a regional approach, the issue cannot be tackled.

And the EU is stepping in to help building practical solutions.

Central Asia is very vulnerable to climate change and it is not limited only to rising temperatures.

Glaciers are melting, the Caspian Sea is shrinking, and flow of regional rivers are decreasing.

Worth mentioning in this case are the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers, that cross the entire region, passing also through China and Afghanistan.

Their reducing water levels threaten stability and security for the population of Central Asia.

Many other risks actually come from climate change, and they combine with growing populations that need land and water to sustain crops, cattle, and households.

Natural disasters such as floods, desertification, and volatile rain seasons have terrible impacts on us.

This is why broader cooperation is needed between us all, between Europe and Central Asia.

We are glad to see that thanks to the involvement of the United Nations and other International Organisations, many projects are currently underway on this topic.

They will certainly reinforce awareness and preparedness in Central Asia, including Turkmenistan.

Dear students, I remind you that Europe and Central Asia represent two very similar regions.

There is much in common between us, but there is also much that we can learn from each other.

In this sense, we are natural partners who share the idea of prosperity under multilateralism and cooperation.

As the five central Asian countries are stronger together and when collaborating, our two regions work better when they join forces.

We are hard supporters of intra-regional partnership, as well as inter-regional.

I am sure that as young leaders you will do great, bringing durable stability and prosperity in the region and in the world.

Thank you!