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The leaders of the EU and Central Asia endorsed a Joint Declaration of Intent on Critical Raw Materials during the first EU-Central Asia Summit held on April 4 in Samarkand, in Uzbekistan with the participation of presidents of the European Commission and the European Council Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa and the five presidents of the Central Asian states.

Central Asia is endowed with immense resources of critical raw materials holding 40% of the global reserves of manganese, as well as lithium, graphite, and more.

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The EU have earlier signed Memoranda of Understanding on critical minerals with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and now by endorsing a Joint Declaration of Intent on Critical Raw Materials, it should be able to also attract private investment into the region’s mining and processing industry.

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The Declaration on critical raw materials is a Eur2.5 billion part of the Eur12 billion Global Gateway Investment Package the EU has just committed to Central Asia to concentrate on the four priority areas, with the other three being the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor, clean energy, and digital connectivity.

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