Germany and Uzbekistan sealed an agreement on migration and labour mobility and concluded a series of other agreements designed to deepen cooperation in areas including critical raw materials and climate action.
The pacts were signed on Sunday in Samarkand in the presence of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. who is travelling to Central Asia for the first time and will head to Kazakhstan on Monday.
Scholz is accompanied by a delegation of executives and the trip is part of his government’s efforts to strengthen ties with Central Asian nations in areas such as industry.energy and the environment, as well as security and defence. It is also important for a continuing effort to diversify Germany’s sources of energy and raw materials beyond countries like Russia and China.
According to the Berlin government, the migration agreement with Uzbekistan will help Germany attract skilled workers, although it remains to be seen how much it will help to solve the persistent labour shortage in Europe’s largest economy. The agreement also establishes a cooperation mechanism for the return of immigrants who do not have the right to remain in either country.
“We are bringing into our country the workers and skilled workers we urgently need in industry, small trades, nursing and many other areas,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who signed the migration pact in Samarkand, was quoted as saying by the Rheinische Post newspaper on Sunday. “Anyone who has no prospects or right to stay in Germany will have to leave our country much more quickly,” she added.
Germany signed a similar agreement with Kenya on Friday during a visit by the African country’s president, William Ruto.Scholz said it provides opportunities for Kenyans because skilled workers or young people can come to Germany for training.
“The agreement – and this is basically the other side of the coin – also provides for effective procedures for returning those who have come to us from Kenya but do not have or cannot acquire the right to stay,” he said at a joint press conference with Ruto at the chancellery in Berlin.
Scholz’s government has toughened its stance on migration in recent months in response to the rise of extremist parties on the left and right. who want to curb the number of immigrants arriving in the country.
In addition to the migration pact, Germany and Uzbekistan signed the following agreements on Sunday:
- Joint Declaration of Intent on Deeper Cooperation on Critical Raw Materials, Including Copper, to Help Make Supply Chains More Resilient
- Declaration of intent on veterinary medicine and livestock
- Declaration of intent on cooperation in the sustainable use of water resources
- Agreement on cooperation in transport, including high-speed rail travel
On Monday, Scholz will meet Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Astana, and the two countries will also sign a number of agreements.
These include cooperation between the Bundesbank and the central bank of Kazakhstan, the establishment of a German-Kazakh Institute of Science and Technology and a German school in Astana.
Scholz will also seek to encourage Kazakhstan to expand crude oil shipments to a key refinery in eastern Germany, according to a senior German government official, who asked not to be identified in line with reporting rules.
The Schwedt facility gets about 70% of its crude oil via a pipeline from the German port of Rostock, about 15% via a pipeline from Gdansk in Poland and about 15% via the Druzhba link from Kazakhstan.
Scholz, Tokayev and Mirziyoyev are scheduled to meet with the presidents of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan in Astana on Tuesday.
