(Bloomberg) — Germany and Uzbekistan sealed an agreement on migration and labor mobility and concluded a number of other accords designed to deepen cooperation in areas including critical raw materials like copper.
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The pacts were signed Sunday in Samarkand in the presence of Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who’s traveling to Central Asia for the first time and will head on to Kazakhstan later on Monday.
In a speech at an economic forum in Samarkand Monday, Scholz said that “very concrete contacts” between a delegation of executives traveling with him and their Uzbek counterparts had yielded “great progress” in relations between the two nations.
“Together we want to use and develop the opportunities around the raw materials that are found here, for the benefit of the economies of both countries,” Scholz said. “We want to work together in many technological areas, this is of great importance,” he added.
The German leader highlighted progress made on a project involving German copper producer Aurubis AG, without providing further details.
Scholz’s trip is part of a wider push to strengthen ties with Central Asian nations in areas like industry, energy and the environment, as well as in security and defense. It’s also important to an ongoing effort to diversify Germany’s sources of energy and raw materials away from countries like Russia and China.
According to the government in Berlin, the migration agreement with Uzbekistan will help Germany attract skilled workers, though how far that helps address a persistent shortfall in Europe’s biggest economy remains to be seen.
The accord also establishes a mechanism for cooperation on sending migrants back who don’t have the right to stay in either country.
Scholz’s government has toughened its stance on migration in recent months in response to the rise of extreme parties on the left and right which want to curb the number of immigrants arriving in the country.
Germany inked a similar accord on Friday with Kenya during a visit by the African nation’s president, William Ruto. Scholz said that 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 to return those who have come to us from Kenya but do not have or cannot acquire the right to remain,” he said at a joint news conference with Ruto at the chancellery in Berlin.
As well as the migration pact, Germany and Uzbekistan signed the following accords Sunday:
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Joint declaration of intent on deeper cooperation on critical raw materials, including copper, to help make supply chains more resilient
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Declaration of intent on veterinary medicine and livestock farming
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Declaration of intent on cooperation on sustainable use of water resources
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Agreement on transport cooperation, including high-speed rail travel
Scholz is due to hold talks in Astana later on Monday with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and the two countries will also sign a number of agreements.
These relate to cooperation between the Bundesbank and Kazakhstan’s central bank, as well as 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 deliveries of crude oil to a key refinery in eastern Germany, according to a senior German government official, who asked not to be identified in line with briefing rules.
The Schwedt facility gets about 70% of its crude oil via pipeline from the German port of Rostock, some 15% via pipeline from Gdansk in Poland, and about 15% via the Druzhba link from Kazakhstan.
Scholz, Tokayev and Mirziyoyev are due to meet with the presidents of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan on Tuesday in Astana.
(Adds Scholz comments starting in third paragraph.)
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