Meeting in the Chancellery
Scholz receives five Central Asian heads of state
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is planning a meeting with five Central Asian heads of state. photo
© Kay Nietfeld/dpa
The Chancellor will receive five Central Asian heads of state in the Chancellery on Friday. According to government information, it is the first meeting in this common format with an EU member state.
All five presidents of the former Soviet republics in Central Asia will come together in Berlin for talks with the Federal Chancellor for the first time this Friday Olaf Scholz and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier together.
A bilateral meeting between the Tajik head of state Emomali Rakhmon and Scholz is also planned, as the presidential office of the authoritarian country in the capital Dushanbe announced to the media. The aim of the stay was to strengthen cooperation, it was said.
Expand contacts
Germany wants to expand contacts with the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, which have so far been heavily influenced by Russia. Some of these countries offer important raw materials for Germany. Some of these states are internationally criticized for serious human rights violations. Gas-rich Turkmenistan, for example, is considered an isolated dictatorship similar to North Korea.
According to government information, Scholz will meet the heads of state of all five Central Asian states on Friday in the Chancellery for the first time in this common format with an EU member state. A joint working lunch and subsequent bilateral discussions are planned to focus on strengthening regional and economic cooperation.
Scholz wants to meet the President of the oil-rich Republic of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Schomart Tokayev, on Thursday. Energy policy cooperation was also an issue, it was said in Berlin. The five presidents are also invited to a forum of the Eastern Committee of the German Economy. The EU wants to offer the Central Asian states, in which not only Russia but also China is vying for influence, alternative cooperation.