What explains Europe’s interest in Central Asia: An inaugural EU-Central Asia summit last week marked a step-up in geopolitical competition.

Central Asia is suddenly winning friends and attention.

In 2023, Germany set up the “Germany – Central Asia” platform, holding its first summit in September that year in Berlin. A year later, Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the region to attend a second summit in Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital

In March this year, the Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev visited France, where President Emmanuel Macron conferred France’s highest national award – the Legion of Honor.