Vladimir Putin is on an official visit to Kazakhstan today. The Turkish and Iranian presidents are in Uzbekistan for an economic summit. A parade of heads of state in Central Asia, a region which arouses the desires of the great powers.
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For Vladimir Putin, Central Asia is a strategic way out to loosen the grip of Western economic sanctions which have hit the Russian economy since the war in Ukraine. The idea for him is to set up new trade routes with these former Soviet republics.
Moscow wants to launch major energy projects, notably gas pipelines, and is proposing to sell nuclear or hydroelectric power plants to Central Asian countries. Last month, the master of the Kremlin was in Kyrgyzstan, his first trip abroad since the arrest warrant issued against him in March by the International Criminal Court for the deportation of Ukrainian children.
Further south, there is Uzbekistan, which is hosting a regional economic summit on Thursday, November 9. In Tashkent, the capital, the Economic Cooperation Organization conference is being held, which brings together nine countries, notably Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. Here again, we are talking about energy projects, transport projects. The countries of Central Asia are landlocked and seek maritime outlets, particularly through Pakistan. And then there is a political dimension. This type of forum shows that the countries of the so-called Global South are seeking new models of cooperation where Westerners are not involved. China’s Silk Roads pass through Central Asia. “The global political architecture is changing before our eyes”declared the Uzbek president at the opening of this summit.
France wants to strengthen its economic presence
France is interested in this long-neglected region considered to be a Russian backyard. This was the whole point of Emmanuel Macron’s trip to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan at the beginning of November. France does not want to remain absent from this new El Dorado and is seeking to strengthen its economic presence. The subsoil of these countries is full of mineral resources, in particular critical metals such as cobalt, lithium, and magnesium, all ores essential to the energy transition. Central Asia is also rich in oil, the Caspian Sea, and uranium.
France is in the running to sell a nuclear power plant to Kazakhstan which supplies it with nearly 40% of its uranium. In this game of multiple influences, the idea for Paris is to increase strategic partnerships with these countries, even if they are led by authoritarian powers.