Your Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Distinguished colleagues,

I am honoured to speak at the opening of this timely event on "Central Asia as Global Transit Hub".

The EU considers Central Asia as strategic crossroads on the Eurasian landmass, with a huge potential to develop in terms of enhancing transit opportunities and connectivity and facilitate trade - a 'land bridge' between the East and Europe.

Kazakhstan already plays an active role, due to its strategic position, important natural resources, its ambitious policy on transit infrastructure as well as its role in promoting Eurasian economic integration.

Just days ago at the 13th EU-Central Asia Ministerial Meeting in Samarkand (10 November 2017) the EU and Central Asian countries have in fact reaffirmed the potential for enhanced economic relations between the EU and the Central Asian countries.

The EU HR VP Federica Mogherini and the Ministers stressed the key importance of transparent rules and regulations for a favourable investment climate and private sector development in the countries of Central Asia, to promote the region’s further sustainable economic development.

They also underlined that particular attention should be paid to enhancing Central Asia’s transit and transport potential.

The 5th Eastern Partnership (EaP) summit in Brussels on 24 November will see Heads of state or government from the EU member states and the six Eastern partner countries, discussing how to enhance interconnections, notably in the areas of transport and energy including extending Trans-European networks to the East and bolstering investment.

Let me also recall that our engagement is not new: the EU has been actively supporting Central Asian regional cooperation in the fields of transport, energy and border management since the early 1990s, most notably through TRACECA, where the EU supported more than 80 projects with around 187 million euros of funding, as well through programmes like BOMCA on border management and trade facilitation.

And also let me note that trade and connectivity will be also on the agenda of ASEM ministerial meeting and November 2017 (this year).

We have seen much progress lately, notably earlier this month with the opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway  - a major step in transport interconnections linking the European Union, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Central Asia.

In this context, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) promises significant infrastructure investments and transcontinental connectivity.

The EU has been active responding to and cooperating on the Belt and Road Initiative.

In 2015, the EU signed with China a Memorandum of Understanding setting up a "Connectivity Platform" to improve transnational infrastructure and transport services in all regions linking Europe and China.

As the European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen said in Beijing at the Belt and Road Forum Leaders' Round Table the European Union is proud to work with China and other partners on improving connectivity between Europe and (East) Asia.  

For the EU, this should be based on market rules and international standards, transparency; sustainability and most importantly on a level-playing field for economic operators

I trust that during the conference fruitful exchanges will bring practical recommendations on the way forward and especially the role of central Asian countries and Kazakhstan in this context.